Evil Eyes (18 page)

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Corey Mitchell

CW: Into the apartment. By that time, I had got . . . parked my car and got out and I was running up there and, uh, then she turned around and looked and I just kept running up there and I grabbed her.

TL: What, had she already opened her door? To the apartment?

CW: . . . stopped walking and turned around.

TL: How close was she to the building when you grabbed her?

CW: What you mean “to the building”?

TL: Was she within like the front porch or . . . ? CW: She was just like downstairs on the sidewalk. TL: Alright, you grabbed her, then what happened? CW: I choked her.

TL: How did you choke her?

CW: I’m not sure. Front maybe, I guess.

TL: Was she originally fighting and struggling? CW: Yeah.

TL: Did she quit? CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, then what did you do? CW: Then I stabbed her.

TL: Alright, how many times did you stab her? CW: Ummm, about five times, I think.

TL: Alright, what area of the body did you stab her? CW: In the chest.

TL: Did she fight or make any sound while you stabbed her?

CW: No.

TL: What kind of knife were you using? CW: It was an ice pick.

TL: An ice pick? Did you stab her hard to the point where the ice pick went entirely into the body cavity? To the hilt?

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CW: I’m not sure.

TL: Alright, what made you stop?

CW: Nothing. I just thought that she was dead and I got up and walked away.

TL: Alright, what made you think she was dead? CW: I had stabbed her.

TL: Were all the stab wounds approximately the same area or were they . . . how were they?

CW: I’m not sure.

TL: You said when you were stabbing her, you were stabbing her hard or were you with a lot of thrust to the ice pick? CW: I believe so.

TL: Alright, what happened to the ice pick? CW: I don’t know what I did with that.

TL: Okay. Do you remember what she was wearing? CW: No.

TL: Alright, was she white or black? CW: White.

TL: Alright, how old was she? CW: I don’t know.

TL: Alright, you seem to be a little vague on this particular description. Could you tell if she was your age or younger or was she the general age of all the other girls that you’ve described or was there anything different from her appearance than the others?

CW: No. She was about the same age, I guess. Yeah, about the same age.

TL: What age?

CW: About twenty-five, I guess. TL: Alright, was she tall or short? CW: Tall, I think.

TL: Alright, what hair color? CW: Dark brown.

TL: How did she wear it?

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CW: Long, to the back.

TL: Way to back, past her shoulders? CW: I’m not sure about that.

TL: Alright, you remember if she had any shoes on? CW: High heels.

TL: Alright, what did you take from her? CW: I’m not sure. I think I took her purse. TL: Alright, what kind of purse did she have?

CW: I think it was burgundy. I’m not really sure about that. I think it was.

TL: Was there anything in the purse? CW: I don’t remember.

TL: What did you do with it? CW: Burned it.

TL: To kill her spirit? CW: Yeah.

TL: Remember where you burned it? CW: No.

TL: The girl say anything at all during the attack? CW: No.

TL: Was she screaming? CW: Maybe once or twice.

TL: Did anybody come to her rescue or aid? CW: No.

TL: What time of day or night was this? CW: It was about 4:00 I guess.

TL: In the afternoon? Or in the morning? CW: At night.

TL: Alright, the car was a small white car. Was there anything else about the car that you can remember?

CW: No. No, I don’t. No, it was just small white. TL: Bucket seats? Or did you ever look in the car? CW: No.

TL: Alright, when you left her was she laying motionless?

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CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, did you have her, when you stabbed her was she on the ground when you stabbed her? Or was she standing up?

CW: On the ground.

TL: Alright, where were you? Were you straddled over her or to her si . . . to her right or to her left?

CW: To the left. From the right to the left. TL: To her left?

CW: Yeah. To her right, to my left.

TL: To your left. All right, so you were on her right? CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, and when you left her she was laying motionless? Was she laying on her back or on her stomach? CW: On her back.

TL: On her back. Was her arms, do you know if her arms were outstretched or to her side?

CW: No.

TL: Did she have any jewelry that you can recall? CW: No.

TL: The only thing you took off of her was her purse? CW: Uh huh.

TL: Did she have her keys in her hand? CW: No, I don’t remember that.

TL: Alright, what about her purse? Was she carrying her purse in her hand or did she have it hooked over her shoulders?

CW: In her hand, I believe.

TL: Did she try to defend herself in any way? CW: Yeah.

TL: How?

CW: To get loose.

TL: Did she try to scratch or kick or claw or anything like that?

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CW: No, she just tried to get loose.

TL: And the only thing you took from her was her purse? You didn’t remove any articles of clothing?

CW: No.

TL: Do you remember if she was wearing a jacket or some kind of coat?

CW: She had a coat on, I know.

TL: Do you remember what color it was?

CW: It was a dark color. I don’t know exactly what color. TL: Was it a full-length coat down to her knees or like a jacket to her waist?

CW: Somewhere in between.

TL: Alright, what car were you driving? CW: Grand Prix.

TL: And to your knowledge, no one saw you? CW: No.

TL: Did you dispose of the purse the same day that you stabbed her?

CW: Uh huh.

TL: Did you have an opportunity to look through it? CW: Yeah, I did go through it. Yeah.

TL: Did you dump the contents out before you burned the purse?

CW: No.

TL: Was there a lot of different items in the purse or . . . ?

CW: I don’t remember that.

TL: Alright, so the victim was laying on her back, you had choked her, with your hands or did you use any kind of clothing or . . . ?

CW: With my hands.

TL: Were you wearing gloves? CW: No.

TL: Okay, and after you choked her into unconscious-

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ness she was on the ground and you were to her right. That’s when you stabbed her with an ice pick?

CW: Uh huh.

TL: And you think you stabbed her five times? In what area of the body?

CW: The chest.

TL: Are you talking about the left side of the chest or the right side of the chest?

CW: Left side.

TL: Alright, when you stabbed her, was she moving at any time then, or . . . ?

CW: I don’t think so.

TL: She was motionless when you stabbed her with the ice pick? Ah, did you feel like it was necessary to stab her? Did you think you had already killed her by choking her or did you think it was necessary to stab her to finish the job? CW: I just stabbed her.

TL: No particular reason? Why did you stab her? CW: That’s what I had to do to her. Stab her.

TL: What purpose? Why did you pick this girl? CW: I had seen her.

TL: And the first time you had seen her, she was in her car driving?

CW: Yeah, she was coming across the light.

TL: All right, so in other words, you were going in one direction, came to the intersection. Were you stopped at a red light?

CW: Uh huh.

TL: Do you have any idea how long in time you followed her?

CW: No, I don’t.

TL: Was she driving erratic or anything like that, that made you think she was trying to get away from you?

CW: Not that I remember.

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TL: In your mind do you feel like she even knew you were present? Prior to you grabbing her?

CW: No.

TL: Did you see her bleed? From the stabbing? CW: It was a little. Not much.

Jim Ladd ( JL): Through her clothes? CW: Uh huh.

TL: You stabbed her through her clothes? CW: Yeah.

TL: You saw a small amount of blood on her clothes? CW: I believe so, yeah.

TL: This took place somewhere down in . . . have you ever been in NASA before? Where the missiles are?

CW: Uh uh.

TL: Alright, now I’m gonna give you a rough description of that facility and see if it matches what you’re talking about when you say the missiles. Driving in the direction you were driving, away from the Gulf Freeway, this facility would be on your left. This facility houses several buildings, large buildings. And in front of these buildings there’s probably a 100 [to] 150 square yards area there’s numerous rockets that are on display representing different projectiles that were sent into space. Proceeding past these missiles or rockets, whatever you want to call them, you would encounter a bridge which kinda goes over a small bayou or a small stream and immediately to your right you could see a body of water. Does this sound familiar to you? As you cross the bridge, when you cross the bridge and look to your right you see a large body of water.

CW: Okay.

TL: Alright, and as you drive down this road this body of water continues to run parallel to the road. Alright, that would probably be NASA, then shortly afterwards, after crossing the bridge you would come to a red light and

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then from that red light would be a series of what you describe as hooks or turns in the road. Where the road is actually winding but still continuing in the direction of Highway 146. Does that sound familiar?

CW: Uh, yeah.

TL: Alright, and you definitely remember going over some railroad tracks?

CW: I’m not sure about the tracks.

TL: Alright, but you came to a junction in the road and you had to either go left or right and there was a light? Or you could go straight ahead and go about in a bunch of small streets that kinda curved around?

CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, this is where the attack took place? CW: Yeah.

TL: She was wearing high heel shoes, a coat, probably down to her waist or longer, dark coat. Do you know if she was wearing a skirt or pants?

CW: A dress, I believe.

TL: Okay, do you know what color the dress was or anything about the dress?

CW: Dark color.

TL: Dark colored dress. Did she have makeup on like she looked like she just came from work, from a party, or from her boyfriend’s house? She have any . . . ?

CW: I’m not sure about that.

TL: What about her shoes? Were they high heels? CW: Yeah.

TL: What color were they?

CW: Brown or burgundy, I guess.

Ted Thomas (TT): What finally happened to the shoes? CW: Nothing.

TT: You still got them?

CW: I don’t think I took the shoes.

The following text is the actual interrogation and confession by Coral Eugene Watts in regard to the murder of Elena Semander:

Jim Ladd ( JL): Yesterday when we were talking we were discussing if you had ever placed any women actually inside a Dumpster. Was it, am I correct in assuming you told us yesterday that you had?

Coral Watts (CW ): Yeah.

Tom Ladd (TL): Alright, what time of the day or the night did this one occur where you placed the female in the Dumpster? Was it before midnight or after midnight?

CW: I’m not sure.

JL: Do you know what day of the week this might have been?

CW: No.

JL: Was there any particular day of the week or anything that most of these things have happened on?

CW: The weekend.

JL: You say that most of them would be weekends or would all of them be on weekends? Would it be unusual for you to do something on Tuesday or Wednesday?

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CW: No.

JL: So, you did do some of them during the middle of the week? But most of them on weekends, is that correct?

CW: Uh huh.

TL: Alright, where did you first see this girl? CW: On the street somewhere.

TL: Alright, first of all, were you driving around in your car when you saw her? Or were you walking?

CW: Driving.

TL: You were driving, the same Grand Prix? CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, do you remember where she was when you first saw her? What area of town?

CW: No.

TL: Whether it was in the North side of town? South side of town?

CW: I don’t know.

TL: Was she driving, was her car one of among many cars in traffic or was it real late at night where just a few cars were out?

CW: There were quite a few cars out there.

TL: Alright, how did you spot her? What brought your attention to this one particular girl?

CW: It was at a light or something or other. TL: She was stopped at a light.

CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, did you pull up aside her or behind her? CW: I was going the other way.

TL: And you turned around? CW: Yeah.

TL: Alright, what kind of car was she driving? CW: A brown station wagon, I believe.

TL: Large or small? CW: Small.

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TL: Alright, how far did you follow her? CW: I don’t know.

TL: A long distance or . . . ?

CW: I’m not sure, it may have been a long distance. TL: Alright, was she by herself ?

CW: Yes.

TL: Alright, where did she go? CW: To her apartment.

TL: Know what apartments they were? CW: No.