Gary Reilly Interview with Ted Kimble

*Handwritten notes appear in red*

This is Gary Reilly, Maryland Casualty Insurance Company. Right now it is October 16th, 1995 at 9:45 A.M. and I'm interviewing Mr. Ted Kimble.... Kimble in reference to a loss that occurred at his house on October 9th, 1995.

Mr. Kimble, do you understand this conversation is being recorded?
A: Yes.
Q: And is being recorded with your permission?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. Can you please state your full name?
A: Theodore M. Kimble.
Q: And your date of birth?
A: 12/8/69.
Q: And your Social Security Number?
A: 240-47-9619.
Q: And your address please?
A: 2104 Brandon Station Court. Pleasant Garden, North Carolina 27313.
Q: Okay. How long have you lived at that address?
A: A solid 2 years.
Q: Okay. And, uh, who's name is the house in?
A: Patricia G. Kimble.
Q: Okay. Were you ever added to the mortgage?
A: No.
Q: Now, can you, uh, can you tell me who Patricia Anne Blakely is... or Kimble, I mean?
A: My wife.

page 2

Q: Um, and how long have you known your wife?
A: Three or four.... about more like 5 years.
Q: Five years you've known her?
A: I've known her for 5 years. Been married for 2. I can't recall when we started dating.
Q: She owned the house prior to you, uh
A: Yes. I met her when she got the house.
Q: You met her when she bought the house?
A: Yes. I was dating a relative and I went to a house warming party. That's how we met.
Q: Okay. And you been dating her ever since, I guess?
A: Uh, we dated off and on and then we found that we couldn't be apart. I can honestly say I married my best friend.
Q: Okay. Can I ask you who the relative was that you were dating before you met your wife?
A: Her cousin.
It was her cousin? What was her name?
A: Uh, Janet Blakely.
Q: Janet Blakely. Can you, uh, give me your address prior to moving in?
A: 6318 Liberty Road, Julian, North Carolina 27383. I'm not sure that's an accurate zip code.
Q: Okay. And how long did you live at that address?
A: Couple years. I was with my parents. We, uh, lived like a mile away on Li.... Monet Road and we built a house _____.
Q: You lived on Monet Road before you moved over to the other house?
A: Liberty Road. Yeah. I lived at home with my parents.
Okay. And the Liberty Road address was also with your parents?

page 3

A: Yes.
Q: And then after that you moved in, uh...... ?
A: With Patricia
Q: What's your date of birth again, I'm sorry?
A: 12/8/69.
Q: Okay. Can you give me a synopsis of.... of what occurred with this incident, the burning of the house, as you know it?
A: Uh, best of my knowledge, she went home early to mow the grass and what we believe......
Q: Well....
A: I mean.....
Q: I guess.... wh.... where were you at I guess when....?
A: I was at work. I went in at 8 o'clock that morning, here at the shop, uh. I got off at 5:30. I remember once I left the lot, I proceeded down the street to hand my mother her dog 'cause I babysitted for her and I handed her the dog and went to my other job. At 6 o'clock I arrived.
Q: Where's your other job at?
A: Precision Fabrics on Meadowview.
Q: On Meadowview?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. What do you do there?
A: I work in the lamination department. Bill Harris is my supervisor. His phone number there is 910-379-3165.

Q: Okay. Thank you. And how long.. .. you got there about 6 o'clock that night you say?
A: I got there at 6 o'clock.

page 4

Q: And what happened then?
A: I got harassed for being late. But they knew I was going to be late. I told them the prior week that I would have to be closing the shop here due to the fact my dad would be out of town on vacation.
Q: Who harassed you for being late?
A: Uh, the other employees were picking on me, looking at their watch, and giving me a hard time about being late.
Q: Do you remember any of the guys?
A: Uh, yeah. Ron, Mike, my uh shift, my lead man on second _____ , he uh...... I was working him. But there were several others. I mean, I just remember Ron being on that shift. He was giving me the hardest time about it. So was the guy on first shift who was still there and he was.... Everybody, you know how they do, they look at your wa.... their watch and harass you about it.
Q: Mike was the lead man at the time? He was the... the supervisor?
A: Yeah. He was... like he's the lead on second. Bill Harris normally leaves 5, 5:30. Anyway, half the guys on the shift knew what time I come in 'cause I wasn't there at the beginning of the shift.
Q: What time does the shift usually start?
A: It's starts at 3 o'clock. It runs from 3 to 11.
Q: But because you were here `til 5 o'clock....
A: 5:30.
Q: Til 5.... You were here 'til 5:30?
A: Yeah. We... we are open 8 to 5:30 weekdays, 8 to 1 on Saturday.
Q: So you had to close here at 5:30 before you went over there?
A: Right.
Q: Was there anybody here when you closed?

page 5

A: Uh, yes. Uh, James, uh, I just call him James. I forgot his last name. He's right out there if you would like to talk to him. I closed here at 5:30. At 5:45 I was down the street with my mother.
Q: You dropped the dog off, correct?
A: Correct She works on Meadowview right down here. But Meadowview also shoots across town. I say across town way over across _____ which is out where my other job is. I was able to meet her right down the street, hand her the dog, and drive straight down Meadowview to my job.
Q: Okay. And you got to work at 6 o'clock?
A: Yes.
Q: Uh, okay. While at work, everything was going normal, no problems?
A: No problems.
Q: Okay. What occurred at that point?
A: Um, I was working. I realized what time it was and I started trying to reach my wife because she hadn't paged me. The agreement was when she got done mowing grass that she'd page me to let me know that she was off the lawn mower and doing fine and she hadn't paged and it was 8 o'clock, 8:15 somewhere in there. My, uh, she was supposed to have paged me like at 6:30.
Q: So what happened?
A: I called around trying to find her. I paged her and she never returned my page. I called her... my brother-in-law, her brother and got him to go and look for her and he went to my house and found that it was on fire. I got another page and I called in. When I, uh, the other person answered on the telephone they said get home, your house is on fire. I immediately told someone that I had to leave, which was, they call him Rooster, his nickname. Can't remember his real name. Uh, that's what he goes by. I dashed out the door and went straight home to find that my house was swamped with firemen and pretty much had the fire under control.
Q: I'm sorry. You said you called your brother-in-law?
A: My brother...... brother-in-law.
Q: Brother-in-law.

page 6

A: Rubin Blakely. His phone number is 674-6426.
Q: Is that his house or does he live with his parents?
A: He lives in, uh, Deerfield, uh,_____ just across, near the county line, near _____
Q: How far is that away from your house?
A: 5 miles.
Q: Five miles away from your house? So that's why you called him 'cause he's the closest to your house? You said yes, right?
A: Yes.

Q: Okay. Now, who called.... you called your brother-in-law to...to check on your wife. Somebody called you back at the shop or paged you?

A: They paged me. Uh, that was my, uh, sister-in-law, his wife's mother. I cannot recall her name.

Q: Okay, your sister-in-law.....

A: Mother.

Q: Your sister-in-law's mother called, paged you back. And who's phone number did she put in there?
A: Her house.
Q: Her phone. Okay, and you called?
A: I called her and she said to get to your house.
Q: And that was your sister-in-law's mother who told you that?
A: Yes.
Q: Just out of curiosity, urn, do you know why your sister-in-law's mother called you back and not your brother-in-law?
A: They couldn't reach me. They're saying their phone wasn't working in the area they were in apparently. Uh, something happened to the battery I understand.

page 7

Q: And then you went to the fire scene then at that point, right?
A: Of course.
Q: Okay. When you got to the fire scene obviously you saw a lot of commotion, you went to talk to the firemen and policemen and you found out what had happened as far as your... your wife being inside in the fire trap. Urn, was there anybody with you during this... during this period?
A: Family members.
Q: Were with you at your house?
A: Yes.
Q: And, urn, did they follow you from that point through the rest of the night or....?

A: Yes.

Q: Is there any particular family member?

A: Uh....

Q: I mean, your family or your wife's family. What, like your brother, your father?

A: Um...My dad was out of town like I said at a job at the University and _____ that night, he got in about 4 in the morning but my mother, and her brother, sister, my brother, my mother and all them had all been arranged, they congregated there and from there we went to the church to pray and, uh, we had, they save there was over 100 people at the church who came at that night who were there until like 4 in the morning praying. We had an overwhelming response.

Q: Was any of her family members there as well?

A: I said her father, her mother, I think I said her brother.

Q: I'm sorry. Had you received any, any threats prior to this?

A: No. We had no enemies. I mean, she had, she managed 120 apartments. She was property manager at 7 or 8 apartments off Webster Road and Southway Drive. Uh, we know of a few incidences where she had been threatened by residents, like one name, Sandra or something, had threatened her a couple of months ago, but you know, of course, they say most of these things never carry over as far as threats. That one and

page 8

throw some people out of the swimming pool, a black guy, it was a few black guys and a woman, told her if they ever caught her on the street, _____ , you know, other than those two instances, I can't think about, I mean, we're in church, regularly, you know, good Christian friends, I just couldn't imagine anybody we know doing something like that.
Q: Okay, how about you? Any threats against you?
A: No. I have no enemies. I've never met a stranger I won't go out of my way to help. It's what we don't understand. It doesn't make sense.
Q: Okay, the two threats that you said that she received, said one from a Sandra?
A: Sandra, yes. You can check the employees there at the complex. The number there is 2741518. It's Senator Ridge Apartments.
Q: And that's where she used to work?
A: Yes.
Q: And that's where her office was as well? That's where her office......
A: Yes.
Q: Was that Sandra thrown out of the apartment complex?
A: She was evicted, yes.
Q: Did your wife feel that this threat was a possible legitimate threat?
A: She had said that she was scared because the woman had made several threats to a lot of people and that was the only reason she was trying to get out because she was on drugs and she was flying off the walls, she would stand in people's way and just would not move or she threw stuff at people. She had went on a rampage one day, had some cops there, and she was, it was just very hard to get her evicted. And had to take her to court more or less to get her out.
Q: And you said these other two people that were thrown out of the pool, do you have any idea who they were?
A: No, they claimed to be relatives of someone there but the someone there they were claiming to be relatives to died the month before, a month or two before, and they were claiming that this uncle lived right over here in this apartment.

page 9

Q: Do you remember the name of those people?
A: No. I mean, they didn't live there. They were from outside just claiming to be kin to.
Q: Do you know who they were claiming to be kin to?
A: I was standing across the property when I seen this going on, on a three-story ladder _____
together and I seen these, these guys jumping up and down making threats. I mean, I couldn't hear what was said, I just heard them yelling. By the time I got off the ladder and started up there, they were up by the car, driving off, flying out of the parking lot.
Q: Did you work there?
A: I occasionally helped her do some things. Her maintenance man is scared of heights and
they've got a three-story building. And he wouldn't get up on a five foot ladder.
Q: So you would just fill in?
A: Yea, I would help her out and do things. That way she wouldn't have to call in a contractor
to come out there _____ roof, downspout was falling down.

Q: Did you store any flammables in the house?

A: Not that I'm aware of.

Q: Did you have gasoline in the house?

A: No.
Q: No gasoline in the house at all?
A: No. There was an empty five gallon gas can found in the kitchen which at one time was kept in the garage.
Q: Okay, that was your gas can then?
A: Yes.
Q: And it was in the garage?
A: Yes.

page 10

Q: Do you remember when the last time you filled that gas can up?
A: Last month.
Q: Last month? Had you used it, was it filled to the top?
A: It was pretty full. Last time I seen it, it was full but I could not recall because a few weeks ago, a couple of weeks ago, she cut the grass but I knew the lawn mower was pretty full and I filled the gas can up and here it is two weeks later and we had like 40 people over our house from our church a couple of weeks ago. So we, she cut the grass and I weeded and everything. Got everything ready and we had a Luau-type thing party for all our church friends. Anyway, a week later, here it is, I knew the lawn mower would be empty so I had the gas can sitting out for her to fill it up and apparently she never filled it up. The lawn mower had never been moved.
Q: Oh, the lawn mower had never been moved?
A: No.
Q: She had never got chance to cut the grass?
A: Right. I mean, convincing between all of us, we think she walked in on somebody, the back half of the house had been trashed, urn look like somebody was trying to drag my big old toolbox out the door. It'd been moved out to the middle of the floor which I kept against the back wall. Uh, possibly walked in on, you know, something happened, she got shot. They got the gas can out of the garage, doused the house, tried to burn the evidence.
Q: You work here until 5:30. Did you stay here the whole time?
A: Yes, sir. Every minute which is unusual for me. I'm normally, you know, out roaming around, going to look at materials and things for the company, uh, you know, I normally go to lunch with her but with my Dad being out of town, I couldn't leave because I couldn't turn my office over to my help because we take in a lot of money and trust is a different word when it comes to money. I've had problems in the past working with people in the office and I don't allow anybody but my father and I to run the office so that's, that's the reason I didn't leave that day.
Q: So you were here that day from 8:30 until 5:30?
A: 8:00 to 5:30.
Q: And never left?

page 11

A: Never left.
Q: And you had regular employees around the whole time as well?
A: Yes, I have one right here, Tim, that I work, I've been working with a month or so, couple of months, I've been around him a lot. Last name.

Q: What's his name?

A: It's Tim, Tim, uh, I got from a temp agency. Ogbun

Q: Okay.

A: Same one I've been _________

Q: Um, is he, was he the only employee working here that day?

A: No, there's another one here all the time. Employee named Steve. He's out there, too. He's _________. But he was there. Swaine

Q: Has he, has he been working for the company awhile?

A: No, he has not. He's only worked here a few times. Um, he can't read and write. He's illiterate. He's a nice guy, you know, I'm trying to work him to help him out. But I don't think he's going to work out.

Q: But he was working here that day?

A: Yea, he was here that day.

Q: Who owns this company?

A: I do.

Q: You do?

A: Yes.

Q: Does, is your father and you partners in it?

A: No. Just helps me out. He's full-time.

Q: So you own this company and you also work for the other....

page 12

A: Yes. I just took that job five months ago. _____ actually _____ full weeks. I'd hoped to double my income over the winter months. This place, in the summer, it's busy but in the winter it slows down. So I can easily work two jobs and afford to pay myself, I'd be making twice the income. And it wouldn't, it doesn't, I'm not as required to and that way I wouldn't have to _____ I wouldn't have to be here _____.
Q: Okay, have you ever used any other social security numbers in your past?
A: No, of course not. I just know how.
Q: Have you ever used any other date of birth in your past?
A: No.
Q: Have you ever been known by any other name?
A: No.
Q: And your full name was?
A: Theodore E. Kimble.
Okay, uh, again, the house is owned by Patricia? It was in her name?
A: Yes. She didn't see any need for spending the money for lawyer's fee to change the title.
Q: And she had actually owned it when it was a new house?
A: Yes. She bought it back in 199__ .

Q: Do you know who the property was purchased by? Or purchased from?

A: Uh, Bob Owenbaugh.

A: Yes.

Q: Is he a Realtor?

A: Yes. I'm sorry, no. He is the builder..

Q: ________.

page 13

A: He built my house.
Q: Do you know how much was paid for the house? Do you know how much Pat bought the house for?
A: I don't recall. It was between seventy and eighty thousand.
Q: Do you know how much was owed on the house?
A: I guess uh, urn we've got a Line One Equity and I think we owe like eighteen on the equity I guess maybe the regular mortgage I think we owe like fifty-eight. We'd just made a house payment last, week before last. I think it's around fifty-eight. You're looking at seventy-six thousand. It was appraised a few months ago at ninety, I think ninety-six thousand. Ninety-four or ninety-six, I can't recall.
Q: What were the, why did you have the appraisal done?
A: Uh we had Line One Equity establish it.
Q: Oh that's when you got the, the equity established?
A: Yeah. _____ my wife went on vacation in Williamsburg. We bought a time share.
Q: Did, did you put the eighteen thousand on the time share?
A: Urn rough estimate.
Q: What were your payments?
A: Uh I'm gonna be honest with you I'm not sure. I think it was around five eighty, six hundred. I don't know. We never made the minimum payment in our life.
Q: How much were....
A: We, I mean we got a thirty year mortgage and we don't owe but like eighteen or nineteen years on it we been paying so much extra on it and we've been, only been paying on that mortgage since, I think she just refinanced before we got married just about three years. We're doing pretty good. We were working hard at getting that house paid off.
Q: Do you remember approximately how much you were putting down on __________.
A: I think we were paying like seven, eight hundred.

page 14

Q: Seven to eight hundred dollars?
A: Uh I, I can't be reliable I, I didn't pay the bills.
Q: No I understand.
A: My wife handled, I mean I, I'm almost lost you know cause I'm not, I kind of have an idea of what we owed but, you know, she handled all the situ... bill situation. I'm not even sure at this point who my mortgage is through. I've got to find out where to mail the payment. Uh I'm kind of lost.
Q: No it, it's ....
A: I just want to, you know, I, I, I'm...
Q: These figures are approximate.

A: I'm generalizing, you know, approximate, some where around there.
Q: Is there any way you can give me an idea of what other monthly bills that you have?
A: Sure urn we had uh that Line One Equity uh....
Q: That was the one you just got in uh....
A: We got it this past, past, hadn't had that long we bought it this past year. I think in the spring we bought that. That's how I knew, I remembered the evaluation on....

Q: Spring of '95 right?
A: Yeah.
Q: Who was that with?

A: Um it's Nations Bank uh Susan Kirkpatrick's the manager over there, phone number?

Q: Kirkpatrick?
A: Kirkpatrick, yeah.
Q: Account _____.
A: Phone number 805-38, 3862.

page 15

Q: 805-3862 the Nations Bank here?
A: Two, two blocks, I mean one block. It's on the same block as I am on the other side of Mayberry around the corner?
Q: Does he have your loan uh line of equity?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you have any other, what, what other uh.....
A: A boat payment like two hundred and five dollars. It's with Nations Bank.
Q: Same Nations Bank?
A: (No audible response)

Q: ________ what was your, your line of equity is added to the mortgage correct?
A: (No audible response)
Q: What's your line, line of equity uh payment _____________

A: Urn I'm not sure. We never made the minimum payment. I think we paid a couple hundred dollars a month I would say. I'm thinking at least five. Now I do not know.
Q: Did you take out, did you use the whole line?
A: No it's twenty-five
Q: It was twenty-five thousand?
A: (No audible response).
Q: And you've used eighteen of it?
A: I don't, I say eighteen and that was the last time I, I mean it's been a while. I'm not sure it might be seventeen thousand.
Q: Do you remember, do you remember exactly what you used the eighteen for?
A: Yeah I um all for the time share. It was a double time share.

page 16

Q: Double time share?
A: Yeah. I say double time share it was like they give you two for the price of one. It was like
fifteen thousand and some dollars and I, I can't remember.... (This side of tape ended)
This is Gary Reilly from Maryland Casualty Insurance Company. Right now it's May, it's uh October 16th, 1995 at 10:20 a.m. I'm interviewing Mr. Ted Kimble in reference to the fire loss.
Q: Mr. Kimble do you understand this conversation's being recorded?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you understand this is side B of the tape?
A: Yes.

Q: I'm sorry what were you saying about the uh time share?
A: Uh....
Q: It's a double time share?
A: Yeah. I say double, they give you two weeks _____ the price of one, I mean, if you ever go, go to, go to one you'll, you'll find out (laughs). They'll tell you every... anything to get you to buy it.
Q: And you paid fifteen thousand for that?
A: Yes.
Q: Is that fifteen thousand a year or is that a....
A: No that's fifteen thousand one time. You pay your maintenance fees, they're like three hundred dollars a year but, of course, you get to go and stay. Once you pay the fifteen you're, you, it's like buying a week at a luxury resort for the rest of your life. And the annual fee I think the maintenance fee's like three hundred dollars a year, three hundred fifty, somewhere in there and uh in this situation we got like two weeks because of double occu... occupancy______ and uh so in other words, three hundred fifty dollars a year, two weeks out of the year, I get to go stay at a luxury resort. It was something my wife wanted uh I couldn't blame her I mean, you know, I, I wanted it as well_____ uh you get to stay at these luxury places that you read about. Pretty relaxed.

page 17

Q: Oh so it's not just one place, they're all over the place?
A: Right. Well you go through RCI. I'm not going to go through a seminar I mean, (laughs) I feel like a salesman.
Q: Yeah.
A: You go through RCI and you can exchange your week here and go here I mean they got places all over the world you can go.
Q: I see.
A: We loved to travel.
Q: Who was that with?
A: Uh that was Palapans _____ in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Q: Are they the ones that uh, urn are they the office or the headquarters?
A: Yes. Uh well that's where we bought at.
Q: So if you needed to call and change uh set something up or change resorts or whatever....
A: We'd call RCI cause we're a member of that.
Q: So RCI's actually management?
A: Correct. My wife handled all this. You're asking me stuff that....
Q: I understand.
A: Is irrelevant here.
Q: You're right. Okay uh okay you said the boat's two fifty-five and that's through Nations Bank?
A: Yeah.
Q: And what else do you have?

page 18

A: My jeep. We just bought a jeep to pull the boat (laughs). And uh it was, it was twenty-nine thousand some with tax and tags and we financed like twenty-three five, my payments are right at five hundred dollars.

Q: Five hundred a month?
A: Yes. Like four ninety _____ , right at five hundred dollars.
Q: And who's that financed through?
A: Nations Bank.
Q: Nations Bank. Is that it?
A: That's all.
Q: Um who do you have your savings account with?
A: Um Waucogee.
Q: Is that a bank?
A: Yeah Wachovia.
Q: Wachovia?
A: Oh you hadn't heard of them?
Q: No.
A: I can tell you from out of town. Wachovia's pretty _____ around here.
Q: How do you spell that?
A: Uh I was trying to remember. I think I got a, _____ W-A-C-H-O-V-I-A.
Q: Where are they located at?
A: All over the place uh the uh, one of them I, we mostly go to is over here at the mall,_____
Park _____.
Q: That's the one you go to the most? Is that like a main office or?

page 19

A: Uh it's just a branch.
Q: Just a branch?
A: Yeah.
Q: Four seasons mall is that what you said?
A: Yeah. It's in the parking lot if you drive around the mall, around the back side.
Q: Okay. And that's where you have your what?
A: Savings and checking and that stuff.
Q: For your personal stuff?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. Any other, any other things?
A: I have a uh I think I got a hundred dollars in a checking account down here at uh Nations Bank and the reason we have that down there is because we had the Line One Equity, you're supposed to do banking with them if you get this and you're supposed to have that so anyway. I don't remember how that came about.
Q: Okay. But you have one....
A: I got like a hundred dollars in it, yeah.
Q: How much you figure you have in Wachovia?
A: I have no idea. I just gave her my paycheck off my other job last week she was supposed to deposit it and it was five hundred dollars. My wife is the kind of person who felt like it was a waste of money to be in the bank at one, two percent interest when you're paying nine percent on a bill so anything we got we always paid it and, you know, I didn't think about it but I think I owe a couple hundred dollars on the credit cards. Uh we were supposed to have went to a marriage retreat in Ridgecraft and several peop.... she booked the reservations for like six or eight couples in my class. They gave her deposits of cash but I don't know if she put it in the bank yet or I don't know what happened to it but she used our credit card to book all the people's reservations and they ended up not going because we had the funeral so all that money, I mean, probably talking three or four hundred dollars is on our credit card.

page 20

Q: That's all that's on your credit card?
A: Yeah. I'm just saying you're asking....
Q: Yeah, yeah.
A: Everything, I think....
Q: I appreciate it.
A: I got a credit card down here at Nations Bank. I owe like a hundred dollars there. I mean our debt ratio was low.
Q: Okay one at Nations Bank and what's that a, what kind of...
A: Nine percent.
Q: Is that a Visa or?
A: Yeah. Most everything we got is Visa or Master Card.
Q: And then what's the, what's the other one what bank's that at?
A: Uh Wachovia.
Q: That's Wachovia?
A: And also I got one, I don't think we owe it, well actually no, the one at Wachovia I don't owe a dime on. We don't use that one. I forgot. That tells you how often I use a credit card. That's what, you know, I don't never use the thing.
Q: You said the one at Nations Bank is about a hundred dollars you owe on it?
A: Yeah I think it's a hundred, one fourteen I think. I got the bill the other day. Uh we use this band uh First USA. It's one of those low interest ones in the mail.
Q: Uh huh.
A: I think that's the one I owe that few hundred dollars on I was telling you about. But the Wachovia one is nothing.
Q: First USA do you know, is that around here do you know?

page 21

A: No that's out of state. That's one of those you get in the mail, you know, low 2.9 interest (imitating the sound of a commercial) you know....
Q: Uh huh.
A: Or six percent interest. We get them things all the time and we got outstanding credit I mean you can look at our credit rating and we get credit card applications in the mail like, if I had a dollar for every one I, God I'd be rich.
Q: Um hm.
A: Everybody wants to give me credit.
Q: How long have you had this one with First USA?
A: Uh a couple years.
Q: Couple years?
A: Yeah. Well I don't know. Maybe it's been a year.
Q: Do you know where they're located, what state?
A: She'd rotate. Trish would always what she'd do, she's conservative. You know how they give those payoff kick _____ to the next and I don't know. I'm trying to think a lot_ of time she would renew with this company over here cause they get, offer it for a year. What they do is they do it for a year and then she'd tear your card up, send it back when it went up but uh she just, I had a wonderful wife. She was conservative but I mean she, and I, most everything I have I owe to her. They say behind every great man is a greater woman and Trish was _____.
Q: Is that it as far as.....
A: Those debts on those credit cards were, I don't know, are hard _____ but we never owed a credit card. She would have paid that off in another week and I, you was just asking....
Q: No you're right and I'm glad you....
A: I mean that's what I know.
Q: And I tell you what it's also what I'm looking for so I'm glad you mentioned it. Now what about your business here. Who'd you bank through for the business?

page 22

A: Nations Bank. That's why I knew the number.
Q: Nations Bank?
A: Yeah. It's just a _____ account.
Q: Do you owe anything on the business?
A: Uh yes I owe like I just bought it last year. I owe my parents some money that I had _____ . I owe them like I'm thinking like fifteen.
Q: Fifteen thousand?
A: Fifteen thousand. And um _____ uh boss. I owe him like _____ . Pretty good for a hundred thousand dollar company isn't it.
Q: So that's all you owe is twenty-two for the boss and fifteen thousand for your parents?
A: (No audible response).
Q: Now you're parents have an equity loan so they're making regular payments on that?
A: Yeah. They're making regular payments. What they did, is, you know, I'm only twenty-five years old. Not too many twenty-five year olds own half of what I own and uh, you know, knock on wood the Lord has really blessed me. There's no doubt in my mind um I say he's blessed me, I wonder some times with what all's happened. Urn my former boss treated me like a son. I worked for him for ten years, eleven years _____ being here and I bought the company from him. Uh he financed the last twenty five cause my parents wanted to see me have it and he did too and they helped me come up with some of the money. I come up with some of my own _____.
Q: But that's all you owe on it the fifteen thousand and the.... now are you paying your parents back?
A: Of course.
Q: Are you paying the, the uh the equity line?
A: Yes.
Q: I mean the payments for the equity loan? You're making the payments?
A: Yes. It's only like two hundred and twenty-eight dollars a month?

page 23

Q: Two twenty-eight?
A: I think it's two twenty-eight, two seventy-eight. Somewhere in there. It's, it was fluctuating
loan so, you know, I'm pretty sure _____.
Q: Are you paying.....
A: I normally pay three or four hundred dollars so I don't know...
Q: Okay.
A: Yeah.
Q: Uh, uh do you pay your parents or do you pay the bank?
A: Uh most, I pay the bank. I just write a check.
Q: Which bank is that?
A: Nations Bank. I mean uh everything's Nations Bank for me. My wife got me on Wachovia cause she had it when we got married, she liked it, she paid the bills, I let her do, you know, you know how it is. You make the check, you hand it to her, she does the rest. What can I say (laughs). She gives me an allowance.
Q: I know what you mean.
A: And which my allowance consisted of if I wanted it, she'd just go out and get it.
Q: Who was your former boss?
A: Uh Gary P. Lyles. As a matter of fact he ran it all last week for me.
Q: Lyles?
A: Yes sir. Gary P. Lyles.
Q: _____ called Lyles....
A: L-Y-L-E-S. His number, he lives at 26th Street Northeast, no, I'm sorry, 26th Street, Long
Beach, North Carolina. Long Beach, _____ I forget the zip I, I'm clueless uh phone number 910....
Q: 910.

page 24

A: 278-5707.
Q: You said he ran it for you last week because of everything that was going on?
A: (No audible response)

Q: How's your business doing?

A: Fine.

Q: Do you have business records?

A: Yeah.

Q: Are they here or do you have an accountant?

A: I have an accountant _____.

Q: You have an accountant. Does he take care of all your business?

A: Yeah I just, I fill in the blanks and I send it to him.
Q: Okay. So he knows how you're business is doing pretty much? What's his name?
A: It's General Business Services, Joe Gessinger.

Q: Joe Gessinger?

A: Yes. I kind of drew a blank there.
Q: Do you know what his number is?
A: I'm looking (laughs). Urn I don't have it here. I think it's over in the other office but I can get it.
Q: How far away are they from here?
A: Down the street.
Q: Right down the street?

A: I'll tell you how to get there once this is over.

page 25

Q: Okay. Yeah that's cool, that'll work. So you're not having any uh business problems or an.. an... as far as you concerned, you're not having any financial problems?
A: (No audible response).
Q: Okay. You're not delinquent?
A: Pay the bills. I'm delinquent now. I'm supposed to pay some bills but I've been out for the death and uh....
Q: Well when we say delinquent I mean are you....
A: No, I'm not.
Q: When you said delinquent how, what did you....
A: I say delinquent, delinquent to me I get thirty days on everything. You know I'm thirty-five days, you know on a couple things because I was out all week last week but I mean, having the money, yeah. All I got to do is write the checks. Which just what I been working on all morning, trying to do paper work _____.
Q: Let's pick back up again.
A: Yeah.
Q: Do you have any uh judgments against you?
A: No.
Q: Have you ever had any judgments against you?
A: No. I've got perfect credit.
Q: Okay personal?
A: Perfect.
Q: Or business?
A: Perfect credit.
Q: Uh so is there any companies at all that, from, from your business venture is there any companies at all um threaten you with judgments or?

page 26

A: No, never.
Q: Okay.
A: I mean we've been, most the time we pay, get the discount, you know, pay within ten days or two weeks, you get the discount or take your thirty days.
Q: Does your accountant also have a, a name of um companies, did you do business on consignment?
A: Um he wouldn't have anything like that. I mean I don't take anything on consignment. I take things on thirty days.
Q: Okay.
A: You know, it's a thirty day turnover. You buy about six thousand dollars worth load, tractor load of lumber, bring it down here you sell it an pay them back. So it's pretty easy. Most the time I admit, here lately I been taking the thirty days. I can turn over my money, buy more stuff, stock.
Q: And you have the information on your suppliers?
A: Yeah.
Q: Have you ever been married before?
A: No.
Q: You don't have any other children then?
A: No.
Q: So I guess the question I was asking you don't have, you're not paying child support or anything like that?
A: No.
Q: Do you have any other insurance policies on the house?
A: No.
Q: Pardon me?

page 27

A: No.
Q: Have you reported this claim to uh any other insurance companies?

A: _____.
Q: Yes.
A: No. My wife, of course.
Q: Right. But I mean the house?
A: No.
Q: Have you had any other previous fires?
A: No. I've had burglaries but no fires.
Q: Okay. That was, again, what's your claims history I guess?
A: Um you all are canceling on me at the end of the month at the 31st due to the fact of burglaries.
Q: How many burglaries have you had?
A: I've had, I had one four months ago and I had one a couple year... a year or so ago.
Q: That's it?
A: Uh as far as my knowledge, she had one before I married her. If you look in, well last, the
past history of burglaries _____.
Q: So you've had three burglaries before this incident?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. Have you always been insured with Maryland Casualty?
A: The best of my knowledge I mean as far, since I've been married and I've known her.
Q: Um did you get notice that Maryland Casualty was canceling you?
A: Yes.

page 28

Q: When did you get the notice?
A: Approximately uh, I'm not sure. My wife gets the mail. I've just seen it. I got one the other day. Matter of fact after all this happened, I went last week and it was dated the 4th and I opened final notice that they were canceling and it was from Miss uh Karen Hall uh, can't remember her office. Anyway, her number's 230-1300.

Q: What's that your agent?

A: Yes.

Q: I'm sorry what was that number again?
A: 270-1300.
Q: Area code 910?
A: It's 230, I'm sorry. 230-1300, yes, of course, 910.
Q: Is she the agent that has you through Maryland Casualty?
A: Yes.
Q: So I guess when you got the notice that you were being canceled you went to Karen Hall?
A: No. I just disregarded it. I've been trying to get more insurance. I'm a uh I called first, Monday last week, the day of my wife's murder (pause) I called All State which is who we have our auto policy with. I was going to combine my house _____ with the same insurance company, get the discount rate but uh they were closed due to the Columbus Day holiday and I got a answering machine but uh I haven't pursued it any more under the circumstances.
Q: Right.
A: I don't know who would give insurance on a house that's burnt down.
Q: Okay but you, uh well you didn't contact All State, you were gonna contact them but they were closed?
A: Correct. I called and I got the answering machine.
Q: And All State Insurance Company carries your....

page 29

A: Auto.
Q: Uh auto? What, what, did they also carry Patricia's auto as well?
A: Our auto.
Q: Your autos. How long have you been with them do you remember?
A: A year or two.
Q: A year or two. So Karen Hall is not your agent through All State right?
A: No um Charlie Gamine.
Q: Gamine?
A: Yep Gamine. Uh I'll have to look that one up.
Q: Okay, no problem.
A: I do well to remember what I do remember.
Q: Who'd you have auto with before All State?
A: Uh it's not All State it's State Farm.
Q: Oh I'm sorry. I thought you said you had your auto with All State.
A: It's State Farm. Did I say All State? I had All State before State Farm how's that? It's my, no I had my work auto with All State and I dropped them. I mean they were so much more reasonable than State Farm and her, I'm not sure who she had, her insurance _____.
Q: Okay so you had State Farm, you had All State and then you had State Farm? You had All State for your automobiles and then you moved to State Farm.
A: Okay let me say this one time. I was a high risk when I was young because of speeding tickets. I was with_____ on my personal auto policy alright. Then I achieved a clean work, driver record. My company when I bought it had All State. I then changed everything to State Farm. My wife, I'm not aware of who she had but went to State Farm. Our boat is with State Farm. We were changing, in the process of changing everything to State Farm. I mean, we had even talked about dropping Maryland to go to State Farm but due to the paperwork and the aggravation, we remained with Maryland. But it was until

page 30

now anyway that we would have done it but we weren't going to but since they were canceling, we were obviously gonna have to.

Q: Oh okay. And Charlie is State Farm?

Yes. That's a long story isn't it.

Q: (Laughs) But it's to the point and I appreciate that. Okay I'm gonna ask you some personal questions.
A: Ask me.
Q: If you feel they're too personal, just let me know okay because um I'm an investigator and I ask questions.
A: Do your job.
Q: Um you told me how long you've known your wife. You've known her since 1990. You met her at the uh....
A: A housewarming party.
Q: That she, but that she just bought her house?
A: Yes. She thought I was a smart alec punk kid with, cocky. Does that describe most of our wives when we, they first meet us?
Q: (Laughs) Yes it does. Urn what, is there an age difference between you two?
A: I'm two years uh, let me back up, she's two years older than me. I like to pick at her I had a woman for a wife.
Q: What is uh do you remember her date of birth?
A: 9/14/67. Do you not know your wife's?
Q: Yeah. It took me a year to learn it though.
A: I was gonna say you be wise to not forget it either.
Q: (Laughs).
A: It's amazing how little it means to men but how much more it means to women.

page 31

Q: That's true.
A: The little things.
Q: You're exactly right. Okay you dated from, dated from 1990?

A: _____. We were best friends. (pause). I, I fell in love with Patricia I, I was dating other people but yet I was always with Patricia. We got to where I couldn't date other people because I couldn't forget about her. We became so close that we were the best of friends.

Q: When did you start dating?

A: _____ we, I just like I said I _____, we, we  started dating, we never really dated, that's the hard part. _____.

Q: Well let me ask you this question....
A: We and, alright let me make a long story short. I found a, _____ I love Patricia and, and I realized one day that I just, I, nobody else would ever be for me. I mean I'd date other people and it'd break her heart. She loved me so much and she was always there for me _____. She was there when I was, somebody hurt my feelings or somebody did this to me or that. She was always the shoulder to cry on and I think everybody knew the lord meant for us to be together but, but me. And eventually, once I realized that I couldn't see anybody else but her, we, we eloped and got married. I, I come home I said I'm just so fed, up. I realized that I'd never be happy with anybody else _____ and uh anyway about: a month, two months later, we eloped and got married and we didn't tell anybody. My parents went with us, we went to Danson, Virginia and got married and uh it was really great. It was so funny I mean it was like a fairytale or something. We got married, we came back, I had a basketball game that night. Oh it was, it was so funny and uh we went_____ and uh as soon as we could, we went on a real honeymoon and got away for a weekend but urn we uh we planned a wedding and all of our church friends and everything. They didn't know we were married so it was, it was really hard not to tell people. We told a few uh we planned a big church wedding and everything and all of our friends you know thought yeah they're getting married and we got married in uh May the 7th and uh in a big church wedding and we went on a honeymoon two weeks long.
Q: May 7th what?
A: Uh May the 7th uh last year.
Q: '94?

page 32

A: Yeah. It's more like, you know, it's supposed to be a year and a half but really it's almost two years cause we were married December the 22nd in '93.

Q: Now you didn't get two marriage licenses did you?

A: No, of course not.

Q: Okay.

A: But there was, who had to sign one, we were already married, I mean.

Q: So you went through the, the church um wedding as a procedural thing? I mean you knew it...
A: Correct, correct. We knew we were married. My Dad's a pastor. He married us.
Q: At the church?
A: Yeah.
Q: At the Bap... the church....
A: Yeah. Uh Lawrence, my pastor at south end where I attend and my Dad, we had the wedding at my Dad's church and see Lawrence would automatically think that my Dad was on the li... marriage license but, you know.
Q: But your Dad was with you when you got married in Danville correct?
A: Correct.
Q: What, what about her parents were her parents with you?
A: Uh no but we told her Mom. We never told her Dad. Till this day I don't think he knows. I'm not gonna tell him either it didn't hurt.

Q: Are they still together her mother and father?

A: No they're divorced. It's been a rough time _____Patricia _____. Her mother took it hard. I don't know it's personal, long story.

Q: Right. How do you get along with the parents?

page 33

A: Uh great. I mean they both love me to death. Her Mom calls me her other son and her Dad loves me to death.
Q: Okay. Aside from yourself, who would you say is um or was Pat's close friend? Did she have a friend at work or a friend in, in....
A: You asked me and it went out the door. Uh Melissa is the little girl's name but I cannot recall her name. Uh she grew up with Melissa. I think that was her best friend because, you know, she just had a birthday and Melissa was the only one that remembered from high school. (End of tape)

Okay this is Gary Reilly. This is Tape B, Side A, it is uh 10:50. I'm interviewing Mr. Ted Kimble.

Q: Do you understand I'm recording this conversation?

A: Yes.

Q: And I'm recording it with your permission?

A: Yes.

Q: Okay I'm sorry we were talking about uh.....

A: Melissa.

Q: Right.

A: Yeah Melissa is uh a high school friend. She's only like 4 foot 5. I just, I know, I say I think she's her best friend due to the fact that uh they grew up together and uh out of the blue she called her, you know, a couple weeks ago on her birthday and remind... wished her happy birthday and it made Trish realize how much she appreciated Melissa because some of her so called close friends didn't take this much effort.
Q: When was the last time she had seen Melissa?
A: Uh last Sunday at church.
Q: Does she see her frequently though?
A: Yes we, we I mean we're a tight group. We, we all go to church and we're very church oriented and active. I mean we're fellowship leaders in our class and we're all the time planning events like I told you we had like forty some people at our house a couple weeks

page 34

ago for a luau. Um I mean we have, I've got horse shoes and I got a volley ball court in my back yard and a gazebo in the front yard, I mean we really, we have really had a lot of people at our house. It's always, the door was always open.
Q: What's Melissa's last name do you know?
A: I do not remember. Uh her other friend and also used to be roommate is Gail Stein. And she works for Express Personnel in _____. _____.
Q: Where?
A: Way out at Battle Grounds. She lives at _____ Ridge Apartments where Trish worked. She used to be Trisha's roommate. She's real nice. I seen her last night.
Q: How long has she known, how long has she known....?
A: Trish uh um _____ long time.
Q: Long time?
A: I say a long time now she didn't go to the hospital with her _____ but uh she, we've all known each other for a long time.
Q: If, if Trish was to talk about you I guess who would she talk, you know, cause women have a tendency to
A: Yeah um....
And maybe not just necessarily you but life in general?
A: You're asking me an impossible question. You did, I mean, I told you there was four or five, I mean a good five hundred people at the funeral.
Q: Yeah.
A: I mean they're all the dear friends of ours uh I mean she's got so many good friends I, I, there's no way I can answer that.
Q: How about for you? Who, aside from Trish who, who would be a, considered a good friend of yours?
A: Aside from her.

page 35

Q: You know how many guys that you play basketball with or anything like that?
A: I worked in my yard _____ . I never went off....
Q: Well your father would he be considered a good friend?
A: Yes. I, I'd say my Dad because we're real close. We, we've gotten really close.
Q: And I guess also Mr. Lyles too?
A: Gary was my best friend. As a matter of fact, I mean Gary looked at Trisha as his daughter and me as his son I mean Gary's my best friend for several years. I mean he's been away for a year now, over a year, a year and a half and we don't keep in touch like we used to but uh me I practically like grew up with him and uh he was always trying to make something out of me.
Q: How'd you do in school?
A: Uh B average..
Q: Did you go to college at all?
A: I, I mean I took pretty easy courses I mean I _____ in my grades. Of course I didn't take no college prep or anything. It was, I considered going to college. I made _____
but uh it's something I enjoyed but I gave up for this life. I _____ a long time ago that if I'd stick it out _____ . In spite of what people always said, you know how that is.
Q: What kind of hobbies did your wife have? Did she bowl?
A: No.
Q: Or was she on any kind of team or any kind of?
A: Church.
Q: Church?
A: Church was our hobby.
Q: You did that together then right?
A: Yeah.

page 36

Q: Well did she have any hobbies separate from you?
A: (No audible response)
Q: Yes could you, when you guys went on the boat did you guys go out on the boat by yourselves usually?
A: Yeah now that, that's something I didn't think about as far as hobbies we'd go to the lake a lot and we _____ . That was one of our big things I'd say, you say hobbies we loved to go skiing. She couldn't ski cause she had a bad knee but she'd pull me and we'd take a bunch of her friends. I mean we'd go, we went several times.
Q: Was there any particular friends that you took on a regular basis?
A: Uh her brother and his wife. We'd go a lot, they got a place up there. We'd go with her family a lot. And also we took uh a couple times this summer we went, had a church outing, you know, we took all her friends. I got another friend that's got a boat and another one that's got a couple _____ had a lot of _____.

Q: Okay her brother. What was her brother's name?

A: Ruben.

Q: Is it Rubin, okay.

A: Yeah. Did I give you his phone number? 674-6423. I'm sure I did.

Q: How many other brothers and sisters did she have? Just Rubin?

A: Yes.

Q: And her mother and father are separated but do they live in this area?

A: Uh yes one lives in Randleman, Level Cross area, the other lives a few miles from there.

Q: Do you know what their numbers are by any chance?

A: _____.

Q: Well where's the mother live?

A: Randleman.

page 37

Q: Randleman?
A: Yeah.
Q: How do you spell that?
A: Uh R-A-N-D-L-E man, Randleman.
Q: What, do you know her name?
A: Uh Sheila Blakely. I'm sorry, Brown. I'd get hit _____.
Q: Sheila Brown. Is she remarried or....
A: No.
Q: Did she go back to her maiden name?

A: She _____.

Q: And her father....

A: It may legally be, still be Blakely I'm not sure. Her father is Richard Blakely.

Q: Where does he live?

A: He lives in Pleasant Gardens too.

Q: Pleasant Gardens?

A: Yeah. He's not far I just can't remember the name of the street. He's, he's just right down the street. He's only a few miles.

Q: Who did she communicate better with her father or her mother?

A: Well it's hard to say. She always felt brow, brow beaten, you know, beat to death when she got around her mom because you know her mom, you know how mothers do they kind of lean on their daughters she'd come in all feeling beat up. You know how that is. You're not gonna go tell her I said....
Q: No, no, no, no, no.

page 38

A: Well and she kind of, it would make her real mad. She, we were just talking about this two weeks ago she, cause we were spending a little bit of time with her dad and she was talking about how far her Dad had came I mean her Dad was the kind of person growing up I mean it was awful he would, he'd sit in the other room while they I mean he was just, don't quote me on this but I mean I, I remember when I was dating her he'd sit in a room in his underwear and tee shirt with all the lights out just staring at the wall. I mean quite right but I mean just sitting there, you know, I mean we couldn't even. see the guy. He's come a long ways I mean he acts, he acts fine now but I mean just having seen him like that and we was talking about how he's come a long ways seeing more people and
Q: Now you don't go to your father's church correct?

A: Correct. Uh they just, no offense to my Dad's church but more, more people your age than mine. I, I'm young (laughs). How old are you?

Q: Thirty-nine.

A: Yeah I'm only twenty-five. But we've got an outstanding single, college career, you know _____ matter of fact, I know, marriage classes process is split because we're so crowded in that room _____.

Q: And you and Trish were very active in the church?
A: That's right.
Q: What's the name of the church?
A: South M Street.
Q: South M?
A: South M right down here. South M and B. South M Street Baptist right on the corner of Ritters Lake Road and South M _____ . And I know I'm saying it too fast. 1.5h Lawrence Clap is the pastor.
Q: Lawrence C-L-A-P?
A: L-A-P.
Q: C-L-A-P.
A: Here's a card. _____ all morning we been going.

page 39

Q: Oh I'm finished.
A: I need to get to bed, head down there and _____ some work.
Q: _____.
A: _____ let me see if I got _____.
Q: That's alright don't worry about it.
A: People, people are blood suckers. Do you believe that while all that was going up somebody walked up, a contractor walked up to my Dad and give him a card said he was for a contractor for restoration on burnt houses. People blew my mind.
Q: Um hm.
A: I need to keep that.
Q: Have you ever been arrested before? You know have you ever been suspected of any crimes?
A: No.
Q: And just for, just for a recap than anything. The type of relationship that you and your wife had?
A: Wonderful.
Q: Okay. Um is, was there any, was there any incidences of uh of uh spousal abuse on either side?
A: No.
Q: Um does, so there's nobody out there that would say that you guys had a bad relationship?
A: Not one. I, I want, I want you to find them. You'll look the rest of your life.
Q: Um can't think of anything else. Do you have anything that you want me to know or?
A: You need anything, to know anything ask me.
Q: Okay good enough, good enough. Thank you very much for your time I appreciate it.

page 40

A: Sure.
Q: Do you understand this conversation has been recorded?
A: Yes.
Q: And it's been recorded with your permission?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. Um for the record I didn't make any promises to get you to give me this statement correct?
A: Right.
Q: You understand um my procedure in this is just to investigate the claim that's outstanding correct?
A: Yes.
Q: Right now it is eleven o' clock.
Theodore Kimble 214 F 507840

Transcribed by: HM

PDF