Major Crimes Mysteries
The Family McCoy
Chapter 4
Buzz grabbed Amy and Myra and headed towards the back of the property. There was a slight slope to the neighbor's yard. As they were walking, Myra was making sure to take in the surrounding area fully. She wanted to ensure the jury would be able to see what the neighbor saw.
As they walked through the gate, clearly shaken, the neighbor walked up to them and extended his hand to shake them. "It is bad, isn't it?" He asked Buzz without anyone in the group having the time to introduce themselves.
Jason Walkmire was a man in his late 30's with rugged good looks partnered with beautiful natural blond hair. He clearly worked out and had a boyish charm to him. Buzz thought to himself that Jason was the epitome of the California poster guy. Tonight, though, he was clearly shaken.
"Sir, my name is Detective Buzz Watson. This is Detective Amy Sykes. Myra is going to help us to record your statement for the courts. Sound good?" Buzz told him.
"Oh man, I'm sorry. My manners are gone. My name is Jason Walkmire. Is it bad?" He reiterated.
"No problem Mr. Walkmire. Yes sir, it is. Can you look into the camera and tell me exactly what happened? I want you to start at the time you came out to your pool." Buzz responded.
Jason did exactly as he was told. He looked into the camera and explained to Buzz that every night he comes out to his pool at 9 pm and sits in the hot tub for about 2 hours. He always brings a shot of his favorite whiskey with him and sipped on it for 2 hours to help relax him for bed. He continued that around 9:30pm the neighbors' house went dark. This was nothing new. It was generally when the family went to bed, so he thought nothing of it. About 10:30, he saw a young man approach the back door, jiggle a key in the lock and open the back door. He said he didn't hear the alarm go off that they normally set so he figured their oldest daughter, Katey, was getting lucky that night. He hadn't seen the young man around before, but he wasn't as close to Katey as much as he was the two younger ones, especially the baby Michela. He went onto explain that Rebecca McCoy, the mother, could be incredibly strict with all in the household, including the husband, Dr. Patrick McCoy, and that she was a woman who wanted the perfect image family.
He continued his story saying while in the pool, he heard what sounded like incredibly quiet firecrackers. He said if it wasn't paying attention, waiting for his evening entertainment of Rebecca flipping her shit at a boy being in Katey's room, he wouldn't have even heard them. While they weren't in quick succession, they weren't long awaited either. Buzz asked how many times Jason had heard the noise and he answered four. He continued that he then heard Rebecca yell out and figured the fight was about to begin, but it went quiet several minutes later.
Jason said that he then saw the young man slip out of the house and relock the door before running through the neighbor's yard. Jason closed saying that was the last he saw of the guy.
"Can you describe the young man?" Buzz asked.
"Not really well. I didn't see his face, but he was tall and wore all black." Jason told Buzz. "A pretty generic description" Buzz thought.
Jason continued that he didn't become alarmed until he saw smoke and fire coming from the back rooms of the house. He very quickly grabbed his phone to call the fire department and pulled out his hose that he happened to have around his pool due to cleaning the pool deck earlier in the day to try to curb the fire until the fire department got on scene. He said it wasn't much, but knew once the house was on fire, this went above a fifteen-year-old girl trying to get lucky with a crazy mother keeping a chastity belt around her waist. Buzz and Amy looked at each other. Both worked so in sync with one another that all they had to do was look at one another and each knew what the other was thinking. Mr. Walkmire's statement set off alarms. He and Amy wanted those alarms quieted in a much more formal interview room than talking with a guy in a bathrobe and speedo. Buzz found Jason's last statement odd and wanted to continue his questioning down at the station.
"Mr. Walkmire, would you mind if we continued our interview down at the station where we can be a bit more comfortable?" Buzz asked. "This interview seems like it is going to take a bit longer. It sounds like you saw a lot and can be helpful into what happened here tonight." Buzz responded. Little did Mr. Walkmire know that his comment about Katey just put him onto a suspect list.
End of Chapter