Operator: What, what is your name sir?
MS: Michael Stroup, S T R O U P
Operator: Okay, give me just a second, okay?
MS: All right.
SL: It's Tobe Leazenby.
MS: Uh yes. This is Michael Stroup, I was calling about the interview?
SL: Yes Mr. Stroup, how are you sir?
MS: I'm doing fine, hope you're doing well.
SL: Oh yeah, hanging in there.
MS: Okay, uh, was, okay, the DNA evidence, uh, that was at the crimescene.. uh, was there DNA?
SL: I can't confirm or deny either way Mike, uhhhmm, that's.. that's one of those parts that's still part of the, the evidence process; I really can't speak to that.
Uhhmm, I know and I think, I may know, maybe not, umm, there was some confusion I know, when I went live with uh, uhh Fox59 there a couple weeks back; uhhh there was a lineup of questions that was presented to me all basically in the same sentence, and I know they included the word DNA, and what, what reply I was wanting to offer, actually, was that in evidence, excuse me, in essence, all evidence when asked the uh lab to actually uh fastrack or expedite that process so we could get results back, and that was the purpose of my statement.
Umm for what it's worth, I have uh, since received a, in person, umm, apology, uhh from an executive director, or producer I should say, uhh from the station, in regard to that, cuz they went back and reviewed their video and audio and discovered that I did not actually discuss DNA, they were the ones that initially prompted that, and I did not respond ehh, specifically, so I was addressing in regard to all, all physical evidence.
Umm, all crimescenes have some form, whether it be minute, all the way up to larger items, have physical evidence, and so um, to say that there's no evidence would, would not be a correct statement, so there is evidence, it's just our focus now is trying to get those lab results back.
MS: Okay. Alright. Yeah we got, it's been like 3 weeks, and I was kinda curious if there was DNA, cuz it seemed like that would've been back by now.
SL: Mmm hmmmm.
MS: Ya know.
SL: Yeah. Umm, the thing is, we're kinda, uhh, we're at the liberty of the, the labs involved; umm that's, obviously we have no, you know, in-house lab of our own, and so, umm, you know, we, we can't exactly call the shots, so to say that, you know, 'we want this back by Tuesday', that's not the way it works. And so we're kinda, we're on *their* timeline as far as that's concerned.
MS: Okay. Now if she had taken video, was there further video and audio than what we've been given.
SL: (Big breath). Again, I, I really can't speak to that because that's still something being evaluated with the investigation. Ummm, there, there is, you know, there was, video, but uh, you know, I, I think you can understand this, that obviously we, umm, feel, that, uh, whoever's responsible for this, they could very well be watching, themselves, and so it's kinda like, to a certain degree, uh, whether we wanna put it this way, but it's kinda like a game of poker, you don't wanna, you don't wanna, reveal your hand, so...
MS: Okay. Now in what way is the FBI helping with this case.
SL: (Big breath). Ummmm. Several, actually several avenues, and, and I guess I'll speak to the, you know from a federal agency standpoint, their resources are, you know, uh, far more than what we have at the local level, so, we have uh, have them on board mainly from the aspect of uh manpower, (big breath), and assisting us in going after and following up on the tips and leads that, that still pour in. And then um, also from a, um, I guess I'll say a, a forensics standpoint as well. So uh, there may be CSI aspects, so practically everything they can offer, they've offered, and, and uh, maybe not *every* aspect or every resource, but a good, good portion of what they have to offer, they've offered to us, and we've accepted obviously.
MS: Yeah. That's why I figured that the DNA could be back rather quick, if it was working through theirs, you know I figured that that would've taken a lot less than 3 weeks.
SL: Ye, ye, yeeaahh. Yeah. I follow what you're saying there, umm again it's just, you know, uhh, all aspects of the evidence that um we anticipated but it's also I guess, I'll also resort back to, umm, you know, we're going to end up, I feel confident we're going to end up in a court of law one of these days with this situation and for us to put too much of a rush on this, ehh, you know, like I've been saying, we're double crossing the T's and double dotting the I's, because it's, you know, you may or may not be aware of, in a court of law, if there's just one little spark of doubt that's claimed(??) in a court of law, we lose the case. And we don't want that.
MS: Okay. Now. On the crimescene, I don't know whether you can speak on that or not, but is there evidence that there could've been more than one suspect.
SL: (Big breath). Umm. (Pause). In relation to the crimescene itself, I um, again, I can't really speak to that. In general, over the whole situation, in that we.. can't, we don't specifically know whether or not, how many we may be involved with, that's why you keep hearing us say, 'the individual or individuals', umm, you know, as far as the evidence is concerned, you know, I really can't speak to anything in relation to that, but umm, you know, we're, we're still, because we *don't* know, at this stage, umm, we're using the plural and saying 'individuals' as well, because, we *believe*, we *lean* toward the single individual, that, that's pictured, but, it, you know, it's uh, it is quite possible there may have been more than one individual involved, so that's, that's still an avenue we're pursuing.
MS: Yeah. If I, if I was looking at a crimescene, you know, it seems that it would have been like one person, and there would've been another person in tow. You know, where you could've seen that there would've been more than one uh person, that's why I was asking on that.
SL: (Clears throat). Yeah.
MS: Now, do you think that he is from this locality.
SL: Another good question Mike. (Big breath). Umm. (Pause). Ya know, initially that's where we, obviously with most investigations, if, you know, the local focal point is not gaining us anything, that's, that's why the uh, the search is expanded, because at this stage nothing's really turning up that I'm aware of, at the, at the local level, so that's why it's expanded, you know, in essence, uh, nationwide, and uh, so that's why we reach out to people nationwide at this stage, to, to provide us with information, so, uhh (big breath), you know, again, I can't really speak to, obviously, you know, once we have someone in custody, um, we'll, we'll know, but at this stage it's uh, you know it's uh, it's a guess. Huh.
MS: Yeah. You know it happened like 2 miles up the street from my father's house, and when I seen it on Fox News I was like, wow, you know, that's really close(??)
SL: Whispers: Yeah.
MS: And I figured that, that an arrest would've been a couple days, I mean, off the top. Because I figured it was a local guy, local area, he knew the place..
SL: Right.
MS: He wouldn't have traveled just to that little spot.
SL: Yeah.
MS: So I figured with the picture, I might've known the guy. But I'd never seen him.
SL: Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Uhhmm that was the same obvious concept or thought process we had as well because um, you know, as I've (stumbles on words and says Excuse me) shared with other outlets, that we've had our share of, even double homicides, but they were elderly folks back in the 90s and it turned out to be, um, unfortunately, grandchildren involved in their deaths, and uh, so yeah, we were able to catch those pretty quick, but uh, umm, this one's just, it's, it's got a whole new, it's got a whole twist to it that, even I, as a 30 year veteran, have never seen.
MS: Hmm. Well that's about all the questions that I had. I just wanted to clear up, you know, what was goin on, and what if it's like you did have what(??) DNA and such.
SL: Yeah. Yeah. (Coughs). Pardon me.
MS: Go ahead sir.
SL: No, I was just, clearing my throat, I'm sorry.
MS: Okay. Well yeah. That's prety much it. I thank you for your time and uh, you know, God bless the families, uh, that are involved in this, and the community and I very much thank you for uh having this interview with me.
SL: Not a problem sir, have a good afternoon Mike.
MS: Bye.
