INVESTIGATIVE SUMMARY

80-0144vOl-74

JOEL POLSON

SPECIAL AGENT S. L. THOMPSON
5/13/7h

5/15/74

At approximately 9:15 a.m. Case Agent interviewed Miss Margaret McFadden
Harritt, w/f, DOB 8/25/56, #4 Ellen Drive, Sumter, S.C. Statement was taken
at the Columbia, S.C. Police Department in office of Captain H. T. Snipes.
Present during course of this interview were Captain H. T. Snipes, Sheriff Frank
Baker, White County Sheriff's Office, and Case Agent. Miss Harritt gave the
following statement.

wall, I met Joel about a month or two months ago when he came into the place
where I worked, Capri's, I worked as a waitress there and I talked to him a few
times and he told me about going on a trip and asked me would I want to go. I
didn't plan to then, so he just kept coming in to talk to me and I just got to
know him a little more, and the more he told me about the trip, I thought about
going. So I'd saved up some money and so I called my parents and I talked to them
about it and they said it seemed like a good idea, so I started planning to go.
So Joel made me a list of equipment and gave me some books to read and told me
everything he knew about it, and showed me all of his stuff, so we just kind of
talked to each other and hung around until he left, and he left about three weeks
before exams to hike the first forty miles of the trail. He was going to stay on
the trail and I was going to take a bus up there and met him, but a week before
we had exams, he came back and I didn't know he was coming. He came back and

stayed until we were ready to go, until I was through with exams. And, so, during



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exams he was there, and we were going to leave on Saturday, but I had to study for
an exam on Monday morning, so we went home to my house that weekend and came back to
Columbia with my brother-in-law at 8:00 o'clock on Monday morning and I went and
took my exams and we went and got our stuff together and we were going to hitchhike
to Atlanta instead of riding the bus and we got out on the Interstate and ended up
right in front of a sign that said, ?No Hitchhiking", so we decided to thumb back

to Columbia and got on the bus to Atlanta. So we took the bus and got in Atlanta
about 10:30 p.m. Monday night.

Agt. Thompson: Now, this was last Monday, a week ago today?

Miss Harritt: Right. And we got there at 10:30 and I called up some friends,
well, they are Nandamagras, because I know some people here in Columbia and they
let us stay at their house. We took the bus out there.

Agt. Thompson: Now, who are they?

Miss Harritt: The Nandamagras?

Agt. Thompson: Yeah.

Miss Harritt: They are more or less a group of people, they are into
meditation, and they are just really good people and they have a house there, the
Southeast Headquarters is in Atlanta, and they have a house and they just let
people come and stay, and they think, you know, that the people are all right.

Agt. Thompson: You know their address. Where is this house located?

Miss Harritt: I forget the name of the street. You can look it up under
Nandamagras in Atlanta. And so, we left in the morning and we took a bus to a

backpacking store in the mall and we met this couple that were looking around

the store and we got to talking to them and telling them about our trip, and
Joel wanted_some gaiters, some leg things to keep your legs dry, and they didn't
have them at that store but they had another one on the outside of Atlanta, and

this couple wanted to go there too, and they had a car and said we could go with

PAGES 3

them. So we Spent the afternoon just about with them. We went out to the store
and went into another store and looked around and Joel bought some things. And
50, the bus was leaving at four o'clock to Dahlonega, 0a., so we took the bus
there and we got to Dahlonega about 6:00 or 6:30 and there's an Amoco Station
in Dahlonega there, and Joel had already been there and talked to old person, an
old man named Bill, and he gives hikers rides up to the trail. He's been there
all his life and that's what he does. We gave him about $5.00 and it's about 30
miles up to the trail, and so he gave us a ride up to Tesnatee and so we got up
there and it was a mile and a half to the first shelter we went to, and the
1!:shelter is off of the trail, like, you hike a half a mile on the exact trail and
then there's a Sign that says the shelter is a mile down this mountain, and it
was getting dark. We were hiking in the dark cause we had to get there. Then
we went down to the shelter and there were two guys there in the tent, and we
didn't really talk to them. They'd been asleep, so we just went to sleep and
the next morning the two boys who were there, we talked to them for a little while.
They had been on the trail for five days and they said that they were tired of it.
One boy said he was going for the weekend to see a friend of his and the other
boy said he was going to Atlanta and we told them where the highway was at
Tesnatee Gap.

Agt. Thompson: Do you know their names?

Miss Merritt: I have no idea.

Agt. Thompson: No names were mentioned?

Miss Marritt: No. And so they left, right then. They said they were

leaving, so I assumed that they were because we didn't run into them again on

IV.-

Hawaii
(0134?

PAGE 4

the trail, so that morning we started hiking back to get on the trail and we
were coming around the corner and there was, well, first we just saw this one
man, the forest ranger, he had a chain saw and they just go around and chop the
trees down that have fallen across the trail and stuff like that, so we stopped.
Then two or three other men came along too and we talked to them there for a
little while. We wanted to get a book on edible plants, you know, so that we
could eat those, but they didn't have one and so, they went on and we went on.
And we were coming down the trail and crossed another little highway that's just
a little bit above the one from Tesnatee Gap and we passed this one couple who
was just sitting off, right off the trail, eating lunch and spoke to them and
went on across the highway. we went a little ways down the trail and stopped
and put some mole skin on my heel cause I was going to get a blister. Ani when
we were stopped, the young couple that we had seen eating lunch came walking along.
They were very nice. They were from Switzerland visiting the boy's brother some?
where. So we talked to them for a little while and they were going to go hiking.
They went walking in front of us. They were just taking a walk down the trail1
they didn't have any gear or anything. So they were in front of us for a good
ways. we walked, I guess about a mile and came to a kind of clearing, to a gap
on the mountain and they had stopped to take a rest and we stopped and ate lunch.
They went on back, you know, backtrack, so they could get back, and we went on.
We hiked until late afternoon and we came to Low Gap that night, I mean that
afternoon.

Agt. Thompson: About what time did you get into Low Gap?

Miss Merritt: Well, the sun was still up. That was our plan and it was
only five miles from the other shelter that we had spent the night the night

before. And so we came to there, and the trail stopped, I mean didn't stop, we

 x3

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stopped, and there was a sign that said the Shelter, Low Gap, was 150 yards, so
we hiked on down there and you have to walk into the stream, and there was this
man there and all I could see was that he had a blanket and a few other things
for hiking. We talked to him a little bit, and he said his name was Ralph, and
he asked us our names and said that he had been there for a couple of days and
he asked us had we seen any other hikers. He said he was supposed to meet two
guys. We said, yes, there were two boys back at the shelter we just came from.
He asked us what they looked like and we told him, and he said, "Oh, yeah, that's
them.? So Joel and I went down to the stream to wash up. we went down a liLLle
way and Joel had said that we'd left the guy back at the shelter and we'd left
our packs there, and he kind of looked back and he seemed a little worried and
he said he didn't know if he trusted that guy, that he was afraid maybe he?d just
take off with our packs right then, and so we washed up and went back, and just
stayed around, put up a clothesline and washed our clothes out. Then we just
built a fire and ate supper. I went to sleep fairly early, even before it got
dark and when I went to sleep, they had just built a fire and Joel was still up
and the man was still up. Before I'd gone to sleep, the man had gone to collect
firewoodI Joel had said that he thought the guy was all right. When I went to
sleep, well, that was Tuesday we were on the trail, and that was on Wednesday
night when I went to sleep. So when I woke up the next morning, Joel woke me

up and I didn't even see the sleeping bag down, and he seemed as if he'd been
awake a long time. We had decided to wait until we hiked up the next mountain
to get to the top and then we?d breakfast there and it was fairly early in the
morning, I think it was about 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock and so I just got out of my
sleeping bag and I was inside of the shelter towards the back and Joel - there's
a fireplace, there's one small one and it was just big rocks in a circle and

then there was a large one, and then there was a big rock in between it, and Joel

PAGE 6

saw him washing his face and then he went over to the fire, like he was going

to start a fire or something, and so I was putting my boots on and I wasn't
looking and then I heard this shot, it was very loud. My first thought was that,
see, we have bamboo staffs, and Joel had told me the first week that he had been
on the trail that he was holding it in the fire to get it brown and he said it
went off like a shotgun, so I thought he?d been doing that again. I wasn't
really thinking whether the fire was going or not, but I looked and I saw Joel
kind of folded over, crouched, and the tent was on the rock and he wasn't moving
at all. I looked, seen Joel, I had looked pass the guy, then the guy jumped into
the shelter where I was. I was already sitting on the floor, so he just told me
to turn over and be quiet. He tied my hands behind my back and got me to move
quick and the trail went down along the stream and there was a toilet there and
so he took me down that path, on past the toilet, and tied my legs - he put my
leg around a tree and than he tied my feet together and he told me not to yell or
scream or anything. Well, he asked me, ?Do I have to put a gag on you?? And I
said, So on the way down there I said, ?Would you move Joel off of the
fire so he won't get burned." Cause I didn't know if he was dead or not, and he
said, "Yes,? that that was what he was going to do. I also asked him if he
thought Joel was dead. And he said, ?No, he's just hurt.? He said it real
quickly and he was in very much of a panic, you know, cause he'd just shot him.

I think he just said that to keep me calm, I don't know. So he tied me up and
he went back, and I asked him what he was going to do with me, and he said he
didn't know. So he went back and I didn't know if he was going to come back and
get me, or what cause he was gone for about ten or fifteen minutes and I thought
maybe he'd just taken off and he was going to leave me in the woods, but then he

came back and untied me and took me up to the shelter and Joel was gone, and I

PAGE 7

asked him what he did with him, and he said he had got rid of him. And so I didn't
mention anything about Joel and he gave me some coffee and told me to eat because
I might have to be in the woods all day, that he still didn't know what he was
going to do with me. So, he was going through Joel's pack and asking me if he
had any money and I had a little change in my pocket that I gave him, and just
looking through his pack and trying to get things together around the shelter.

So we were there for about ten or fifteen minutes and then he said to pack my
pack up, and he was going to tie me up in the woods and he said he would leave a
note for the next people to, you know just leave a note that said I was on the
end of the trail and to go get me. So I packed my pack up and took it down there
and there's a mountain side and he said he didn't want to leave me right there
because I might fall over the mountain or something. So we walked on until we
found a log, you know, where I could sit on the ground and the log was right on
under my legs, and so I sat in some leaves and he put my pack down and covered

it up with leaves. My hands were tied and my legs were still tied around the
tree and he took - Joel had a hard, kind of like a safari hat that he had bought
in Atlanta - and so he filled this up with water and put the water beside me and
put my bag of cereal in my lap and said that I could lean over and drink water
and eat so that I wouldn't starve all day, cause he said, you know, that it could
be that somebody would come in an hour, or could be that they wouldn't come until
tomorrow. So he went back and I thought maybe he'd just leave a note, and I
didn't know what was going to happen. And he had set Joel's watch on the log
beside me, for what reason I don't know, it was just worse, because it seemed the
time was so slow. It was about fifteen minutes, he came walking back dOWn the

trail, and I thought the only reason he would come back would be to shoot me, but

 

PAGE 8

he came back and he said that he didn't want to leave me in the woods like that
because nobody might find me and I might die and he said he couldn't do that to
me. He said he couldn't leave me in the woods. He said I had a choice, if I
wanted to stay there, I could, and h0pe that somebody came and found me, or I
could pack with him out of the mountains until we came to the next highway and
he would let me go home. He hadn't figured out exactly what he would do when
we got there, but he said he would let me go home. And he said the reason he
didn't kill me was because I was a girl and he'd never killed a girl before and
that he had to do something to Joel because Joel was so big and he kept telling
me all the time that he hadn't meant to kill Joel, that he acted in such an
instant and kind of desPerate like, that anyway, he just kept telling me that he
didn't mean to kill him. The whole time I was very nervous about, I thought
maybe he'd change his mind and just kill me as he was bringing me down the
mountain, and he kept saying, ?Don't worry about that, if I'd wanted you dead I
would have shot you when I shot Joel.? So I said, ?Untie me, I'd rather pack
and get on the highway.? 80 we went back up to the shelter and got everything
together and left a few things there, but not very many.

Agt. Thompson: Where did you leave some things?

Miss Merritt: In the shelter. Just the ground cloth and the things that
he didn't want and I couldn't fit in my pack as the pack was already stuffed.
So, we left and started hiking. My father had given me a hat and he was going
to take it, and he took it, you know, and was going to put it in his pack, and
I said my father give it to me and he wanted it back and he said, ?Take it, take
it home to your father.? 80 we left and started hiking and he told me that if
we ever ran across any people on the trail that if I didn't stay calm and act
like we were just hikers, that he would have to kill me. That he would kill me
first and then he would have to kill the other peOple. So, of course, I did

everything right. I didn't say a word. So we hiked along the trail and we just

PAGE 9

took a lot of rest stops. He told me to set the pace and if I felt like I had to
rest, to rest, and drink water, and everything. So the first pe0ple we came
across, we came to a place where some peOple had camped and he had on Joel's pack
and it was real heavy and it was hurting his shoulders and he couldn't get the
hip belt right and he had to keep sitting down adjusting it, the hip belt. So
we sat down and took off our packs and ate some chocolate and rested, and he had
wanted some cigarettes, so we were'sitting there, and the exact same forest
rangers that me and Joel had come across the morning before, came walking along
the trail with the chainsaw, and another forest man. Apparently he thought that
the guy was Joel or didn't notice because they were talking to us and he said,
yeah, we saw ya'll yesterday.? I didn't understand how he thought he was
Joel, but you know I went along with it and I just didn't say much at all. So

we asked them where they were going, and they were going and they were going,
suPposedly down to Low Gap, or by there, but they had to be out of the trail by
something like 4:30. Somebody was coming to pick them up. we told them it was
about five or six or seven miles to the highway, and we asked them how far the
highway was in the direction we were heading in, and they said it was very far.
And I thought it would be like three days before we could get to the highway
because Joel and I, on the food we had just planned to take a week's supply of
food because he said that we'd pass a town in a week, and so it had only been two
days, so I figured it had to be a few more before we came to the next town. And
they said it was a real long ways so all that time that we were hiking I thought
I would have to stay in the woods with that guy. So, those guys want onI and we
went on, and we just hiked the whole time, and I talked to him, and he was trying
to make me be calm. I just kept looking, and he would walk beside me when the
trail was wide enough.and he would walk behind me whenever it wasn't, whenever it
was narrow, and we just kind of talked about kind of normal things, about music

or books or something. He told me that he thought maybe the FBI was looking for

PAGE 10

him. just mentioned it. He didn't say what for or anything He also told me
that - I asked him obviously he was running from something if he was that
deSperate to get a pack. He told me that the reason he had shot Joel was he had
to have the gear to pack through the woods. He told me that somebody had stolen
his sleeping bag and everything when he was in Dahlonega, Ga. So, we just want
on and I asked him what he was running from and he didn't say anything. He said
he'd been in and out of jail for a long time and said something about?being in
the pen. Then he told me - I asked him did he break out of jail or something, if
that was what he was running from, and he said, yeah. I said that must have taken
a lot of planning or something, and he said it did. So, we didn?t meet any other
peOple until we came to another shelter, Rocky Nob, I think was the next shelter.
Anyway, the next shelter which was a couple of miles, about five more miles from
Low Gap and we went there and stopped and rested and went down to the Spring and
filled up the canteens and go out the maps and we figured we were only a few miles
from the next highway because he had, Joel had been carrying Georgia and Virginia
maps, and my maps were from the north. So we looked at those and we figured we
were pretty close and we could probably make the highway that day, so we would
just go in there and get a motel and leave in the morning. So we were hiking on
towards the highway and we didn't step at the shelter very long and we passed an
old man and an old lady and their daughter, I suppose it was, and a dog, and we
stopped and just talked to them, and they said it was one mile to the highway and
it would be all down hill. He asked them if they had seen any people and they
said, no. So we just hiked on, we went on down the mountain. It took about an
hour to get down. So we came to the highway, it's Highway 75. Oh, and those
people, the old couple, told us that when we got to the highway, to go right and
we would go into Helen, 6a., which was about nine miles. We got down at the

highway and we sat there until we got a ride. This girl picked us up. Shesaid

PAGE 11

her name was Jody. She was going to some town in Clarkesville or something like
that to see if she could get a friend of hers out of jail on bond or something.
So she gave us a ride and she'd been in Helen just a few times and so she took us
to - we told her we had traveler's checks and no I.D., so we had to have some
money to get a motel, so she went to this place called Wurst House it's a
German eating place. We went in there and explained to the people that they
were young and they were very nice about it - we told them (it was just me) I
told them that I'd lost my I.D., could I cash a traveler's check for $20.00, so
we did, and we asked them for a good place to stay and they told us there was one
back down the road, so the girl that was giving us the ride, drove us over to the
motel. They gave us a room for $10.00 and we both went in. All this time, you
know, the guy had a gun, but he never was under a search. The fact that he had
it was enough to scare me where I didn't do anything because he had told me that
he would shoot me if I made any moves. So, I had to go everywhere with him, so
we both went in and he signed the register as Mr. and Mrs. Polson, and put Joel's
Hartsville address on it. He had stepped and looked at Joel's I.D. and he didn't
want to cash one of Joel's traveler's checks until he had practiced his writing,
Joel's handwriting, I think Joel was left-handed. So, we took my money, that I
had just cashed a check, and paid for the room. We just went in and turned on
the TV. He wanted to watch the news to see if they had found Joel. He was afraid
maybe those forest rangers had found the body. So, right beside the motel was a
place to eat and we got some beer and a bottle of wine and went back and just sat
in the room. We just unpacked the pack and was going through it, and turned on
the television and watched television. He didn't want to do anything, he didn't
ever try to touch me or do anything to me. I wanted to take a shower, so he just
sat in there with me. I don't know why. He thought I could get out the window
or something. He didn't watch me or anything. I just took a shower and went out.
I eventually went to sleep, and I think that he sat up all night. I was asleep, I

really tell. but he was Stil] {Jpnr f?n T.l?i" 

PAGE 12

when I woke up. I had said something about Joel's camera, that it was worth a
lot of money so could I take it, and he said I could go through Joel's pack and
take anything I wanted. I didn't really go through it much. I just got this
camera and a few things. So he said he still didn't know exactly what we'd do,
but he would get to a certain point and I could hitchhike home, or take a bus.

We got up the next morning and left, I think it was about 9:00 o'clock, and we
went to the same place where I'd cashed the traveler's check and they didn't

have any money in the register, so there was a gas station about two doors down,
so we went down there and he had practiced writing Joel's handwriting in the
room, so we went down there and they cashed one of the traveler's checks. So we
went back to the Hurst House place and got a cup of coffee and then we went down
to the bridge just down the road, and we walked past the bridge and we were going
to start hitchhiking to the next town. He had a map of Georgia and figured on
this one town we would head to, but these two boys picked us up and said they
were going to. well, whatever the next town is, I've forgotten the name, and they
said there was a bus station there, a Trailways bus station. The guy had told me
that I really should take a bus that because by myself, no telling who would pick
me up, or what they would do. And I thought I would feel a lot safer, myself, so
we hitchhiked and those two guys picked us up and took us to the next town and
took us up to the bus station. We went in there and the guy said - I told him

I needed to go to Columbia - and he said that there was - it was just a Trailway
Station. that I would have to go to Atlanta first and that would be way out of

my way. He said to go to Cornelia where there was a Greyhound Bus Station and
take it for there and then I wouldn't have to go through Atlanta, so he showed us

which road to get on and we walked down a little ways and started hitching again

PAGE 13

and these two, kind of old men, picked us up. One had on a hard hat and the other
guy said he was going to Cornelia. He let this other guy out. He knew a back way,
a short cut to Cornelia, and he let his friend out at his house. we went on and
so he took us up to the bus station and it had a sign that said. Gone to the doctor,
be back afternoon. It was about, I think 11:30 or 11:45, then. We rested for a
minute and put our packs on and went down to Lhe First National Bank right down
from the bus station. We went down there and I cashed a traveler's check, another
one. I don't think he cashed his there. No, he did, he did cash a check. He
cashed a traveler?s check the same tine I did. So we asked them where to go to
eat and they told us just around the corner. And we went and got something to
eat and we went back to the bus station and we just sat there for about an hour

or two hours until the guy came back, then, who was the man that ran the bus
station. So we went up there and went in and I told him I wanted to go to
Columbia and he said he couldn't take a traveler's check to pay for the thing. I
had $20.00 already because I'd just cashed a check, but the guy had said mayble

I should try to pay for the bus ticket with a traveler's check, so I would have
some money in case something happened. I paid for the bus ticket with the money
that I had just cashed the check for. It was about $10.00. And he bought a bus
ticket to Atlanta, $3.00 and something. we left our packs in there and said we
would be right back and we went down to the bank. I cashed one more traveler's
check and he cashed two. 30 that was all of Joel's money, all of the traveler's
checks. So we went back up to the bus station, and they were in a little folder
and he threw that away. So we waited on the bus, and his bus came first and it
was about 45 minutes late, and so he just got on the bus and left. He told me
before he left that if I had gong to the police right then and he got into Atlanta
bus station and there was people waiting for him that there would be a lot of

shooting and there would be a lot of innocent people killed. Said he had seen

PAGE 14

that happen before, that either if it was the FBI that was after him, that they
could come in shooting or that he would be shooting, or something. I was pretty
scared anyway, I didn't know what to do. My only thought at the time was to get
home and get away from him and get out of Georgia. So my bus came about ten
minutes later and I just sat in the bus station. I should have gone to the police
then, but I didn't know what to do. I was just kind of scared. So I got On the
bus and when I went to Greenville and changed busses and came to Columbia, and I
got here and I wanted to see somebody in my family and I called my brother, who
lives in Columbia, and he wasn't there, and I called my friend, Susan Baker, and
she wasn't there, and I called home and nobody was there, and I couldn't imagine
where they were. So I just called the police station and asked somebody to please
come pick me up that somebody had been killed in Georgia, and that I had to tell
them about it. So, Captain Snipes came and picked me up and we came here, and
told them about it. And that's about what happened. The things that he told me
about getting out of the pen and different things. I can remember but I can't
remember at what point. Some of the things I get confused on.

Agt. Thompson: Try to tell me everything that he said to you.

Miss Harritt: Well, mostly it was just about him being in and out of jail.
I asked him what he had first gotten in for and he said first it was for a stolen
car, and then for breaking and entering. That?s about as far as he went. And he
said he'd been in the pen. When I asked him what he was ranning from, he said he
had broken out a lot. I asked him did he break out of jail and he said, yeah.
He told me that he was born up north and that he?d lived out west a good bit, up
the mountains there, and he told me that he could - well, when me and Joel had
first come to the shelter that afternoon and were talking to him, we asked him

about edible plants and he said that he didn't know about any, that he couldn't

PAGE 15

recognize any here in the south, that he didn't know the woods here very well-
He said that up north and out west he could live in the woods for any amount of
time with just a pocket knife. He said he didn't have a home, that he'd been
living outside for a good many years, for a real long time. He had a dark tan
like he had been out in the sun a lot. He said he had been born up north, and I
asked him about his folks, and he said they were pretty old and they lived up
there. ?He didn't ever say where. Before he was leaving On the bus, I said that
I wondering where he was going and I said I doubted that he would really tell me
the truth. But he said, ?I'll tell you this much, I'll probably be heading up
north, or out west.? He told me about a lot of places he had been, like up in
Boston, he'd lived there, and he'd lived in Mexico City, and just a whole bunch
of places, had a bunch of different jobs.

Agt. Thompson: Tell me about the jobs and the places.

Miss Harritt: Well, the first thing I'm thinking about, he said one time
when he was in jail that they were making furniture that they would take the
furniture to different foundations and that they gave it to them, and there was
this one place he went to that he would always remember. It was a place for
mentally retarded children and he said he went in this one long room and there
was a bunch of cages, chicken wire cages, and there was little babies in it, and
they were all just kind of clawing the cages and all.

Agt. Thompson: Did he say where this was?

Miss Harritt: No, he just said that was when he was in jail, he did that.
He didn't ever say any names. He just kept saying something about out west and
up north and he stressed the fact that he couldn't really get along very well in
the woods down here and he had to get out of here, cause he couldn't move very

fas: here. And that's why he said he needed this pack. He knew the fact that I

PAGE 16

was going to the police and he even told me, you know. I asked him about mug
shots or something and he said, ?Well, you might have to look at some of them,

and they are kind of hard to identify.? He just talked normally about it because
he knew I would be going. He said he was probably really dumb to be letting me
live and letting me go, but he figured he'd have a little bi; of time to try and
get away. He had told me that - we were talking about religion - and he said

that he didn't believe in God or anything, but the only thing he didn't understand
was the fact why he kept trying to push and why he kept trying to live, and what
was the reason in it, but he kept doing it. well, he's an Aquarius, I know that
much.

?gt. Thompson: How do you know that?

Miss Harritt: I asked him. Noll, first he didn't want to tell me what
sign he was, because we'd been talking about it. And eventually he told me that.
He just kept talking about how he knew I was going to go to the police and that
he knew that they would be looking for a guy with a green pack. He didn't know
whether he'd get rid of it or not. He said he didn't know what he would do when
he got to Atlanta. That he could just as easily gotten off the bus there, you
know, gotten off the bus before he got to Atlanta. He knew, you know, that it
would be like two or three hours till he got to Atlanta and it would be several
before I got to Columbia. For some reason or other, he just figured I would not
say anything to the police until I got here. He also said he knew there would
be kidnapping on top of the other charges, cause I was going with him. He said
the fact that he gave me a choice whether to go or not wouldn't help when they
got him. He said he had written a book one time with this guy, with a friend of
his, but said it didn't sell very many c0pies and it was out of print now. He
didn't tell me what it was about or anything. He said he?d lived up in - he'd

been Lo Cambridge, which is right outside of Boston, cause I said I would like

PAGE 17

to go to New England. I was talking to him about what I would do when I got out
of there. You know, counting on the fact that he wouldn't kill me before I got
out. He said that Arlow Guthrie lived up around in there. He Said he knew him
personally.

agt. Thompson: Now who is Arlow Guthrie?

Miss Harritt: He's a folk singer, a famous guy. You know Wendy Guthrie
is his father, and we were talking about that, and he said woody Guthrie was about
his hero. You know, and he said he really like that kind of music.

Agt. Thompson: And he knew him personally?

Miss Harritt: He said he knew Arlow Guthrie.

Agt. Thompson: Do you believe that he knew him, from the conversation.

Miss Harritt: Well, you know, it seemed possible. He said he lived up there,
and I don't see any reason why he would try to impress me or anything, at that
point. I could have cared less whether he knew him or not, but the fact that he
told me, I just believed him. He had been to Mexico because he had told me about
the adobe houses and the way the people live down there. I asked him why didn't
he try and head out of the country if he wanted to get away without help, because
I didn't know much about any laws or anything and he said that that wouldn't help
him. I said, "You'll probably try and head out of Georgia." And he said he
didn't know whether Georgia still had capital punishment cause this would be
murder, and he said something about they could have an appeal to the courts, or
something, in special cases they would have capital punishment. I asked him if
he got out of Georgia, what would happen and he said they?d just bring him back.
That that wouldn?t make any difference. It was just strange that he knew the
whole time that it would be because of me that he would get caught, and all,

that he was still letting me go, that he just wanted that much more time to live,

PAGE 18

to try and get away, I don't know what his motive was or anything, but he was
unbelieveably kind to me, he really was, he kept being sure I had food, and I
rested when we were coming down the mountain, I rested as much as I wanted, and
he never really, I mean he didn?t hold his gun, you know, pointed at me or any-
thing. Just the fact that he had it, he knew that I was scared enough of that.
When he told me once when we were in the motel, or something like Lhat, that he
knew how nervous I was when we were coming through the mountains, that I thought
he was going to shoot me because I kept turning around to look at him, and he
said that at one point he almost gave me the gun so that I would know that he
wasn't going to shoot me. He said that he was really scared that I was going to
get so nervous Lhat 1 was going to slip off of the trail and fall down the side
of the mountain because much of it is pretty much a drop off on one side. I
just couldn?t hardly believe that.

Agt. Thompson: Hid you ever see the gun?

Miss Merritt: Oh, yes.

Agt. Thompson: What kind was it?

Miss Merritt: Well, it was a hand pistol and iL was kind of big. I think
there were six bullets in a gun like that because my brother asked me, he said it
could be a .22 or a .30 something. He said a .22 would sound more like a BB gun
and a 32 would sound really loud, and it was really loud. So, I knew it wasn?t
a .22.

Agt. Thompson: Was it chrome looking or was it blue, or what?

Miss Merritt: It was blue, it was dark and the handle was kind of big, and
he said that he had gotten it up north. He said it was a Saturday night special.
He said if you knew the right people at the right time, it was a kind of under
the table deal or something. He said it couldn't be traced, and I said, well

doesn't it have a serial number and he said, yeah, but it couldn't be traced. He

PAGE 19

said he got it in some bar up north. All the time he kept saying Lhat he didn't
want to kill Joel. The second time he tied me up in the woods, I said something
about him killingmme, and he said, ?You really dOn't have any reason to, I didn't
do anything to you.? and he said, ?Well, neither did Joel.? He said, don't
know what?s heaping me going. I'm going on desperation." I really believe that
he wasn't just a murderer. 1 mean, I don't think he aimed to kill Joel from the
very first. It might not be true, but just from talking to'him, he was just
really a kind person to me. He did say that he wished that he could have met me
under other circumstances, that if he hadn't been doing all this, then he could
really like me.

Agt. Thompson: Did he mention something to you about killing before?

Miss Merritt: I asked him if he had ever killed anybody before and he said
he had, it was like, he said it was around his own kind of people and he said it
was more or less a kind of a fight, or self-defense, or something, and he said
he'd never killed anybody like he killed Joel, just shooting him.

Agt. Thompson: Okay, now go ahead and tell us about anything else, any
conversations. Describe him to me, everything you can think of.

Miss Marritt: Okay, well, he was pretty small. He was only an inch or two
taller than I am.

Agt. Thompson: How tall are you?

Miss Marritt: and he was kind of thin. He had kind of light blondish
hair that came to about the back of his neck. He said at one time he had it down
his back, but he cut it short and it was real thin hair and it receded - his hair
receded like to there, it came down to here, but it was balding up here, and he
had a mustache, and no beard, and he wore glasses, that were dark colored glasses,

and he had a glasses case too, and he would take them on and off. You know he

PAGE 20

could see well enough to get on the trail. He would just put them on and off,
alternately. He had just - not a very large nose, straight, and his lips were
kind of thin, and his eyes were small, what you might call beady looking eyes.

Agt. Thompson: What color eyes?

Miss Merritt: I never looked. They could have been blue, I don't think
they were dark. I'm pretty sure they were light, kind of blue maybe. I didn't
even think to look into the color. He had strong looking shoulders, kind of
sturdy like.

Agt. Thompson: Did he ever talk about any type of athletics or sports or
anything?

Miss Merrittand Joel have any dope, you know. He

wanted to smoke some pot or something, and then we didn't have any

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;%2?gy7 END