Wednesday, June 12, 2002
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Wednesday, June 12, 2002 |
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Watson's conflicting stories led investigator to believe him suspect By JOHN MUNFORD
As detectives searched his home collecting possible evidence of foul play after he reported his wife missing, Jim Watson was cooperative, according to two officials from the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Tommy Pope, who spoke to Watson when he called to inquire about filing a missing persons report on his wife Beverley, noted he sounded calm on the phone. Calm was the same word Maj. Bruce Jordan, the department's director of investigations, used to describe Watson's demeanor while he was interviewed at the couple's south Fayette home two days after Beverley Watson disappeared. But when Jim Watson was confronted with discrepancies from his accounts of the previous two days, "he turned and walked away" from Jordan, the top detective testified Monday. Moments before, Jordan testified that he asked Jim Watson about why he didn't look for his wife immediately after her disappearance. "He said, 'I don't do that,'" Jordan said. "I reminded him that he did it as recently as Friday night and he turned and walked away from me." Jordan was referring to two nights before Beverley Watson disappeared when the couple had an argument and Beverley left to go to a friend's house. That friend, Debbie White, previously testified that after Beverley left Jim had called looking for her. When Jim Watson walked away from that exchange with Jordan, the detective said that's when he first began to suspect him in his wife's murder. Jordan added that he shared that suspicion with Watson the next night. Jordan also used information from White to question Jim Watson while the couple's home was searched, he testified. White told him of an incident where Watson allegedly put a shotgun to her head, Jordan said. "His response was that Debbie White said that ... and she doesn't like me," Jordan said. "I hadn't told him about Debbie White (sharing that information)." Jordan said Jim Watson also told him that after the couple's argument "the doorbell rang" and sometime later he discovered that his wife had left the home. Watson also told Jordan that it wasn't unusual for his wife to leave the house after an argument, wait on the front porch for 10 to 15 minutes and then come back inside, the detective said. Watson's lead defense attorney, Lee Sexton, asked Jordan why the interview wasn't taped, particularly after Watson was "mirandized" (advised of his legal rights). Jordan replied that he didn't have a tape recorder on him because he had been called to the scene while out with his family, who dropped him off at the Sheriff's Department so he could catch a ride with a detective to the scene. In court Monday, another set of conflicting stories from Watson was revealed. Jordan testified that he asked Jim Watson if his wife was having a relationship with someone else and Watson told him, "No, she's not like that." But in a taped interview with a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent at his attorney's office a month after Beverley's disappearance, Jim Watson alleged she had several affairs during the course of her marriage. Watson also told Jordan that the evening his wife disappeared, he arranged for the couple's children to be away from the home "so he could talk to her alone," the detective testified. Jordan also explained how detectives noticed Watson had covered up scratches on his face with makeup the day they searched the Watson's home. As he was lit with an auxiliary light for a television interview, it showed something "caked" on his face. The jury was shown photos of Watson's face before and after the makeup was removed. The scratches were clearly more visible after the makeup was taken off. Lt. Keith McQuilken, who oversaw the collection of evidence at the scene, testified that although he didn't question Watson about the scratches, Watson told him that Beverley threw the keys at him during their argument hours before her disappearance. Apparently, sheriff's detectives were aggressive in following Watson after his wife's disappearance. Jordan said the department once put two radio transmitters on one of Watson's vehicles to track his whereabouts. The department also had a video camera aimed at Watson's residence from a house across the street that taped 24 hours a day, Jordan said. But attempts by detectives to shadow Watson in unmarked cars were unsuccessful, Jordan noted. "You couldn't really follow him without him knowing it," Jordan said. "He played games with us." Jordan said he only met Jim Watson once before Beverley Watson's disappearance, when Watson spoke to him at the post office. Watson said he was seeking his police officer's certification and asked to ride along with deputies, Jordan added. But on another occasion before Beverley Watson's disappearance, Jordan received a complaint about Watson from the Sheriff's Department's narcotics agents. "They said he said he was working undercover dope on Church Street (in Fayetteville)" for the Tri-Cities Narcotics squad, Jordan recalled. At the time, Watson was wearing a jacket that said "Police" on it but apparently didn't name a specific agency, Jordan said. "I called Tri-Cities Narcotics" to check out the story, Jordan said. "They laughed and told me he's not an agent he's a snitch."
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