Bigelow: Yes, goddamnit. Where’s the doctor? This man is ill.
Dusenberry: Sid, stay with Anderson. Don’t let the doctor give him any drugs, and when you take him back to the tank, put him in handcuffs and leg manacles. Miss Wysoski, sign out your transcription at 14:26 hours.
Transcript of the second interrogation and formal statement of Ross Anderson. Conducted at Westchester County F.B.I. Headquarters, New Rochelle, New York. 21:30 hours, 9/8/83. Present: Ross Anderson; John Bigelow, Lt. Anderson’s legal counsel; Stanton J. Buckford, Chief Federal Prosecuting Attorney, Metropolitan New York District Office; Inspector Thomas Dusenberry, SA., John Mulhearn, S.A., Sidney Peak. This interrogation-statement was both tape-recorded and transcribed in shorthand by Kathryn Giles, Stenographer, Division 104, Westchester County Superior Court.
Inspector Dusenberry: Lieutenant Anderson, did the doctor who treated you for your fainting spell give you any mind-altering drugs?
Anderson: No.
Dusenberry: Have you been physically abused or threatened since our first session this afternoon?
Anderson: No.
Dusenberry: Have you conferred with your attorney during that time?
Anderson: Yes.
Dusenberry: Are you ready to make a statement?
Anderson: Yes.
Dusenberry: Mr Bigelow, have you discussed the matter of Lieutenant Anderson’s statement with Mr. Buckford?
John Bigelow: Yes, I have.
Dusenberry: Toward what end?
Bigelow: Toward the end of securing my client’s immunity from Kentucky, Iowa, South Carolina and Maryland murder indictments.
Dusenberry: But not potential Wisconsin indictments?
Bigelow: Wisconsin has no death penalty, Inspector. Two of the other states do.
Dusenberry: Mr. Buckford, do you have a statement to make?
Stanton J. Buckford: Yes, I do. I wanted a transcription of this plea-bargaining process, with federal agents as witnesses, in case controversy arises later on. I know only the barest outline of what Lieutenant Anderson has to say, but if his evidence is as powerful as Mr. Bigelow asserts, and if it results in other indictments, I would be willing to file on Lieutenant Anderson only with the Wisconsin and Federal Interstate Flight charges. As proof of your good faith, Mr. Bigelow, I will require a confession from Lieutenant Anderson beforehand, and should he confess, and should the Wisconsin judiciary hand down any sentence less severe than three consecutive life terms without possibility of parole, I will ask the judge presiding at the Flight trial to hand down that sentence. Do you understand, Mr. Bigelow?
Bigelow: Yes, Mr. Buckford. I do.
Buckford: Lieutenant Anderson, do you understand?
Anderson: Yes.
Bigelow: Make your statement, Ross.
Anderson: On December 16, 1978, I raped and murdered Gretchen Weymouth. On December 24, 1978, I raped and murdered Mary Coontz. On January 4, 1979, I raped and murdered Claire Kozol. On April 18, 1979, I raped and murdered Kristine Pasquale. On October 1, 1979, I raped and murdered Wilma Thurmann. On May 27, 1980, I raped and murdered Candice Tucker. On May 19, 1981, I raped and murdered Carol Neilton. This statement is made of my own free will.
Dusenberry: Jack, get him some water.
Bigelow: I want you to take your time with the rest of it, Ross.
Buckford: Are you ready to continue, Mr. Anderson?
Anderson: (Long pause) Yes.
Buckford: Then proceed.
Anderson: I didn’t kill Saul Malvin, and he didn’t commit suicide. Right after I killed Claire Kozol, I drove up the two-lane that parallels I-5. I saw a man check out Malvin’s abandoned Cadillac, then get into a van and slowly drive north. I tracked the vehicle by radar, and I got the feeling the man was looking for the driver of the Caddy, to rob him. I stayed six hundred yards in back, and when the van stopped, I stopped too, then found a perch on some rocks and looked at the van through my binoculars. After about five minutes I saw the man walk back out of the woods, carrying a revolver. He put the gun somewhere underneath the body of the van and kept driving north. I—
Dusenberry: Tell me the man’s name, Anderson.
Buckford: Let him tell it his way, Inspector.
Anderson: Just then I got word on my radio that the girl’s body was discovered, and that roadblocks were being set up on I-5. I stayed on the two-lane, and I saw the van approach the first roadblock on a curve. When the man was about two hundred yards from it, he pulled over and tossed something into the snow by the roadside. I waited while he went through the detaining procedure — you know, search of the van, warrant checks, escort to the Huyserville Station for a blood test and more questioning if he turned up the right type. When things quieted down at the roadblock, I cruised over to I-5 and looked for what the man had thrown out. It was (pause) torn-up pictures of a dead man lying in the snow. Look, I knew I wanted to meet this guy. I drove into Huyserville, found his van parked in the station lot and found a .357 mag in a hidey-hole attached to the undercarraige. I ended up confronting him, and we talked, and he told me he’d killed lots and lots of people, just to do it, and for money and credit cards, and—
Dusenberry: Tell me his name, Anderson. Please, Mr. Buckford, there’s a reason for this.
Buckford: Very well. The man’s name, Mr Anderson?
Anderson: Martin Plunkett. He’s—
Dusenberry: Motherfucking God. Plunkett’s the Shifter, Jack. He’s on the Aspen suspect list. Put him on the wire, now.
Agent Mulhearn: Jesus Fuck.
Buckford: Maintain yourselves, gentlemen. This is a federal document, and what in God’s name are you talking about?
Dusenberry: I don’t fuck — I don’t believe this. Plunkett is a long-term serial we’ve been tracking on paper for months. It’s too involved to go into, and I want more confirmation. Describe him, Anderson.
Anderson: Caucasian, 6'3", 210, dark brown hair, brown eyes.
Dusenberry: It’s him. Vehicle?
Anderson: He had a silver Dodge van back in ’79.
Dusenberry: When did you see him last?
Buckford: Let him finish his way.
Dusenberry: I’ll finish. You faked finding Malvin’s body and put Plunkett’s magnum in his hand so you’d have a fall guy for the girls and so your buddy wouldn’t be remembered as a transient and get tagged for the Malvin job, right?
Anderson: Right.
Buckford: Sit down, Inspector.
Dusenberry: Why, Anderson?
Anderson: What do you mean, ‘Why’?
Buckford: Sit down and be quiet. This is a federal document.
Dusenberry: Where is he, Anderson?
Anderson: I don’t know. It was a long time ago.
Dusenberry: You just beat the electric chair. Tell me, you fuck.
Buckford: Sit down, Dusenberry, now, or I’ll suspend you from this case. (Pause) There. That’s better. I don’t follow this offshoot, Mr. Anderson. Is the Inspector correct? Did you fake s suicide on this man Malvin so that Plunkett could escape?
Anderson: So we both could.
Buckford: Why? Plunkett, I mean.
Anderson: Because I liked his style.
Buckford: Have you seen him since then? Since 1979?
Anderson: No, he rode off into the sunset, like the Lone Ranger.
Buckford: Do you have any idea where he is now?
Anderson: I’m tired. I want to go to sleep. Plunkett and I were a one-night stand. I don’t know where he is, so leave me alone.
Buckford: Let’s wrap it up, then. Inspector, I’ll need to talk to you about this. I’m marking the end of this transcript at nine-fifteen P.M., September 8, 1983.