Audio Recording
SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: It's December 21 or 12/01/2022. SPEAKER_00: This is Detective Sergeant Mike Van Luven. SPEAKER_00: It is six p. SPEAKER_00: M. SPEAKER_00: I'm here with Detective Berts Alderson, and we'll be interviewing at Sigma Chi. SPEAKER_00: I will start just by kinda giving you a little background about the purpose of these interviews. SPEAKER_00: We call these victimology interviews, and I think I mentioned it on the phone a little bit. SPEAKER_00: But we're just trying to get a sense from you how you knew Ethan and or the other girls that were involved, and if you're aware of any problems they might have had, any motivation that somebody might have had to try to hurt them, the things like that. SPEAKER_00: So firstly, I guess, let's go back. SPEAKER_00: When did you first meet Ethan? SPEAKER_01: It would have been I saw him in during rush, but I didn't really meet him. SPEAKER_01: But it would have been big day. SPEAKER_01: I don't know the exact day, but that was last year because we've been in the house for two years well, last year, the full year and then this semester. SPEAKER_01: But it would have been on bid day. SPEAKER_01: That was a bit because they load us up from the lawn that's right next to the Arb Arb Lawn or the where it's right by Ken. SPEAKER_01: It's right by the Life Sciences Building. SPEAKER_01: Anyways, went there. SPEAKER_01: They drove us the trucks over here to Sigma Chi in the lodge, that was like they put all of the freshmen on stage, and then they just told us to introduce each other, and then we went straight over to the whites after that. SPEAKER_01: So that was my first interaction. SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: Um, and what what did you think of him? SPEAKER_01: He was dope. SPEAKER_01: He was definitely one of the popular like, you know, every group kinda has the guys that kinda stick out, and he was definitely one of the, like, the popular guys because, one, he was just tall. SPEAKER_01: I feel like that has something to do with it. SPEAKER_01: And then, um, just very, like, ex like, nice. SPEAKER_01: Like, he wasn't a person that's like, no. SPEAKER_01: You don't get to cum, like, trying to be, like, exclude people. SPEAKER_01: He was more of, like, you know, less party. SPEAKER_01: Like, everyone's welcome. SPEAKER_01: He's more than merry or that type of thing. SPEAKER_01: And SPEAKER_00: did he have a lot of friends? SPEAKER_00: Did he make a lot of friends here at the SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: Absolutely. SPEAKER_00: Did he have did he have problems with anybody here at the house? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: And I know you're prob you guys are probably tired of hearing that, but he's just he was just very well liked. SPEAKER_01: Like, Ethan and with other fraternities too. SPEAKER_01: Like, he was just friends with everyone. SPEAKER_01: And I know that that's not helpful, but it's just the truth. SPEAKER_01: Like, he I never I talked about it in my when I spoke at his memorial open that I, like, I've never seen him mad because he just wasn't, like, a controversial, like, person. SPEAKER_01: He was just, like, loving and welcoming, just like Xana, same way. SPEAKER_01: But I I've been racking my brain through my brain the past couple weeks trying to think of any sort of reason. SPEAKER_01: Nothing just makes sense. SPEAKER_01: It's just SPEAKER_00: Well and and just so just so you understand our thoughts about this. SPEAKER_00: From everything we know and everything we've seen, it appears that Ethan was killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this wasn't intended for him necessarily. SPEAKER_00: That's sort of the gist I'm getting. SPEAKER_00: But we don't know for sure. SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we don't want to put that out there. SPEAKER_00: But everyone's saying that they can't think of a reason why someone would do this targeting Ethan. SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that makes sense. SPEAKER_00: So but we still need to do this anyway because we need to get all this down. SPEAKER_00: How about family life? SPEAKER_00: Did he ever talk about his family or his past back home? SPEAKER_01: Not as much back home. SPEAKER_00: Did he ever talk about being in a physical altercation with anybody in the past? SPEAKER_00: Any fights or anything? SPEAKER_00: Yeah. SPEAKER_00: No. SPEAKER_00: No. SPEAKER_00: So he he wasn't a fighter? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: Looks like he like he was with his size, but, no, he was not a fighter. SPEAKER_00: So I understand that he was living in an apartment off campus because he was academic suspension from being able to live here. SPEAKER_00: How did you take that? SPEAKER_01: It bothered him, and, you know, he didn't like to show that it bothered him too much. SPEAKER_01: But, you know, we were talking here, and he'd spend a lot of time, I'd say, unless he rarely slept in his apartment. SPEAKER_01: But he would come over here during the day to hang out at my apartment. SPEAKER_01: He'd get down with his classes obviously, for being, you know, suspended academically. SPEAKER_01: So you come in here after class, play Xbox pretty much all day, and then you go to watch, like, Monday night football or we go to chapter. SPEAKER_01: But it it took a toll on them, like, because if you're academically suspended, you don't get out a little. SPEAKER_01: That really bothered him. SPEAKER_01: He hated that. SPEAKER_01: And then, like, brotherhoods and parties. SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm our risk man, so I wasn't in charge I'm in charge of the list and everything. SPEAKER_01: And he would ask me to, like, leave a window and screw for him so he could sneak in because with our bylaws, if you're, you know, suspended academic, you can't party with us. SPEAKER_01: You can't come to brotherhoods or anything. SPEAKER_01: Could he come to chapter? SPEAKER_01: He come to chapter. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: And he did come to chapter a lot. SPEAKER_01: He was definitely trying to burn back the the level of, like, respect amongst the older upperclassmen, I think. SPEAKER_00: But so he could come to chapter but not parties? SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: And, I mean, he still came in. SPEAKER_01: Like, people would let him in, you know, when some of the upperclassmen weren't there or whatever. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: Was he the only person that was academically suspended? SPEAKER_01: Were also the same way, and they chose to stay back in SPEAKER_00: Are they affiliated with that chapter or SPEAKER_01: no? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: You have to be, you know, deficient two seasons in a row to be academically suspended. SPEAKER_01: So I think he was the only one this year that besides you know, but they just chose to live at home. SPEAKER_01: K. SPEAKER_00: Is it SPEAKER_02: a straight GPA for that? SPEAKER_01: Above a two seven five. SPEAKER_01: If you fall below it, then you're deficient. SPEAKER_00: So the apartment that he rented off campus, do you know where that was? SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: It was I helped him put his AC unit in. SPEAKER_01: It's right over by my brother's place. SPEAKER_01: I don't know the exact address of it. SPEAKER_01: I helped the family move the move out of there today. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: I wanna be able to give you the street again, but I know how to, like, get there. SPEAKER_00: Can you just zoom in on it? SPEAKER_00: I'm the blue dot. SPEAKER_00: Somebody said it was over by seventy six. SPEAKER_01: Yes. SPEAKER_01: So let's see. SPEAKER_01: Cinema color. SPEAKER_01: First. SPEAKER_01: Think it was this one. SPEAKER_01: Is that the parking lot like this, dumpsters? SPEAKER_01: Just right there on the hill. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: So it would be not those ones. SPEAKER_01: It would have been this one. SPEAKER_01: 15. SPEAKER_00: This one here? SPEAKER_01: I think that one of those two. SPEAKER_01: I was just there today. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: Did he say if he ever had any problems with anybody over there that was living there as a hardness? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: He he actually would mention, like, funny stories about his his one neighbor to the right of him. SPEAKER_01: He would just be like, like, the dude will just be out in, like, PJs and whatever, blah blah blah, just posted up staring out there. SPEAKER_01: But he didn't he didn't really ever spend too much time there because we only I we only talked about it today. SPEAKER_01: I went over there to help him put his AC unit in, and that was during rush this year. SPEAKER_01: It was super odd. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: When you talked about the guy that was standing outside his neighbor, I mean, was that, like, the guy was weird? SPEAKER_00: Or SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: It was, like, a funny story. SPEAKER_01: Just like, oh, yeah. SPEAKER_01: That dude's dope. SPEAKER_01: Like, let's let's blah blah blah blah blah. SPEAKER_01: Okay. SPEAKER_01: But it was yeah. SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like, I'm worried about everything. SPEAKER_00: Do you ever talk about the homeless guy that lived in the van parked out in the street by that apartment? SPEAKER_00: No. SPEAKER_00: No? SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: How about how about other girls? SPEAKER_00: Has he besides Xana, was he involved with any other girls up here? SPEAKER_01: Involved as in SPEAKER_00: Romantically involved, pursuing other girls. SPEAKER_00: No. SPEAKER_00: No. SPEAKER_00: Stealing somebody's girlfriend. SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: Ethan and Zanima were, like, endgame, like, just perfect. SPEAKER_01: I would always ask him when he'd be playing video games. SPEAKER_01: You know, how are you and Zanima? SPEAKER_01: And it was always, like, just great. SPEAKER_01: And every time I saw them together, they were great. SPEAKER_01: Everyone else would say the same thing. SPEAKER_01: They were just, like I don't know. SPEAKER_01: They weren't, like, polar opposites, and I know people say opposites attract, but, like, they were, like, so much the same person, and it just worked for them. SPEAKER_01: Like, neither of them got upset. SPEAKER_01: Neither of them got mad. SPEAKER_01: They never fought over stupid things that I was told anyways. SPEAKER_01: Because every time I asked Ethan, he was like, yeah. SPEAKER_01: We're great. SPEAKER_01: K. SPEAKER_00: What did he do for work? SPEAKER_00: How did he do? SPEAKER_01: Ethan, we didn't talk too much about it. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: no issues as far as him making other any big unexplainable purchases Oh. SPEAKER_00: Having too much money, any issues with gambling, anything like that, online gambling, betting people money? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: He never was really one of the people that was betting, and the main purchases that Ethan was having were like Taco Bell. SPEAKER_01: Like, he I'm pretty sure there's still a Taco Bell wrapper over there, but eating out, Cordova, whole way when they go over the phone. SPEAKER_00: Is bag over here? SPEAKER_01: The bag. SPEAKER_00: Oh, the Taco Bell bag you SPEAKER_01: were just putting on? SPEAKER_01: I think it's not I think it's just the Taco Bell wrapper right there. SPEAKER_00: I was looking for a bag with a receipt in it so we could see how we paid. SPEAKER_00: Oh. SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: How about drugs? SPEAKER_00: Did he use any drugs besides alcohol? SPEAKER_01: I think he definitely would use Adderall as just kind of a way to help sober him up. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: What was his source of Adderall? SPEAKER_01: You know, he would always say he got it from Santa, and I think you know, because I don't know. SPEAKER_01: Personally, I've never done Adderall So I don't know who the dealers, so to say, are, but I know a lot of times if you, like, say, I got me an Like, we'd be over there partying, day drinking, or whatever. SPEAKER_01: And he'd be like, oh, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna take this Adderall, you know, like ten milligrams or whatever. SPEAKER_01: But I would say he had talked about cocaine, but I think that was something he tried last year. SPEAKER_01: And then he said he hated it because I was with Sam and Ethan earlier this year, and they we were talking about it, and they revoked just like it just overrated. SPEAKER_01: But I think besides alcohol, it was just don't know. SPEAKER_01: And then, obviously, nicotine. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_00: Did he smoke or chew or vapor with? SPEAKER_01: Vape. SPEAKER_01: And then SPEAKER_00: The co the cocaine use last year, was that just a one time thing? SPEAKER_01: I think it was just a one time. SPEAKER_01: Like, he was never a like, I don't he didn't even I didn't even know about it last year until he told me. SPEAKER_01: But and then, also, he did smoke marijuana occasionally, but he I would not call him, like, a marijuana user. SPEAKER_01: Like, he wasn't someone that, like, had a reputation of smoking. SPEAKER_00: Will smoking marijuana here at the hospital get you kicked out? SPEAKER_01: Will it? SPEAKER_01: Yes. SPEAKER_01: We had an incident last year with a member that we had a party, and they smoked in one of our apartments, and we dropped him. SPEAKER_01: We gave him a form 51. SPEAKER_00: When I was the proconsul here, we did the same thing with three members that had they bought a, like, a bag of marijuana in this apartment up here. SPEAKER_00: One of the guys brought it to us. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: So now are are you bored? SPEAKER_01: Like, we'll go do like, we'll do random checks Proconsul and consul will go around and do checks, and it's not weed as much as dab pens that they're looking for. SPEAKER_01: But, you know, that doesn't just like that. SPEAKER_01: So at least yeah. SPEAKER_00: Dab pens. SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: Vapes. SPEAKER_00: So you gotta be 21 to buy vapes now. SPEAKER_00: Right? SPEAKER_00: So Yeah. SPEAKER_00: Who was the source of vape pens? SPEAKER_01: Well, Ethan never really bought his own vape. SPEAKER_01: He would more so be like, I keep being here playing sitting in that chair playing video games. SPEAKER_01: So, alright. SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go steal Freshman's vape, like, while his game was loading. SPEAKER_01: But he did have them occasionally, and he always just would like, oh, Xanah has a vape. SPEAKER_01: And then you hit Xanah's vape. SPEAKER_02: So a bit about Mooch? SPEAKER_01: With vapes, anyways. SPEAKER_01: He he was not afraid to be like, and freshmen just throw vapes at you because, you know, it'll it's a good way to get in with something. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: Or SPEAKER_00: Okay. SPEAKER_00: What about past relationships? SPEAKER_00: Did he have did you ever talk about past relationships that maybe he had ended for some reason either with girls or with guys? SPEAKER_01: He I mean, occasionally, we talk about, like, old girlfriends and stuff, but it it wasn't it's not something that would be, like, oh, like, she had a sketchy family or whatever. SPEAKER_01: Like, they're always nice girls because I'm pretty sure he had a a pretty serious relationship in high school, but, you know, that was in high school, and him and Xana were doing so well. SPEAKER_01: So we never really focused on, like, old relationships, I guess. SPEAKER_00: Sometimes sometimes new boyfriends get jealous of old relationships, if that makes sense. SPEAKER_00: Like, if he had a serious relationship with someone in high school and he was, like, their first love and then that's gone and he's moved on to Xana and then that girl starts dating somebody else and his relationship with her becomes a thing in their relationship, then the new boyfriend can become resentful of that and think Okay. SPEAKER_00: That they wanna target somebody that's happened before. SPEAKER_00: So do you have a name of the person you dated in high school? SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't. SPEAKER_01: I could ask him and call you, but I not off the top of my head. SPEAKER_00: We'll just make note of it. SPEAKER_00: And if that's something we need to readdress, we will. SPEAKER_00: Did he have any medical issues you're aware of? SPEAKER_01: Not that I was aware of. SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_02: Are you aware of anybody that was really into to Xana? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of a hard question because, like, everyone loves everyone loves Xana. SPEAKER_01: Right. SPEAKER_00: Can I call you back in the middle of an interview? SPEAKER_02: Or I've talked to more of of her of anybody you like? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: I I I can't think of anyone. SPEAKER_01: She was I guess my point is, like, everyone was just so close with Dana and stuff, you know, with the hugging and everything that nothing ever nothing ever stood out. SPEAKER_01: That was, like, in in an intimate way, like, oh, like and Ethan never had any suspicions or or anything like that. SPEAKER_02: Had had Ethan and Zayn have been together essentially from the time y'all fledged, or SPEAKER_01: was that something that Okay. SPEAKER_01: So earlier that I think they were going on, like, ten it was either, like, seven or ten months. SPEAKER_01: I'm pretty sure. SPEAKER_01: They started dating second semester. SPEAKER_01: She littled littled Ethan, which I don't know. SPEAKER_01: It's like in Greek life, like, when I join the house, I get a a big Mhmm. SPEAKER_01: And they're just kinda like my mentor. SPEAKER_01: But when I'm a sophomore, I'm able to little, say, girls. SPEAKER_01: So if there's, like, a theta or a kappa, could be like and I really get along with her. SPEAKER_01: Could be like, oh, I'm gonna lil you because you're dope. SPEAKER_01: You know, you can be in my Greek fam, and then Greek fams will, like, make a group chat, have fam nights. SPEAKER_01: Like, I have one next week. SPEAKER_01: And they'll, like, kind of hang out and just pop party. SPEAKER_01: So Xana really liked Ethan last year just as, a person. SPEAKER_01: And then first semester, she littled him. SPEAKER_01: So then Ethan was Xana's littl. SPEAKER_01: And then they kinda, like, started, you know, hanging out a lot and dating. SPEAKER_01: Like, when they they started there was, like, ten nights where they, like, slept in the same bed and cuddled, and everyone would kinda give them a hard time because, like, when you little someone and, like, someone's your big, it's kinda, you know, a great family. SPEAKER_01: So there's kind of, like, the whole, like, incest joke, I guess. SPEAKER_01: So people were kinda giving them a hard time about it, and then they, like, started dating from that. SPEAKER_01: So she was just spending more time over here, and then they, you know, slowly just kinda realized that they had feelings for each other, I think, and then they got together. SPEAKER_02: And you're not aware of anyone prior to Ethan that Xana had a relationship with or somebody that was really into Xana? SPEAKER_01: No. SPEAKER_01: Well, not a relationship. SPEAKER_01: Like, I knew of people that, like, had hooked up with her the year prior and stuff. SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm pretty sure kinda had a thing with Santa for a while, but not in not in, like, a like, it was never like, oh my gosh. SPEAKER_01: So I'm getting upset about her or anything. SPEAKER_01: But SPEAKER_02: That's saying that you said that SPEAKER_01: Ethan and Darren still Peter. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: Peter. SPEAKER_01: He was one of Ethan's closest friends in the house too. SPEAKER_01: Like, he watched a lot of football in there, and they all kinda we're a big group. SPEAKER_00: That whole that whole thing you're describing about having a little that's a girl in another house and having a Greek family, that's all new. SPEAKER_01: Really? SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah. SPEAKER_00: But none of that none of that was SPEAKER_01: Did you guys as far as the same house, did you have a big or anything like that? SPEAKER_00: I had a big brother. SPEAKER_01: Oh. SPEAKER_01: Yeah. SPEAKER_01: But you weren't able to, like,