CW: I was driving my Grand Prix. JL: Same one that you had when . . . CW: Yeah.
JL: . . . you got arrested over there off Hammerly? CW: Uh huh.
JL: Do you remember when she pulled into the lot, did she pull into a regular space or did she pull in like, uh, did she illegally park or anything like that exactly where she parked?
CW: No, I don’t.
JL: And this man, do you remember where he came from?
CW: No, I never seen him. I just heard him.
JL: Is this what stopped you from stabbing her, when this man appeared or had you finished and were leaving, or when, when did he come into the picture?
CW: Ah, before I stabbed her.
TL: Was she fighting or struggling? CW: Yeah.
TL: You remember her saying anything at all? CW: No.
JL: What did you do then after you ran off? CW: I got in my car and left. Went home.
U/K: Went home, where were you living at this time, do you remember?
CW: I think I was staying in Eagle Lake.
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TL: Talking about the town of Eagle Lake? CW: Yeah.
JL: It’s kinda curious that these were on the same night and close together and that you were still in the area. After the first one happened, is there a particular reason that you stayed in that same area, did you, or why was it that you’re still in that area of town? Is that normal? Is that normal for you to stay around a scene or something like that to be able to go back and look to see what’s going on later or . . . CW: No.
JL: Was there any particular reason you were still in this same area of town so near the first one?
CW: No.
TL: Just for the record, how long was it from the first girl you stabbed ’til you stabbed this second girl? In a time span, you talking about what, an hour, thirty minutes, an hour-and-a-half, the best you can recollect?
CW: I don’t know. Maybe fifteen minutes.
TL: Fifteen minutes? Alright, is this, we’ve talked yesterday, now this one incident where there is two girls killed the same night, are there any other nights when you killed more than one girl? On the same night?
CW: No.
TL: This would be the only time? CW: Yeah.
The following text is the actual interrogation and confession by Coral Eugene Watts in regard to the murder of Phyllis Ellen Tamm:
Tom Ladd (TL): You said you remember another case? Coral Watts (CW): Yeah.
TL: Alright, which one is that? CW: The lady out joggin’.
TL: Lady out jogging. Alright, where was this? CW: It was over off Main.
TL: Off of Main?
CW: I think it was off . . . I don’t know. TL: Alright, tell me about it.
CW: I was driving down the street and I seen her. TL: What time of day or night was this?
CW: Um, think it was in the morning. Jim Ladd ( JL): Early in the morning? CW: Uh huh.
TL: Alright, what is she wearing?
CW: Some shorts and a thing around her neck and . . . TL: What kind of thing around her neck?
CW: Uh . . .
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TL: Speak up Coral.
CW: I don’t know what it is. It was a little cloth thing. TL: Like an elastic deal?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Alright, so she was jogging down Main Street and she had this around her neck, and it was early in the morning?
CW: Uh huh.
TL: Alright. Was this a white female? CW: Yeah.
TL: How old do you estimate her to be? CW: Um, about twenty-seven, twenty-eight.
TL: Do you remember what color hair she had? CW: Blonde, I believe.
TL: Dark blonde? Is that what you said? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear.
CW: Yeah. Blonde, dark blonde it was. Yeah.
TL: Alright, do you remember which way she was running?
CW: Away from Main.
TL: Okay. What happened? Were you driving when you saw her?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Alright, was it daylight? CW: Yeah.
TL: Alright, she’s jogging and you’re in your car? CW: Yeah.
TL: What car are you driving? CW: The Grand Prix.
TL: And you see her jogging and what happens? You pass her or tell me about it from the time you see her jogging.
CW: She was jogging and I went by and she had went down a street or something or other, that I couldn’t go down,
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so I went around and I couldn’t find her for a while. Then I see her going down a street. I don’t know what the name of the street was.
TL: Would you know it if you heard it? CW: No. I didn’t even look at the . . .
TL: Okay.
Unknown (U/K): What kind of street was it that you couldn’t go down? Why couldn’t you go down it?
CW: It was a one way street.
U/K: Did it have any bars or chain across so that you couldn’t turn in?
CW: I don’t think so.
U/K: Who do you know over there? What was down there that made you go by?
CW: Nothing. I was just driving.
TL: Alright, so you’re behind, you see her and you can’t go down the street, so you go down another street?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Then you come, do you circle around and come up behind her?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Alright, then what happened?
CW: I drive down the street and parked the car. And she was running down the side of the street and I ran up and grabbed her. And choked her.
TL: Okay, then what happened?
CW: Ah, then I choked her and I took a branch and broke it off. I took the thing and hung it up.
TL: Alright, now for the purpose of this tape, what’s her first name?
JL: Phyllis.
TL: Okay, for the purpose of this tape, Coral Watts has just told us about the murder of Phyllis Tamm. That was
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T-A-M-M. Okay, you broke the branch and you hung her on the branch?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Alright, how did you choke her? With your hands? CW: No, with the thing she had around her neck.
TL: Was it a . . . a slow choke or exactly how did you ma-nipulate that elastic device around her neck?
CW: Just took it and pulled it back. TL: Fast?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Did the young lady struggle at all? CW: Yeah.
TL: She did? CW: Uh huh.
TL: Did she say anything? CW: No.
TL: Alright, and you, when you hung her on the broken branch what position was she in when you left?
CW: Facing out towards the street. TL: Alright and where were her legs? CW: They were in front of her.
TL: Alright, were they under her or straight out? CW: Straight out, I think.
TL: Straight out. Alright, was . . . did she appear to be hung like in a standing position or in a sitting position? CW: Sitting.
TL: Alright, when you broke this branch . . . let’s see, why did you decide to hang her?
CW: No reason. I just hung her up there.
JL: How big was the branch that you broke? CW: I don’t know. About like that.
JL: Indicating, what, about an inch in diameter? CW: Yeah.
TL: Was this . . . the branch that you broke, was it
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from a tree or a bush, among many bushes or a single bush or a single tree or what?
CW: Bush.
TL: Among many or by itself ?
CW: I think it was with a whole lot of other ones. JL: You say there was a whole lot of bushes?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Do you feel like she was dead before you hung her? CW: No.
TL: Do you think that it was the actual hanging that caused her to die?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Did you have to support her weight while you hung her?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Was she . . . was she struggling at this time? CW: No.
TL: Was she moving at all? CW: A little.
TL: Like a twitch, jerking, was she trying to free herself from a . . . ?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Did she actually try to free herself from the thing around her neck?
CW: No.
TL: How did she act? Describe her actions.
CW: She just moved a little, lift her hand up to her neck and dropped it back down.
U/K: How big of a woman was this? CW: She was pretty big.
U/K: How tall was she?
CW: About right here on me.”
Ted Thomas (TT): Okay, to your nose? CW: Yeah.
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JL: How much do you think she weighed? CW: I don’t know.
TT: Was she slim? CW: No.
U/K: How would you describe her weight-wise? Slim, medium, heavy?
CW: A little heavy.
TL: Remember how she wore her hair? CW: No.
JL: You say she came up to your nose. Shows you to be about 5' 10'' so you imagine that she would probably be somewhere around 5' 6'' or so?
CW: Uh huh.
JL: That would be a fair estimate? CW: I guess so.
JL: Think back real carefully now. Kind of visualize when you first see her out jogging and try to think as hard as you can and tell me exactly what you remember she was wearing.
CW: I think it was some shorts and a jogging suit. JL: By “jogging suit,” what do you mean exactly?
CW: Jogging suit, you know, one of them cotton jogging suit(s).
JL: What color?
CW: White, I think, or gray. JL: Did it have a hood or not? CW: I don’t know.
TL: Are you referring to a sweatshirt? CW: Yeah.
TL: What about the pants?
CW: I’m not sure about the pants. All I know she had on some shorts and some pants, I think.
TL: What color shoes did she have on? CW: I don’t know.
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TL: Did she have on shoes? CW: Yeah.
TT: Did you take anything from her? CW: Yeah.
TT: What did you take?
CW: Um, she had some socks on her hands. TT: Socks on her hands?
CW: Yeah.
TT: What, for gloves? For warmth? CW: Yeah.
TT: And you took those socks? TL: What color socks were they?
CW: I’m not . . . I don’t know. I thought they were . . . TL: How did you . . .?
JL: Why did she have the socks on her? What was the weather like?
CW: Kinda cold.
JL: So we’re still talking about what [would] be in the winter or early spring or something?
CW: Uh huh.
TL: What did you do with the socks?
CW: I don’t . . . I believe I burned ’em. I’m not sure. TL: Why?
CW: Huh? TL: Why?
CW: Why what?
TL: Did you burn the socks? CW: To kill the spirit.
TL: You didn’t think that hanging her would accomplish that?
CW: No.
TL: Why did you hang her?
CW: It was easy to hang her, I guess. TL: It was easier?
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CW: Yeah.
TL: Do you think she was still alive when you hung her? CW: Yeah.
JL: Why did you kill this woman? CW: Cause she was evil.
JL: You see it in her eyes? CW: Yeah.
TL: Speak up! CW: Yes.
The following text is the actual interrogation and confession by Coral Eugene Watts in regard to the murder of Meg Fossi:
Jim Ladd ( JL): We were talking about the girl in the vehicle that you followed while driving out Main Street, remember that one?
Coral Watts (CW ): Yes.
Unknown (U/K ): Can you talk about it? JL: When, about how long ago was that? CW: About four or five months.
JL: Do you remember exactly when it happened or is that just sort of an estimate?
CW: About an estimate.
JL: There’s nothing that you can relate to it that would pin it down closer or anything?
CW: No.
Tom Ladd (TL): Alright, on that night do you remember what time of night it was? Was it before midnight or after midnight?
CW: Um, I think it was after midnight.
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TL: What were you doing that night? Just driving around?
CW: Yes.
TL: Alright, this particular girl, where did you first see her?
CW: Um, I’m not sure. I think I was on the street. TL: Was she driving the vehicle?
CW: Yes.
TL: Alright, what kind of vehicle was she driving? CW: A small blue car.
TL: Alright, what direction was she driving? CW: I don’t know.
TL: Was it towards . . . the freeway by the Astrodome, is that right?
CW: Okay, a . . . now what you talking about now? TL: The direction the girl was driving when you saw her? JL: First saw her.
CW: Oh, okay. I think we was mixed up a little. You was talking about one thing, I was talking about something else. Uh, she was driving down Main Street, the one you talking about.
TL: When you first saw her, she was already in her car driving?
CW: Yes.
TL: Alright, was she in a blue car? CW: Yes.
TL: Alright, she was driving down Main Street going in what direction?
CW: Towards the Astrodome.
TL: Alright, did she cross over that, cross underneath that freeway and continue going down Main?
CW: Yeah.
TL: Okay, how far do you think you followed her? CW: About a half, about a mile, half mile.
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TL: Alright, then what happened?
CW: Uh, she turned off on the little street and went down that a way.
U/K: Which way would she have turned? CW: Right.
TL: This way? CW: Right.
TL: Did she turn right off Main? CW: Uh huh.
TL: Alright, where she turned, was this a subdivision, a bunch of houses, or what?
CW: There was some houses.
TL: Okay, and you turned in behind her? CW: Yeah.
TL: Do you think she was aware you were following her?
CW: Mmmmm, I don’t know. I don’t think so. TL: Alright, then what happened?
CW: Uh, then she drove around the corner and went down about a half a block and I drove around the corner and parked at the corner. And when I got out the car another guy came around the corner and asked me if I knew how to get to some street or something or another. Then he drove off, cause I told him I didn’t know how to get there. And he stopped where she was and asked her something and I don’t know what it was, then he drove on off.