Josh Hancock Documentary Part 1 (2005)

I have paraphrased (or quoted, where important) the relevant statements made by people in "Part 1" of Josh Hancock's documentary:

Victoria Metcalfe:
Rumors of Sue soliciting and dealing drugs. Were these
rumors circulating before the murders, or after?

Zonita Seabolt: The night it happened, they wanted my daughter Paula to stay over, but I wouldn’t
let her stay. My kids didn’t belong over there. Why was
Sue insistent on young girls staying over that night?

Gary Wingate: Dana was premature and had developmental problems right into his teen years.

Dana Dorris: Dana promised not to hitchhike back to Keddie. Maybe they
didn’t hitch. Maybe someone they knew gave them a ride.

Sheila Sharp: At the time I went over to the Seabolts, I didn’t know where Tina was. She wanted
to stay over with the Seabolts, but Alysia and I wanted it to be just us older
girls. 

Zonita Seabolt: Tina and Sheila came over and Sheila was going to stay and Tina wanted to
stay and she stayed every Saturday night and so

Sheila Sharp: When I walked in the house that morning, what I saw was a person right at the door
with their hands and feet tied. I dropped all my—I guess I had sleeping bag, clothes—right
there, and ran back to the Seabolts. What happened to
those things?

Zonita Seabolt: She was back in just a few minutes and
she was just screaming and crying hysterically. She said, My God! There’s three
dead people in my house! And she didn’t know who they were. And I ran across
the street to the Albins and had them call the Sheriff. Did Sheila spend more than a few seconds in Cabin 28 that morning? How did
she know there was a dead person under the blankets? Did SHEILA cover her mom
with the blankets, after she checked the bedrooms? Sheila told Zonita she didn’t
know who the victims were? Why would Sheila think SOMEONE ELSE had been
murdered in her family home?

Sheila Sharp: One of the things I did see as well was [what I thought was a pocket knife.] What were the OTHER THINGS she saw?

Sheila Sharp: After the police were called, we then ran back next to my house [to the side window
where the boys were sleeping and got them out through the window.] I didn’t
want them to see what I saw.

Justin Eason: There’s a very good chance that I had witnessed something, whether it be the crime
itself, or the aftermath. The
morning after the crime occurred, after the police arrived, I was being
interviewed by Doug Thomas. He conducted the interview inside his patrol car, probably
because it was raining out…I kept saying, where is Tina? He was interrupted by
the mother saying listen to what this boy is telling you.

What “aftermath?” What happened AFTER the “crime itself?” No,
it was NOT raining in Keddie April 12. Police reports and newspaper weather
almanacs definitely state the weather was CLEAR. Shaver did all the onsite
interviews April 12. Don Davis had identified Sue’s body (Sue had short brown
hair, and Tina had long blond hair.) before 9:30, so there was no confusion
over who was dead. Justin probably told EVERYONE ELSE in town that Tina was
missing, but the police already knew by 9:30 at the latest. Was Marilyn present
when Thomas interviewed Justin on April 13 (the hypnosis session?) Justin is
clearly “remembering” the events of April 12 completely wrong.

Marilyn Eason Smartt: Justin kept saying over and over, No, that’s not Tina in there, Tina is
missing. He kept saying it over and over. Saying it to
whom? Don Davis had already identified Sue. So, Justin must have only been
telling OTHER PEOPLE that Tina was missing.

Tina’s teacher: I went looking for Tina. I drove down the canyon checking all the side roads. What canyon? What road? It seems as though at least some
people thought Tina had escaped the Sharp cabin and run away.

Mike Gamberg: Politics played a big role. We had a Sheriff who was trying to make a name for himself
and rather than relying on the expertise of the Department of Justice. Baloney. Thomas called the DOJ IMMEDIATELY and they sent two
evidence experts and two top investigators IMMEDIATELY. Furthermore, the DOJ
hired Thomas in June. Why would they do that if they thought he refused to
listen to their “expertise?” Shanks probably gave Thomas a shove out the door,
but that’s not the same thing as Thomas not cooperating with DOJ.

Mike Gamberg: Doug Thomas tried to do things himself. The ONLY thing
Thomas tried to do himself was—“hypnotize” Justin. That’s it.

Doug Thomas: Under hypnosis, Justin didn’t say that he saw anything…He had heard the noises, the
scuffles…he was probably peeking out from behind the bedroom door. We have the transcript of this hypnosis session already.

Marilyn Eason Smartt: When I saw the composites, I did see [Martin Smartt] in those composites, as
well as [Boubede.] Why didn’t Justin RECOGNIZE Martin,
if one of the men was Martin? How could Justin describe Martin and help the
sketch artist accurately draw a picture of Martin, but not recognize him? Ditto
for Boubede.

LaRhonda Meeks: Ifyou take the top half of one sketch and put it with the bottom half of the
other sketch…‘Nuff said. But when did LaRhonda suddenly
become interested in talking to anybody?

Doug Thomas: Martin Smartt lived just around the corner. Bo was a friend of his. They had met at the
VA hospital in Reno…people were suspicious of them. Johnny
Sharp was gone the exact same week that Martin had supposedly gone to Reno.

Marilyn Eason Smartt: Martin tried to get Sue to go to the bar with us…I asked, and she didn’t want
to go. So they were both upset about that. I did wake up. It had to have been
about 2:00 am or so. I saw them burning something in the woodburning stove. The ME apparently put the time of Dana’s death at
about 12:30 plus or minus [according to Stoy.] Multiple witness confirm that Martin and Bo could not have been at the
scene at that time period, as they were at the bar until closing time (2:00 am.) 

Glenna Meeks: [The Smartts supposedly spent the night of April 12 at the Meeks trailer in Quincy,
for some bizarre reason.] Marty had went to Reno the day after the murder, and
he had come home about 5:00 or 6:00 and he was real high on something. He kept
saying, I gotta go to Keddie, I gotta go to Keddie. And I’d say, Marty, you don’t need to go to

Marilyn Eason Smartt: [Police searched the Smartt Cabin] They found duct tape, Marty’s knives, the
noose, and some Hustler Magazines I didn’t even know existed. Noose? What noose?

Doug Thomas: Marty was always calling on the phone with little tidbits of information designed to
throw suspicion somewhere else. IF Doug Thomas had
already made up his mind that Martin was guilty, and therefore discounting any
and all information Martin was giving Thomas, then how do we know that Martin
wasn’t giving Thomas TRUE information about other suspects and Thomas just
ignored it??? Also, if Doug Thomas is admitting he thought Martin was probably guilty,
then how does that add up to Thomas COVERING UP for Martin?

Doug Thomas: Yes, there were several things that brought some suspicion to Tina. The fact that
the wires that were used to tie the boys came from the girls bedroom. In an
examination of the house, we learned that a shoebox school project was missing.
Sheila told Stoy that the family TOOLBOX was missing.
Do we really know if Tina’s shoebox project was missing? Several people mention
it, but was it missing? Thomas seems to think she did take it with her. At one
point, he slips up and starts to say “toolbox” and then corrects himself and
says “shoebox.”

Justin Eason: I believe it was two days after the murders occurred and this is a story that my
mother tells me. I was speaking with my brother [Casey} and I was telling him
some details or I was talking to him about the crime. If
Justin’s memory is that bad, then what value can we put on anything he has EVER
told ANYONE? And why did Josh cut out Justin’s version of this story, and use
Marilyn’s instead? Is Justin’s version different?

Marilyn Eason Smartt:
Casey and Justin were playing on the floor. I don’t remember what day. It was
just right after it, though. And I caught Justin saying, No, Casey, you have to
do it this way. And he was having Casey stab him because he was saying I have
to stop your arm. And he would grab his arm to stop him. And then, I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing, and Justin was saying, I have to protect Sue, I have
to protect Sue! And then Marty, he grabbed Justin, and he said, You will never
talk about this again! And then he took Justin outside and talked to him. And
Justin never said anything about it again…They took Justin’s tennis shoes and
they told me there was evidence he had walked through the scene in those tennis
shoes. Can we believe anything Marilyn says? Did police
really take Justin’s shoes for analysis? Why wouldn’t they?

EPILOGUE

Josh and Sheila were given access to the Keddie Room by which deputy? Who is that showing Sheila the Timeline? It's NOT Hagwood.