First Police Interview

Charles Darnell Boney was unknown to the police and prosecutors in New Albany (with the exception of Stanley Faith) until his DNA was discovered on the sweatshirt on February 14, 2005. Three days later Boney was pulled over by Louisville Metro Police Officers in Louisville. The two primary Indiana investigators were present and Boney agreed to go to Indiana and speak with them. He later claimed that he didn't know why he was going to Indiana.

The first interview of Boney began in the late afternoon of February 17, 2005 and initially lasted approximately two hours. During that initial interview, Boney appeared to be cooperative and answered the questions put to him by the investigators. He denied any involved in the Camm murders and also acted surprised when told his "BACKBONE" sweatshirt was found at the crime scene.

Boney acknowledged that the sweatshirt was his. To deny that would have meant that a very large DOC sweatshirt, with his nickname and his DNA didn't belong to him. It would be difficult for anyone to believe that the sweatshirt wasn't his. Boney knew this and admitted that the sweatshirt was his. He claimed, however, that he got rid of the sweatshirt in July or August, 2000 after his mother, with whom he was staying, complained about his prison clothes. He claimed that he deposited the sweatshirt and other prison clothing in a Salvation Army clothes bin and only kept his prison boots. He didn't comment on why his mother was complaining of a sweatshirt in July or August, however, and the investigators didn't ask.

Boney claimed that he was unaware that the "BACKBONE" sweatshirt had been in the news, although it was extensively reported at the time in the newspapers and on television, particularly during Dave's first trial.

Boney also denied knowing David Camm. He did admit, however, that he knew two individuals associated with the case. He was proud of the fact that he knew former Prosecutor Stan Faith and told the investigators that Faith had taken care of Boney's child support problems and that he was a "friend of our family."

Boney commented about his relationship with Faith and a conversation they had (in 2004). Those comments were very revealing about the closeness between the two, "Yeah. It was uh…about uh…the Camm case…and while uh…we were having lunch from a court date that we had in Bloomington uh…he said something to the effect of he couldn't figure out how the phone company had messed up the times or whatever, there was like a time thing."

(As noted previously, the telephone records from the Camm house seemed to indicate that a call was made to a client of Dave's from the house at 7:19PM on the evening of the murders. The claim was therefore made that Dave was trying to reach a client and secure a sale while he waited at home in order to murder his family. The only problem with that was the fact that the call was made at 6:19PM with the phone company billing records falling prey to Indiana's mixed-up time zones. Faith and his original investigative team didn't contact the phone company for verification, but defense attorney Mike McDaniel did. He had a billing official from Verizon introduce the correct time as 6:19PM and the prosecution's theory that Dave was home at 7:19PM, in spite of the basketball eyewitnesses, was destroyed.

The Indiana Appeals Court even noted in their decision that the 7:19PM call was refuted; however, the "Fresh Eyes" investigation directed by Henderson later used that same 7:19PM call in their affidavit signed by Gary Gilbert and filed on March 9, 2005 against Camm; they later were forced to drop that contention when, yet again, another billing official testified that the accurate time of the call was in fact 6:19PM.)

Boney continued talking about his relationship with Faith, "And he was talking about some of the discrepancies, some of things that he knew that evidence could not uh….be refuted you know…some evidence is irrefutable and other evidence is…questionable or circumstantial you know and he was trying to teach me a few things about uh…what it's like to be lawyer and what all he went through to sacrifices that he made and…uh…some of the sacrifices that he made with his wife and things like that you know….and also losing the election. He felt that had, that situation not come about that he would have had a good chance to…to recapture the election again. He felt that the taxpayers had uh…used up too much of the monies and they held him accountable. He was talking about some of his personal feelings and some stuff that I won't discuss because that was you know just strictly between the two of us…as men cause I'm…I'm just not one to betray him like that you know. Having loose lips."

(Faith, a friend of Boney's mother, represented Boney in a Monroe County, Indiana court in early 2004 where he helped Boney out of a probation violation charge, stemming from the kidnapping charges, after Boney served but two months. At that time Faith pleaded for leniency for Boney, proclaiming that he had a job, a "very nice mother" and also that Boney was a "good citizen.")

Boney also acknowledged knowing Sean Clemons. Specifically, "And then of course Sean Clemons…State Police Officer, I went to school with him, high school, and we wrestled together…and we played football together. So those are the only two people that are involved in the case that I know of."

The prosecution later tried to make much of the fact that Boney also graduated in the same year as did Danny Camm, and thus tried to link him with Dave in that manner. They glossed over Boney bragging about his relationship with Faith and playing sports as a youth with Sean Clemons.

During that same first interview, Wayne Kessinger asked Boney about prison life. The following exchange took place:

Boney: "There's nothing they can't get inside prison...nothing. If the right people...all I'm saying is if, if the right people...which from your standpoint, the wrong people, the people you trust, turn dirty anything can get in that prison. How you think the drugs and stuff get in...it's obvious."

Kessinger: "Do you know of any guns in prison?"

Boney: "I've never seen one. Heard tales. But you can't believe anything you see, half of what you see and nothing you hear, is the ole saying."

Kessinger: "And the ole saying that you have never possessed a dirty gun?"

Boney: "No. And what, what is your definition of dirty gun?"

Kessinger: "You just gave me a definition of dirty in the penitentiary."

Boney: "Okay."

Kessinger: "So you give me your definition of a dirty gun."

Boney: "I've...I've never possessed a dirty gun in prison, nor have I possessed a weapon…whether it be a gun, rifle, bow and arrow, anything."

Kessinger: "A stolen weapon?"

Boney: "I've never stolen a weapon."

Kessinger: "Or uh...or a defaced weapon...serial number...scraped off?"

Boney: "No."

Kessinger: "Defaced firearm...one that they call untraceable?"

Boney: "No."

Boney was lying about being in possession of guns, stolen or otherwise. That should have been obvious to everyone and indeed, the defense investigation rapidly proved that he not only was in possession of guns but used guns to threaten and intimidate his estranged wife and others. Additionally, Boney's girlfriend and co-workers of his at Anderson Wood saw Boney in possession of a semi-automatic handgun which he kept in his backpack and also in the trunk of his car. Boney's wife also knew that he kept a hidden "kit" which included a handgun, masking tape and gloves.

What is important about the dialogue between Boney and Kessinger, however, is that it is the first time anyone mentioned the terms "dirty gun" or "untraceable." Those terms were used not by Boney but by Kessinger. Those terms would later become critical to the state's case against Camm.

Also, during that same interview, Kessinger posed the following question to Boney:

"Do you recall any spots like that on there, stains on there? Did you ever wrap anything in that...sweatshirt when you got home, did you ever wrap a weapon in it or anything like that?"

Incredibly enough, Kessinger was also the first person to speak about wrapping a weapon in the sweatshirt. Just like the terms "dirty gun" and "untraceable" Boney was given the idea of wrapping a gun in the sweatshirt from the police.

It's important to know a little about the personality of Charles Boney at this point. Trevor Smith, who was very close with Boney after Boney was released from prison, said that Boney could "read you like a book" and "tell you what you want to hear." He further said that Boney "will answer a question exactly how it is asked."

It's a small wonder that Boney later claimed, after being told that he faced the death penalty, that he gave David Camm an untraceable gun which was wrapped in his sweatshirt. If police investigators, particularly "Fresh Eyes" investigators, want to get an unvarnished and true story from an individual, they certainly don't "salt the mine" with answers that they, themselves, provide to a person who is willing and eager to explain away his intimate involvement in a crime.

During that first interview, Boney was quick to point out that his current best friend was ISP Trooper Wilbur Turner. He and Boney were also involved in the same sales venture with ISP Trooper Marsha Dodd.

The police never interviewed Turner but allowed him to write out his thoughts, over just two pages, about his friendship with Boney and the defense never received any reports indicating any interview of Dodd. That's not to say that either person had anything whatsoever to hide, but most investigators would want to conduct an interview of the best friend of a murder suspect, particularly if that best friend and another business associate were police officers. The "Fresh Eyes" investigators apparently didn't do what most police investigators would do in that regard, however.

Boney's bottom line was that Boney claimed that he was an innocent man and he didn't know how his sweatshirt got to the crime scene.