May 1, 2017, 2:19 p.m.
Case #75932.394.1
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTION OF POLICE INTERVIEW
—START PAGE 3—
| INVESTIGATOR: | Ms. Hart, may I ask your exact whereabouts between January 1 and February 3? You said you were living in a van? |
| HART: | How is that relevant to the case you’re investigating? |
| INVESTIGATOR: | This will go a lot faster if you stop asking questions and start answering them. |
| HART: | Whatever. I was in Mexico. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Were you there with Eric Thorn? |
| HART: | Why? |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Why, indeed. That’s what I’d like to ask you. You assisted Mr. Thorn in a fairly elaborate death hoax. Could you tell me the reason why? |
| HART: | I can get you a copy of the official press release if you like. I think it said Eric was suffering from exhaustion. Or maybe mental duress. Something like that. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Was that the truth? He faked his death because of exhaustion and mental duress? |
| HART: | Sure. I mean, if the media reported it, then it must be true. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | All right, Tessa. Let’s start over. Can you please walk us through exactly what transpired during the period of time that you and Eric Thorn went missing last winter? |
| HART: | We were just lying low, keeping our heads down. Eric needed a break, and I was in a position to help him. There’s not much more to it than that. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | What led to Eric’s decision to return? |
| HART: | Plumbing mostly. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | I’m sorry? |
| HART: | We both needed a shower. You try camping for a month in a VW van and tell me how you smell at the end of it. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Is that meant to be a joke, Ms. Hart? |
| HART: | Sorry. I’m deflecting. I do that when I’m nervous. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | There’s nothing to be nervous about. Just answer the questions. I’d like you to take a look at this photograph, if you don’t mind. |
| HART: | Where did you get that? |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Let the record show that Ms. Hart is viewing a photo taken with a cell phone camera in February 2017. Do you recognize this picture? |
| HART: | That was supposed to get deleted. How do you have that? |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Does this picture have anything to do with Eric’s reason for returning to the United States? |
| HART: | [unintelligible] |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Ms. Hart, could you speak up? |
| HART: | The picture… Yes. The picture had something to do with it. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | Have you ever seen this photograph before I showed it to you today? |
| HART: | Yes. |
| INVESTIGATOR: | And do you know the identity of the individual who took it? |