Investigators spoke to the victim’s co-workers about her life and state of mind before her death.
On Wednesday and Thursday, February 14-15, 2001, Detectives Murphy and Armstrong interviewed the staff at Southern Beauty hair salon, where the victim also worked.
The witness statements provided below are in summary and not verbatim and are representative of all interviews conducted.
Melanie Cardiff
544 N 9th, Oxford
Cardiff said she had known the victim since high school, although they weren’t that close. Cardiff said, “the whole town knew about her bad taste in men, that was no secret.”
When asked for more details, Cardiff said, “I don’t really know what was going on with her life recently, but I remember when she and Steve Kirby broke up in high school. There were a bunch of people who wondered if Steve wasn’t the father of that baby instead of Roger.”
When asked about the incident with the woman at the salon, Cardiff responded authoritatively. “Oh yeah,” she said, “that was Steve Kirby’s wife, Maureen. Her maiden name’s Silver.”
Cardiff said she doesn’t know the details about what the confrontation might have been about, but speculated that “it probably had something to do with Steve. Everyone knew that Maureen had to snare him, and he didn’t really love her. I’m sure she’s feeling insecure about Steve and Missy.”
When asked if she knew of any reason Maureen Kirby would be concerned about her husband’s recent relationship with the victim, Cardiff said she had not heard that Steve Kirby and Missy Hammond were involved again just prior to Hammond’s death, but “everyone always thought they would get back together one day.”
Stephanie Carr
500 Sisk Avenue, Oxford
Carr did not remember anything unusual in regards to the victim’s behavior prior to her death. Carr said she rarely ever talked to the victim and did not know much about her personal life, “beyond what you heard around the shop.”
Carr did remember a woman coming into the salon and demanding that the victim cut her hair. While Hammond was cutting the woman’s hair, the woman made loud comments which Carr remembered as “saying stuff like ‘Hussies should keep to their own men. Stay with the kind of trash they normally run around with and leave decent men alone.’ That kind of stuff.”
Carr did not know who the woman was but remembered that she was a walk-in customer and did not have an appointment.
Jenna McIntosh
1635 Oxford Place, Oxford
McIntosh said that the victim had not been acting weird or different in the days preceding her death.
“We often chatted in between customers,” said McIntosh, “and she always complained about her boyfriend, JP, and anything that might be going on with Roger. But that was pretty much all the time, nothing unusual about that.”
McIntosh did not remember any specific details about the victim’s interactions with Steve Kirby or any other men.
“We weren’t that close, you know,” she said, “We were friendly and all, but she wasn’t going to tell me anything that private.”
McIntosh referred to Dana Tonninger as the victim’s closest friend at the salon.
When asked about an incident involving a woman who came into the shop, apparently irate at the victim, McIntosh said that she must have been off work that particular day as she had no memory of such incident.
Lisa Prescott
625 Frontage Road, Oxford
Prescott corroborated much of what the other witnesses said but did not add anything different.
When asked about the phone call to the victim’s house on the day after the murder, Prescott said “I was just calling to say hi to her. I had been out of town and wanted to see if she could meet for lunch on Sunday.”
Prescott said she did not speak to Hammond and left a short message asking her to return the call, but did not hear back from her.
Carr, S
Stephanie Carr
500 Sisk Avenue, Oxford
Carr did not remember anything unusual in regards to the victim’s behavior prior to her death. Carr said she rarely ever talked to the victim and did not know much about her personal life, “beyond what you heard around the shop.”
Carr did remember a woman coming into the salon and demanding that the victim cut her hair. While Hammond was cutting the woman’s hair, the woman made loud comments which Carr remembered as “saying stuff like ‘Hussies should keep to their own men. Stay with the kind of trash they normally run around with and leave decent men alone.’ That kind of stuff.”
Carr did not know who the woman was but remembered that she was a walk-in customer and did not have an appointment.
McIntosh, J
Jenna McIntosh
1635 Oxford Place, Oxford
McIntosh said that the victim had not been acting weird or different in the days preceding her death.
“We often chatted in between customers,” said McIntosh, “and she always complained about her boyfriend, JP, and anything that might be going on with Roger. But that was pretty much all the time, nothing unusual about that.”
McIntosh did not remember any specific details about the victim’s interactions with Steve Kirby or any other men.
“We weren’t that close, you know,” she said, “We were friendly and all, but she wasn’t going to tell me anything that private.”
McIntosh referred to Dana Tonninger as the victim’s closest friend at the salon.
When asked about an incident involving a woman who came into the shop, apparently irate at the victim, McIntosh said that she must have been off work that particular day as she had no memory of such incident.
Prescott, L
Lisa Prescott
625 Frontage Road, Oxford
Prescott corroborated much of what the other witnesses said but did not add anything different.
When asked about the phone call to the victim’s house on the day after the murder, Prescott said “I was just calling to say hi to her. I had been out of town and wanted to see if she could meet for lunch on Sunday.”
Prescott said she did not speak to Hammond and left a short message asking her to return the call, but did not hear back from her.