Into the Abyss Page #3

on the ground.

The other body

was Jeremy Richardson.

From where we actually

found his body,

it was so dense with trees,

we couldn't even get into it.

I don't know

how he got into it.

We couldn't hardly even get into

it without taking machetes

and... and cutting back

some of the brush.

Jeremy, he ran

for some distance

while he was being shot at.

I don't know if it was 'cause

he heard the gunshots here

and got startled,

or if Jason pointed

the shotgun at him,

and he realized it

before he was actually shot,

and he took off running.

- Charles, you lost

your brother, Jeremy.

Do you remember the moment

when you heard about it?

- I was in Georgia,

and I got a phone call

from my aunt

saying for me to call home.

Something bad had happened.

I tried to call.

I didn't have no money

at the time,

and my phone wouldn't let me

call long distance,

so I tried to call collect,

and my grandpa hung up on me.

He didn't want to...

he didn't even want to pay

$2 to talk to me

to tell me my brother was dead.

I had to actually

get my aunt to call

and find out what was going on,

and then she called me back,

and my first thought was...

just because on the phone

she says,

"Do you know Jason Burkett?"

I said, "Yeah."

She said,

"Well, something's happened,

and your brother's dead,"

and, uh...

My... my first thought was,

you know,

Jason was just driving,

being stupid

the way he normally was

and had wrecked,

and then she told me no,

that Jason shot my brother

over a car.

I... I just fell out.

I fell out.

My uncle came

and picked me up, and, uh...

We just went driving around.

- And your father?

Where was he?

- He was in prison.

- How serious?

- Well, it was the first time

he was in jail for murder,

in prison for murder.

- Life sentence?

- Well, no.

He... he was doing

his 15 year sentence first,

and then he was out

for about a year,

and then he went

and got a life sentence,

and he's just getting out

after that.

- And you flew in

for the funeral?

- Yeah, I flew in

for the funeral.

The cops said I had jumped bond,

and the cops were there to...

to take me to jail

over my brother's...

Can I tell 'em

what it was for or...

I mean, would it be okay

to tell 'em,

you know, it was

a drug possession?

- So you took the jail time

for your brother,

and you were arrested?

- Yeah, at the funeral.

The cops came in there.

There was six cops came in

and identified me

and told me they were gonna

take me to jail right then.

I asked them, you know,

could I at least stay

for my brother's funeral.

- And the teardrops,

the tattoos,

what do they signify?

- I lost my...

my brother and my sister.

- Brother murdered.

Your sister,

what happened to her?

- She was coming to my house,

and she crossed the freeway,

and she got ran over by a car.

- Tell me about

your brother Jeremy.

Can you show us?

- Jeremy was... he was...

he was just the golden child.

He was a good kid,

trusted his friends.

He would get in trouble just...

just to...

to have that attention,

but he wouldn't

do nothing serious.

He would... he would never

do anything too serious.

He got in trouble for

making people laugh, you know,

talking during class, you know,

stuff like that.

He was a very sociable person.

Everybody loved him, and, uh...

Everybody said that

I was the one

that was supposed to be dead

before I was 21 and not Jeremy.

- And you loved him.

- Of course.

He was my...

he was my best friend.

He was my best friend

growing up.

He's all I had.

- You took care of him.

- I tried.

Turns out the only thing

I did was hurt him.

I introduced him to the people

that killed him.

He'd tell me all the time,

it was me and him

against the world.

I tell my wife

the same thing now.

It's just me and him

against the world.

- I believe from the time

that we got the initial call

until they were caught,

it was within a week.

It was, I believe,

five to seven days.

- And you arrived at the scene

where they were apprehended?

- Yes, sir.

- Can you describe?

Was it mayhem?

- Yes, sir, it was.

There was a truck stop...

actually, the truck stop's

not there any more,

but it was at the... kind of

the side parking lot

of a truck stop,

and there was

an abandoned warehouse,

and then on the other side

of that, an apartment complex,

so the entire scene spanned

from that parking lot

all the way well into

the apartment complex.

There was shotgun shells.

There was cartridge casings

where they had exchanged fire

with the officers

that were there.

There was wrecked vehicles,

and, I mean, there was

just people everywhere.

- And the police officer

was run over?

- Yes, sir, his leg.

There was a vehicle

wrecked out,

and all the glass

in the vehicle

had shattered

from the gunshots.

Burkett and Perry both sustained

gunshot wounds.

I believe Jason Burkett

was shot three times,

if I'm not mistaken,

and I'm not really certain

about Michael Perry,

but they... they both had wounds

from gunshots

and obviously glass cuts

and scrapes.

- So there was a wild,

hot pursuit,

and you were

in this wild chase.

Did you actually open fire

at them or...

- What had happened...

- I don't want to be

too indiscreet, but I think...

- Well, I can tell you.

I can tell you.

I pled guilty.

I've got 10 years done on

a 15 year sentence for it, so...

- I see, yeah.

- We were asleep.

We had been drinking

the night before.

We were sleeping in the car

because we couldn't

get to the motel,

which was on

the other side of a fence.

I don't remember this other guy

that was in the car with us.

I don't know

how he got with us.

I don't know his name.

I don't know anything

about him.

Michael Perry and me

were drinking,

and somehow this guy

got with us that night.

I remember getting woke up

and getting shot in the car.

I looked around.

Michael Perry

wasn't next to me.

It was some other kid

next to me,

but Perry was in the backseat,

and Perry tried to get

out of the car in the back,

and then he shut the door.

I started the truck,

and I went to flee,

and everybody says,

"You shouldn't have ran.

You shouldn't have ran."

I had just been shot,

and the only way for me

to not to get shot again

was to get out of there,

and I wasn't thinking clearly.

I didn't know about a murder.

I didn't know about

what they were looking...

I didn't know the extent.

I didn't even know

they knew who I was.

And when I drove off,

the officer was

right in front of me.

I drove to the right,

and he shot me through the door

right here in my arm.

- How badly were you wounded?

- I was shot right here.

- Can you show it higher for me?

- I was shot right here

in my wrist.

I was shot right here

in my hand, my finger.

I was shot right here.

I was shot right here,

and I was shot right here.

Right here, I had a piece

of the car door in my side.

- Still lodged in your side?

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