Interview with Michael Grimes Huss
Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
OCA# 07008349 (Homicide of Yana Huss) April 25, 2007
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: I know what perjury is.
DD: Could you explain that to me?
MH: Yes, it's -- it's lying under oath.
DD: Okay.
MH: It's about --
DD: That's correct.
MH: -- anything that you --
DD: Lying under oath, leaving out bits and pieces, any type of omission that may --
MH: Right.
DD: -- hinder my investigation. I want you to know that if I find you have knowingly lied to me, you can be charged with that.
MH: Correct, okay.
DD: Okay.
MH: Sure.
DD: Under Florida State Statute 117.10, I'm empowered to swear you in to take a sworn statement. Will you permit me to do so?
MH: Yes, sir.
DD: Raise your right hand for me. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give me will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
MH: Yes, I do.
DD: Okay. Um, what we're going to go ahead and do is, uh, we're -- we're talking about your brother, he is the suspect in regards to the Homicide of Yana Huss.
MH: Uh-huh.
DD: His wife at this time.
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: Right
DD: Um, what I'm gonna do -- we're gonna start out this morning. Kind of tell me how your day went up until the point to where we are now.
MH: Okay. Um, basically everything that happened today was -- I got up this morning, I called my mother at about 9:00 and asked her if she wanted to go to lunch. And she said, "Sure, let's go to lunch, and I'll be over there around 11:00." I said, "Okay." So I'll see her at 11:00. And, uh, she didn't show until about 11:15 -- just, you know -- okay, it's a little abnormal for mom 'cause she's always early and, uh, she got out of the car and we talked -- chat for a minute and she said, uh, "By the way, Peter's in the car." And I went, "Peter -- Peter, Peter?" I was thinking -- 'cause I don't know -- I don't know Peter and I've never really seen the boy. And, uh, I was kind of alarmed that Peter would be in the car. And she said, "yeah, he's, uh -- he was dropped off this morning at -- at the house." And I'm, like, "Really?" That's kind of strange.
I had noticed some stains on his shirt, didn't really think much of 'em, but we asked him and he said that they were blood stains and that, uh, he had told her -- he didn't tell me right away but he did in the --in the course of the conversation -- you know, going to the restaurant to eat. He did tell us that, uh, his mother was stabbed and, uh, that she was in the hospital. And, uh, we asked him, uh, who did it. And he said that there was a black man came in and stabbed her, and that's really all I got out if it is that the black man came in and stabbed her.
DD: Did he said that this occurred at this house -- or (unintelligible)?
MH: Yeah. He said he came, broke into their house and stabbed her. That's -- that's where it happened.
DD: Okay.
MH: And, uh, that's all that was said. And, uh, my mother also told me before we got in the car that she had called Scott after he had showed up at her house 'cause she had wondered what the heck he's doing at her house -- ' cause the boy told her that, uh, Max, a -- a friend of her -- a friend of the mother had dropped him off at mom's house. So evidentially somebody had brought him up just dropped him off at mom's house because he said it was the nearest close relative that could take care of him while his mother was getting better in the hospital.
And, uh, you know she called Scott and Scott said, "Uh, don't tell anyone, don't call anybody." And, uh, I don't know, he said something about the letter -- my mother doesn't believe it but I remember her telling me that there was a letter and she thought it might be in the suitcase ' cause there was a briefcase brought up here. And I said
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: what I need to do is read the letter, you know, we need to go back and read that letter. But we proceeded to go eat lunch 'cause she said Scott said, "Don't do anything, don't call anybody, don't do anything." And we just thought, you know, that the wife had just been stabbed possibly and in the hospital. I didn't -- I didn't really think anything bad -- really bad --
DD: Yeah.
MH: -- about it. I mean, I thought Scott was going to take care of it maybe, or -- or something, I didn't know, but, eh --
DD: Well let me ask you this. What -- did she -- did your mom tell you what time Peter showed up in her yard?
MH: 11:00 -- maybe a -- maybe five minutes 'til 11:00 -- right around 11:00-ish because she called him -- I guess she called Scott around 11:05 or something like that and she showed up at my house at 11:15 and it's a five minutes drive to my house -- five or ten minutes drive to my house.
DD: Okay.
MH: So all this transpired. She came over to my house right after he showed up -- she was walking out the door actually to come to my house when she saw Peter walking in the yard.
DD: Okay.
MH: So that's how, you know it happened really quickly. Uh, probably after we ate lunch -- we went and had a good lunch, everything was fine. Peter was telling us, you know how he likes Russian salad and stuff. We were eating salad, we were having fun and -
DD: I know this is kind of a silly question. Where did you guys eat lunch at?
MH: We ate at, uh, on 436 at a place called Steak in the City. It's only been open for a week, it's a brand new restaurant, I was going to go there because it was an old Mexican restaurant -- I thought we were gonna eat Mexican.
DD: Uh-huh.
MH: We go there and it's changed -- it's a brand new restaurant, it's only a week old. So they, you know, they -- "Oh, it's a grand opening, let's go in." So we went in and had a great lunch. And the boy got comfortable with us, I guess, he got more comfortable and, uh, we drove back to my house -- 'cause mom was gonna drop me off, 'cause she came over and picked me up we were gonna -- she dropped me off at home. And, uh,
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: this was one o'clock -- I remember right at one o'clock. And the boy was sitting in the passenger seat and my mom was sitting there and I was outside the door saying bye to 'em outside -- right outside her window.
And the little boy said, "My mom is dead." And I looked in and went, "What?" And he said, "My mom is dead." And, uh, my mother looked at him and he starts crying, you know, and is, like, he went from telling us he -- she was stabbed in the hospital to he's dead. And I'm, like, "Oh, my gosh." You know -- I said -- I looked at mom and said, "This is kind of serious, you know."
She said, "Well, I need to go to Wal-Mart and get him a shirt. 'Cause he's got blood all over him, he smells and he's stinky." So she went to Wal-Mart and got him a shirt and went home and -- Wal- Mart's not far so she went to Wal-Mart it's a ten minute drive. She went to Wal-Mart, got home and it was about two o'clock. This is about an hour transpired between one and two. She called me up and said, "Mike, I'm coming -- I've got the letter here. It's ten pages long." She starts reading -- she read the first page to me, she said, "Mike, I can't read it all, can you get over here?" So I was over there by -- she finished reading it to me about 2:15 or so, I was at here about 2:20 - 2:25, I was here at her house.
DD: Okay.
MH: And I read the entire letter and I said, "Mom, we gotta call the police. This is a suicide note or something." This is a very strange, you know, 'cause it stipulated where to put money. I mean, I read it all, I read the whole letter and it said, uh, you know, what to do, you know, with all his money or all assets. He told about me and how much money to give us, you know, and how much money to give these and this and I'm thinking, you know, what is it -- what do you mean. How much money to give everybody? He's gonna kill himself or he's gonna do something bad, that's what we thought, you know.
DD: Yeah.
MH: So I called a friend of mine from Orange County -- Orange County Police Department -- a good buddy of mine. And I said, "Carlos, what - what should I do?" And he said, "You need to call Port Charlotte Police Department first and then you need to report to Longwood Police Department, probably." He said, "They'll probably tell you at Port Charlotte what to do." So I called you right away -- this was 2:35 or 2:40, I'm not sure exactly right -- I lose track of time but it was -- had to be right in that time.
DD: Okay.
MH: And, uh, and I reported everything, I said, "Hey, you know, I -- I think there's a Homicide." I mean, I don't remember what I said, exactly, I -- I said, "There -- I think something might have gone on at such and such address because we have a little boy
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: up here who was covered in blood, had blood all over his shirt. And he claims that his mother was stabbed. And that's all. And then he said she's dead, but I -- I don't if she's dead, I don't know, it's hard to believe an eight year old, you know. I don't know if he's telling the truth, or what, you know."
DD: Now did -- did you have an address for them?
MH: Yeah, we did.
DD: Okay.
MH: 'Cause mom had -- had pulled out all of this stuff out a book -- suitcase, you know --
DD: Okay.
MH: -- the letter we read and then there's some documentation about a, uh, a storage shed that, uh, Scott, I guess had rented a storage unit and stored some items in it, you know, a TV and some stuff like that he had stored in this storage unit. And it had the address of the home on this contract, you know.
DD: Okay.
MH: So I read the contract, I read the address to him -- 'cause I didn't know the address, mom didn't know it either 'cause neither -- neither one of us have ever been to their house ever.
DD: Okay.
MH: And, uh, mom, uh -- no, then I told him the address, where it was. And they said, "Okay. We'll dispatch somebody out there and go look at it and, um, meanwhile you need to call your local police department and tell 'em." So I said, "All right -- All right." So I hung up and I called Longwood Police Department, told them the whole story, they were here in five minutes, you know, 'cause they're right -- I mean, it's a small town, they were here right away and they, uh, proceeded and interviewing and talking -- telling -- basically asking the same questions, you know, that I'm answering now. Told me to tell him the whole story of what had went on. And I think I did a better job with you than I did with the other guy 'cause I think -- I think I told you every single thing that happened. --
DD: Okay.
MH: -- exactly to the T. And the only difference is me and mom have is whenever I talked to her earlier she said, "You know, we didn't know about the letter until, you know, until two o'clock or something." And I said, "Mom, you told me about this letter when
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: you came over at eleven o'clock, 'cause she did tell me about the letter. She said, "There's a letter." And that's when I told her at lunch, I said, "Mom, you need to go home and read that letter because it might be important." And -- but --
DD: Yeah.
MH: -- you know, we didn't read it until two so that's why we waited -- that's why we didn't call anybody 'cause there really wasn't a super concern in our book that there was anything really wrong done. I mean -
DD: Now -- now while you were here at the house with your mother between -- up until the 2 -- 2:30 -- 2:40 when you called sheriff's office --
MH: Right.
DD: Did Scott call the house or anything like that within that time frame?
MH: No. I don't remember him calling in that time frame.
DD: Had your --
MH: Wasn't long afterwards that he did call though.
DD: Did your mom had called him earlier this morning?
MH: At 11:00 or 11:05, she talked to him and that's when he told her, "Do not tell anybody, do not call anybody, uh, um, I will talk to you tomorrow." I think is what he told her. He definitely said that.
DD: Uh-huh.
MH: But he's called her two or three times since then.
DD: Okay.
MH: He has talking to her today. I know he's talked to her a couple of more times. And he actually called me and talked to me (unintelligible).
DD: Now do you know what -- do you know what their conversation contained when he called and spoke to your mom earlier?
MH: Oh yeah. She told me everything. And I'll try to remember everything. He told her that, uh, something bad is gonna happen, she -- he said that six o'clock today, uh, Debbie at the daycare center is gonna call Yana to try and get Katrina picked up and then
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: she's gonna not get her and then she's gonna call the police and then within thirty minutes or so, shit's gonna hit the fan -- something's gonna end up happening.
DD: Okay.
MH: Evidently he, you know -- insinuated that something happened at the house that he knew about, possibly that they're gonna find something that they shouldn't find or something, I don't know.
DD: Yeah.
MH: And then he said, "And tomorrow shit's really gonna hit the fan in Port Charlotte." Whatever that means, that's tomorrow.
DD: Okay. So he -- meaning the 26th?
MH: Right, Meaning the 26th.
DD: Today's the 25th.
MH: Exactly.
DD: Okay.
MH: Kind of what he meant in that conversation. He talked to her again later and, uh, let me see. I don't think he really said much, he did say something about sending her a package in the mail tomorrow.
DD: Okay. (Unintelligible).
MH: And I think that's then end. Yeah, she -- he's gonna send her a package tomorrow in the mail.
DD: Okay.
MH: And I don't know what's gonna be in the package but he did say he's gonna send her a package in the mail. And he even reiterated that in an email. He told her, make sure you email, "This is nothing" he told her at that situation -- same time. He said, "Make sure you email me 'cause I need your email address to -- to give some more instructions."
DD: Okay.
MH: He said, "Please follow the instructions." So he's got -- I guess he's planned out some
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: stuff and he's got some instructions he wants her to follow.
DD: Okay.
MH: About what to disperse and do with, you know.
DD: All right. And then, uh, that other time and this is while we were here, um --
MH: Right
DD: He had called.
MH: He called me again about nine it around nine o'clock or so. Uh, and uh, just didn't know it was me and he thought - he expected mom to answer the phone 'cause this is at mom's house at -- at nine o'clock at night and I'm never here usually so, uh, I said, "Hello, this is Mike." And all of a sudden I hear somebody say, "Mike?" And I'm thinking -- it sounded like Scott, you know, 'cause I haven't talked to him in five years so I -- I really --
DD: Uh-huh.
MH: -- you know, didn't really know for sure but I kind of got his voice 'cause I mean you don't forget your brother's voice. And he just went on to telling me that, uh, something grave has happened here -- or has happened, I don't know if he said here but something grave has happened today. And I'm, like, "Really, what?" And he said, "Uh, my wife was killed." And I'm playing it like I have no idea that anything is going on. I said, "No. what?" And he said, "Yeah. My wife is dead." And I said, "Wow, How -- how did that happen, you know?" And I said, "Well?" And then he went on to tell me about drinking at a bar with these four buddies and he spills his guts about telling him how this Russian came over and she, you know, he said, "You know Mike, I married this bitch a few years ago." Sorry for my language.
DD: No - No. Please.
MH: That's exactly what he said. And, uh, she, uh -- came to this country and wanted to screw me over, take my house, take this, do this. she had me arrested four or five times. I mean, He kept telling me all these bad things that happened. Which I knew a lot about it, 'cause my mothers told me and, uh, you know, that I - spilt my guts to these four guys drinking one night at a bar and, uh, they asked me where my address was and they asked me such and such, they asked me all about where I live and all this stuff. And, you know, I really think - -I think of these four guys went over to my house and killed her. That's what he told me. So I'm, like, "Really?" You know, and he said, "Yeah." He said, "Yeah." He said -- I said, "How do you know that?" He said, "Well, they asked me all these questions and, you know."
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
MH: And I said -- I asked him where he was. And he said, "I'm far, far away in a hotel." He said, "And I'm not gonna got back to Port Charlotte, I'll probably never go back to Port Charlotte." And he said, "they're gonna try and pin this rap on me, I know, because she filed for divorce yesterday and, uh, and now she's dead and they're gonna try and pin it on me because I've been in jail so many times and she's had me, you know, put in jail. And, I -- I'm not gonna go to jail for this." He said, "I'm not gonna go to jail." He said, "I didn't do this, I had nothing to do with it." He - he kept swearing to me that this black guy -- he even told me exactly the story that the little boy said. A black man went in the house and -- you know, to me it kind of sounds -- it seems fishy though. How would he know a black man went in the house if he was there, Scott being the way he is, he would have killed this black guy or he would have done something to him to protect his wife. So that was really fishy but, I mean, I've gotta believe -- I just kind of played it like I believed him. "Yeah. Really? A black guy went in and did it?"
DD: Good.
MH: And, uh, (intelligible) I think he just told me a few other stupid things about, you know, him working for an insurance company 'cause I -- I work for an insurance company. So he wanted to tell me he got in the insurance business for a little while and he, uh, worked there for six months and they expected this and that and they wouldn't give him leads and he didn't like it so he kind of got of the business. And he kept telling me a lot about his life and things that -- you know, we haven't caught up in years so it was kind of neat for him to talk to me like that. And then, uh, I told him that I'd read the letter and when I told him that I read the letter, it freaked him out. He went, "You read the letter?" So, I think the letter -- I know the letter says -- he even told mom not to let anyone read the letter until he talked to her or he was unable to talk to her.
DD: Okay.
MH: Those were the two reasons. She was not suppose to let anyone read that letter unless he talked to her and told her or he was unable to talk to her. At -- meaning he's dead or something, I mean, that's what we're taking it for. So, uh, but mom -- you know, obviously we read the letter early in the afternoon. So he freaked out when I said that. And then I also told him that the Port Charlotte Police knew about something and he just said, "Port Charlotte knows about it?" And then he hung up. He said, "I've gotta go, bye."
DD: Okay.
MH: And that's the last thing that happened to me today that I can remember. May have been a few things else in there but I --
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
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Charlotte County Sheriff's Office
Interview of Michael Grimes Huss
OCA# 07008349 April 25, 2007
DD: Detective Davis
MH: Michael Grimes Huss
(MISSING)