Thank you. That 1 a.m. time frame has long bothered me.
Reading the transcript, there’s a conflict in the statements as the Mrs claims they were in bed while the Mr remarks being “on the boat” (assuming on a trailer in the yard?) These neighbors frustrate me as does the media for not noticing the discrepency in statements . . .
From transcript:
18:25:17] BANFIELD: Can I ask you Joan --
SMREKAR: It was a lot closer than usual, that we would hear something at that time of night.
BANFIELD: Even though this is fairly rural, you are right next door, correct?
SMREKAR: Right.
BANFIELD: Yes. Can I ask you, just prior to hearing those two shots, as you said, a couple seconds apart, would you have been in a position to hear
any other shots before or after? Was there anything noisy that you may have missed?
SMREKAR: When we came home, we noticed nothing different in the neighborhood. And there was nothing prior to that. No noise, no nothing.
And when that happened, it was so overpowering, the noise, we did not hear anything else. There was no -- we hear the shots, like I said, from the
woods, and they`re not anything near the sound of this gun.
BANFIELD: Can I ask you about the Closs family? I mean, this is just such a horror that is been visited on them. I think most people are wondering,
what were they like?
SMREKAR: They were very quiet people. We only saw them come and go from their home. We took mail up to them that got delivered to us, and they
didn`t even want to come to the door. They were just quiet, preferred I guess to be alone. You didn`t see them out in the yard doing anything. At
least we didn`t.
BANFIELD: Did you ever see Jaime with any friends? Or did she ever come and go and get picked up by friends in vehicles of any kind?
SMREKAR: That I can`t tell you, I just know that the school bus dropped her off?
BANFIELD: And you would see her dropped off daily in front of the house by the school bus?
SMREKAR: Yes.
BANFIELD: But other than that, you didn`t see collections of friends coming and going from that house?
SMREKAR: No. We didn`t even know they had any children. They just weren`t out there doing things.
BANFIELD: That is remarkable. And that night, I guess it goes without saying you didn`t hear any vehicles coming or going, especially right
around the time of the gunshots?
SMREKAR: No, and I don`t sleep well at night and I was about at the boat. 1:00 --ish and our dog was on the porch and he was doing some light noises
and I knew something was up. But I could not see anything anywhere that looked or felt out of line. And I told the FBI people that have been here
a couple times.
I said, you know, from now on, if I hear something that doesn`t sound appropriate for that time of night. I`m going to call in immediately,
because we just thought it was maybe a neighbor chasing a bear out of their yard, you know.
BANFIELD: Well, Joan, don`t think anything otherwise, because I`ve lived in a rural area for a long time, and there are just many sounds that you
wouldn`t think twice about. Thank you for being on with us, and thank you for helping us sort through these very difficult details. I want to bring
in Karen Smith if I can. She is a retired detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff`s Office and a forensic specialist.