Original Transcript of our unpublished interview, with the teen murder suspect, unearthed.
Illustration by Police Sketch Artist Daniel Winfield
Less than 15 hours after we finished speaking to him, he was dead.
While some may celebrate the mark of a new decade, the 2020s will inevitably reopen old wounds for some. That can certainly be said of it now marking the 5th anniversary of the disappearance of Archie Klatos, a missing teen who took the world by storm.
The frequent outpouring of the information perhaps hurt him more than it helped him, as the linking of his DNA with the gun found in correspondence to Thomas Michaels might have motivated the later's suicide. Whether or not Michaels was actually responsible will never be known, only that there was some information he wasn't inclined to share.
We share no such inclination; originally we had decided not to publish this interview, as we felt it would be upsetting to both his family and our readers. But now, we feel the fate of a missing teen outweighs the emotional weight of an implicated suspect. So marking the 5th anniversary of an investigation fraught with misinformation, we refuse to contribute to that... by revealing for the first time ever what we learned.
Was this your first time in a police station?
MICHAELS: No.
So you've been arrested before?
MICHAELS: No, I mean it's my first time as a suspect and all. I've been in before though, bailing out Archie.
So you too were familiar with each other?
MICHAELS: He was my best friend.
Given that, what emotions come to rise now that you've been accused of murdering him.
MICHAELS: I mean, indifference. I know I didn't do it. They won't implicate me. So I don't care.
“He was my best friend.”
Do you still feel that's in question, seeing as they've released you?
MICHAELS: Well... yeah, I mean... I know that, but, you know...
Let me ask you about the gun, because everybody's wondering how it came into your possession and what normal circumstances could possibly merit one in the hands of a kid your age.
MICHAELS: Then do it.
Thank you, I will.
MICHAELS: I'm happy for you.
Why did you have it? MICHAELS: You've never seen a teenager on a shooting range before? I was raised in Kentucky, Mr. Michaels. I'm well aware of certain pastimes.
MICHAELS: So you're also aware they're legal?
I didn't question the legality of your actions, Mr. Michaels... should I?
MICHAELS: ... right, so it was kinda like that.
Then how did it wind up in a river.
MICHAELS: I mean, my lawyer's not around. So I probably shouldn't answer that one.
Do you feel threatened in this environment, Mr. Michaels?
MICHAELS: I mean, I feel like that isn't any of your business, and I don't have to answer that.
I can't make you do anything, Mr. Michaels, I'm just curious as to why you won't.
MICHAELS: Next question.
Okay then.
MICHAELS: Next question.
What do you intend to do if you're called in for further questioning?
MICHAELS: Answer their questions.
I never found an answer so infuriating in my life, considering he had barely made an effort to answer OURS. He surely understood the scrutiny he was under, and therefore understood the certain obligation he owed to both himself and his community to clarify his involvement, if any, in these concerning events?
But that was the thing about Michaels; he didn't behave like a normal teenager his age. He behaved in as eccentric a manner as the eccentric manner of his permed widow's peak. Certainly there was nothing normal in behaving so calm given the weight of the allegations against him. Even an innocent man, surely, would possess a certain level of stress when attacked from all sides?
But he was unpredictable
Michaels wasn't a straight line. You couldn't predict his patterns like the weather. One minute, he's a high school wallflower. The next minute, he disposes of a gun in a river. One minute, he's an implicated murder suspect. The next minute, he's casually moved on. One minute, I'm speaking to him as a harmless introvert.
The next minute, he's killed himself.
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