AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT
Interview Transcript
Case #: 2017-7829 (Memphis PD Lead)
Date: July 31, 2017
Time: 14:30 CST
Location: APD Central - Interview Room 3
Subject: Victoria Reed
Interviewers: Detective Ray Morrison (Memphis PD), Detective Lisa Briggs (Austin PD)
Det. Morrison: This interview is being recorded. Please state your name for the record.
Victoria Reed: Victoria Rose Reed. And I already told you, I don’t know where my brother is. We’re not even talking right now.
Det. Morrison: Ms. Reed, I flew here from Memphis because your brother’s life is in immediate danger. We need your full cooperation.
Victoria: [Pause] What do you mean immediate danger?
Det. Briggs: When did you last have contact with Irina Sterling?
Victoria: Irina? What does she have to do with—wait. Are you buying into my brother’s conspiracy theory? She didn’t have anything to do with that podcaster and she definitely didn’t want anything to do with Jackson!
Det. Morrison: We have reason to believe she’s involved in his disappearance. She is the primary suspect. When did you last speak with her?
Victoria: [Silence] You’re serious.
Det Morrison: Deadly
Victoria: [Pulling out phone] She liked my Instagram post yesterday. But we haven’t talked directly since... since her LA event. June something.
Det. Briggs: Tell us about that event.
Victoria: It was a masterclass launch. She invited me personally. Said she’d been following my platform and wanted to connect with authentic voices. Why are you asking about Irina?
Det. Morrison: [Slides photograph across table] Do you recognize this woman?
Victoria: Um… no. This looks like a high school girl. I don’t know her.
Det. Morrison: This is Crystal Barnett. High school photo, 2006. Memphis, Tennessee.
Victoria: I don’t understand.
Det. Briggs: Irina Sterling is an alias. Her real name is Crystal Barnett. She’s American, born and raised in a Memphis trailer park. And she served in the Marines with your brother from 2007 to 2009.
Victoria: [Long pause] No. That’s not... Jackson never said he knew her from before.
Det. Morrison: He didn’t recognize her. Apparently, you didn’t either.
Victoria: No, she didn’t know anything about Jackson. She kept asking me questions about–.
Det. Morrison: [Slides another photo] This is from Crystal Barnett’s childhood bedroom. Your brother and Marcus Conlon found it four days ago.
Victoria: [Looking at photo] Are those... bones?
Det. Morrison: Seven human finger bones. Middle fingers, all left hands. Trophies from seven different victims.
Victoria: [Pushing photo away] That’s not—Irina isn’t—
Det. Briggs: Your brother was investigating the disappearances of two men who had been looking into Irina’s past. Charles Stine. Zack Garrison. And he found some other bodies that dropped in proximity to Crystal. They’re all missing. Now so is Jackson.
Victoria: [Voice smaller] She kept asking me about him, even when I didn’t want to talk about him anymore. I was so mad… [Covers mouth]
Det. Morrison: Ms. Reed, we need to know everything about your interactions with Crystal—with Irina. Anything that might help us find her. And hopefully your brother too.
Victoria: [Starting to cry] He kept saying she was dangerous. That people who investigated her disappeared. I called him paranoid. I said he was just bitter because—
Det. Morrison: Because what?
Victoria: Because they slept together. After her book launch. He told me later he thought something was off about her, and I accused him of making up stories because she didn’t want him.
Det. Briggs: There’s something else we need to discuss. You mentioned attending her LA event?
Victoria: June 24th. A masterclass for female entrepreneurs.
Det. Briggs: Did anything happen at that event that was... unusual?
Victoria: [Long pause, looking down] I stayed with her for a few days. She was so... attentive. Said I was special, that she saw my potential. After everyone left, we had champagne on her balcony and... [Voice breaking] She asked about Jackson. I thought it was just casual conversation. I told her everything. How angry I was at him. How he’d abandoned me to deal with our mother alone. How he was spreading lies about her.
Det. Morrison: What else did you tell her?
Victoria: [Crying harder] Everything. That he was in Vegas. That he was investigating with Marcus. I even... oh god, I told her so much.
Det. Briggs: You didn’t know what she was.
Victoria: But HE did! He tried to warn me and I went on Instagram Live and told thousands of people he was lying, that he was jealous, that he was just like our mother and I... [Sobbing] What if he’s already dead? What if she killed him because I wouldn’t listen?
Det. Morrison: Victoria, we need you to focus. Is there anywhere Irina mentioned? Any property, any connection to Memphis or Mississippi?
Victoria: [Wiping eyes, trying to think] No. I thought she was from Russia until just now.
Det. Morrison: [Standing] And she hasn’t contacted you or said anything else to you.
Victoria: [shakes her head] Please. Please find him. Tell him... tell him I’m sorry. Tell him he was right about everything.
Det. Briggs: We’ll do everything we can. Go home, Ms. Reed. Stay by your phone. And Victoria? Don’t blame yourself. Predators like Crystal Barnett are experts at manipulation. Even your brother didn’t see her coming until it was too late.
Victoria: [As they’re leaving] Yes he did. He saw exactly what she was doing. And I laid back and made it easy for her.
[END TRANSCRIPT]