The Maybe Murder of Daniel Jewell: An Oral History

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: I know you can’t call me a murder victim because I’m not dead yet, but if you’re gonna worry about technicalities, you won’t find out the truth.

Edward Nasca, MD, oncologist: Daniel will be dead by the time you publish. Just go ahead and call him dead.

Melanie Jewell, mother: I don’t know what the most addictive drug is supposed to be. People probably say it’s heroin or crack or one of those drugs you hear about on the news, but those people have never seen my Daniel sucking on an unfiltered Camel.

Homer McCallister, Jr., editor: When I speak to you in my official capacity as general editor of The International Book of World Records, I can speak only of data. Data about records. Maybe some opinions, but only opinions about data about records. And maybe some opinions about the records themselves, insofar as those opinions are about data. But that’s all. I am a record man. I come from a family of record people. Of data people. That’s what we do.

Melanie Jewell, mother: I wish I lived in a place with more murders so the cops would know what the hell they’re doing. You would think, hey, they’ve got a murder, so now they can do some real police work and show everybody what they’ve got, but that’s not how things work around here. Ambition is in short supply in these parts. Except for Larry, I guess. And Daniel, of course.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: Here’s another technicality you’ve got to get past: whether or not I’m a man. I may be the only real man you talk to about any of this. You know how I know? Filters. That’s the word. Filters. You know what that word means to me? Fear. You only smoke filters if you’re afraid. So make sure you get that down: Filters means fear. You can put it on a bumper sticker if you want to and keep all the profits. What do I care? I’ll be dead.

Larry Jewell, father: I didn’t think you was ever gonna call me. How’re people gonna know the truth if you don’t talk to the one man who actually knows the truth? Where’d you get off thinking I probably wouldn’t talk to you? That’s for me to decide, ain’t it? You think I care what my lawyer says?

Homer McCallister, Jr., editor: We will not establish records based on estimates. Estimates mean nothing, regardless of how impressive, or even how reliable, the estimates might be. A reliable estimate is just a reliable guess, and a guess is just a guess. This is why, due to the difficulties of documentation, “Most Cigarettes Smoked in a Lifetime” is a record that we have never recognized, though we might have changed our policy had Daniel Jewell lived into old age given the peculiarly detailed level of record keeping in this case. As well, we at The International Book of World Records are sensitive to accusations that some of our records may encourage unhealthy or even dangerous behavior in some of our aspirant record-holders, but there seems little doubt that, in the case of cigarette smoking, long-term patterns of behavior are not likely to be inspired by the possibility of recognition in our book, no matter how desirable that recognition may be.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: The most cigarettes I ever smoked in one day was 180. That’s exactly nine packs. That’s exactly one cigarette every eight minutes with no time off for sleeping. I could have done more—hell, I would have done more—but I didn’t know anybody was counting.

Johnnie Kantor, classmate: I’m sure it was first grade because it was Miss Cavanagh that caught us. I don’t think Daniel could have been addicted yet, at least not like how he was by third grade, because there’s no way he would have passed out a whole pack like that later on. I know there was 21 kids in the class because Kristi Raymond didn’t get one, and she got so mad, she started screaming, which was why we got caught.

Shirley Cavanagh Swift, educator: I’m not going to lie to you. I was looking at my phone, so maybe I wasn’t watching the kids the way I should have been, but then a girl started screaming, and when I looked up, I could have sworn the whole playground was on fire.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: The first time my daddy told me he wished I was dead, at least the first time I know about, I was seven months old. I’ve seen the movie. My mom always had her phone out back then, recording just about everything I did, and this one time my daddy was looking down at me in my crib, so my mom said, “Talk to him,” so my daddy said, “I wish you was dead, little guy.”

Melanie Jewell, mother: What did I think when I found the index cards? Well, I was looking for money, so at first I was disappointed, but then I wondered if I was living with a crazy man. Which I was.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: My first cigarette was on January 1 when I was six years old. My parents were passed out from their New Year’s drinking. I got up early like I always did and went into their bedroom. I asked them what was for breakfast, but all they did was snore, so I had to fend for myself. On the way to the kitchen, I had to go through the living room, past the coffee table that was in between the couch and the TV. On the table, lined up in a row, there was 20 cigarettes, a whole pack, and there was a book of matches and a lighter, too. That was the greatest breakfast of my life.

Tonya Johnson, RN, hospice nurse: You can trust Daniel. Of course you can trust him. But that just means he won’t lie. It doesn’t mean he’ll tell you what you want to know.

Ray Moffett, JD, district attorney: The perpetrator’s level of malice, even if said malice could be convincingly substantiated, would have no bearing on the legal issue at hand. Having searched the relevant databases, I can find no evidence of a single charge of manslaughter, much less murder, that has been made in similar circumstances.

Shirley Cavanagh Swift, educator: We did everything we could to stop him from smoking at school, but when we would learn one of his tricks, he would find a new trick. And then he just quit coming to school. He said it was “a matter of priorities.” That’s quite a thing for a ten-year-old to say.

Sadie Smith, owner, Shop ’n Pay: I started having my clerks work on commission because I had to motivate ’em somehow to watch for shoplifters. I was getting robbed blind, and my clerks didn’t care because they was getting paid the same amount no matter how much people stole. Truth be told, they was probably doing a lot of the stealing themselves, but I chose not to think about that.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: The Shop ’n Pay was a boy’s best friend, man. You ain’t gonna get me to say nothin’ bad about the Shop ’n Pay.

Larry Jewell, father: You want to write about a murder, how about you write about an actual murder? If I was you, I’d look into that girl got killed working at the Shop ’n Pay. Her name was Tiffany Judd. Did you hear about what happened to her? Gunned down behind the counter, and then the killer took one of those WE DON’T SELL TOBACCO TO MINORS stickers and slapped it on her forehead, right over the bullet hole.

Chunk Chambers, chief of police: The only security camera in the store was zoomed in tight on the cigarettes. When Tiffany Judd gets shot, the only thing you can see is her head passing in front of the cigarettes on the way to the floor.

Melanie Jewell, mother: We’ve never had a budget or anything like that, but I know what we spend and I know what we’ve got in the bank, so there came a time when I couldn’t help but feel like a whole bunch of money was missing. I could have asked Larry about it, but we don’t have that kind of relationship, so I did my usual snooping. I wondered if he was spending it on another woman, or maybe he had a gambling problem, but I never caught him at anything when I followed him around town, and I couldn’t find anything on his cell phone. That was when I found the index cards.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: Tiffany was the second love of my life, so you ain’t gettin’ me to say nothin’ bad about her, neither.

Larry Jewell, father: Here’s two things I bet they didn’t tell you: Tiffany Judd was pregnant when she died, and she was not pretty. I’m just speaking the truth here. She was kind of heavy, and she was kind of plain. That tells you all you need to know, right?

Homer McCallister, Jr., editor: As data, the index cards are deeply problematic. Yes, they were found clearly dated and meticulously organized, and yes, the tic marks are indisputably legible and helpfully grouped into units of five. But even if we knew for certain who made the tic marks and why, we would have no way to confirm the accuracy of what they are alleged to represent. But, yes, I will grant your premise that it’s a hell of a lot of tic marks.

Melanie Jewell, mother: Nobody ever saw my boy and that Judd girl together anywhere except inside the Shop ’n Pay. If he knocked her up, he must have done it right there on the counter. Do you really expect a mother to believe that about her son?

Chunk Chambers, chief of police: As far as the actual crime goes, it was either one or two murders, depending on your politics. We did not attempt to identify the father of the second victim because that was deemed immaterial to the case.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: Sure, when I was jonesing, I would do whatever I had to do, but I’m not talking to you about anything that happened inside the Shop ’n Pay. What happened inside the Shop ’n Pay stays inside the Shop ’n Pay.

Larry Jewell, father: Apparently, I don’t have a lawyer anymore, so I can give it to you straight. It was that tramp what got Daniel addicted. She got him hooked, and she would sell to him at first, even though he was just a kid, but then the cops got wise that she was selling to a minor, so Daniel had to start stealing, but then she started caring about that, so that was why he killed her. And why not? He was pissed, and he was already stage four.

Melanie Jewell, mother: When you talk to Larry, if you watch real close, you can see the whites of his eyes turn brown. That’s how full of shit he is. Larry killed all three of them. Only Larry could tell you why he killed Daniel, but he killed Tiffany and the baby because he thought everyone would think that Daniel did it, and that would get Larry off the hook for everything.

Chunk Chambers, chief of police: We take all crimes seriously. If we heard the Shop ’n Pay was selling to kids, of course we’d crack down on that. But you’ve got to understand, murder’s in a whole other category. With murder, all we can do is the best we can.

Jason Cruz, sales representative: There was nothing unusual about the volume of unfiltered Camels sold at that particular Shop ’n Pay. Even if we had known that they were all being sold to (or stolen by) one individual, it would not have raised any red flags.

Homer McCallister, Jr., editor: The application for recognition by The International Book of World Records was submitted by the mother, Melanie Jewell. She’s proud of her son. Wouldn’t you be?

Shirley Cavanagh Swift, educator: I know I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ve kept my eye on Daniel over the years, and he’s turned out to be quite a cutie. I don’t blame Tiffany Judd one bit.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: Where did I get all the money? Places. “Seek and ye shall find.” That’s Shakespeare. I’ll bet you thought I didn’t know any Shakespeare, right? Don’t underestimate me.

Chunk Chambers, chief of police: When Tiffany Judd was at work, if there wasn’t any customers, she wrote in her diary. After her murder, the diary was found in the men’s room toilet. Someone, presumably her killer, burned it and then tried to flush it. We were able to recover one passage, but it wasn’t helpful.

Tiffany Judd, only surviving (partial) diary entry: sometimes 3 or 4 times a day ❤ ❤ ❤. Sadie won’t pay me overtime, so it’s hard for me to figure out how to always be here when he’s here, unless I just hang out when I’m off work, but that’s all kinds of pitiful. Of course, he told me how bad it would be if I wasn’t here when he needed me because

Jocelyn Judd, mother: Who do I think killed my daughter and my grandbaby? Thank you so much for asking. You’re the first person who’s ever cared what I think about anything.

Ray Moffett, JD, district attorney: At most, a charge of child endangerment might have been possible. The relevant statute states that “a person commits the crime of endangering the welfare of a child if he/she knowingly directs or authorizes a child less than 16 years of age to engage in an occupation involving a substantial risk of danger to his/her life or health.” According to the victim’s testimony, he found the first 20 cigarettes that he smoked “lined up in a row,” which might be taken to suggest that the person who left them there knowingly did so. Furthermore, also according to the victim, both matches and a lighter were left in plain sight, which might be taken to suggest authorization. But would you want to take that to a jury around here?

Chunk Chambers, chief of police: I believe that a father has the right to raise his own son however he sees fit. That’s just American is all that is.

Edward Nasca, MD, oncologist: We didn’t treat him at all. We just diagnosed him. Some things you can’t treat. Some people have a genetic talent for cancer. In that regard, Daniel Jewell is world class.

Daniel Jewell, maybe victim: Smoke ’em if you got ’em. YOLO. No regrets. Carpe diem, man. That’s the only useful thing I ever learned in school. Carpe diem. If you want to see a murderer, just look at me.

BIO: David Rachels work has previously appeared in both both crime magazines (including Thuglit, Mystery Tribune, and Rock and a Hard Place) and literary magazines (including North American Review, Sou’wester, and Bombay Gin).

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