Frank Phillips
The night of the murders, your job was to guard the victims …That's it!… And Drollinger had a pistol and he was ordering everybody around.No! Drollinger was like — this is going to happen. When we was going to the Lew Wallace and picking these guys up. Their thrill was to go out and we'd do these robberies. That was their fun. I was more or less setting back and tired. I don't want to do this. I was to watch over them victims. That was my job. That's what I did. I never ransacked (the Spencers') trailer. I was in two rooms of that trailer. When I was watching over the victims, they came and got Betty. They got her off the floor and they took her to the bedroom. I didn't know where they took her. I waited. When I'm in that trailer and I'm supposed to be watching them, I even said Roger's name. Oh, he got mad. He got real mad. Why nobody knew that, I don't know. But I hollered his name. So he came up to me — why did he get mad? They said they were going to shoot everybody. Maybe it's not going to happen. So, the next thing you know, they're ransacking, they're tearing up. The next thing you know, they came out and got the woman. So, I think they're going to go ask her where's things, whatever the reason. Here's the point. I waited and waited and it got to, 'What the hell are they doing? They had been gone too long to be asking where's the dope, where's the jewelry.'It was too long. So I walked back there. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's the bedroom all the way to the back and she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Oh, man, this is getting ugly. This is getting serious.'I'm like, 'How can I get out of this?'Where were the boys? Had they already been shot?I left them alone. You left them alone. They were OK?They were just laying there all by themselves (in the living room.). Fear, man. It's like a rabbit. You can surprise a rabbit and he'll stay there. So I stood there, (in front of) Betty and I looked right down at her. She looked up at me. I thought she'd be able to identify me the best. I looked right down at her. And she looked up at me. I'm like, 'Bastards.' This was what I was starting to think. Bastards. How am I going to get out of this situation? I cannot get out of this situation. This ain't supposed to happen. If it was just robbery, then murder should be no part of it. I'm stuck. I'm like I don't want any of this to happen. I can't stop it. I just stared at her. She kept looking at me. It looked like my Mom was setting there (on the edge of the bed.) I waited until she started picking her things back up. She acted like she was scared to do that. I started walking back down the hallway and (I think) … I can't run. They'll all three chase me down. What am I going to do? I don't want to kill nobody. They want me to kill somebody.I walked over to the TV area. They got her out (of the bedroom) and things started escalating real fast. I started following Roger out the door. I got over by the TV area and I began hearing shots. The butt of the gun I was carrying was broke and the only thing sticking out was a bolt. What I did and don't ask me why I did it — I pulled the trigger but I shot high enough that I didn't hit nobody. When I jacked it again, that's when Roger seen what I was doing and he grabbed ahold of the barrel. It went off again. I assume it hit Betty in the back. I don't know. It went off when Roger jerked it out of my hands.If I was having such a thrill, fun, why would someone grab (my gun?) If I was doing what it was said I was doing. If I was enjoying myself … So Roger grabbed the gun? I know the boys' names, Ralph, Raymond, Reeve and Gregory from heart because I pray for them. So he grabbed Gregory and then he hit him. That's when he stepped over another one and he shot the other one. He pushed the thing into me and he said, 'Get every ———- shell. You hear me, David? Get every ——- shell. Don't miss a one. Get every ———- shell, you hear me?"And he pushed that bolt in my finger. I'm like, this guy seen what I tried to do. He saw that I wasn't trying to hit nobody. Nobody's asked me this. Why did I reload that shotgun?Yeah, I reloaded that shotgun because I thought that this guy (Drollinger) done seen that I wasn't trying to hit nobody. Now, I'm riding with Mike Wright. So, I load mine to put him at ease. Yeah, I asked him if he wanted me to load his again. We all got in the cars with no conversation. I just got quiet. That night, (Drollinger) wanted to go out and do some more stuff. He wanted to go out and kill some more. We said, "Oh, no, man, take us home. No, it ain't happening."(EDITOR's NOTE: At his point in the conversation Smith related events that took place in Drollinger's home. Smith said Drollinger relished the murders and the stains on his clothing.)Your psychiatrist said on the night of the shootings you did not have the power to get out of the situation. I didn't know how.If I ran — I'm not thinking. I'm thinking, 'I don't want to be here.'Who did the shooting that night?In the trailer?Yeah.They all did. Everybody?Everybody. I know what I was aiming to do. I think Roger seen what I was trying to do. And I think that's why he grabbed the gun. I think. Cause, if he didn't, I would have emptied it in the wall.But you told Dr. Richard Rahdert you shot two of them. Was that just because he wanted to hear that?When that gun went off twice, — Why I didn't say all four of them, I don't know — I was feeling the guilt. I should have said four. I shouldn't have said two. The gun went off twice in my hands. I said two.
