"I didn't know I was going to Murder Mountain"; initially Brown denied shooting Decker; says Sheriff deputies saved his life; "I was scared as fuck"

The jury got to see two interviews conducted with Matthew Brown, the murder suspect in the murder of Neil Decker. The first one was done when he was taken into custody on July 23, 2014, five days after the incident. The second one was 24 hours later.

Brown has a full head of hair now but in that interview he is dressed in orange and has a shaved head like his booking photo. Sgt. Diana Freese and Detective Sam Williams interviewed him and it starts with them offering him food, which he scarfs down and thanks them profusely a few times. He had been on the run, hiding in the woods before he was taken into custody. Most of the questioning is done by Detective Williams.

The detectives started by asking him about Decker's death. Brown responded, "I don't know anything about it, they are trying to set me up, so I've been hiding in the woods." He then told the detective that he did not have anywhere to go when he lived in Southern California and that Scott Johnson, who he called "dad", brought him up here to work on his property but did not pay him. Brown then said that while he was hiding in the woods he walked past Johnson's dead body. "They were going to get me, they were on their way to the cabin, but the Sheriff got there first.Basically, the Sheriff saved my life. I was scared as fuck."

In between eating and telling his story, he referred to Joey Johnson  (Scott Johnson's son) and "Dave." others in their testimony have mentioned  to "red-headed Dave." Brown repeated, "they are trying to say I shot Neil."

Detective Williams asked him, "What makes you think they are trying to set you up?" Brown responded that Decker was stealing money from Johnson. In previous testimony and when law enforcement went up to the property, there was marijuana growing and testimony has been given that Brown had claimed Decker was selling Johnson's property and tools which he, Brown was in charge of keeping an eye on when Johnson would travel.

"So you are saying Neil was robbing Scott?"

Brown continued," The most stressful time of my life" when he lived on Johnson's property and "when they turned on me." He then told detectives he was lost for days, stayed in the woods, then the cabin because his girlfriend's "grandma" would not let him stay at the house.

"I'm all screwed up, I can relax now." indicating that he felt safe in custody.

"I did everything for them and they turned on me for a couple thousand dollars," said Brown. He told the detectives that Johnson owed him $1,500 for the work he did.

"You worked all that time for a couple thousand dollars?" Detective Williams asked Brown.

"Well, they gave me room and board." The detectives asked him how he knew Scott Johnson and Brown said Johnson knew "his mom and her old man."

Then he said, "I thought highly of him (Johnson) but I knew something was wierd." He mentions that when "the girl (his ex Kara) asked him to leave", he thought it was because their relationship was over. "I didn't know I was going to Murder Mountain."

"At the end, I was running from everybody, everybody turned on me ."

When Detective Williams asked him why they turned on him, Brown said, "I was an outsider, I wasn't born and raised there."

"Neil and I had a conflict for a while, that is why they threw my name out there." Brown told the detectives that "Neil had threatened to kill him but Scott talked to him, then all was good." Brown then mentioned the wrestling and pepper-spray incident and that "he whooped Neil's ass" when they wrestled. "Now that I look back, Scott wasn't squelching the problems, he was just covering up the problem. All was good, my dad came back and then I hear I shot Neil."

In this interview, Brown claims that he was with his girlfriend Sarrie Stillwell when someone called her to say Brown had shot Decker and that she said to the person that he was "standing next to her."

He then described how locals chased him and threatened to hurt him so his girlfriend's grandmother would not let him stay at the house, he then fled into the woods and that is when he went to Laura Hall's house but everywhere he went, he was forced to flee because the locals were turning people against him.

"I am used to working and shit; I get up here and people are smoking dope and..." He mentioned the pepper spray and that Decker was upset about the gate and that Decker was "trashing stuff and Scott did  not do anything."

He told the detectives how the Stillwells were good to him and that he helped Sarrie Stillwell "get iff heroin" and that the locals tried to "break them up, they knew she was all I had left."

Detectives then asked him how he heard about Decker's death. Brown said he was tired and had not slept for days. They keep repeating the question and then Brown asked for a lawyer. "How many times are you going to ask me the same question? I am being honest with you. I don't mind answering your questions but don't twist and play games with me. Maybe interview me after I get some rest"

That is where the first interview ends.