2.Ruby Durney — Direct/Cross

RUBY DURNEY: My name is Ruby Gail Dur -- excuse me, Durney, D-U-R-N-E-Y.

RUBY DURNEY: I'm good.

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir, I don't.

RUBY DURNEY: She's my daughter-in-law.

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, I did.

RUBY DURNEY: We ran ads on CraigsList so we opened up in-home daycare. And Tim came to us because he had four children at the time. And the reason why he came to us because we was in the area where his children went to school.

RUBY DURNEY: I would take them to school and I would pick them up after school.

RUBY DURNEY: No, because he wanted all his kids to be together. He didn't want to put the older two in after-school daycare and we keep the younger two because he wanted all of his children to be together.

RUBY DURNEY: Punctual as could be.

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, he did. He brought Gabriel's diaper bag that had everything that Gabriel needed in it. He brought after-school clothes for the children to change their school clothes in and he brought extra clothes for Tahn in case he needed them if he had an accident.

RUBY DURNEY: Tim was a very good father from the time that we had them kids. And I never had no problem communicating with Tim. If he was my children's father -- I would have him as my children's father. He was very punctual with his kids and his kids loved him. When he would pick them up at 6:00 or 6:30, depending on the traffic, they were glad when they're dad walked in the house. And one favorite thing that I remember about Tahn was, he came in one morning and he told me, he says, Ms. Ruby, he says, my dad took me to Wal-Mart and he bought me some man spray. And we looked at him and we said, Tahn, what in the world is man spray? He said, You know that stuff you put under your arms. But he was, he was a very good father. And I would never -- this really was very surprising because I would never think anything like this would have happened. Because my daughter-in-law smoked and one of the other girls that worked with us in the daycare smoked and he brought it to our attention. He said, I don't smoke in my home, I don't smoke, and if y'all do smoke, please, smoke outside, not in the home around my children. And therefore, they did, they smoked outside.

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, he was very protective of his kids.

RUBY DURNEY: Well, we have talked with each other about Amber. Because he would ask me, he said, you know, their mother would call me and ask me to make arrangements so that she could visit and see them. And I would tell the kids we're going to go see their mom, then when we would go to meet her, she wouldn't never show up. Therefore, it would make Eli and Merah really upset. Because Tahn is -- Gabriel was a baby. He was still about four, five months old. And Eli, you know, he would tell his dad, why don't momma show up when she comes to see us? He says, Hon, I can't explain why your momma's like that, but it's going to be okay. Things are going to get better.

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, the older two because they could understand it more.

RUBY DURNEY: Tahn, he really didn't -- it really didn't affect him a lot because he had his dad and his dad, you know, gave them a lot of attention and all. But Merah, I really think it hurt her a lot because her being the only girl and you know how daughters want their mothers. And therefore, you know, she was with dad and three brothers.

RUBY DURNEY: I did. The only one that was going to counseling at the time was Tim and Eli. I went with him to two sessions because he asked me if I would go and I told him I would. And the sessions went good with him and Eli. I never did go in the rooms to hear their conversations. But when he had something that was going on with them, he had asked me if I would accompany him and I told him I would.

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir. He wouldn't even smoke and he definitely didn't drink.

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir, he did not.

RUBY DURNEY: That he was afraid of his children? No, sir. Because him and his children were very close.

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir, he didn't. He did his dad, he talked a lot about his dad.

RUBY DURNEY: Not his mother.

RUBY DURNEY: He was a good dad. He was a very respectable dad with his children. I don't think anybody could go wrong if he was the father of their kids.

RUBY DURNEY: You talking about the length of time or the hours?

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, sir. From the time that Tim -- Tim's kids -- Tim Jones' kids were with us, yes, I was.

RUBY DURNEY: The whole time, 2012 and '13, I was working at the time with my daughter-in-law, went back to his home to take care of the children.

RUBY DURNEY: My last interaction with Tim was right at the middle of 2013.

RUBY DURNEY: Because when we moved the -- when we moved the in-home daycare where we were at at first on Old Barnwell, we moved over there off of Nazareth in the subdivision there because it was a bigger place. And we had them there. Then when we closed the home down, the daycare part down, I went back to my job. And that's when Tim came to my daughter-in-law and asked her if she would please come to the home and take care of the kids because he knew they were in good hands with her.

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir, there wasn't, no. Not as far as problems between him and his children, no, and there was never none spoke of. Now, I know when Tim took me with him to the two sessions with him and Eli, he said he was taking Eli because Eli was having problems dealing with his mother not being there.

RUBY DURNEY: That was the last times that I went with him to their sessions.

RUBY DURNEY: Yes, it was.

RUBY DURNEY: (Witness nods in the affirmative.)

RUBY DURNEY: No, sir, I don't. But the way he was against cig -- you know, smoking cigarettes or alcohol or any of that, I cannot say that he did and I can't say that he didn't. I never seen no activity of him using drugs or what would I -- you know, occurred. And I have been around people who have been on drugs --

RUBY DURNEY: -- and my daughter taught me how to look and be aware of the signs.

RUBY DURNEY: I didn't see nothing like that in him at all.

RUBY DURNEY: No, I do not, sir.

RUBY DURNEY: You're welcome.

RUBY DURNEY: Okay. Thank you.