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There is new insight tonight into the hazing incident that killed a drum major at Florida A&M University last November. Prosecutors released thousands of pages of testimony and audio tapes. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the tapes point out the difficulty investigating a case with so many participants.

Percussionist Caleb Jackson was the first of 13 people arrested in the death of FAMU drum Major Robert Champion. Thousands of pages of documents put Jackson on the bus, restraining Champion. But, when first questioned, Jackson denied even being there.

“They said you were on the bus,” a detective said.

“That’s a lie,” Jackson replied.

“That’s a lie?” the detective asked.

“Yeah, and I have confirmation that’s a lie,” he said.

Twenty minutes later, he admits to being on the bus for the first of three hazings that night.

“Halfway through, you know I’ll tell you, halfway through I left because it was kind of boring,” Jackson said.

But he continues to deny being involved in Robert Champion’s hazing. He does admit to being hazed himself, saying he chose FAMU over Bethune Cookman to spite his father. He learned about hazing at FAMU while in high school.”

“Well, I heard about it in high school,” Jackson said.

“You heard about it in high school?” the detective asked.

“Yeah,” Jackson replied.

“Where did you go to high school?” the detective asks.

“Palm Beach Lakes,” he said.

Police asked if Robert was singled out because he was new to the band and was rapidly advancing.

“They’re making it look like, well, oh, people didn’t like him; the guy came up too fast, blah, blah, blah, and they started doing more than they needed to do,” Orange County Sheriff’s Detective Rolf said.

Forty minutes into the interview, Jackson does a complete 180, admitting to restraining Champion.

“If he gonna push at you, you’re gonna push at him,” Jackson said.

Jackson told detectives that Champion was fine when he left the bus.

“To my knowledge, he was fine,” he said.

Jackson remains the only one charged with the hazing death still in Jail. He is being held without bond on a probation violation.

In an interview the day the band was suspended for next year, retired band director Julian White says he lamented never telling Robert Champion he would be the lead drum major the coming year.