Bound to Kill: My Interview with Susan Anton
Interviewing Susan
If you’re not familiar with Susan Anton aka Delia Day, read this article to catch up on her story!
Please note that the article you are about to read is based on my personal experience interviewing Susan Anton, and as such, is an editorialization of our interactions. I am in no way trying to diminish her experience.
When Susan and I first spoke, it was the summer of 2019, and I had been researching her story for two years. I had written a number of preliminary chapters and had a list of people to interview and a list of people to contact for documents.
Based on the information I had at the time, Susan’s story was that of an artist whose career was short-changed after she was forced to kill her husband, Travis Anton, in December of 2003.
Susan’s life had been openly online since the mid-90s, and though she disappeared for a number of years following the shooting, she came back in 2013 with the WordPress blog, Invisibl3survivor. I mention this because it comes up in the interviews. On her blog, she openly talked about Travis, her mental state, her experience talking to the police, the grand jury hearing, and her life in the years following.
As a result, when I spoke to Susan, my main focus was on her childhood and her identity as an artist and creator. I really wanted to fill in the gaps of her upbringing. What was her childhood like? How was her home and family life? How was school? What music did she listen to? What were her dreams as a kid? Where did she go to college? How did she and Travis meet? etc.
I emailed her the morning of July 18, 2019, and she got back to me the next day. First we spoke over the phone, then we emailed for a few months before things fell apart. Our communications ended on November 12th of that year.