Elvis Presley/Tim Farrell DNA search

I posted the first half of this story February 17, here is the second half.
Tim

My sister Regina got it all started. She decided that she wanted to know the truth of the matter so she got on the phone and stirred up interest in the story. Before very long there were news stories on the local TV stations in Huntsville and Athens, AL (my sister lived in Athens at the time). The news of the Terri Taylor letter was featured along with my mother’s original press statement of 1978. The Jackson Sun in Jackson, TN did a story as well as several other newspapers. I was not prepared to tell the press much at that time because I frankly had been surprised at what Regina had done and thought that I needed an attorney before the press got too involved.

I called many lawyers but none took my request seriously. None of them called me back. Regina gave me the name of an attorney who advised me not to talk to the national press until I had proper counsel.

Through a mutual friend I met some professional people from Minneapolis, MN who graciously offered their assistance and advice. Through them I met an attorney, Brian G. Moore of Fredrikson and Byron, based in Minneapolis, MN. He and Pat Feahr, also from Minneapolis, and others have helped me get through all the hoops set up by circumstances during our endeavor. They are not compensated for their work and I don’t believe I would have been able to get anywhere without their help.

We began with a series of meetings to set our agenda. It became apparent that we had to start with finding out if it was in fact, biologically, geographically and chronologically possible. Here is where the story of the search to find out if Elvis Presley is my father really began.

We didn’t want to make any assertions until we had established that it was possible that this could be true. We did not immediately approach the Presley’s with our situation. We began to gather facts surrounding where and when my mother and Elvis allegedly met, danced, ate and spent the night. What happened? Who knew? Who went to the club? Who dropped Elvis and My mother at the motel? Who picked them up? How did my mother get back to her sister’s house? What motel did they stay at? Who was in the band? Did they go in the band vehicle? What we found out while looking for these answers is very compelling and fits well with the story my mother told the press in 1978. She went to the Eagle’s Nest several times during the months of July and August of 1954. She and her step-sisters saw Elvis there on a few occasions. There are different accounts from her step-sisters of the times they met him. We have notes and transcripts of our conversations with my mother’s contemporaries, some of whom are now deceased.

Having determined it was at least possible, we went to the Presley’s. In our naivety, we expected them to welcome a DNA test. But, after many contacts, requests and conversations we were not able to convince them to allow it.

We wrote emails to, and talked with Elvis Presley Enterprises attorneys. In the certified letter we sent to E.P.E. offices in Graceland, we offered to quietly test with no media attention and we told them in writing and on the phone that we want no money. We simply want to know if Elvis is my biological father. They all declined assistance or didn’t respond at all. The Presley family was informed but we got no response from Lisa Marie Presley or her mother Priscilla Presley. Having learned of the partial sale of E.P.E. to the Robert Sillerman Group we made overtures to the Sillerman offices but got no assistance.

Next we turned to other associates of E.P.E. and of Elvis. Ernst Jorgenson, a publicist for Sony BMG, made inquiries to Gary Hovey of E.P.E. on our behalf but although he tried, he was ultimately unable to help us. Of the others we contacted including D.J. Fontana, Scotty Moore, Patsy Presley, Bill Bradley and Bill Ellis, some found our request interesting but, they were not able to help us make this thing happen.

Having no luck with those more closely associated with Elvis and E.P. E. we asked the Presley family members who still resided in Tupelo Mississippi for a DNA test try to see if I was related, even distantly to any of them. Norma, James Roy, Noah and Larry Presley are Vernon Presley’s siblings. Brandon Presley, the mayor of Nettleton, Mississippi, talked with us about the scenario but as did all of the Presley’s we contacted in Mississippi, he said he is not interested in becoming involved in any way.

The next logical step was to look at all the other people who claim to be Elvis Presley children and ask them to do DNA testing to determine if we were siblings. Of them all, there are two that seem credible to us, Candi Jo Fuller Jones and Desiree Presley Rodriguez. We received no response from our letters to Rodriguez and Jones told us she was not interested in testing and would sue us if we tried to contact her again. There was a third claimant who contacted me. She wanted to do a DNA test with me to see if we were siblings. She seemed credible at the time so we went ahead and had a test done. We didn’t match. Since then she has made the claim that Elvis is alive and that she is his half sister.

About this time, we learned about Touch DNA, a new procedure that is now used to extract DNA from skin cells. The new technology offered us a possible way to get our answer by the testing of items Elvis had touched, worn or used. The first item we found was a bed sheet from Elvis’ room at the Vas Vegas Hilton. It was owned by David Collins of Florida. He was gracious enough to allow us to test the sheet for DNA. BRT Laboratory was not able to find any DNA on the sheet to analyze. Then we found Robin Rosaaen of California. She is also a collector and she sold us a cloth dinner napkin used by Elvis to wipe sweat during a Vegas performance. The testing revealed that the item was contaminated with too many different peoples DNA. Then Dean Shada approached me about testing a scarf he had of Elvis’. He had read about me while researching a project he was involved in and contacted me. I agreed to submit my DNA for comparison with possible DNA contained on the scarf. But, the sample was degraded by time and there was no match with the partial profile that was recovered from the item.

It seems almost inconceivable that I have not been able to get an answer. There are countless others we have contacted seeking confirmation (or not) of my mother’s claim and story. I have kept thousands of emails and reams of notes and transcripts of conversations regarding this issue any of which I will be happy to share. We have spent several thousand dollars purchasing items and testing them and for DNA tests with possible siblings.

Our most recent discovery is a pair of Elvis’ unwashed underwear, used at a Vegas show. It is owned by The Elvis Presley Museum in London, England. The museum did respond to my questions and told me the underwear is for sale. The price is around sixteen thousand dollars. I emailed a letter to the museum to ask them if they would consider having the item tested for DNA. I did not get a response. I presume they want to sell them outright. The underwear could hold the DNA I need but the cost is out of my reach. I offered to pay for testing but I cannot spend $16,000.00 for them. I am a working person with limited means.

We have reached a point where it is very obvious that I cannot do this on my own; even with the help I do have. I feel I have a right to be able to establish my identity and family ties. But because Elvis Presley is who my mother named, I am barred somehow for ever knowing for sure. If it were anyone else, I would already have my answer.

Goals I hope to achieve by sharing this story and documentation are:

Tell my story in my own words to establish credibility
Gain information that will help me find out if Elvis Presley is my father.
Find help to get a definitive answer.

ELVIS PRESLEY TIM FARRELL DNA SEARCH

We've spent some time writing a synopsis of our efforts so far and mailed it to various news organizations and others who may be interested in the story. It's rather lengthy so I'm posting half now and will post the other half in a few days.
Tim

For five years, myself and others who are helping me attempt to find out the truth about my parentage, have invested a great amount of research and time. Here is my account of what has happened and what we have learned. I will explain why I believe that Elvis Presley could be my father. This document will reveal, in chronological order, the steps that have been undertaken, with honesty and full disclosure. I have nothing to conceal concerning this matter and in fact will be sure to include in this text, all the information that I have gathered, including information that does not support the possibility that Elvis Presley is my father.

The following is an outline of events that occurred from, before I was born, until now.

In 1954 my mother, Rebecca Holland, was living in Dyersburg TN. She was 19 years old. She had decided to move to Memphis to stay with her stepsisters. I spoke with her cousin Tad Hawkins about her stay in Dyersburg. My mom had taken Tad’s bedroom while she lived there and he remembered the time vividly. I asked him when my mother left to move to Memphis and he recalled that she had moved out by July of 1954. He remembered because that was when he got his bedroom back. According to Artie Mae Pack, my mother’s aunt who lived in Dyersburg and Tad, who was 16 at the time, my mother was not pregnant when she left. Virginia Saunier, my mother’s stepsister, of Memphis, TN took my mother into her home in July 1954. Rebecca lived with her for about 3 months. Virginia has confirmed the timing of my mother’s arrival in Memphis to live with her.

There used to be an area on Lamar Ave. in Memphis where the young people gathered. The area was home to facilities such as the skating rink and a nightclub called the Eagle’s Nest. The club featured live musicians and had music for its patrons on a regular basis. In 1954, the yet undiscovered Elvis Presley was a local musician who would go to the Eagle’s Nest to sit in with the bands. According to popular accounts, he performed there often as a guest of the band that was playing on any particular night. Elvis was 19 years old. I learned during our research that he also performed some nights there where he was actually booked to perform during August of 1954.

In July and August of 1954, Rebecca went to the club on several occasions. Virginia Saunier, Earlene Goodrum (Rebecca’s stepsisters) and one of my mother’s friends named Mattie Crabtree and others went with my mother a few times to the Eagles Nest and were there on the nights when my mother met Elvis. They all have spoken with me about the times they met him with the exception of Mattie Crabtree. Mattie died some time ago and we could not find her son Ernie Crabtree to ask if he could remember his mother ever talking about meeting Elvis. Each of the stepsisters told me about the times in Memphis and the meeting of Elvis when I interviewed them during our research.

While I was growing up, my mother told me that she was once asked to dance by Elvis Presley. That was all she ever said to me about her stay in Memphis. I never asked for more information from her on the subject. I was born at a naval hospital in Memphis in April 1955. The subject of who my father was did not concern me much when I was a child. Those times that I do remember talking with her about that are vague but I do recall that she told me that my dad was a musician. She never said who it was until after he died. I was raised by her and her husband Gene Holland in Jackson, TN. Life there growing up was not all that eventful from my point of view and I won’t elaborate at this time except to say that I did not dwell on the fact that I knew nothing of my biological father.

In the early part of 1971 my family invited a visitor into our home to tell us about the gospel. The woman and her son came into our house and talked about God for a while and then the son pulled out his guitar and played a number of gospel songs and sang them. He was very good and about the same age as I. I was so taken by the fact that he could play and sing that I was moved to learn to play the guitar and sing myself. It was the most inspirational moment in my life. I took up the music and learned how to perform songs on the edge of my bed with books and records. I taught myself the guitar and a large repertoire of songs. I was 16 years old. About 3 months after the day I heard the young evangelist sing, I had auditioned and gotten my first job as a musician and I played five nights per week at a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Jackson, TN. That was the beginning of my music career. I stuck with it for close to ten years. During those years, I spent time in bands and doing single work.

In January of 1978, my mother told me that Elvis is my dad. She told me the story of what happened. I was 23 years old and until that day, I had not known anything about what she was telling me. When I learned of the possibility that I could be a Presley, I was elated and afraid. I had dreamed of and even realized my hope of performing for people, but I had never expected anything like this could happen. I didn’t tell anyone about it except a friend or two and I had no idea what to do about it. Money was something I didn’t have much of. Elvis was dead so no blood test would be available to me. DNA testing had not yet become available. I could not prove anything at all. So, I didn’t do anything.

Then in March 1978, it all began. The local newspaper reporters and cameramen came into the dining room of the Hotel Duluth in Duluth, MN where I was auditioning to perform. They began doing a story about me being Elvis’ child. I had not known that my mother was considering telling her story to the press. But, she had already done it when I found out about it. I talked to the reporters. The story ran on the front page the next day and things changed for me permanently.

At first it wasn’t unpleasant at all. I was the center of attention and patronage picked up in the hotel dining room. I was told many times that I look like Vernon Presley, Elvis’ father, and that my singing voice and physical mannerisms are very similar to Elvis’. I talked a lot about it and it dominated my life for awhile. But it was destined to become a burden and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I became what I consider, a spectacle. At least that’s how I felt after months and even a couple years the story stuck with me. My mother was still telling her story to news people, but the fact remained that it could not proven. I was just another yahoo who claimed to be the illegitimate son of Elvis Presley. I had no proof. I felt stigmatized. I couldn’t perform anywhere without the story coming up. People came to see the possible son of Elvis and not Tim anymore. That’s all I heard for a long time, even from the booking agents. Eventually I stopped playing out and life took over. I played my last public or private engagement in 1980. I asked my mother to stop talking to the press about me and she reluctantly did.

After I asked her to stop we didn’t talk for a long time. Several months went by before we talked again. I had been busy trying to get things together in my new life and was not having a good time of it. I had no home or phone or money so I didn’t talk to my mother. She naturally assumed that I was angry and/or hurt because of what she had done. I was not angry though. I was just in a bad way financially and that was all. I did not have a conversation with her about Elvis for over 20 years. I thought that it was just a moot point. I later found out that she thought she would “lose” me if she brought the subject up. So it was like that for years.

Life went on and I am now a small business owner. I have been a heavy duty truck mechanic for 20 years.

Then in early 2002 my mother was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. I went to visit her in July 2002. It was the last time that I saw her alive. During our visit I brought up the Elvis thing. I asked her if he was my dad. I felt that it would be my last chance to ask her. We did not have a discussion. She simply smiled at me and said, “Yes, he’s your dad.” I let it drop and we talked about other things after that.

In September 2002, Rebecca Nell Holland died. Some months later my sisters sent a package of items that my mother had put aside for me. There was an envelope addressed to me inside the package. It contained documents that compelled me to believe that there might be something I could do about finding out if indeed Elvis is my father. The item that was most interesting was a letter from a person named Terri Taylor. The letter indicated that this woman knew of a son of Elvis’ and that perhaps she and my mother should meet because she and my mother “could have children that are related”. Realizing that I could prove the truth because DNA testing is widely available, I began to try to find out whether or not I am his child. It has turned out to be a long process.