Police arrested a black man in his 30s whose tire tracks were found on the other side of the road from Martin's corpse; James Pressley later gave this man the pseudonym of Sammie. Sammie denied being in the area where Martin's remains were found, was unable to account for his tire tracks at the scene, and failed a polygraph test. Yet given Sammie's lack of a criminal record and his good reputation in the area as a longtime resident, officers were conflicted about his status as a suspect. They decided to have him hypnotized. Sammie was taken to Travis Elliott, a psychiatrist and hypnotist. Elliott talked to the man in a private session for a while. Sheriff Presley asked Elliott if the man could be hypnotized. "Yes, but you have the wrong man. He has no criminal tendencies," replied Elliott.