Cite as: 516 U. S. 99 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
Thompson and asked him to come to headquarters, purportedly to identify personal items the troopers thought belonged to Dixie Thompson. It is now undisputed, however, that the trooper's primary reason for contacting Thompson was to question him about the murder.
Thompson drove to the troopers' headquarters in his pickup truck and, upon arriving, immediately identified the items as Dixie's. He remained at headquarters, however, for two more hours while two unarmed troopers continuously questioned him in a small interview room and tape-recorded the exchange. The troopers did not inform Thompson of his Miranda rights. Although they constantly assured Thompson he was free to leave, they also told him repeatedly that they knew he had killed his former wife. Informing Thompson that execution of a search warrant was underway at his home, and that his truck was about to be searched pursuant to another warrant, the troopers asked questions that invited a confession. App. 43-79.1 Eventually, Thompson told the troopers he killed Dixie.
1 These passages from the transcript of the tape-recorded interrogation indicate the tenor of the questioning:
"Q Do you know—of course, I don't mean to take up a lot of your time, you—you can leave any time that you want to, if you've got something else going on.
"A Oh no (indiscernible) around here, no. "Q I know we called you and probably woke you up and. . . . "A No, I was just laying there. "Q Okay. But you know, you can go any time you want to. We got a—you know, we're trying to—trying to crack on this thing, and I—I don't imagine it's any secret to you that there are some of your—your friends or associates who have been kind of calling up and saying, you know, they've been pointing at you. . . .
"A Yeah, that (indiscernible) guy you know and we've been friends for ten years, you know, and this guy is starting to say stuff that I never even said. . . ." App. 44-45.
"Q . . . And I'm willing to work with you on this thing to make the best of a bad situation. I can't tell you that this isn't a bad situation. I mean
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