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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 April 2022
The murder
On 4 April 2015, 59-year-old Charles Taylor was murdered by his daughter-in-law, 24-year-old Amanda Taylor and her friend, 32-year-old Sean Ball. Amanda had travelled to Charles’ house in Montgomery County, Virginia with Sean, who had picked her up in his car earlier that day. Together, the two had purchased a bayonet-style knife. They also had in their possession a tyre iron, which Sean concealed down his trousers, and various firearms including two pistols and a rifle. The weapons had been stolen from the house belonging to Sean's parents. Amanda later admitted that they had gone to Charles’ home with the intention of killing him.
During the visit, the conversation turned to the topic of Rex Taylor, Amanda's late husband, who had committed suicide in August 2014. Amanda blamed Charles for Rex's suicide, firmly believing that he was responsible for Rex's drug abuse, which had become particularly problematic in the two years preceding his suicide. While Charles was sitting on his sofa, Amanda began to stab him repeatedly as she stood over him. Charles reached for the knife and as he did so, Sean swung the tyre iron and hit him five or six times, while Amanda continued to stab him. Charles’ autopsy would later reveal that he was stabbed 31 times and suffered blunt force trauma to the head. Some of the stab wounds were so forceful that they went completely through his neck and arm. At a 2016 hearing, Amanda said of the killing, ‘it was personal…. Because I wanted Charlie Taylor gone. He made me mad. I felt like he didn't deserve to be here anymore since Rex was gone’ (Commonwealth of Virginia v Taylor, 2016, p 35).
A photograph of Amanda with Charles’ dead body was taken on Sean's phone at the crime scene. Later that day this image was uploaded to Amanda's Tumblr blog and sent to an online friend who ran a serial killers website. Before leaving the scene, the pair also took money from Charles’ wallet and told his bedridden father Allen that Charles had hurt his leg and they were going to take him to the hospital.
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