Taylor Behl /// Part 1 /// 396 | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks for listening I'm your host
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feels torn when they send their child off to college torn between feeling excited for their
son or daughter for the education and Adventures that lie ahead and feeling anxious
about their newly independent child's safety choices and well-being for most parents the anxiety lessens
as they see their son or daughter settling into college thriving making a new life
but for one family the parents worst fears came true they're beautiful smart beloved daughter
went off to college and never came home how did this co-ed disappear just two weeks into her first semester
this is True Crime garage and this is the case of Taylor Beale [Music] foreign Taylor Beale was a 17 year old girl who
lived with her mom Janet pelisara in Vienna Virginia Vienna is an upper middle class suburb of Washington DC
with the small town feel despite its population of 15 000 people Vienna was ranked third in Money magazine's list of
top 100 places to live in 2013. Taylor was very close with her mother and the two lived in various places around the
world including London and Belgium with Janet's husband at the time Janet's husband was an officer in the Royal Air
Force eventually settling back in Virginia when Taylor was 11. Taylor was used to traveling of course and even
flew alone internationally at the age of five this under the care of the airline
this is a a really unique kind of experience for a young child I remember when I was 10 I flew by myself without
Parents Without family it's something I will always remember because it seemed like a really big deal to me at the time
when I was just 10 but one that smelly guy you sit next to of course I wasn't um flying internationally that would
have been weird my flight was like one hour long but it was really neat Captain because they did like a special check-in
for me you know when they were boarding the plane I got to get on the plane early
and the flight attendant introduced me to the pilot or some guy pretending to be the pilot and he was cleaning the
plane yeah and then they sat me right in the front row so they could keep an eye
on me I guess but Taylor was close to her mother that's like an understatement but she
was also close with her father Matt even though her parents divorced before she even turned two years old Taylor
graduated from James Madison High School in Vienna the 15th school she had attended in her life
that shows you how much she had moved around at just a young age and one of the colleges she was
interested in was Virginia Commonwealth University known as VCU which is a great
College great basketball program the VCU Rams shout out to the Rowdy Rams VCU is
located on the west side of Richmond Virginia and the school focuses on biotech and
life sciences Taylor visited VCU twice in the spring of her senior year in high school one
visit was in February of 2005 with her father Matt when the two of them made their two-hour
drive to check out the campus Matt dropped Taylor off at the apartment of a friend of hers from Vienna so she could
experience a little Campus Life at VCU this was the apartment of upperclassman Mike Cino and his roommate Ben Farley
Taylor Made a second visit to the same place in April of that same year now she must have liked VCU because she
enrolled in the large school of 31 000 students and started her freshman year on August 19 2005.
her departure for college was hard on Taylor's mom Janet even though she was only two hours away
this was very difficult for for Janet as I said they were very tight even would give the appearance of almost best
friends at times one she was the only daughter so they had a pretty strong bond because of that only child
and Janet says that Taylor was not the only you know she's not one of these teens who wants nothing to do with her
parents in fact she would still hold hands with her mom when they went places together
the two of them even volunteered as elves every Christmas for a local charity and spent a lot of time together
while Janet was nervous about her daughter heading off to college in the large city of Richmond Virginia of
course she knew that it was the best thing for Taylor BCU is a good school and Taylor was very excited for the next
chapter in her Young Life Taylor has been described in articles about her as quite mature for her age she was working
at Starbucks and choosing to hang out at jam and java coffee house sipping cappuccino and listening to local Indie
bands that sounds like something the captain would have been caught doing in his when he was just 16 years old
yeah I don't know about Indie bands but didn't you go to the coffee shop yeah I think a lot of kids went to Coffee I did
I did as well I didn't go there to like listen to the the latest you know I don't remember anymore
at the coffee shop we had I went there and just kind of sat around yeah picked our nose right drinking uh
sipping cappuccino friend of mine used to just say hey that's just three dollar coffee
so she never missed a curfew this was a good kid she didn't do drugs or drink uh
she was Savvy and smart so Janet took comfort that her daughter would make good choices even not under her roof
Taylor was very she was in a very Avid user of social media keep in mind this is 2005 so social media looked quite
different than it does today yeah Facebook wasn't probably even nvcu yet well the platforms that she was
using to post her daily musings and blog and about her life were a little dated to say the least she
used Myspace her photo is still visible on there if you can even get there I don't know how one would get there she
used an internet meeting site called myplace.com and used a site called live Journal as
well well Myspace was like pre-ing Facebook it was the Facebook before the Facebook became the Facebook
but oh yeah but it was also it was wildly popular too yeah and different than Facebook because you could actually
create a page change the colors it was weird because I was a big Myspace user and when Facebook came around it
became well why are we going to this other thing that gives us less options like there was more fun things to do and
you could customize uh your your Myspace a lot more yeah I remember that being a
weird time too because it was like there was nothing wrong with Myspace but somehow we transitioned to Facebook
we're gonna bring it back we'll bring back Myspace yeah we're starting with the garage
on myplace.com we're talking about her social media she wrote Under the name bitter
her online post and photos show that she was a little naive I don't know much about this site so do you know what the
site is about my my well it looks like it looks like she's almost journaling on some of these things and I and I took
quite a bit of time and read through them and it was a little sad and tragic just even reading through them because
they still exist to this day and you know you really get the vibe of who she is and what she was into but also
reminding yourself that she's 17 at this time well you're right but that's like the coffee shop thing that's a very
you know typical young quote unquote like college thing to do let's go get some cappuccino listen to some
singer-songwriter music like and so yeah being 17 and going to school early you're probably going to do a bunch of
things that are very cliche well and we can get into her social media a little bit to give you a little flavor of what
was going on in fact here is a post she wrote an early summer of 2005 it says quote I just
graduated from high school and now I'm off to Richmond I'm looking forward to meeting people that are in Richmond
because I only know a few people down there but I love to meet new people in general so feel free to message me
whenever to chat that's kind of like an open invitation to um that's something that we probably
would steer away from but um she's outgoing and Taylor had a relationship of sorts that was going on
at the time in fact she detailed that on her online Journal talking about her budding relationship with a fellow VCU
student this is a boy named Jacob Cunningham she loved that he was into the same things
right he didn't drink he didn't do drugs but the two it seems like they were off to somewhat
of a rocky start Taylor's roommate Emma says that things between Taylor and Jacob weren't going
the way Taylor wanted and another friend of Taylor said that Jacob had dumped her
online and Taylor was upset about this that's very mature of him I'm gonna break up
with you online uh but this is kind of weird because she's not at school that long so she did she start doing this
individual before she left for school it looks to me like as soon as she you know
mind you February and April she's already making trips out to VCU to see if she's going to like VCU and and to
see if she actually wants to attend right VCU it seems to me like as soon as she has decided on that college that
she's openly on social media sending out invites to chat with people and get to know people in the area so that once she
arrives she's going to hit the ground running and already have a little bit of a uh you know solid base of friends
going on yeah and my my college and I know not every college does this but the college I went to did a bunch of this
like freshman week of getting to know people and getting getting from familiar with the college but that's a that was a
small College this is a lot bigger they might not have programs like that that would be very difficult yeah it's only
two hours away but you're also a little bit younger than everybody and so get in that Community around you would
be definitely important what's interesting to me is it's it seems like we talked about her moving
around a lot as a younger child she's already kind of adapted to this you know she's already figured out how to set up
shop in a new town and New City New State sometimes a new country yeah like you said 15 times 15 different schools
this would be should be an expert at this and as you said Captain she's only at school for a very brief time before
things start to go weird right so on Labor Day weekend 2005 when Taylor had been at school for just two weeks she
met up with some guys on Saturday night to go skateboarding according to one of these guys his name is Kevin the group
boarded for an hour around 2 45 a.m so early morning that's what I call the small hours
Kevin had only met Taylor three or four times but described her as a normal girl
who was very trusting Kevin said that Taylor was heading home to Vienna the next day to spend some time with her mom
this was correct after spending Sunday and most of Monday at home Taylor returned to campus on Monday afternoon
she called her father at 6 45 to say she was back safely on campus and she had dinner with the guy that she was sort of
dating his name again Jacob yeah but this was a normal dinner they they met uh to discuss their relationship
apparently yes that they they made up and had a nice dinner at the Village Cafe yeah but I don't think it was like
makeup it wasn't makeup and we're gonna be boyfriend girlfriend I think it was this is going to end
am I correct on that well there are some differing speculations but I believe that's his comments today is that they
they left on friendly terms yes yes you're absolutely right Kevin her skateboarding buddy later said that he
saw her alone around 8 45 p.m that night and said that Taylor was excited for her
upcoming birthday which would be October 13th yeah it should finally be able to vote
yeah should be 18 years old and she told Kevin that she was planning on doing something quote unquote illegal
what that was Kevin does not know what that was I do not know um my guess if I if I had to guess would
be it would be a weird way to to describe it to me but being on a college campus
turning 18 years old it kind of feels like drinking might be the thing she might
have been referencing there or maybe it was to get a fake ID because she's going
to get a new ID at being 18 years old get a fake ID so she could go into you know oh yeah overage clubs that would
technically be illegal I think you might be more right than me so at 9 45 p.m Taylor spoke on her cell
phone to a male to a a guy this is according to Crime Library I couldn't figure out who this guy was
his name that she spoke with but Crime Library says this guy was later questioned and there were no additional
calls to or from her phone at this time nope that time again was 9 45 pm as the news reports from 2005 when
Taylor got back to her dorm room that Monday night at 10 20 p.m she found that her roommate was entertaining a young
man Taylor had to vacate this is that like a sock on the door that's what my mind
went to the Old Tie on the door yeah I didn't live on campus but the amount of times I like just opened up friends
doors and stuff was going on I kept on going why wouldn't you just lock the door I keep running into these naked
people uh she grabbed her keys her car keys her phone and some cash and took off telling
Emma that she was going to go skateboarding and that she would be back in about three hours you know that's the
polite thing to do to the roommate you tell them exactly how long you can stay gone for
right and that I didn't want to speculate too much on that but that's the way I took it was like Hey I see
you're with somebody I'm gonna go skateboard do some stuff I'll be gone for a few hours right but
you know but we also have class in the morning you're giving them a time limit I have to return it sometime to go to
sleep to get up the next day I got things to do I'm being courteous here you got three hours the place is yours
right and but that still puts you in round one two o'clock in the morning correct you
got class the next day yeah so the Gladding residence Center security cameras show footage of Taylor walking out of
her lobby at 10 24 pm these security cameras do not show Taylor returning in fact she was not
seen again after this time that was 10 24 pm Taylor's roommate Emma went about her
day on Tuesday September 6th but then that evening she noticed that Taylor had still not come back
and none of her things had been touched by this point and on Wednesday morning she informed
the VCU Campus Police that her roommate had never returned to their dorm and had
been gone close to 36 hours the VCU Campus Police started looking for Taylor and guessed it
she had left the dorm and gone somewhere in her car as the vehicle is missing as
well campus police called Janet her mother at home to tell her that both her daughter
and her daughter's vehicle are missing there was no response on Taylor's cell phone to Janet's calls
and Janet and Matt Taylor's father immediately came down to VCU and joined the campus police the campus security
officers in their search for their daughter the campus police officer spoke to Taylor's friends and acquaintances and
tried to track her movements on that night that she disappeared they knew that often young people just go off on
these Benders or leave town without really telling anybody but nobody thought that that was likely
not you're right it's a Monday it's a holiday so it's very typical to a Sunday and it's like it's not who would do that
it makes more sense if she went missing on a Thursday or a Friday yeah and if she did go somewhere she she
left without telling anyone but really I know that it's 36 hours and there are some people on the very Inner Circle
that are probably panicking at this point but the masses the majority of the people really think that it's likely
that Taylor will surface at some point well it's a really big campus she could have hung out with some people spent the
night you know but I guess my concern is that we know that she told her roommates hey I'm I'm going
to go skateboarding so where does that put her at does that put her at on campus
off campus what kind of bad area yeah that's true that's true the students started posting missing Flyers
featuring Taylor's photo and her personal information around and up on uh you know around campus
this to me very reminiscent of the Brian Shafer case when when I think about all
the activity that I Envision going on at this time yeah a lot smaller school but
in fact Brian would go missing from OSU campus what six months later yeah seven months
later Taylor's mother Janet resorted to talking to the media hoping that publicity would generate leads into
Taylor's whereabouts she knew that Taylor would not have just left school or skipped classes since it was only the
second week and she was you know she had been so excited to start college Janet's strategy worked the media
strategy worked and Taylor's disappearance received national news coverage from Nancy Grace and from
others on September 11th VCU announced that it was Consulting with the FBI on Taylor's
case then 10 days into the investigation on September 15th the Richmond Police Department took over the case issuing an
amber alert for Taylor and her vehicle again note Taylor was only 17 so still yet a minor so she did qualify for an
Amber Alert the Richmond Police Department put together an 11-member task force of local University and
federal investigators to try to locate Taylor and what was now considered a criminal case
two of the investigators on the task force were one was the Richmond Police Department's Captain and the other was
the State Attorney General office's investigators so we have some pretty high level individuals on this task
force police said that they had no evidence of Foul Play but Taylor a minor and now missing for days all without
being in contact with anyone was of great concern investigators confirm that Taylor had
not used her credit card or cell phone since she went missing and this is never good and always really I mean we know
this Captain a bad bad sign the task force set out to use a relatively new tool available to them in
assembling the victimology and get a list of Persons of Interest and this was social media
Taylor's prolific online writings and posts gave investigators a glimpse into her life and a place to start compiling
a list of her contacts friends and acquaintances well you can control your top eight I think at some point you can even
make it bigger than top eight you could have a like top 16. so you would control
who was in that group so there's your closest Pals right there on the internet this is also helpful
because they're able to determine what she had been doing and where she had been going in the days leading up to her
disappearance and then they're able to reach out to people that Taylor's family was not
aware of that she was hanging out with one of the first people the task force question was this jacob Cunningham the
the sort of boyfriend right uh that they they just met when school started Jake told police that things were good when
they had dinner as you said Captain with Taylor and they left the restaurant holding hands he also told investigators
that they parted ways that Monday evening and when they did so Taylor told him that she was going to go skateboarding
another reference to the skateboarding thing she was into boarding as we know and this would have been a normal
activity it seems for her even at night remember we know that she went skateboarding after midnight just days
earlier however police were not able to track down anyone who had been skateboarding
with her on the night that she disappeared or even seen her skateboarding that night well we know
that she took her keys with her when she left her room but on that video footage
I don't see her with a skateboard correct correct now one thing that they the investigators were going to start
looking at and this there's not much mention of this in the media but police looked at Taylor's
father's girlfriend's son okay I'll say that again because it's a little difficult Taylor's father's girlfriend's
son and I don't know this guy's name or really anything about him but what we do
know is that Taylor did blog about him in her online live Journal saying that he was creepy and he hit on her and it
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want to give a special shout out and cheers to a great man Dwight Radcliffe was Sheriff of Pickaway County in Ohio
from 1965 all the way up to 2013. he is the longest serving sheriff in the United States he was re-elected
12 times unfortunately Dwight passed away last week on May 6th so thank you to sheriff Dwight Radcliffe for a
lifetime of service to the community I'll pour a little out for the good Sheriff may he rest in peace a big
cheers mates to you big cheers on September 17 2005 Taylor has now been missing for
about 12 days there was a break in the case Taylor's white 1997 Ford Escort sedan was located
it was parked on a quiet residential street this is North Mulberry Street has about three blocks from campus that's
correct about a mile and a half from her dorm so not far away at all what was disturbing was that the car had
different license plates on it the license plates were from Ohio and these plates had been stolen or
reported stolen two months earlier they were lifted off of a vehicle of an Ohio resident who lived in Richmond while
attending VCU residents said that the vehicle had not been parked there for the duration of
Taylor's of the time that she had been missing so we have a situation here Captain she
goes missing her car goes missing at the same time this car her car magically appears in
this spot and it's not there for much of the time that she's been missing well we
can only assume that somebody switched the tags to throw people off from finding her car they put the captain's
plates on that car this next part is really really smart on the behalf of the police I think this is an absolutely
great tactic what what they did was they did a Stakeout job on this car I mean what what a genius idea that's a
great idea if you know that it's if you suspect that something may have happened
to her very early on in the period that she's been missing and you believe had have good reason to believe that this
vehicle has been moved since then who's not to say that this this guy is going to come back and move
the vehicle again we know people get nervous when they Place bodies or evidence or cars places and sometimes
they SEC they have second thoughts and think oh I better move it to a different place or it's going to be found sooner
or maybe I didn't move it far away enough from me well then you also you have no evidence that
she's dead yeah so is she using her vehicle is she the one that changed the license plates
um this you we got to figure out what's going on with her yeah if you get some type of activity in or around the
vehicle it may be the lead that you so desperately need because by this point captain
we've already discussed this and you have to believe this is what went down they are using social media they're
talking to her friends her roommate her parents everybody that knows her to figure out what her Social Circles are
and then interview everybody that they can possibly think of within those circles and it sounds to me like at this
point they really got a whole lot of nothing going on until you find the car let's let's be smart that what a genius
idea yeah but like you said before though oh shoot she's gonna go skateboarding that's a normal thing for
her and I was bringing up the point on break well there is no normalcy it's not like she's been at school for a year
and now we have all these times that we know hey Sunday night she likes to go skateboarding I mean like she's been at
school for a couple weeks there is no normal hat you it's not even long enough to form a bunch of habits well I think
that it's not abnormal is what I would point out there no no no I agree so after staking out the vehicle for 24
hours to see if anyone would return to it police called in the dogs the sniffer dogs and impounded the car
it was sent off to the FBI for forensic analysis police Bloodhounds tracked a scent from her car to a home on Shepherd
Street this house was about five blocks away from Taylor's car yeah this is pretty interesting the home belonged to
the aunt and uncle of a 23 year old guy named Jesse Schultz Jesse was not a VCU student but he
frequented VCU Hangouts to try to meet the ladies he also may have been a skateboarder
Jesse had visited his aunt uncle's home within the past 24 hours and had left one of his work shirts at this house at
their home the couple was very cooperative and allowed police to look through their house
the house where Jesse lived was down the street and it was search as well during
that search they found a razor blade with cocaine residue on it and this led to Jesse's arrest
although we should in all fairness we should point out the razor blade could belong to Jesse but he also had a
roommate could belong to the room right police clearly wanted to they wanted to sweat Jesse a bit see
what he knew see if he was guilty of anything and they just put a bunch of cocaine on the table had him do a bunch
of lines and then questioned him turn the thermostat up to 104. yeah so they didn't feel about that jealousy they
interrogated Jesse at the station for several hours about Taylor about her being missing he did agree to take a
polygraph test which indicated some deception according to the detective in charge yeah
he failed on two questions uh one what what's your name right is this your cocaine yes sure
uh he failed on two questions and what is cited in the media reports is one of those questions was whether he knew
Taylor at all and two whether he had been in her car he answered no to both of those and this
shows deception the police are not believing it it that's that's difficult because for
someone to say I don't even know this person and show deception and then to say I've never been in this vehicle show
deception now you have reason to believe not only why does he not want us to know
that that he knows her right why what else is he covering up if he's saying that he was not in her
vehicle but we have the scent dog leading you from the car right to his aunt and uncle's house
the trouble is both of these tactics are not perfect like everything else right they're not 100 percent well I really
question because and this is kind of gross and you gotta watch out for certain campuses but especially at that
time late 90s early 2000s especially college guys they get drunk they we everywhere it's a wee-wee Fest
peeing on the side of the houses oh just creep between these two cars and pee real quick
is it possible that he just was taking a leak and then he took a leak by her car and then walked
to his aunt and uncle's house it's also possible that the dogs were wrong and the test is not scored properly
right the other thing too is if this young man is just nervous about being questioned anyway
you know that test is reacting to him not it's not actually detecting if he's lying or not it's detecting if there's
any change in his in him physically well right again and if I ask you a question
hey what were you doing the other night hey I was at this bar there's no tension
there I I can ask all these questions but I know that there's a missing girl I know this was her car right I know that
they have a set from her car to my house once you bring her up even if I don't know her the nervousness of that could
fail those tests I mean I don't like these tests like a hundred percent I just like when people are willing to
take them because I I do think it gives us somewhat of a barometer and also when
they let you know which I don't like it when they just say oh well he seemed to be deceptive so he failed the test I I
like when they come back and they go well look he passed everything but these two questions there's some deception
there okay well give me that and that gives me more to go on yeah despite the test failure despite
the Unexplained dog tracking or maybe they believe the drug dog tracking I don't know but what we do know is this
Jesse continued to deny that he had any involvement so much so to the point where he continued to tell officers and
detectives I don't even know this person I don't know you know I I get that she's
missing and I get that you're looking for and I wish I could help but I don't know who she is I never met her I don't
know what that vehicle is and eventually police they do clear him of any involvement at all because they looked
at this dude pretty tough and pretty hard and they were unable to link him in any way to her right and that's also
becomes another problem do you know this person remember Brian Shaffer a lot of people didn't know who Brian
Shaffer was but if I would have showed you a picture of him people would have been like I know that guy from somewhere
yeah because of the hundred and some thousand Flyers we put everywhere right yeah I mean so how many Flyers were out
there with her face on it how much news coverage was there he could be sitting there going I I you
know if I think his answer uh I think it was a 48 hours or something was really good when he said look if
if I knew her I wasn't aware that I knew her right and when looking at this Jesse
Schultz guy what this leads investigators to is they start they they take a look at a
skateboarder friend of Jesse's his name is Ian and they also impounded a Nissan Altima which may have been Ian's looking
for evidence they apparently had reason to believe that maybe Taylor had been in
the Altima at some point is my guess here and reportedly refused to take a polygraph test he's not as
Cooperative as what Jesse was was but he just failed well that's what you have to
wonder about like if you know that your buddy didn't know this girl and the police are telling him hey you failed
your your Polly you're not going to be so excited to sit down for one yourself and we've talked
about that many times like what could would come from you taking one because if you pass it people go well that the
test is [ __ ] but if you fail it most people don't follow up with the test is [ __ ] well and if you want to be like
uber cooperative and if you really want to help the best way to do it and it's not cheap so a lot of people don't do
this the best way to do it is to to you do a bunch of cocaine get an attorney and then have your attorney set up a
polygraph test and those results can then be sent to investigators from from that I like that process but again after
you take it a few times learn how to beat the system you have to pay for the test you have to pay for the attorney
all things that can be expensive if you want good ones right uh they did look like we said police
were looking at both of these guys uh Ian and Jesse I think them being skateboarders and
then a possible connection to Jesse even though they couldn't find one this goes
back to the thought of maybe she was planning to go skateboarding with them or maybe she actually did know them
right but it seems like they couldn't make that they being the investigator investigators could not make that
connection well I don't think he ever told us what happened as far as her dad's her dad's girlfriend's son
that was questioned and looked at acting a little creepy because that would be very awkward oh my dad is now dating
this girl and you you meet her kid for the first time and you're you're attractive female so
he's like well she's not she's not bad to look at that would be a very awkward situation well and who knows like I said
I know very little about it because it wasn't reported on who knows the age of this guy or right
so yeah because he could it was 35. yeah I mean I don't really know anything about him I do know he was
looked at and I have to believe that there was no connection couldn't take that portion of the investigation
anywhere or it would have been reported on right in the media what's clear though is I mean especially like her
friends from high school and then her family members these are almost a little bit easier to
investigate on some level because you can start eliminating people quickly because the distance yeah so even if oh
the mom and daughter is close but well maybe they had a fight okay well the mom's two hours away so to to establish
Alibis is a lot easier and the other thing too I would think with the with her colleagues at school
at VCU it'd be easy to to clear people as well because this we're talking about people that are at
an age where they're very active and they're out and about and they're hanging out with other people it's real
easy to establish as you said in Alibi for who was doing what and when right but here's here's the tough thing though
and and anybody would know this I mean you'd know this by even going to high school
when you get to a new school everybody's new you're not forming your click yet so she was still in the process if you
would have told me she went missing at the end of her freshman year again schedule habits routine the the
people that she would be in daily contact weekly contact monthly contact would be
all those habits would be formed but because it's so early in the school year a lot of those scenes are just not
formed yet but you do have roommates like it's a situation where people aren't living
alone you know we cover so many of these cases and it's like this guy says well he couldn't have done it because he was
20 miles away well what was his Alibi he he didn't feel well he had a headache he
lives alone he sat at home watching some TV he went to bed early that night so the students at VCU at the campus
they held a vigil for Taylor this was on the night of September 19th but but hold
on one good second with that point though is yes when you have a college campus of 30 some thousand you normally
have on that campus maybe a half a million people that live on that campus most of them not going to
that school if you go to the Ohio State campus yeah there's a hundred and some thousand kids that attend to Ohio State
campus but there's roughly like a million in that area that don't go to school the while this this whole thing's going
on here Captain so we're now at September 19th and the investigators still don't have any
real strong leads and mind you they're they're really diving into every aspect of Taylor's
life that they can find this being through friends this being through her activities on social media
they noted that there was another guy who was involved in Taylor's life this was not
Jacob this was not Jesse it was Ben folly you might recall that this was the roommate of Taylor's friend Mike Sino
whom she stayed with on her two trips to VCU in the spring of 2005 while she was
a senior in high school so let's discuss this Benjamin Folly shall we yeah it'd be one of her oldest
friends at VCU yep Ben folley was known around town because he was a quirky flamboyant character a
self-proclaimed goth skater he always had dyed Surfer style hair that changed colors regularly
he drove what many would describe as a creeper van that was completely covered with bumper stickers and old license
plates yeah it was very strange they actually did a couple news stories on his van because
he would take it was a big creeper van but I think it was painted black and then it was just covered from top to
bottom with stickers and bumper stickers and every kind of sticker and there's almost no paint visible on this thing
yeah I mean when you saw it going down the road it it looked almost like something from Mad Max or something
so it's a novelty you know and that was kind of neat that it was featured on a couple local stories their news stories
I guess maybe it's not technically a creeper van maybe you don't describe it as that because it might have the size
and shape of the traditional creeper van but when you're when you're covered in bumper stickers and license plates you
don't really blend in very well do you right Folly was once a student at VCU he attended for seven years
um do you think he was studying to be a doctor probably or something happening he looks like a
doctor he never graduated but when Taylor met him at her friend's apartment where he was living he was no longer a
student in fact it was like 38 years old yeah he doesn't but if you watch these interviews he didn't look that old at
all I would say like early 20s you know he dyed his hair a lot changed that up a
lot but even in the interview they're like so why do you do this to your van he's like yeah I just like stickers man
he's like one of those guys right well he had two children as well the children didn't live with him in fact they lived
rather far away with their mother well that's because he dislikes having sex man but in regards to his age and being
a father of two I don't know that Taylor knew any of this no we can't say because we we don't know
what their conversations were but we're talking about a relationship a friendship for a few months you know at
some point yeah the truth will come out but this girl is coming um two hours away to come visit this
college campus you can be whoever you want or whoever you think she wants you to be
because you're you're spinning not as much time with her if that makes sense yeah and as the captain said you
can see Ben Foley in these interviews he actually gave an interview to 48 hours in a 2019 piece by Aaron Moriarty on the
case he said that when he first saw Taylor standing in the doorway of the apartment
that he shared with Mike you know when she came to visit that he thought she was extremely beautiful
he said that they spent the entire weekend talking when they first met and they shared so
much in common including many opinions and feelings about different things Matt Beale Taylor's father said that
when he dropped Taylor off there in April he did meet he actually met this Ben Folly right and he said that Ben
seemed to be to him seemed to be a very nice personable young man Matt said that he assumed Folly was a
student and was in his mid-20s at the oldest and just like you pointed out Captain he looked that part we know now
that neither of these assumptions were correct well there's a big difference I mean if you look him up on Google images
for example once they once his hair is chopped and and of a natural color then you go oh okay yeah mid-30s
pushing pushing 40. but with the pink hair or sometimes it's green hair there I can't solve footage where he had
purple hair you know it just makes them look especially his attitude like I said he
has that you know I'm just you know love dyeing my hair bro right right Polly and Taylor stayed in touch
Apparently after Taylor's first visit just to VCU on her second visit she slept with him she told her friends that
she was curious about him and wanted to see what it would be like yeah now this is in spite but this is a
look this individual there's plenty of women that you come in contact with that are attractive
you could tell that she is 17 18 years old and look maybe you know I don't want to
get into age gaps and relationships too much but it's like he he should that you know I I just find
this wrong on many levels yes yes 100 she's look she's a very attractive young lady very photogenic
but you're absolutely right there I didn't see one picture of her where I thought for a second that she was 20 21
she looked very 17 to me uh her friends though even regardless of this whatever was going on between
Taylor and this Ben folly her friends at the time say she's not very Taylor's not very sexually
experienced and we do have some evidence of Taylor and Folly's hookup from the digital
banter between the two Folly commented online on live Journal posting under his online name skulls
that this very attractive girl climbed hold on a second go ahead you're pushing 40 and your online name is skulls you
know like come on with something better the but the thing with this dude man it feels like to me the only thing that's
really pushing 40 in his life is his actual age right you know what I mean this guy
his one day his brain turned 18 and it stayed there right so skulls our friend skulls here posted
this very attractive girl climbed up into my bunk at 407. and then Taylor whose online
name was I don't even know if you can say this Tia balage is what I how I would try to
pronounce this but really it's it's supposed to be jail bait spelled backwards okay
she replied well I was curious to which skulls then replies so was I in fact I still am
Folly told 48 Hours That Taylor appreciated that he didn't treat her like a child and that he respected her
opinions yeah it's like I had sex with her but it was like almost a con job you know that's the way I view it do you
think that it here's like the vibe that I kind of get and I'm really totally guessing here Captain but I get the vibe
like she was aware that this guy was older that she that she wasn't dumb to that no no that she wasn't that naive
that she didn't understand that this guy's older you just wonder how much older did he tell her he was
you know 29 29 is a lot different than than mid to late 30s right again and and if you have children that
you're not telling the person about you again you have that ability you're on the islands especially with
those college campuses you're on an island you can pretend to be whoever you want to be
well folly he goes on to tell 48 hours about his game how he planned to flatter Taylor
telling her that he's an amateur photographer and that he wanted to take pictures with
her and this did happen you know he took some photographs of Taylor now we can only assume that Taylor
fell for folly fell for his carefully constructed online Persona of this you know cool
dude who was into goth stuff like skulls photography and had had been he says he
even he even says that he had been a nude model at one time yeah they specialize in small penises Folly
loved to post about himself in his Interest online obviously detailing his romantic Conquest go ahead hold on a
second because here's what I think happened I think she's going to go to this school she
knows she's going to go there she meets this meets up with somebody that from her hometown that goes to VCU his
roommate is there okay cool you're my friend by association now this guy is Smitten by the 17 year old
they make plans to hang out he's taken pictures of her which a lot of times with these cases you can start googling
and it I think it's better to wrap your head around the whole situation the more
pictures you can have or the more videos you can have but a lot of the pictures in Google Images are stuff that this guy
took that's what you'll find of her and I think that as far as the sexual experience I think it was probably
simply a 17 year old that probably drank a little bit and it was something that happened because
she later is telling her friends well yes we were physical but I I don't want that to happen again right I'm not
like that's it was a it was an accident right all right well this Folly guy he if you weren't already dialing into this
already he has a bit of a dark side you know he maintained websites with titles like
dark evil goth and skulls dot deviantart.com featuring articles uh described as goth nude porn
these included images of death and Decay as well as photos of very young women we
should probably say girls really in all sorts of compromising nude or scantily clad shots
he also blogged about Taylor's visit in April on his live Journal under his screen name
this portion of my notes says screen name skulls 67. then Taylor came down to Richmond to
visit for the weekend got out to Belle Isle amongst other things I got some photos
not as many as I would have liked but Taylor looked cold from earlier posts about other women it
seemed that taking photos on Belle Isle was a sort of a like a foreplay for Folly and Taylor for her part seemed to
have a somewhat moodier darker Persona than she let on too many in her life she had
recently picked up smoking some of her online journals reflect a girl who didn't feel she had real friends and who
wanted something more out of her Young Life and her friends from the Starbucks where
she worked in Vienna before College said that she was always interested in older
men and was known for flirting with them rather than guys her own age it's possible that
this Ben Folly older maybe exotic seeming was just what possibly a Restless young tailor was
kind of looking for again that's where I go back to the idea of I don't I don't believe for a second that she did not
know or did not understand that he was older it's just what kind of how different did she know he was than
her we also have a female there should be that has been to many schools 15. she understands the idea that when
you're going into a new situation like that especially when you're on an island it's not like you go into the school and
10 of those people know who you are going into school where nobody knows who you are so
for her you know is she now a smoker because she went to college and for two weeks she been smoking I would look at
all that stuff as this is a time for her her to try things uh to experiment with things and
discover who she really is and who she wants to be so I don't know if I would necessarily necessarily say that she
was darker sometimes people just need an Avenue to to vent about things and I think you're spot on there Captain I
think we have this big change in her life this is a major change in her life she's moving off and going off to
college so there's probably a lot of things going on with Taylor what my suspicions are is that she
is a good judge of character and she's good at setting herself up and fitting in in a new place I just really think
that she doesn't really know who this Ben Folly guy is [Music] [Music] with all the uncertainty and the world
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garage thanks for tuning in today we got so much more to get to in this case join
us back here in the garage tomorrow until then be good be kind and don't live foreign
[Music]

Taylor Behl /// Part 1 /// 396

Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com A young woman leaves her home and family to go off to college. After just two weeks she disappears. Join us in the Garage this week so we can discuss what happened and why. Beer of the Week - Blueberry Thrill from the Susquehanna Brewing Company Garage Grade - 3 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5 Check out this week’s sponsors and save some CA$H with our codes! www.ObjectiveWellness.com - use code Garage to get 20% off your first order! www.SimpliSafe.com/Garage - Get FREE shipping and a 60-day money back guarantee! www.LightStream.com/TCG - Apply today to get a special interest rate discount on a credit card consolidation loan! The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

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Brief Summary

Taylor Beale, a 17-year-old college student, went missing just two weeks into her freshman year at VCU, sparking a nationwide search.

Key points

The Disappearance of Taylor Beale. Taylor Beale, a promising 17-year-old, vanished just weeks into her college life.
A Mother's Fear. Janet, Taylor's mother, faced the worst fear of any parent when her daughter went missing.
Task Force Formed. An 11-member task force of local and federal investigators is assembled to locate Taylor.
Taylor's Missing Car Found. Taylor's white 1997 Ford Escort is located parked with stolen license plates, raising concerns.
Police Stakeout. Police conduct a stakeout on Taylor's car, suspecting it may have been moved.
Jesse's Polygraph Test. Jesse takes a polygraph test which indicates deception regarding his involvement with Taylor.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

How did this co-ed disappear just two weeks into her first semester?

4:08WatchNov 14, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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