Taylor Behl | 194

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Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. The world is your oyster. There is nothing but jealousy coming from me. I'm just kidding. I'm Just kidding. But like, what? Shut up. That threw me. But this guy's a loser and it has nothing to do with his marital status. Thank you. Rage. Hey, everyone. Hello. I thought my voice just cracked there. My B, what's up? Welcome to People Are The Worst. Thanks for tuning in. If you're new here, we're identical twins. We are into true crime. Not really the old-timey stuff. We like cases that keep you on your toes, that your plot twist. They're like, whoa, didn't see that coming. Or, wow, that's bizarre as shit. Whoa, that survival story was badass. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love a survivor. All of it. So thank you for joining. Welcome. Today is my turn today. I'm Rachel. Nice to meet you. I'm Rebecca. A few things at the top. Here we are. Another week recording. Another week that Nancy Guthrie's not been found. y'all what is what's what so as of yesterday they just cleared all family members brother-in-laws included okay okay so we can get off his get off his jock and um i don't know they're sending that dna um from the glove to codis i have a sneaking suspicion it won't be in codis yeah that's my sneaking suspicion because this guy's a ghost and I was and I've been on people are the worst Instagram I've been doing regular updates Rebecca's been rocking it Rebecca's been rocking it but now those are because I'm only doing legit ones now because this is becoming a circus and I feel like we are all being a little bit played here that is something weird something is going now TMZ got a fourth letter like wait a minute And I'm like, hold on and slow down. There's just no reason hostage takers would go through TMZ who in the about us is it is a tabloid journalism media outlet. Like, right. They don't want usual, usual hostage takers want to keep it quiet. They want no cops involved cash only. And here this clown is clowns are demanding Bitcoin from TMZ. Like I'm like, what are you talking about? Yeah. And the most attention, you're the most fame whore kidnap abductors in history. So something sketchy is. Well, and that could be another hoax. earring guy to a copycat. Sure. That's what I'm thinking with TMZ. But the biggest thing too, and a lot of FBI profiles, not profilers, not on the case, not involved, maybe retired. I don't even know. Good points they're making are nothing lasts this long if it's for ransom. Yeah, it is quick. They want it quick in and out. It's their, their first price is a starting point. You negotiate from there you pay it quietly all is good you grab that medicine on the way out because you have to keep her alive like what this is the weirdest shit in the entire world they're pushing back due dates they're upping the money i'm like okay um it's it's feeling crazy it's feeling hoaxy but not not not on the part of the gutteries yeah yeah it is it's something's happening and it's at the expense of this poor old woman and her family yeah yeah i said that sucks i said that with all the like conspiracy tiktoks and all that out there i was like i'm starting to get on board and someone was like so this is all just acting those messages i was like no no no no no they they're not on board hell no not they're not involved i this just seems very weird but whatever So there you go. There's our take. There's tech, which is not much is out there. Yeah. Yeah. But Rebecca's been rocking it. And yeah, good idea to just, just the stuff that legit sources are putting out is what we'll post. um another quick thing before i get started a listener reached out this is so awful awful a listener reached out saying her best friend who is also a listener just passed away in california while on a trip to one of her daughter's gymnastics tournaments yeah unexpected she died in her sleep in the hotel no warnings nothing she leaves behind a husband and four very young girls yeah um so they have a gofundme her name's ashley drake um they have a gofundme it's gofundme.com slash f they all have slash f slash ashley drake a-s-h-l-e-y-d-r-a-k-e um it's a picture of her and her four daughters and her husband they like even they need money to even get her back from california to colorado where they live which is awful it's awful and it's expensive and they're not asking much not asking enough in my opinion yeah their goal is 40 000 i'm like y'all up that if they're listening yeah let's get them above their goal because they have four kids young young like 13 or something i mean how awful we're so sorry i'm so sorry um so if y'all can again ashley drake she's from colorado this is our first time to hear that like a avid listener has passed away and it feels like it's a member of the family it's sad really sad so let's rally back so we ride at dawn for ashley yes let's go let's go if you can again cliche literally every penny counts let's get them above 40 000 that's not going to be enough no without further ado i'm telling y'all about taylor beal sources crime library washington post dubs the bloodhound substack style week fox news a greta van susten transcript thank you uh w tvr okay taylor beale was born on october 13th 1987 in vienna virginia which is like 17 miles outside of dc her parents janet and matt divorced before Taylor was two years old and she lived with her mom, but remained very close to her dad too. She was their only child. So she's their world. Yeah. Her mom, Janet remarried a Royal Air Force officer. So as a kid, she lived in several places throughout England and Belgium before returning to Northern Virginia when she was 11 years old. Oh yeah. By the time she graduated high school, she had been to 15 different schools. Wow. Some in Europe, some in the U S some just bounced around. She even took an international flight all by herself at the age of five. Obviously you have an airline employee with you, but still I would be wailing that entire time. So scared. I know. Oh my God. This one, this like, I would say she was probably 15 came up to me in the Atlanta airport and being like, I've never been on a plane. Can you? And I was like, I will walk you that it's so stressful especially in if atlanta airport's your number is your first ever yeah let's come on let's get on there's a train to go on she's like what like let's go she didn't have a airline employer with her nope that's an unaccompanied minor yeah and i feel like she should have maybe there's a they define that differently maybe if you're over yeah 13 or i I don't know, but that's still, no. I was her airline attendant. There you go. Since she was so well-traveled and had to adapt to new situations a lot, she was really outgoing and mature for her age. As a high schooler, she didn't do drugs. She rarely drank. If she did drink, she didn't get drunk. She never missed a curfew, made really good grades. Good kid, really good kid. She was also fun and spontaneous. Once in high school, she and a friend were driving to Baltimore for a baseball game. And she insisted on making a pit stop by this magic shop where they tried on wigs and magician shit and just took pictures. And for some reason, I put that in there because it reminded me of when you scared the shit out of Kate. Yeah, that's exactly. Rebecca was stopped at a gas station on the way to, I believe, Napa. It was a party city. A party city on the way to Napa. and our friend went to the bathroom and she found the scariest mask and just stood outside the door and then filmed her reaction it's hilarious oh my god we spent the entire weekend just laughing at it i was literally i was sharing a room with my friend live and she was like at like six in the morning just heard this like and she was like what are you laughing at i was like still the video scaring kate well we stopped at the post-it are we allowed to sure it would be hilarious we um went to a party city to get like bachelorette yeah yeah but it's so good i don't know why it reminded me yeah it's pretty good pretty good pretty good when it was time to start thinking about colleges she set her sights on virginia commonwealth university or vcu in richmond virginia which is about two hours from vienna she had a good friend who was already a freshman there his name was Mike Sino. So she went to stay with him and his roommate, Ben Folly, a few times in early 2005 so she could get a feel for student life there. And she fell in love with it. In late August, 2005, 17-year-old Taylor moved to Richmond and started her freshman year. One of her friends set her up with a roommate named Emma Ellsworth, and the two lived in the Gladding Residence Center dorms. A few weeks after starting college, it was Labor Day weekend, and Taylor went back home to visit her parents, but she was eager to return to Richmond on Monday, September 5th, 2005. Again, that night, a guy named Jake Cunningham asked her to dinner. Jake was also a VCU student and the two met only three days after Taylor moved to Richmond. They were starting to hang out, but he ended things after only about a week, which she was sad about because she was starting to like them. But now he was asking her to dinner. So she was all excited and it seemed like he was wanting to give it another shot. Yeah. Following dinner around 10 PM, Jake dropped Taylor off at her dorm. And when she walked in, her roommate, Emma was in there with her boyfriend getting a sense that they wanted some privacy. Taylor told Emma that she was going to go skateboarding and she'd be back in a few hours. Wow. Yeah. Dope check skateboarding. That's what I said. We actually recently were talking about skateboarding. I don't know why. And I was like, that's kind of a badass skill to have because I certainly can't do it. Nope. Um, so whenever I see someone who can, I'm like, you're dope. Yeah. Taylor grabbed her keys, a little cash, about 40 bucks and her cell phone. And she leaves the dorm just before 10 30 PM. Wow. And I feel like a lot of dorms now are like apartments. So let me explain if you're confused. These are the type of dorms that were one room, two beds, two desks, no privacy, shared bathroom down the hall. You get it. If you're in there with your boyfriend, the classic dorm. I know some are still like that, but man, a lot are like, I know our apartments. Yeah. Full apartments. Yeah. The next day, Emma, the roommate woke up and Taylor wasn't there, but she wasn't that concerned. She went about her day. She went to classes, did whatever that night. She got back to the dorm and Taylor still wasn't there. And all of her books were still in the room in the same spot so she was like did she not go to classes today then she noticed taylor's car was gone so emma decided to call vcu campus police good yeah campus police then called taylor's parents who immediately knew something was wrong of course campus police are like she's a freshman she's out partying don't worry about it which is weird considering again she is 17 she's a minor even if she's in college she's a kid but in their defense i guess normally it is nothing normally it is a freshman you know first taste of freedom but unfortunately that is not the case no with pressure from her parents campus police talked to friends and searched for a car but to no avail so finally after 10 days they turned the case over to Richmond Police Department who immediately put out an Amber Alert with Taylor's information, a description of her car, which was a white 1997 Ford Escort and the car's license plate number. 10 days. 10 days. Uh-oh. Yeah. They also put together a task force with the university, state and federal investigators. Richmond PD was on it. They rocked it. Once they got it 10 days later my god i know and this is 2005 yeah 2005 richmond police talked to jake the the somewhat boyfriend he said they went to dinner at village cafe that night and she mentioned wanting to go skateboarding later but he didn't know if she did or not he said he dropped her off around 10 p.m which is verified by her roommate emma who said she came to the dorm after dinner but left again around 10 30 just before saying she may go skateboarding yeah she said that to emma too but emma wasn't sure who she was going with as the days passed her parents are checking her cell phone and bank activity both showed nothing since the night she disappeared they also contact local and national media and get taylor's story out there and it works it starts getting a lot of coverage and everyone on campus was freaking out students put up flyers everywhere a local reporter interviewed her friend ben folly while he was handing out flyers at village cafe where she had dinner that night ben is the roommate of the hometown friend mike if you remember okay hold on hold on to get a taste for student life to see if she wanted to go there senior year she went to stay with mike oh right okay so he was so his roommate was uh handing out flyers at this ben guy is his roommate yeah okay at village cafe so this reporter walked over to him and he said He was worried about her because the night she went missing, he saw her earlier that night. And she mentioned doing something illegal ahead of her upcoming 18th birthday. That is a very weird thing to say Well she was drinking at Village Cafe Then she already already was doing something illegal Mark it off the bucket list I know So that comes up again later We'll chat about that in a minute. Okay. She says that to someone else. So. Fun fact. I've actually been to Village Cafe many times. Okay. Yeah. I knew you were a frequenter of Richmond back in the day. you know dated a guy from richmond went to richmond a lot it's in the fan that's where we hung out that's where anyone everyone hangs out really i'm about to talk about the fan so buckle up buckle the fuck up so in the meantime police are also going to talk to ben about his last interaction with her taylor called him that night after dinner and asked if she could borrow his skateboard he said sure so he met her in the lobby of the dorm this is all confirmed by surveillance and Ben noted she was upset that Jake had broken up with her online which contradicted what Jake said about he said he ended dinner on good terms they were fine yeah Ben said that after he lent her the skateboard she left saying she was going to meet some of the guys and she he didn't know who that was he also had another alibi he went out that night afterwards to take pictures he like his hobby was photography. And while walking down an alley, someone jumped him, punched him in the stomach, stole his camera and some cash. A passerby or found him lying on the road and helped him. And this was part of apparently an ongoing dispute about photo rights from the year before it happened the year before. So he knew they were related. But either way, investigators found that he had filed a police report in the early morning hours of September 6th, like before anyone even knew that Taylor was missing. Oh, okay. Since she had mentioned going skateboarding to several people, they talked to some of her skateboarding friends and first up's Kevin. Kevin described himself as more of an acquaintance of Taylor's. He was also a VCU student. And again, they both skateboarded and had mutual friends. So that's how they knew each other. But he said they really only hung out a handful of times. He told police that he and Taylor went skateboarding on Saturday, September 3rd late at night one article said 12 45 a.m. Geez. Another said 2 45 a.m. I think the 2 45 was a typo. It had to have been 12. Yeah. Either way late night skateboarding was a thing she enjoyed. Okay. That night or early morning I guess Kevin asked her to join him the following night but she said she couldn't because she was going home to visit her mom and would be back on Labor day which again was september 5th yeah on that day september 5th when she got back to richmond he saw her again around 8 45 p.m this is still kevin so i guess she was about to go to dinner with jake um and the two of them chatted about her upcoming 18th birthday which was the following month she was born in october all right and she told kevin she was really excited about it and told him she was going to celebrate by doing something highly illegal what the fuck again he had no idea what that meant he said he did not ask for specifics because it made him a little nervous um but he said that was the last time he saw her but that would be question number one man i know well it's like my fucking husband gets the juiciest piece of gossip no details oh wait and then something very normal to ask what is a typical follow-up question i would think and he's like i don't know yeah i didn't ask i know and then one of the the takes on this said that she said she wanted to commit a felony before she was 18 but it could have been like just a funny thing to say like before i'm an adult i'm gonna do something horrible yeah before i can get real jail time yeah so it could have been funny if that's the case like maybe she meant a fake id or like actually she wasn't a huge drinker right if she meant underage drinking i don't know we never know by the way i have no idea but i kind of think it's probably just like a funny thing to say because she right she didn't get in trouble like that yeah so investigators are like okay thanks kev um we'll be seeing you around finally on september 17th almost two weeks after her disappearance an off-duty officer was walking his dog in the fan district of richmond which we've already mentioned it's a residential area not too far from campus when he noticed a car matching the description of taylor's huge break but it had an ohio license plate oh hers had i mean had virginia obviously yeah but like did she have another was it just a whatever they're looking for whatever her general car is or was it like a dent on the side like this was it it was a 1997 white ford escort which is what she had so he knew that he was off duty but he noticed it and was like but that's her exact car but ohio ohio doesn't make sense virginia makes sense so he calls it in they run the plate and it was reported stolen two months prior to taylor going missing oh so they're like oh shit someone switched her license plate in the hopes it would go undetected yeah it's the wrong state they talked to residents who lived around there and they said the car had only recently been parked there it had not been there for two weeks it was only after word started spreading about this missing girl yeah so rather than immediately impound it they leave it and keep it and surveil it for the next 12 hours hoping that a nervous piece of shit comes to move it again. Unfortunately, nobody comes to move it. So they send it to the FBI forensics lab, but first they have a bloodhound come and sniff around. Yes. The dog didn't pick up her scent leaving the car, but the good boy did pick up another scent from the driver's side of the car and followed it to a house about five blocks away. Good boy. One source said he smelled the fear scent like you know how there's i think four different scents one of them's fear and that's like the most note that's the most potent most accurate like if they smell that there's a different signal one said that the others just didn't specify but either way i'm gonna take that as fact i'm gonna take it out as fact because it's a good boy but um either way it's a scent that's not hers from the driver's side door to this house five blocks away wow so detectives and the bloodhound knock on the door the blood gets on hind legs like open up i'm on to you that's a trench coat and and a monocle a magnifying glass yeah yeah they're surprised when an older couple answers the door detectives loser son living in your basement we need to talk to him yeah sorry which one detectives told them what was going on the couple was very cooperative of they were like come in search look around we don't care the detectives were like great so they did and confused by the demographics of these two yeah they asked if they had anyone else living there or visiting and they said yeah our nephew jesse jesse schultz was their nephew he's 22 years old and i believe he was living there temporarily at least staying with them for the time being he at one point had his own apartment i don't know he's staying there he worked at the village cafe uh that's where taylor ate dinner with jake you know and she she was a regular there she went there a lot yeah so um upon searching the aunt and uncle's house they didn't find anything regarding taylor's disappearance but they did find cocaine in his bedroom guys so jesse was arrested on a drug charge and they were like while you're sitting here. Let's chat. Let's talk about it. Let's talk big guy. He denied even knowing Taylor and was adamant. He had nothing to do with this. So they asked him for a polygraph test to what she agreed to. He failed two questions and they're pretty big questions. If you ask me, they were, do you know Taylor? And have you ever been in her car? You, he failed those two. Yeah. They asked Taylor's mom if she had ever heard of Jesse Schultz. And she said that on Labor Day weekend, when Taylor was visiting home, she mentioned a group of skaters she met and Jesse was one of them. She didn't say last name, but as it turns out, Jesse Schultz was a skater. So they're certain it's him. Yeah. He maintained that he did not know her. And if he did, he didn't realize it. Like maybe they had hung out with a group a few times and he just didn't recognize her. Okay. I don't know. So he's definitely a person of interest. Yeah. Jesse's sketchy. Sketchy. But they don't have enough to arrest him, at least on this crime. He was arrested for cocaine and he went to court for that and all that. Next, they start looking at Taylor's online presence. It's 2005, so early days of social media. We're not even talking about Facebook. Facebook was probably still only at the Ivy Leagues at this point. Yeah. But she was active on MySpace and a website called LiveJournal. which is where you live journal. Okay. It's just journal. I do not remember that. I do not remember it at all. Her page is actually still up the post after April, 2005 were gone, but, um, there's a lot of posts on there. It's essentially an online diary. People can comment whatever. Okay. And going through it again, it's still up. Um, you can just tell she's young and vulnerable. she's in that stage where she's not a kid but she's not an adult some are a little angsty it's quintessential 17 year old just trying to figure it out uh-huh um you know what what predators look for really but she shows a little more rebellion than than anyone knew she had she mentioned smoking she smoked cigarettes but who didn't in high school yeah her username especially in Virginia. Oh yeah. Yeah. What's that about? Tobacco? Yeah. What do you mean? I would think, especially in North Carolina. Well, that makes sense. But Virginia too. I don't feel like backing that up. Just take my word for it. That's fact. That's fact. Again, that's Rebecca Blackstock at email. Send all your hate to her. her username was um i wonder if you would pronounce it tia bliaj it's jailbait backwards wow okay she um lists her three favorite songs at the moment which were i just love shit like this i know there's like a whole thing of questions i was like i'm just like getting into this okay 2005 hold on all right okay you're not gonna get you one one will be on the charts the other two okay go but you're that was pretty good weezer okay paint it black by rolling stones okay all that she wants by asa base nice which i mean uh we would be friends okay and mr brightside by the killers oh yeah yeah okay the killers said that yeah i know you might as well same thing as weezer okay get ready all right again that was rebecca blackside we're just gonna have some huge fan of one of them the conspiracy no they're both good band they're they're great yeah yeah uh the conspiracy though that um the lead singer of weezer is kurt kabane oh no i can't get behind it i'll i'll get behind anything else it's kind of crazy every couple of years there'll be a viral meme and it's david spade with long hair with a kurt main quote over it and it's the comments are just it's obviously rage fate and people are just like you fucking idiot and tell me you weren't born before 2000 without telling me you weren't but let me just like berating him it's hilarious uh-huh yeah or the hanson the hanson but that's obviously yeah yeah so it's david spade i would hope keep going people in the comments do not get that one because they're like yo you think that's kirk i mean it is hilarious every couple years and i will go straight to those comments the handsome thing just because she referenced it there's a shirt of the like classic i think i don't know if it's the only hanson album wasn't into them but it's the pop cover of the three of them and it says nirvana shit it's just funny it's funny come on okay sorry sad bar okay so investigators are looking at the live journal the mass spaces who's commenting who are in her top eight or whatever all that stuff one post on live journal stood out to investigators and this one's still up i read it i'll read the first part of it though it's long it was uh april 8 2005 11 18 p.m uh she titled it another night at dad's she says i don't really want to be here i want to be home in my bed where i know i'm safe i would be home alone except for the cats and i'm fine with that my dad's girlfriend's son is creepy he hits on me and it makes me very uncomfortable shit yeah and then she goes on to talk about like a guitar and um then and smoking she goes sneak outside to smoke a cigarette but so they're like so who's creepy tell me again so they look into this this is interesting um but they we don't know anything about him i don't know his name they clear him pretty quickly okay but that definitely was a a red flag right so there's a lot of people of interest no real suspects um and the case is at a standstill later in september they go back to talk to everyone they still don't even know where she is yet yeah it's awful um the last people that were known to have seen her were jake the boyfriend i'll just call him that her roommate emma and her friend ben they go back to talk to all of them starting with ben they asked about his relationship with taylor and he said they're just friends but he admits they did have sex once before to which the cops say uh well that won't do because she's 17 years old and you're 38 years old you sick fucks are you serious yes ew okay so ben's the roommate of the guy mike who she stayed with senior year yes why why wait is mike in his 30s too no okay and why do we have the 40 year old roommates uh this guy's oh oh because this guy's a loser and and if you're the one who commented that i called a perp a loser because he was single in his 30s or 40s um now i'm calling him a loser because of the shit I'm about to tell you. Be single without kids all you want. All the live long day. What? The world is your oyster. There is nothing but jealousy coming from you. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But like, what? Shut up. That threw me. But this guy's a loser and it has nothing to do with his marital status. Thank you. Rach. This episode is brought to you by HelloFresh. This year, I'm determined to cook at home more, especially for dinner. Sometimes dinner planning, prepping, and cooking seems daunting after a long day, but HelloFresh makes it so easy. With HelloFresh, you can pick from over 100 recipes every week, and each one uses wholesome ingredients like sustainably sourced seafood, 100% antibiotic and hormone-free chicken, and seasonal produce. I recently made the balsamic and fig ribeye steak with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. It was so good. My family loved it. And the best part was we were able to sit and eat together within 30 minutes. 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That's a full year to decide if you love them, and honestly, you will. now available in Canada too. Don't wait on this. Go to quince.com slash P-A-T-W for free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash P-A-T-W. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. I'm currently in my out with the old and with the new era and I'm on a mission to completely revamp my house. Enter Wayfair. From furniture to home decor to lighting to organization, Wayfair has everything to fit your style and needs. I can't tell you how much stuff I bought from Wayfair over the years. My kids' beds, bedding, my office desk, my office chairs, and most recently a set of their Clio Wide Contemporary Accent chairs in the pink velvet. Thank you so much for asking. They are so cute and took me about 15 minutes to put together. Now I'm getting ready to move and Wayfair will be my go-to for all my furniture upgrades and outdoor essentials. They make it so easy to find something that fits my style and budget. 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It gives you real data so you know what's happening inside your body. Own your health and start by understanding what's happening beneath the surface. Function gives you access to over 160 lab tests each year, including advanced markers for heart health, inflammation, stress, hormones, toxins, and more for $365 a year. That's a dollar a day. Learn more and join Function using our link. Visit functionhealth.com slash theworst or use gift code theworst25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. Starting a business can be overwhelming. You're juggling multiple roles, designer, marketer, logistics manager, all while bringing your vision to life. Shopify helps millions of business sell online. Build fast with templates and AI descriptions and photos, inventory and shipping. Sign up for your one euro per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.nl. That's Shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side. Right, Ben was a 38-year-old amateur photographer who sometimes went by Skulls. And I will say, I don't know how he and Mike, the one who's actually Taylor's age, got linked up. uh ben hung out with a lot of college kids and heard that taylor's dad even said when he dropped her off at mike's apartment he met ben and he said max he thought he was like in his early 20s maybe mid-20s really he does yeah you would not think he was pushing 40 oh he uses that to his advantage to creep on girls obviously so skulls had several websites and blogs a self-proclaimed nickname oh obviously gross what a loser again a loser yeah um he had several websites and blogs devoted to his craft of photography which he categorized as goth porn uh it was a lot of semi-nude pictures of models one of whom he listed as taylor i don't know if in this particular picture you couldn't see her face but they're like i mean she's in one of them there are some of her like it's there are a couple of um she looks really pretty but it's like black and white it's like just her face you know there's some normal ones but they're she has a lot of these models know that he's taking a picture yes yeah yeah um it was of course again later confirmed that she they had taken pictures together um there were also several exchanges between them on myspace and live journal where he talks about taylor's visits as a senior in high school saying at one point this very he's this this is a quote this very attractive girl climbed up into my bunk oh my god are you in a bunk bed sir are you in a bunk bed that's what it sounds like to which she replied to that saying well i was curious and then three days after that ben replied so was i in fact i still am colon dash p you know you know tongue sticking out sticking out that before emojis were a thing. Ew. So they had slept together that April. She went to visit April 2005 as a senior, and they did sleep together. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But 38 years old, she was 17. So what stood out even more to detectives was the fact that as soon as Taylor went missing and they started hearing about Ben, Ben came up a lot in their early questioning. Like she hung out with, um, kind of a sketchy guy. Sometimes he's old and has no business hanging out with the 17 year old. No, his name's Ben. So they kind of, he was on their radar a little bit. And then, so that's what they were looking for in this online activity. And what was interesting was some of his websites and a bunch of his posts, specifically the ones about Taylor were all deleted. Like the ones about her visiting her. He didn't understand that you can delete whatever you want. Right. Um, okay, boys. let's go to this apartment. You'll find Ben on the top bunk. Yeah. Gross. And by the way, at this point, Mike, they didn't live together anymore. Just so you know. But, um, his admission to having sex with a minor was reason enough to get a search warrant for his apartment. Sure. And with that, they seized his computers. A search of his computers led to no information about Taylor's disappearance, but an equally horrifying discovery led them to arrest Ben on September 23rd, 23rd 2005 and charged him with 16 counts of child sex abuse material i won't go into details but it was very graphic we are talking very young oh this sick piece of shit and it was later up to 22 counts of it so goodbye goodbye he later off right he later said that an old roommate used used to use that computer so it must have been his to what several people including an ex-girlfriend said no no no ben never let anyone touch his computers he had like four of them she said he never let anyone touch his computers and now i know why here's a good time to mention that he had two daughters no aged eight and 12 gross gross where is they're living with their mother elsewhere Yes, but his roommate at this time was a girl, VCU student, who she found him on Craigslist. And the daughters came to visit. She said they lived hours north. So this guy would just room with VCU students off campus. Yes, yes. So it was Mike and then a girl he met on Craigslist. And that girl said- No, get this. It was Mike. Someone in between him and that girl, but the guy died. The roommate died. I don't know how. so i think that's who he's blaming this this finding oh of course shit of course he is uh-huh um and then this girl only lived there for a couple months and then she said that the daughters visited yeah oh when she was moving in one of the daughters gave her like a key chain like so he he had i guess joint custody they're primarily with his mom obviously because you can't go creeping around college campuses with an 8 and 12 year old obviously no sick fuck so also in the raid of his apartment they took a plastic laundry hamper containing clothes a digital camera sex toys a knife two bags of clothes from a garbage can outside a beaded necklace with a cross that had been tossed out in the garbage can a bicycle chain necklace a watch a different camera that was found in the trash a box apparently containing bones rolls of film a black bra a machete chains chains and straps sorry a 32 caliber gun hatchet hammer a pry bar and a cut a cutting of a reddish brown stain on a box spring which this is interesting because in a blog post just four days before this before this raid and his arrest he posted on live journal reminder laundry must do laundry and the sheets with about 20 exclamation points putting it online good for you i said the early days of blogs and social media. You just put everything that pops in your head is going on that thing. Like people give a damn. Except this, people will give a damn. That's interesting. That's very interesting. But I have to say, none of this was linked to Taylor, oddly enough. He's just a fucking weirdo. The bones, I think, were of an animal of sorts. And the reddish brown... An animal. That is creepy. Why are you keeping your animal bones? I know. Because he's a sick fuck. The reddish brown stain on the box spring is because he's a filthy piece of shit. I don't know. We don't know what that was. So investigators asked him to retell that hilarious story about being jumped. And he said it was three to four guys, but he wasn't sure because they immediately threw a bag over his head and threw him in the trunk of their car. They took his camera, his tripod and $20 that he had on him and then left him on a dirt road. and this was all at about 5 a.m on September 6th and he said the sun had just come up two things with that yeah she's unaccounted for starting around 10 30 p.m the previous night September 5th even if he had been jumped that only gives him an alibi for like six and a half hours later yeah he had plenty of time to kill her and then get jumped uh-huh but don't worry about that because he wasn't jumped it's all bullshit they examined his body and he had not one scratch on him he had not been beaten up um also he said it happened at around 5 a.m and the sun had just come up the sun didn't rise that day until almost two hours later like the whole thing's crap yeah okay that roommate said she came in that morning and he was like wincing on the couch like oh my stomach and she was like she said she later felt bad because she just doubted it she was like you're lying and he mentioned to her that he was wasted so he couldn't remember it and she thought you don't drink like he never drank never drink she never wants to drink he would just have young kids over and provide alcohol for them but not drink himself because he's a predator he is a predator and he has to keep his wits about him that's right gross so they look into his background and he does have a pretty extensive rap sheet he had some theft charges assault uh receiving stolen property in Pennsylvania. That's where he's from. But then it escalates. They discovered that in 2003, he choked an ex-girlfriend to the point where she was afraid she would die. She ended up getting a restraining order on him. And in response, he cut his arms with a knife so severely that he had to be hospitalized. Oh my God. Another disturbing discovery about Ben came from a guy named Jonathan Delano. Jonathan's roommate was a girl named Erin Crabill. Erin dated Ben for a little while, but broke up with them and he did not take it well. Shocking. He posted a huge rant about her on one of his websites and seemingly became obsessed. A few weeks after Erin broke up with him, Ben broke into her and Jonathan's apartment in the middle of the night, armed with a hammer and a can of mace, saying he just wanted to talk. No. Who's Jonathan? her roommate just a friend he thought they were dating and not just roommates but he that was not the case so he broke in i have a feeling he thought that about any guy in her life yeah so jonathan and aaron told him to get the fuck out but he refused and then the article said that he then quote launched into a long diatribe about his life oh god sir that is so cringe please get the fuck out of our apartment you know what that would just wow crying woe with me life sucks jonathan and aaron somehow got him out and then filed a criminal trespassing complaint another ex no no i know but i just love the idea of kicking a grown man who's sobbing about his mom missing his fourth birthday party yeah get the fuck out nothing is justifying you being this big of a creep yeah get the hell out crass more else well he does because another ex said that he did that to her too where he broke this is not funny of course this was traumatizing but jesus guys pathetic he broke into her apartment too uh he was crying and promising that he and promising that he can get her to love him again no there's nothing more attractive than that oh god that is so unsettling to hear i think what do you mean get me to fall in love with you stop forcing me stop trying to force feelings disgusting it's just no it's very eerie get out yeah and take your tissues with you right it was actually that ex-girlfriend 23 year old erin crabbell the one who jonathan and erin lived together he broke him with a hammer and mace her it was her who broke taylor's case wide open oh shit in addition to the incredibly incriminating filth found on his computer investigators poured through thousands of pictures ben had taken and were on said computers they range again from models some semi-nude including pictures of taylor to animal skulls and other depictions of death of course to abandoned buildings and secluded landscapes just everything yeah investigators showed the pictures to Aaron to see if she knew where any of these pictures were taken, hoping it would lead him somewhere. Like, did she, did he have certain spots he liked to go? Yeah. One of them caught her eye. It was an abandoned house that happened to be right next to her parents' property in Matthews County, Virginia, which is on the coast, about 90 miles from VCU. Oh. She had taken Ben there once. And she was like, wait, this is that house next to my parents' house. That's weird. Oh, so she's like, he went back without me. Yeah. Seemed like it. Yeah. So on October 5th 2005 not seemed like it Yes he did October 5th 2005 exactly a month after she went missing police conducted a search around the abandoned house and found human remains buried in a shallow grave oh they were far too decomposed to identify them but clothes found in the grave was consistent with what taylor was last seen wearing and a few days later dental records confirmed it to be taylor sad i know since ben was luckily already in jail without bond it wasn't hard to sit down with them and say what the fuck did you do we found her buried in a rural location that you'd been to before and knew where it was and then we found her ben breaks down and told a classic bullshit story oh good it was consensual she got did too many drugs and then i didn't know what to do damn it well not the did i just we'll talk we'll talk we'll chat okay okay he says he picked up taylor that night from the dorm again as seen on dorm surveillance footage he's waiting in the lobby for her and they left just before 10 30 p.m and they leave on foot he doesn't drive so they went back to his apartment and he said they started drinking and she was egging him on like drink drink yeah sure sure sure he said he also took narcotics then he said taylor was looking for an adventure so they drove to matthews county and parts near public beach when they got there taylor wanted to play a game she heard about called drunk monkey the victim blaming just get right i know i'm like this is constantly everything's taylor's idea got right yeah um i'm guessing that's a drinking game i've never heard of it i don't know after that she wanted to try erotic asphyxia to which as most inexperienced 17 year olds do right of course uh to which this innocent grown-ass man ben said he didn't even know what that was oh it's what you did to all your other girlfriends and animals but non-consensual but um and this was not consensual so he said she explained it to him and it's when you pass off during sex and it's supposed to lead to an intense orgasm she he said she all i keep saying he said because i don't want it to sound like i believe taylor said any of this bullshit sure he said she also requested that he tie her up and pretend he was kidnapping her oh he said sure so he duct taped her hands and he duct taped her hands and yelled for her to shut up they started having sex and he tried placing a bag over her head of course per her request um he pulled the bag off when she seemed to be choking on it and he and she got mad and berated him saying no put it back on she wanted to be gasping for air and then he she demanded that he choke her so he kept going and she passed out but when she didn't wake up he panicked why didn't why didn't he call for help you ask because he was scared oh and because this is all bullshit sure but he continues and says that he then drove her car with her body in the back to back to richmond um went to sleep and the next day he went back to matthews county to bury her uh when they asked about the ohio license plates he said he collects license plates so yeah to cover up what he did because he was so scared he threw one on there duh of course um but that's a part of the timeline i actually don't i don't know when he did that i don't know when he parked it in the fan i don't know that part but no that no one said it it's not i couldn't find it are cops just looking at him in a dead stare well they're like you collect them or you steal them first of all but yes of course they're like the math aunt mouthing on that one no because her best friend glennis said absolutely not to this consensual sexual escapade she said taylor was a prude more than anything her words um and was very inexperienced she'd never been she would never be interested in something that intense out of the gate taylor confided in glennifer the grown man she doesn't really know right fuck off and glennis said taylor confided in her about having sex with ben back in april when she was visiting vcu and told her she just did it off curiosity but did not want to do it again did not want anything to do with them he was weird he was older she didn't like like absolutely this was not something she was carrying on no plus a search of taylor's computer led to nothing that indicated that she was interested in anything like this yeah anything prosecutor said he was rejected and lost of shit and that's what's that's what happened sure obviously yeah he's been rejected his entire life yeah and now he's gonna take it all out on her that's awful yeah a 17 year old oh when he has two daughters fuck off two daughters and a very disgusting computer search history and almost forgot what's his last name folly f-a-w-l-e-y sadly due to the state of decomposition it was impossible to know how she exactly died but it was concluded quote violent homicide type unknown he was indicted for first degree murder in january 2006 he pleaded not guilty and trial was set for may 30th of that year but in an epic move of dipshittery yes while awaiting trial he started flapping his gums to an officer from his cell he was getting walked back to his cell by a guard oh and he casually mentioned that the story he told police about erotic sex gone bad was all strategy to beat the system and he had completely made it up the officer was like you're a dipshit dude are you trying to get street cred through me for me i'm not on your side at all no no in fact here i'm gonna lock the cell door and i'm gonna go tell and warden i'm going to he called that he called ben's attorney yeah his attorney um then they also found a letter that he had written to an ex-girlfriend from prison that said people are right something's wrong with me all the thoughts of death and killing my head and now it's true i've killed and this was something the prosecutors were amped to use sure at trial but his attorneys were like okay after listen hearing from the guard they're like all right you're fucked because you're dipshit like they they were already going to use this letter and we're gonna have to figure that out now what you've said to this prison guard we worked out a plea deal and you better fucking take it right he agreed and pled guilty and alfred he he went to an alfred plea which is you're not admitting to guilt but you think the prosecution has enough evidence for a jury to find you guilty obviously right he got second degree murder and they dropped the child sex use material charges which is very unfortunate very unfortunate oh Oh, he was sentenced to 30 years in maximum security prison set to be released in 2031. Oh, God. Doesn't that put in perspective how long ago 2005 was? I was like, oh, shit, that's coming up. He'll be 64 years old. But that is soon. That is soon. Too soon. Too soon. On October 14th, what would have been the day after her 18th birthday, over 500 people gathered for Taylor's celebration of life. This was obviously well before this, but I just wanted to note that it was the day after what would have been her 18th birthday. Her mom, Janet wrote a book called love you more, the Taylor Beale story, which is how she and Taylor ended conversations. Love you more. Oh, which makes me so sad. There isn't a digital version online and it was going to take too long to before I was determined to cover this story. Otherwise, I would have 100% sourced that book. Again, it wasn't going to get here in time. If there's a book out there, especially from a family member of a victim, we are reading that, I promise. I'm in the middle of two of them right now. The Substack that I sourced in the beginning got their information from it. And again, that was dubsthebloodhound.substack.com. It's good. Her dad, Matt Beal, set up a scholarship honoring his daughter called the Taylor Marie Beale Memorial Scholarship. Lastly, Erin Crabill, Ben's ex-girlfriend who helped police find Taylor's body, received a $20,000 reward for assisting in the investigation. And with some of the money, she established a fund for women in crisis in honor of Taylor. Isn't that lovely? You took the reward money and you did such good things. As a 23-year-old, they would not have known where she was. 90 miles away on the coast no link to that area like they would have never wow so i'm glad that they paid out what's her name aaron cra c-r-a-b-i-l-l okay i kept typing crab hill for some reason but it's crab there's there's not an h um yes shout out to her god that is so impressive isn't that impressive good head on your shoulders i know that's how you do it when you have information and there's reward yeah i'm looking at you nancy got three ransom note fucking imposters i mean what the fuck because they don't have information they don't have information whatever um so that is the horrifying story of taylor beale um the other thing i couldn't find other than the timeline about the ohio plate if i'm guessing it was but everything i was reading through i couldn't figure out if she had her cell phone with her at the burial site or if he got rid of it i could not find if they ever found it i imagine they got she he got he got rid of it i imagine that too i guess um it was a nokia cell phone that i mean i don't know that's all i know god that is so again senseless as they all are but like what a creep what's his name again sorry a folly folly that's it she had not been into her freshman year for two weeks so sad piece of shit just excited about life so much ahead mm-hmm asshole custom shout out from Allie it says hi hi I want to shout out identical twins today particularly how hell yeah hey particularly my identical twin sister Lily Lou I know you're listening Rach and Rob you two are so so close to being the the best identical twins out there but i'm sorry we're number one hey now hey now we're gonna fight where's your podcast let's fight it out let's duke it out thank you lou for showing me this pod it makes my daily commute a million times better love y'all we love y'all love you too um she i responded to her email and said identical twins unite can you imagine being a singleton oh i'm impressed with people who can do it on their own i don't understand this thing single life oh scary are too independent yeah patrons thank you anna emily amanda gabby judy marilyn samantha theresa jenny victoria mahala sydney janna emma rebecca sada rebecca jess Lauren, Rebecca, I'm just kidding. I was about to say, wow. Mewton, Megan, Kayla, Anna, Sarah, Sarah, Emma, Marina, and Amber. Yay! Y'all spoil us. You really do. Honestly, we could not do it without. No. For real. Thank y'all so, so much. Thank y'all for listening. Y'all are the best. People are the worst. You know? Mm-hmm. Bye. Bye. This episode is brought to you by Hertz. We are well into the new year. And if losing weight is one of your 2026 goals and you're ready to make progress on it, then weight loss by HERS might be the right fit for you. With so many options for treatment plans, it can be overwhelming to know what actually works, what the side effects are, or who to trust. And I know you don't want to be stuck in another frustrating cycle. That's where HERS comes in. HERS offers access to doctor-developed treatment plans that are personalized to you. Through HERS, you're connected with a licensed medical provider who learned your story. 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Go to quince.com slash P-A-T-W for free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash P-A-T-W. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. I'm currently in my out with the old and with the new era, and I'm on a mission to completely revamp my house. Enter Wayfair. From furniture to home decor to lighting to organization, Wayfair has everything to fit your style and needs. I can't tell you how much stuff I bought from Wayfair over the years. My kids' beds, bedding, my office desk, my office chairs, and most recently, a set of their Clio Wide Contemporary Accent chairs in the pink velvet. Thank you so much for asking. They are so cute and took me about 15 minutes to put together. Now I'm getting ready to move and Wayfair will be my go-to for all my furniture upgrades and outdoor essentials. They make it so easy to find something that fits my style and budget. Plus, you can skip those insane turnaround times that other places have. Wayfair ships quick. Find furniture, decor, and essentials that fit your unique style and budget. Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com. Wayfair. Every style, every home. This episode is brought to you by Function. You may have heard me say this before, but I've really been trying to prioritize sleep lately. Being a mom of two young kids and working full-time is exhausting. I average about six and a half hours a night, and to be honest, I'm tired most of the day. Sleep is the foundation for everything. Performance, mood, focus, recovery, even how you age. And here's the part most people don't know. You can't fully understand your sleep without looking at your lab tests. If your sleep is off, your results will likely show it with elevated inflammation and shifts in glucose and cortisol. And when your sleep improves, that shows up too. That's why I love Function. It gives you real data so you know what's happening inside your body. Own your health and start by understanding what's happening beneath the surface. Function gives you access to over 160 lab tests each year, including advanced markers for heart health, inflammation, stress, hormones, toxins, and more for $365 a year. That's a dollar a day. Learn more and join Function using our link. Visit functionhealth.com slash theworst or use gift code theworst25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. Book now your guide on Ford.nl. Ready, set, Ford.