Taylor Marie Behl was born on October 13, 1987, and while she was a 17 year old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, she went missing on Labor Day weekend. Police were led to her remains about a month after she was reported missing, at a rural area in Mathews County, Virginia.
On September 17, 2005, Taylor Behl’s car was found in a residential neighborhood more than a mile from the college campus. A K-9 unit eventually led police to to Jesse Schultz, a 22 year old who lived in the area where the car was found. It is reported that Schultz failed a lie detector test, and was arrested immediately for cocaine possession.
After several search warrants were executed, police felt the need to pursue “Jake”, a student at the college and former boyfriend of Behl’s. Apparently she had dinner with him on September 5. Police also claimed that one of the last people to see Taylor alive was Benjamin Fawley, an amateur photographer.
Fawley had an alibi, however, it did not hold up, and a search warrant was executed. Police sought out for things like women’s clothing, Behl’s camera phone, her key ring, and her money. In the search for these things, police were able to charge Fawley with 16 counts of child pornography.
On October 12, 2005, Fawley admitted to being with Behl on September 5, and alleged that Behl died accidentally during a consensual sex act in her car. He claimed to have panicked and dumped her body in a ravine.
On January 17, 2006, the court indicted Fawley for Behl’s murder, and accused him of killing her “willfully, deliberately and with premeditation”.
On August 9, 2006, Benjamin Fawley was convicted of second degree murder, and sentenced to thirty years in prison.
I remember seeing Taylor’s myspace about a year ago and thinking, wow, what a beautiful girl to have been murdered so young. Her life just seemed so promising, and when I think about it, she reminds me of myself – same age, same stage of life, probably going through the same things. And then for it to end… just like that… it’s just an overwhelming thought.
