Alexis Murphy Missing: Suspect Randy Allen Taylor Arrested For Abduction Under Investigation For Possible Serial Abduction and Murder With Ties Also To Samantha Clarke and Alicia Showalter Reynolds
Nelson County, VA-
Randolph Taylor
Announced this morning by Virginia Commonwealth Attorney an arrest has been made in the abduction of missing Lovington woman Alexis Murphy.
Randolph Allen Taylor, is being held in Albemarle County Jail on a kidnapping charge.
Murphy’s vehicle was found over the weekend in a Charlottesville Carmike parking lot near her job at a consignment boutique, Murphy has not been located and was last seen at a gas station approximately 39 miles away.
Taylor was the recent recipient of vacated charges when Green County, VA Major Randy Snead authorized the placement of a GPS, without a warrant, under Taylor’s 1993 Gran Marquis while investigating his association to another missing woman- Samantha Clarke.
Snead was exonerated in any wrongdoing after he chased a 19 year old man who had stolen a deputies vehicle out of his jurisdiction and was part of over twenty officer’s responsible for shooting the suspect, Colby Eppard.
The FBI is also looking for a GMC Suburban which is also associated with Randy Taylor.
During today’s press conference, Richmond FBI Chief announced that law enforcement will not be commenting on reports of Taylor’s suspect status in other possibly related unsolved cases, however, www.blinkoncrime has learned that at the top of the possible case list is the unsolved abduction and murder of Alicia Showalter Reynolds. Taylor bears a strikingly similar resemblance to the sketch generated in Reynolds disappearance and murder.
1996 Showalter Suspect
Two unsolved murders in 1996 Shenandoah National Park, Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans which resulted in a 2002 indictment against Darrell Rice ended in the withdrawal of same in 2004 due to a DNA profile found that did not match Rice. It is not known if police are investigating any potential involvement by Taylor in that case.
Although Virginia State Police and the FBI have a DNA match to whom they believe is responsible for the assault and murder of Morgan Harrington after she was denied re-entry into a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones arena- which matches a composite sketch of an African American man also wanted for a sexual assault in 2005 in Fairfax, sources inside Harrington’s unsolved murder case have confirmed that they have been asked to look into any similarities.
This is a developing story, please check back to blinkoncrime.com as more details become available.
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Hi ATG — regarding the $100 bill, one of the video store staff members was quoted on one of the news sites. He recalls RAT’s visit to the store that afternoon. He shopped for about 15 minutes and “paid with a $100 bill.” I’ll have to see if I can find that article again.
Sending positive thoughts to Alexis’ family tonight.
Mom3.0 — After what happened with the GPS I’m actually surprised he didn’t argue that the strand of hair had been planted in his camper by the police..
And there’s always the possibility that she was never in his camper and that the hair had been transferred from his clothing into the camper.
Here’s the link regarding the $100 bill.
http://www.wset.com/story/23128368/adult-video-store-says-randy-taylor-shopped-in-their-store-aug-3
Also in this article, according to the manager at Drive Away Motors in Ruckersville, he has been employed by them for five years. He washes cars for them and serves as the manager’s “personal assistant “
I wonder what RAT was wearing in the surveillance video? Does anyone know?
What I am discovering is the flyers the father was posting in Harrisonbug had leopard print capris with a long sleeve “burgundy shirt”. Look at the flyer in link below:
https://www.facebook.com/Newsplex/posts/10151589346648564
Also, if you look at the picture of the shirt that was discovered, you will see long sleeve with wide neck as she was wearing.
Another note. The store camera is showing lighter colors. If you look at the camera picture you will see the grass looks lime green. Also the store has a RED awning. In the camera pic, it is almost fushia. Wouldnt this make her shirt darker in real image?
http://mediamrs.com/main/2013/08/find-alexis-murphy-lawyer-for-suspect-says-his-client-is-innocent/#sthash.d0mlx9hz.dpbs
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/article_0da8c692-126d-11e3-95f7-001a4bcf6878.html
Correction (Harrisonburg*) Also here is alink of the store picture showing the actual red awning.
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/local/-/20128466/21376786/-/lulamo/-/index.html
They have found Alexis’s cell phone.
The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office of Nelson County and the Investigative Partners in the Murphy investigation are announcing that one of the phones located has since been positively identified as that of Alexis Murphy. Since this is an on-going sensitive investigation, where evidentiary items and search information is sealed; no further discussion will be entertained. This sole release of information is only being made to advise the public that we no longer need assistance looking for that one item.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/23325250/alexis-murphys-cell-phone-found
One of the cell phones did belong to Alexis.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/fbi-alexis-murphy-s-cell-phone-found/article_23d70150-14b0-11e3-a8f6-0019bb30f31a.html
Teens cell phone was found near Taylors Home
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/fbi-alexis-murphy-s-cell-phone-found/article_23d70150-14b0-11e3-a8f6-0019bb30f31a.html
I just saw on our news her phone was found. Here is a link.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/2198814-12/alexis-murphys-cellphone-found-fbi-confirms.html
FBI announces Alexis Murphy’s cell phone found.
http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/fbi-alexis-murphy-s-cell-phone-found/article_ab27a098-14af-11e3-b4f4-001a4bcf6878.html
Hopeful that this will help LE to locate her. Thoughts and prayers to her loving family.
diana h.
Rat has an additional charge in Nelson County
Charge: INTENT TO SELL/DIST STOLEN PRO
Code Section: 18.2-108.01(B)
Charge Type: Felony
Class: 5
Offense Date: 07/30/2013.…
http://ewsocis1.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/circuit.jsp
The charge was filed on 8/28. Could this charge be related back to the “several cell phones” that they found near his camper? I also wonder if Alexis lost an earlier cell phone which Rat may have had possession of and been able to find information which allowed him to track her through Social Media.
How will Tayor talk his way out of this one?
Tell me how a guy like RAT does not have his own sources for buying weed. Come on, already! He has to seek it out from a teenaged girl in a gas station parking lot? That story is a bunch of ratatouille.
He knows it makes no sense. And I’ll venture to guess that he fabricated the drug deal story to support a reason for not reporting that a missing girl had been in his camper. Marijuana? Simple…it’s the least offensive drug.
While i’m glad they’ve identified one of the phones as hers, it makes it harder to believe that they will find her alive. But I will continue to send positive thoughts and vibes to her family and to all the law enforcement personnel working on her behalf.
Looks like the phone was located in the wooded gully about 10 feet from U.S. 29 via the search conducted on 8/14, which was the last location of the ping I believe.
I would imagine a teen would not be without her phone. Just curious what info they’ll glean from it. Also, I wonder if it was thrown out or lost while fleeing. It’s hard to not think the worst given the amount of time that has passed.
They will not tell us I am sure but I would like to know if the battery was with Alexis’ phone.
I’ve been closely watching this case unfold. Hello to all and to Blink, I’m still around and awaiting Justice for Morgan, and while doing that Alexis case caught my attention. The areas are way too close from places where others have either been killed of have gone missing, and the connections are uncanny.
Ode, as Cat stated above, if there really were pings from her phone, then the battery had to be found with the phone? And, what about the SIM card? If someone had taken out the battery, would or could the SIM card if left inside the phone still ping without a battery?
yes. Blink waves to Q enthusiastically!
B
They have confirmed the sweater found did not belong to Alexis
http://www.nbc12.com/story/23325388/fbi-cell-phone-found-belongs-to-alexis-murphy
When I read comments such as “several smashed phones were found on his property” (RAT’s), I am curious what that means, Blink. Were they actually in his residence, car or on his land. Also, would you know to whom they belong? Can all of these/most of these telephones be tied to past criminal acts – missing persons or worse? What else can you tell us? I sure hope parents sat their children down before they headed off to college and explained this is a very dangerous world. I pray for Ms. Murphy’s family and friends. It’s very sad to see such a lengthy list of missing women and children. Where are they and how do we stop this insanity?
At Ode, I am fairly sure she had an IPhone, no battery to just “pop” out. Someone would have to actually destroy it to get it out.
They’ve determined the red sweater they found is not hers per Investigator Mays:
http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/article_850a1cd4-14ae-11e3-8f0c-0019bb30f31a.html
Ode: that was interesting what you found on the charge for intent to sell stolen property just a few days before Alexis disappeared.
This is a scary story, but good for the girl calling 911 and then pulling away.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/latest-news/man-impersonates-officer-in-powhatan/article_d1a73034-14ce-11e3-a3f0-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=jqm
Questioner: I am alarmed too about the similarities and the proximity to other missing people.
For example, I understand that route 29 is a major corridor in that part of Virginia. But there seems to be an unusually high number of missing/dead young females clustered around this highway for such a relatively small metro area. I won’t pretend to know anything about law enforcement, but it just seems like a “hot spot” in that area.
I hope that when they finally pull this weed out it comes out roots and all.
Questioner
Depending on the phone design, there may be one or two modules in the phone that contain ID information for the phone. The SIM module is the one that most people know about. That is built on a mini-smart card with the usual smart card I/O (input/output) lines (14). This is memory that will hold its content without a battery source. This card will hold subscriber information and call receipt data and sometimes calls made data as well as phone book data. It depends on how large the memory. Most 3G and later phones will allow this data to be moved to a memory module that is much larger by using a feature of the operating system.
There may be two batteries in a phone. The main battery which runs the phone when it is operational and must be recharged. This is lithium-ion or metal hydride technology. Another battery that belongs to the digital clock world is used to keep the real time clock operational. It is lithium technology and will last between five and ten years.
The phone is designed to ping its location to a tower for ID as long as it has main battery power to drive the radio for reception and transmit. If a main battery is removed, the phone is disabled for this function. Likewise, if the battery is depleted below 20 percent of its full charge, it will probably not respond. The other variable is the distance from the nearest tower to the phones physical location.
Using my cell phone for an example; a full charge will last about 72 hours if the phone is on and no call or other activity takes place.
With the phone turned off and a full charge, the battery will last between 6 and 13 days according to the mfg. I have not tested this time. The phone will ping a tower with the power switch in the off position until the battery is discharged.
Forensics techniques for recovery of data from a cell phone are still being developed. The newest techniques involve using some of the built-in test pins for the memory and CPU chips themselves. This requires a set of data sheets,manufacturing test information and some special equipment with software.
Jane
You are right about the dangers to young people in our present world. Society has given women and children a lot more activities over the last 70 years than ever before. We have always had a segment of society that does not follow the rules of good behavior. They live as predators on the fringes of society keeping their activities hidden as long as possible.
Women and children in particular were not allowed near the freedom of movement in previous generations as they have today. With this new freedom, the predators have increased chances of finding a situation that allows them to do their deeds.
New behaviors of vigilance are needed to make it hard for a predator to attack a child, youth or an adult. The next thing is to determine behaviors that place one in potential danger and teach how to change to safer behaviors. Many have written books about some of this, but much more work is needed.
Good to see you back on this blog, Questioner.
PamVa: Yes, that is a scary story and I’m afraid that it’s one of many in the 29 corridor. When Morgan first went missing my first thought was that there would have been no way that she would have gotten into just any old vehicle. She had to either know the person or persons in said vehicle or she fully trusted the driver, which to my way of thinking, knowing just how many articles I located on men in and around the 29 corridor who were caught impersonating police officers and driving Crown Vic’s that were fully loaded for bear, she probably would have gotten in, trusting that she would get where she wanted to go.
Mosaic: Indeed route 29 is a major corridor in that part of Virginia, but let’s get down to bare bones, is there any other major corridors in any state that have had so many people killed or gone missing? There are trucker routes that have that claim to fame, but there is something different about the route 29 corridor that doesn’t speak to me as a trucker.
A Texas Gramdfather: Thank you so much for explaining all that to me. Heaven knows with the new technology out there today that I’m NOT taking advantage of because I’m an old woman, I needed help on that one lol.
messimamm: GOOD to SEE you also!!
Highway violence
In the past four decades, 459 deaths and 41 attempted homicides are believed to be linked to serial killers who are using the nation’s highways to find and dispose of their victims. The FBI’s breakdown by state:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-05-1Ahighwaykiller05_CV_N.htm
Sorry I’m taking up so much space, but I located this info on highways and states that seem to have a problem with serial killers, I found the article very telling. It seems that the FBI won’t divulge the names of the victims, the dates the victims were abducted or discovered, even the locations where the killers either found their victims or dumped the bodies — places motorists might wish to avoid. How safe are any of us really out on our roadways?
RE mosaic says:
September 1, 2013 at 11:21 pm
Mom3.0 — After what happened with the GPS I’m actually surprised he didn’t argue that the strand of hair had been planted in his camper by the police..
Mosaic I suppose the found phones can be argued as a plant also…
You went on to write:
And there’s always the possibility that she was never in his camper and that the hair had been transferred from his clothing into the camper
—-
I guess it can be supposed that Taylor came up with the info for LE because he knew one of the phones was going to be Alexis?
But Yes there is still the possibility that Alexis was never inside the camper and the hair is secondary transfer…but is VERY unlikely
—
here is what is bothering me…
if Taylor was so cunning and crafty to leave no trace behind of Alexis or her whereabouts – (other than it would seem planted clues (like the car)-
Why would Taylor leave behind her cell phone to be found at all?
Why not leave it in the vehicle miles away…since the ping alone would seem to back his tale of WAS here but LEFT?
he did say she was in the trailer, and that he bought drugs from her contact- but that they left his trailer in separate vehicles- so why leave the phone behind.. Why ?
or why didnt he leave it with Alexis where ever she may be or dispose of it entirely?
If the phone was another plant why as it seems to negate his story of she was here then gone?
?
Why would taylor (the charged abductor) help the police by leaving it there?
Again i ask why totally dispose of Alexis and all clues down to one hair- drive her car miles away and leave it- only to keep her trashed cell near by –then tell police you had a drug deal which involved a 17 yr old missing girl meeting at yr trailer – a meeting he says she left unharmed-yet
the phone seems to tell a different story–
There is alot of holes in this story- i hope LE can fill them in and find Alexis.
Thanks to all for the updates on the phone and the sweater-
Praying for Alexis and her family especially her little brother- who i am sure understands none of this- but misses his big sister so.
AJMO
peace
I still think there is a chance that the phone they found of Alexis’ was not the phone she had when she went missing. He was charged 8/28 for stolen property from 7/30. I do not have her tweets or facebook handy but I do think she talked about wanting a new phone for her Birthday. I think there is more to the phone thing.
Questioner says:
September 4, 2013 at 11:04 am
Highway violence
In the past four decades, 459 deaths and 41 attempted homicides are believed to be linked to serial killers who are using the nation’s highways to find and dispose of their victims. The FBI’s breakdown by state:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-10-05-1Ahighwaykiller05_CV_N.htm
Sorry I’m taking up so much space, but I located this info on highways and states that seem to have a problem with serial killers, I found the article very telling. It seems that the FBI won’t divulge the names of the victims, the dates the victims were abducted or discovered, even the locations where the killers either found their victims or dumped the bodies — places motorists might wish to avoid. How safe are any of us really out on our roadways?
_________________________________________________________
Based on those numbers over four decades, pretty darn safe, at least from murderers. In contrast, there were over 34,000 deaths from accidents on the roadways last year alone.
I don’t think it is necessarily unlikely she wasn’t in the trailer. Very possible he assaulted her outside the trailer and then brought the hair in himself by accident. Not sure it is clear where they found the phone yet either.
True about the not being in the camper and possible secondary transfer redly- my unlikely remark was more toward it becoming more and more unlikely that it was Innocent secondary transfer…. thanks for allowing me to try to clarify.
you are correct that LE has not released exactly where they found Alexis cell or when , at least not according to the varying reports-
but we do have earlier articles stating at least 4 cell phones were located on or near Taylor property
others said near to th4 last ping on near 29 others said in back of his trailer down 100ft in a gully
ode interesting theory, as redly said, we cant know yet the whys and what fors of the iphone find- perhaps the crime began or ended with a theft of the phone?
this article states that the phone was found prior to this weekends search and it was the FBI testing etc that took this long
http://www.wset.com/story/23325352/investigators-find-alexis-murphys-cell-phone
So it seems to me- we may be closer to knowing the phone was located in earlier searches either on or near the property/29/ping- or maybe as stolen property? IDk
We also have this article which has LE saying with the phone being Alexis’ they are confident they have the right person-
http://www.wset.com/story/23340732/lead-investigator-in-the-alexis-murphy-case-i-have-no-doubt-we-have-the-right-person
snipped:
Lead Investigator in the Alexis Murphy Case: ‘I Have No Doubt We Have the Right Person’
Mays has said from the very beginning that Alexis Murphy’s cell phone was important to find. Now that the phone has been found, Mays says it has proven to be a critical piece of evidence.
“I feel that it is going to prove crucial to this case,” Mays said.
Investigator Mays won’t say what was found on Murphy’s phone, but knowing what he knows, he says he’s confident Randy Taylor is her abductor.
“This gentleman is a predator, and if he is out on the street he’s going to do it again, and keeping him where he is probably going to save lives. I have no doubt that we have the right person,” Mays said.
end snip
great thinking as always Ode & redly
Still Hoping & Praying
AJmo Peace
BIG Music festival in Nelson Co. this weekend…. Any of you with eyes/ears on the ground there, keep us posted if you hear of any developments (even rumors.) I have a sense this many peeps this close to where Alexis disappeared has got to yield new clues.
In reading the news of the festival it appears that maybe 25,000 people are more will be attending.
Twenty plus rock and western style bands will draw a good crowd. Lots of opportunity for drugs. Police will have their hands full.
Maybe there will be something to help with the case.
ATG,
I agree. I hope they have fliers up with Alexis’ info. I see that Zac brown band is playing. My husband and I just saw them a week ago in Allentown (near NJ and PA border).
On a side note, and just as a reminder to anyone reading this post…be very careful of your surroundings in parking lots, etc. I was possibly almost carjacked the other day but my satellites went off immediately and I drove off like a crazy lady before giving the man who came up to my car window the time of day (not sure what he wanted, could have been completely innocent but I thought of this case, processed what i sensed was the shadiness of this man within seconds and peeled out of there as fast as my big old tahoe could take me). It turns out a car jacking happened in that same parking lot this morning. I have goosebumps. I also wanted to add, that if it wasn’t for reading this blog constantly and reading “Gift of Fear” I might have reverted back to my general nature of being overly nice and said hello the man which is now scary that I was ever like that!
Sunshine
I know where Allentown is located. I worked in Pennsylvania or on projects located in Pennsylvania from 1963 until 1986 and some in New Jersey earlier than that.
I am glad that you have learned to listen to your intuition regarding potential bad situations. Parking lots are often dangerous places for women. I always scan parking lots of large stores and malls when I arrive or get ready to leave. If I see a situation where someone or a group seem to be just hanging around, I watch them for a while.
Just today I read of a very lucky young woman, age 25, that was abducted from a parking lot in downtown Dallas yesterday. Two teenagers in Kaufman county to the SE of Dallas drove up on the kidnap vehicle and the woman mouthed the words “help me”. They called 911 and followed the vehicle for several miles all the while keeping the police apprised of their location. Thank GOD they were able to rescue her.
We don’t yet have information on what happened to Alexis. I have a feeling that she was kidnapped and possibly sold for purposes of prostitution. She may not even be in Virginia.
ATG:
We don’t yet have information on what happened to Alexis. I have a feeling that she was kidnapped and possibly sold for purposes of prostitution. She may not even be in Virginia.
Wow, ATG getting BOLD on us! Do you really feel the prostitution theory is likely? I know you are just mulling through possibilities, and there are many. If you really do have that “feeling,” may I ask what it is that lead you there? I mean, as opposed to serial killer, random crime of opportunity, drug deal gone bad, etc.? Interesting post.
messimamm
Human trafficking is one of the largest creator of crimes in the world. There are people who will take a young woman and sell her to a group for such purposes. Often, they are taken out-of-state or out of the country to prevent LE from finding them. Virginia is a state with many people of different countries constantly moving through it.
The value systems of other countries do not match ours regarding human life.
RAT has been a criminal for many years doing some petty things and perhaps some not so petty. Has his activities evolved into human trafficking? He could have abducted Alexis and turned her over to the guy with dreadlocks and his buddies in order to pay a drug bill. Just look at the case in Cleveland, Ohio with the perp Castro keeping the three young women as sex slaves for ten years. Two of them were age 14 and 16 when they were abducted. It is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility.
I think if she’s alive that’s the most likely scenario, ATG. I’m guessing that investigators have considered that as a possibility also and have been to the adult store that he visited on August 3 several times to interview store personnel and developed sources/ leads from their discussions. I find it intriguing on many levels that he was throwing $100 bills around. At first glance, a guy like Taylor seems to be a yokel loner who is profoundly dysfunctional, but given his history of avoiding significant periods of incarceration points to a few factors, namely that he could be at least peripherally connected to organized crime. If that’s the case, I think ATG’s assessment is realistic and that he gains monetary rewards for taking young girls for the sake of trafficking. That is an unfathomable scenario for Alexis and her family, but it still provides a beacon of hope that she is still alive.
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=1596778&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fsearch%2F%3Fq%3Dus%2Bhuman%2Btrafficking%2Bstories%26a%3Dresults%26MID%3D2500
Mom3.0
You bring up some interesting questions about the phone. Why deface it and leave it allegedly near his own home instead of trashing it? Good question.
Somewhere along the way Alexis became separated from her phone AND her car.. We know that she was seen driving away from the gas station so at that point she had her car (obviously). And we’re assuming she also still had her phone and that someone hadntt taken it while she was inside paying for her gas.
If you look closely at the gas station surveillance shots of Alexis it appears that she is carrying two things: what looks to be keys in her right hand and something thin and white in her left hand. She owned a white iPhone 4 so it’s possible the white thing is her phone. It’s hard to see where her money/card is–is she holding it? She’s not carrying a purse so if she had one that evening it would still be in her car.
If she carried her phone into the station then we can assume she still had it with her as she drove away.
But at some point she became separated from it. A logical place that the “separation” took place is at the location where it was found. I think that if any harm came to Alexis, or if she was disabled, it happened to her there. And it would make sense for him to destroy the phone very promptly.
Of course it’s always possible that she was separated from her phone somewhere else (perhaps at the location where she can be found?) and RAT transported her phone back to his homesite discarding it there. But that doesn’t make sense– he could just as well chuck it out the window on a remote road.
ATG:
Always appreciate your sage insights and info. And I agree with CentVA Native that this is a likely scenario and one of the most hopeful in terms of her still being alive.
I am still hoping some sort of clue will arise from the smoke and dust left by LockIN concert. Plenty of weed and people of all ages, lots of traffic. It would take some serious detective work, but just MAYBe something/someone will offer a clue.
The value of flyers posted at public events is that someone or perhaps more than someone will have their memory jogged regarding something they witnessed. People see a lot of things that they do not connect with suspicious activities at the time. A flyer could make the connection that will help LE do their job.
I recently surprised my wife of many years by describing the occupants of vehicles we were meeting on a drive to town. She asked if I always did that. I have as long as I have been riding in or driving a vehicle. It is just a habit I developed as a child.
This is the thing that the two teens in Kaufman county were doing that allowed them to save the woman from an abduction. If more were able to do that, I believe it would have a profound affect on crime prevention and solution.
Sadly we are returning to crickets chirping. Nothing to spark the curiousity about Alexis. To think we will wait til January for the trial… to think of the painful holiday season Dan and Gil Harrington spent not knowing what happened to their daughter. This is what the Murphy’s will face in the weeks and months to come unless something miraculously breaks.
Checking in every day to see if Alexis has been found. Continuing to send positive thoughts to her family and to law enforcement.
It concerns me that without Alexis there won’t be enough “factual” evidence that a crime has occurred.
Don’t give up mosaic. LE may be working on some leads that will find her. They just may not have something to be released to the public. I don’t believe that Taylor acted alone in this case. Trying to tie-in others may take some time.
Your comment about the phone and its destruction make sense. If she had an Iphone it has a battery type that cannot be removed by those without technical knowledge. The battery is a lithium-poly type where the active chemicals are placed in polyvinyl mat that is then soldered into place in the phone. Taylor may have tried to remove the battery without success and just decided to use a hammer to make it cease to function.