00:00:00
Tonight, on Dateline. Taylor was a force to be reckoned with. As a police officer, and as a mother.
00:00:07
To match wits against bad guys, that is what drove her. She was missing, just off the map.
00:00:14
Correct. Something is absolutely not right. I was suspicious of everyone. Taylor's live-in girlfriend, who questioned her multiple times.
00:00:24
She had serious issues with her ex-husband. The divorce had been pretty nasty. I wanted her to be found safe, despite all the bad stuff that had happened.
00:00:33
I don't believe Taylor's been harmed. She was the last person that Taylor Wright had been seen with.
00:00:38
What can we prove? What can we disprove? There was $100,000 missing. You had to follow the money.
00:00:45
Absolutely. We believed we would find evidence out there. The necklace, that was the key.
00:00:49
The investigator who vanished and the mystery left behind. It's kind of like a rollercoaster.
00:00:55
You're just hanging over the edge, and you're just waiting to drop. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline.
00:01:13
Here's Keith Morrison with The Necklace. They could feel it in the heavy air. Barometer plunging.
00:01:25
impending sky. It's so big we would see devastating wind damage throughout the state. This one,
00:01:32
Hurricane Irma, they'd heard was huge. Category 5 could hit hard here in Pensacola, Florida.
00:01:39
It was September 2017. A school administrator named Cassandra Waller went about the usual
00:01:46
preparations. Schools would be closed for this one. And one unusual preparation, the love of
00:01:54
of her life, Taylor Wright was moving in with her here in her tidy little ranch house until
00:02:02
storm bearing down, Taylor announced she was running an errand and she didn't come back.
00:02:10
Started that way as a simple missing person case. But if you ask Chad Wilhite and Jeff Brown,
00:02:17
then detectives and partners, they'll tell you nothing is simple in police investigations.
00:02:22
and this one, far from it. Though at first, it didn't look like a case at all. Except maybe the case of a lover who changed her mind
00:02:31
and a jilted party who'd chosen to file a police report. Still, the detective who received it followed standard procedure.
00:02:40
He handles it like any other missing person case. He tries to reach out to the reporting person,
00:02:46
which was Cassandra Waller, who was the girlfriend of Taylor Wright at the time.
00:02:50
The story Cassandra told was complicated. Taylor, she told the responding officer, had just gone through a messy divorce.
00:02:59
She'd lost custody of her child. And though she was smart and knew how to defend herself,
00:03:05
her life, even with Cassandra, was not exactly stable. Had they been together a long time?
00:03:12
They hadn't been together too long. Maybe several months, if I remember correctly.
00:03:16
So a fairly new relationship? Yes, sir. Was there any indication of any trouble in that relationship that, you know, she may have just run off somewhere?
00:03:24
We had learned after speaking with Cassandra that there had been some infidelity issues, possibly some drug abuse issues.
00:03:38
So was she actually missing or had she simply left? Cassandra seemed worried enough.
00:03:46
She even called Taylor's friends and family. Cassandra called me and told me, like, Taylor's missing.
00:03:52
Barbara Evanson was one of Taylor's best friends, and she was concerned right away.
00:03:58
If Taylor had just walked out, she, Barbara, would have heard. But Cassandra? She'd never heard of Cassandra.
00:04:07
And I'm thinking, who the heck are you? And I was like, okay, that's nice. Who are you?
00:04:11
And I'm like, I'm not telling you anything. So, you know, I put the brakes on it, even though I'm very concerned that Taylor's missing.
00:04:17
Cassandra also called a woman named Nancy Murchison, who helped raise Taylor as a teenager.
00:04:24
And she'd heard of Cassandra, knew she was a friend, but... After Taylor went missing, she called me and said,
00:04:35
you know, Taylor and I are in a relationship. I said, no, no, I didn't know that.
00:04:47
So she didn't tell you? No, she didn't tell me. Well, I mean, when Taylor went missing,
00:04:53
here's this person, Cassandra, she just moved in with. The more the story unfolded,
00:05:02
I started thinking, you know, is she involved in this? The question the police had to consider, too.
00:05:10
If this Taylor person hadn't just left, Then, did Cassandra have something to do with whatever did happen?
00:05:21
They went to her house, searched through Taylor's belongings, her papers. And during the search of all these files, that's when I discovered the check, the $19,000 check.
00:05:34
A cashier's check, as good as cash. If Taylor was running away, surely she would have taken it.
00:05:40
Police put a note in their daily report and a local reporter noticed, called her sources.
00:05:47
They had confirmed she was reported missing but said there was no foul play suspected.
00:05:52
But they did say you know they had reason to believe that she had left of her own accord But Emma Kennedy then a reporter with the Pensacola News Journal filed a story anyway and the paper ran it for a very particular and surprising reason
00:06:08
Given that she was a former police officer and a private investigator, that was obviously unusual circumstances,
00:06:14
so we did put something out about her being missing. A former cop? A current PI?
00:06:21
A very different sort of missing persons case. But meaning what? Taylor had been, at one time, a police officer.
00:06:29
Did that factor into what people were thinking about in terms of this case? Like, she'd know how to handle herself.
00:06:36
We knew that, and we knew there was a possibility that, well, if she really wanted to disappear, she could.
00:06:41
Obviously, we knew she could physically handle herself as well, if it was some kind of possible attack.
00:06:47
What were you dealing with here? When we started looking into her phone hasn't been in use in several days, okay, then maybe there is something more to this, and we need to start digging a little bit more deeper.
00:06:59
And so, after 10 days, police asked Cassandra to come in and talk to them at headquarters.
00:07:06
She agreed, apparently willingly, but as she waited for the interview to start, she sat in the room alone and cried.
00:07:16
she wouldn't be alone long. There was a lot to talk about. Questions designed, of course,
00:07:23
to find out what happened to Taylor Wright. When we come back, tension and tears in the interrogation room.
00:07:33
And I can tell you something about it. Please, like... Whatever it is. Was she cooperative?
00:07:41
Very cooperative. What would Cassandra reveal? I can't help but be scared that I'm going to get in trouble for something that I didn't know.
00:07:48
I was trying to help. Cassandra Waller and Taylor Wright had been together less than six months.
00:08:07
But as Cassandra told the police, when you know, you know. The question police had was, did Cassandra know something she wasn't revealing?
00:08:18
We questioned her multiple times, actually. Went out to her house and questioned her.
00:08:22
She came to the police department. We questioned her there at the police department.
00:08:27
This was 10 days after Taylor disappeared. Detectives Will Height and Richard Gagbiotti asked the questions.
00:08:34
Feel free to go whenever you want. They had asked her to bring in all her electronics,
00:08:40
the tools that help solve so many mysteries these days. Was she cooperative? Very cooperative.
00:08:46
She gave us access to anything and everything we asked for, whether it be her phone, her personal laptops, her work laptops.
00:08:58
But Cassandra didn't bring in Taylor's computer. Told them she'd already had a good look at that,
00:09:04
snooping for clues about where she might have gone. Now, she told the detectives,
00:09:09
I can't help but be scared that I'm going to get in trouble for something that I didn't know.
00:09:14
I was trying to help. My intention right now is not to arrest you for anything. I'm trying to find out why your girlfriend's disappeared.
00:09:23
So they asked, what did Cassandra find in Taylor's computer? I found out she's in a lot of debt that I didn't know about.
00:09:32
Cassandra seemed on the verge of tears again. The detectives noted that. and asked her to just talk about her girlfriend.
00:09:41
Can you tell me about her? Where did she go? What did she do outside of work? Things that she's told you she's done in the past,
00:09:49
places she's went. Cassandra told detectives that after Taylor got divorced in 2015,
00:09:55
she dated both men and women. Then she met Cassandra online and it got serious pretty quickly.
00:10:03
Then, over that summer, Cassandra discovered Taylor was sneaking off to Mississippi to see another woman.
00:10:12
But after five months of some serious ups and downs, the romance was very much on and Taylor was moving in.
00:10:22
It was Cassandra's birthday. My whole birthday weekend was moving her stuff and helping her move.
00:10:28
But it didn't mind because it was like, you know, I'm going to help you. Taylor was happy too, she said.
00:10:35
but stressed, very stressed. She was facing a big court date. It was four days away.
00:10:43
Arguments over money and child support for her seven-year-old son had not been settled.
00:10:50
That day she disappeared. Taylor had gone to run some errands with an ex-law enforcement buddy
00:10:54
named Ashley MacArthur. Ashley had been a CSI investigator for the local sheriff's office.
00:11:01
After they left, mid-morning, said Cassandra, she texted Taylor, Everything good?
00:11:08
And Taylor responded, I'll tell you about it when I get home. A few hours later, Cassandra texted again.
00:11:15
Are you okay? Could you reply? No answer. And then, a little later, Ashley called, worried,
00:11:25
said they'd gone riding just to get her mind off her troubles. She was like, you know,
00:11:30
Taylor's broke down and cried twice today. Whatever it was, Taylor apparently needed time to think about it, said Cassandra,
00:11:38
and she went to some bar after she left Ashley's place, thus not turning up in time for a planned dinner.
00:11:45
By 7.30 p.m., Cassandra was really getting angry. And then finally a message from Taylor.
00:11:54
I call you later I not angry with you and I should have called but I just needed to think I am trying to get my life organized and on track That was just too bizarre said Cassandra
00:12:06
Why would Taylor say that the weekend she was moving in? And like I kept texting her back, like, please, like, whatever.
00:12:17
So I texted Ash and I was like, listen, if you hear anything, like, let me know.
00:12:21
And close to midnight, Ashley said she finally did. Ash texted me a screenshot of what Taylor just sent her.
00:12:30
She said, hey, Taylor just sent me this. The text from Taylor to Ashley said, I'm okay. I just need some time to think.
00:12:38
The move and court is very stressful. I need a few days to myself. Everything is okay.
00:12:44
I'm not doing anything bad. Well, that angered Cassandra even more. Cassandra texted Taylor.
00:12:52
I'm saddened that you can text Ash, but not me. You need some days to yourself? What is this all about, Taylor?
00:13:01
Which led to this uncomfortable question for Cassandra. Have you ever suspected Ash and Taylor of being involved?
00:13:10
I made a comment to Taylor once before because I thought it was funny that they would give each other a kiss.
00:13:15
You know, like, I don't kiss my friends. Did it make you jealous? No, I never kissed.
00:13:19
Because I didn't sense that anything was there. But do we ever really know the secret places in the lives of our friends?
00:13:29
And if we do, would we ever reveal them? So detectives decided to push Cassandra.
00:13:37
Was there something she wasn't telling? Coming up. She let me borrow a revolver.
00:13:45
Well, like, because I was afraid at first. A gun with one bullet missing. If she was dead right now and you knew, would you tell her?
00:13:56
Did you harm her? No. I don't know. When Dateline continues. No secrets in a murder investigation.
00:14:16
Yes, Taylor Wright was moving in with her girlfriend, Cassandra Waller. But their romance was nearly derailed a few months after it started
00:14:24
when Taylor started sneaking off to see an old girlfriend. So now that Taylor was gone somewhere, all kinds of possibilities.
00:14:34
The concern for Cassandra was that Taylor may have ran off with another woman. A woman she had met and had a dalliance with.
00:14:44
Correct. So this is kind of a personal life blowing apart here. Could be. And in fact, said Cassandra to the police.
00:14:53
And I told Taylor to get all my life and everything, and she kept begging and texting me,
00:14:56
please, just like, hear me out. Meet me at Ashley's house. Ashley's house? Why? She was hurt, of course, and angry, she said,
00:15:04
but she agreed. And once she was there, she realized Taylor had asked Ashley to mediate.
00:15:10
Taylor called it an honesty night and said she'd confess everything to Cassandra and Ashley too.
00:15:19
Ashley being defensive of me and explaining to Taylor, can you see why Cass feels this way?
00:15:24
Do you understand this? Clearly Cass loves you tremendously, otherwise she wouldn't be here listening to you.
00:15:31
Infidelity wasn't the only issue, said Cassandra. She suspected Taylor may have used drugs,
00:15:38
something that could jeopardize Cassandra's job in the school system. So Taylor, what about cocaine?
00:15:44
And Taylor said, she paused. And she was like, yeah, I've done it three times, though.
00:15:51
That's it. She goes, I swear, you can test me whenever you want. It's not an addiction.
00:15:56
She goes, I was going through a lot, and I was fighting depression, and I just needed to just be up.
00:16:03
Honesty night. Revelations for Cassandra. But now, three months later, Taylor had left.
00:16:11
or something. And Cassandra was angry, very angry, and texted Taylor, Right now, I don't want you at my house.
00:16:20
You have lied and lied again. So, what would you say your potential suspect list was
00:16:27
early on when you realized that there was some serious problem here? Obviously, it would be Cassandra Waller,
00:16:33
because they're in the relationship. They searched Cassandra's house and found a gun,
00:16:39
a six-shot revolver with one bullet missing. But Cassandra told them it wasn't her gun.
00:16:46
She got it from a friend after Taylor left or vanished or whatever it was. And then things changed dramatically in the interview room.
00:17:02
Cassandra had reported a missing girlfriend. The detectives asked her if it was something worse than that.
00:17:10
If she was dead right now and you knew, would you tell us? I don't know. Did you hold her?
00:17:23
No. This was a woman shaken, not just from being questioned and being looked at as a possible suspect,
00:17:31
but quite apparently also with the loss of the woman she'd fallen in love with. We're not trying to upset you.
00:17:39
It's fine. It's just like the fact that I'm even in a position that she put me in a position where I'm being asked these things.
00:17:47
She may not have meant to cause this harm on me, but she did. It hurts because I loved her.
00:17:54
So they sent Cassandra home checked her alibis looked through her phone records and eventually they decided Cassandra had nothing whatever to do with what happened
00:18:05
Just wasn't a viable suspect. Cassandra wasn't trying to hide anything. So she was eventually cleared, and later she talked about her grilling by police.
00:18:16
I mean, it's like rapid fire. They're like going really quick. Did you kill Taylor Wright?
00:18:22
You know, they asked, and I lost it. At that point, I broke down and I cried. I maintained my innocence in this entire thing.
00:18:30
After hours of talking to detectives, she said the whole experience left her shaken to the core.
00:18:35
It's one thing to worry about where your loved one is, but then when you're looked at, it's scary.
00:18:42
Yes, her chat with detectives may have seemed harsh at times, but still, the detectives learned things.
00:18:49
Things Cassandra may not have felt were important at the time. They'd keep that to themselves for now and dig deeper into the background of the missing young private investigator's life.
00:19:01
A backstory or a series of rabbit holes. Coming up. I posted that one of our investigators, Taylor Wright, was missing.
00:19:12
Within a couple of days, calls were flooding in. Could Taylor's boss help this case?
00:19:18
If she wanted to disappear, she could do that in a moment's notice. She knew what people would look for.
00:19:36
Cassandra Waller knew all too well that her girlfriend, Taylor Wright, had unresolved issues.
00:19:42
And she shared them with detectives. I just laid everything on the line with them.
00:19:47
I said, look, she's just got divorced. There's a child involved. nobody's past is perfect.
00:19:54
And Taylor's? Well, there was plenty of baggage, yes. But somehow, magically, wonderfully,
00:20:02
it was going to work out after all. I was so excited about Taylor moving into my house.
00:20:08
We decided that we were in a monogamous relationship. It was like, yeah, this is it.
00:20:14
Except maybe it wasn't. Cassandra went over it and over it. What happened that last day?
00:20:22
Taylor gave me a hug and a kiss, and I said, well, you guys have a good day. That's when Taylor and her friend Ashley went off to do their errands.
00:20:29
Ashley was one of Taylor's, like, number one friends, and they both were in law enforcement before they were close friends.
00:20:37
Everybody seemed happy, nothing amiss. But later that day, said Cassandra, the mood got heavy, uncertain.
00:20:45
It was probably about five. I'm starting to get a little frustrated. I text Taylor and I get nothing and call Taylor and I get nothing.
00:20:56
And when she texted Ashley an hour or two later, where was Taylor? She was shocked at the answer.
00:21:02
This was probably six, maybe seven o'clock at night. She goes, what do you mean she's not home?
00:21:08
Ashley said Taylor left her house around five, took an Uber downtown for a drink,
00:21:14
saying she was stressed out, no idea where she went or how to find her. So Cassandra stayed home, waited, half annoyed, half concerned.
00:21:24
And on into the evening, her phone chirped with that text message, the one that was very confusing to Cassandra.
00:21:32
I get a text from Taylor saying, Hey, I just, I need some time to get my head clear.
00:21:39
Like, I need a few days. A few days? But that was it. No explanation. It was infuriating.
00:21:49
Taylor's boss of the investigations firm, Brian Mulback, said Taylor was one of the best investigators he had
00:21:56
and knew all the tricks of finding people or making herself disappear. If you're looking for somebody that didn't want to be fined, Taylor was the person to find you.
00:22:05
If she wanted to disappear, she could do that at a moment's notice. She knew what people would look for.
00:22:10
But once the detectives had talked to Cassandra, they knew whatever had happened,
00:22:14
this was going to be a case for them. Especially with how bad things got between Taylor and her ex-husband.
00:22:23
Yes, they heard a lot about that from Cassandra, too. In fact, police suggested she phone the ex-husband in North Carolina.
00:22:32
So I called Jeff, and I told Jeff what was going on. Jeff was Jeff Wright, Taylor's ex.
00:22:39
They'd been married 10 years. Jeff was a Marine at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and because their son Drake lived with him
00:22:49
Cassandra offered Jeff a warning She could be going and trying to kidnap the son
00:22:54
because she doesn't have custody and then they could disappear off the face of this earth
00:22:57
Meanwhile, word was spreading around Pensacola I got on my business Facebook page
00:23:04
and I posted that one of our investigators, Taylor Wright was missing within a couple days, calls were flooding in
00:23:11
but most of it was just theories. Theories like maybe some target of one of her investigations
00:23:18
harbored a grudge and took revenge. If there was somebody potentially mad at her
00:23:24
because of private investigations issues, but we found nothing in there that would lead us that way.
00:23:32
So then the detectives dug into Taylor's background and learned that her story was unusual.
00:23:39
Taylor had a rough start. At 13, she was in foster care, but then had been taken in by a neighborhood family
00:23:47
that truly cared for her. And she was just so pathetic looking. She had this wet stringy hair and was small.
00:24:00
Anyway, but she looked so frail, and I don't know what it was about her, but I just said, you can come stay with us.
00:24:07
Like a little lost soul who had to be rescued, huh? She moved in and immediately became part of the family.
00:24:16
Taylor lived with Nancy Murchison and her sons for most of her teen years and stayed close.
00:24:23
And Nancy saw her a week before she disappeared, hadn't heard from her since. She would come and sit in my lap and put her head on my shoulder and say,
00:24:33
I love you. Just so sweet. But, you know, to so many others, she was, you know, she was tough.
00:24:43
Tough indeed. Wore a necklace with a bullet on it. Back when she and Jeff Wright were married,
00:24:49
she did more than just keep things together when he was away on his many combat tours with the Marines.
00:24:54
She was out patrolling the streets of Jacksonville, North Carolina as a police officer, and she was good at it.
00:25:04
I thought she was an absolutely amazing person. Barbara Evanson, Taylor's friend, remember, was also a cop.
00:25:12
In fact, was Taylor's superior officer. Was she friendly? Oh, that's an understatement.
00:25:20
Taylor was one of those people that she wanted to be friends with everybody. Taylor was on the small side, but, said Barbara, she could and did handle big bad guys with the plumb.
00:25:34
Being a police officer, you need to know how to sort of exert quiet control, right?
00:25:38
How did she do that? She did a very good job at that. I don't think that anybody really wanted to know whether they were going to get, you know,
00:25:44
handcuffed and thrown in the back of a car by a 120-pound woman or not. And now, in the middle of some big life changes, she was suddenly gone.
00:25:54
Well, what did you think when you saw that Taylor had sent a text to Cassandra saying,
00:25:58
I just need to be alone for a while? That's not Taylor. Something is absolutely not right.
00:26:04
She would never say, I need to be alone. If anything, she would have called Nancy and said, Mommy, I need you.
00:26:11
But there was no call to Nancy. Taylor even stopped calling Drake up in North Carolina with his dad.
00:26:18
She always talked to him and then just suddenly stopped one day. Detective Jeff Brown.
00:26:23
Made it even more concerning. So they circled back to that last day Taylor was seen.
00:26:31
The day her friend Ashley MacArthur said she'd been so tense, skittish. Time to talk to Ashley.
00:26:38
And now, Taylor's story will get a lot more complicated. Coming up... I don't believe Taylor's been harmed.
00:26:47
I think Taylor's doing what Taylor does. Questions for Ashley. Very personal questions.
00:26:54
Has she ever come on to you? Taylor asked me one time if I would have a threesome with her and some guy.
00:27:02
When Dateline continues. There's a time when a person goes missing. The brain says something bad has happened.
00:27:22
The heart says, keep looking. Going on two weeks after Taylor vanished, the detectives were following this very slim thread of hope.
00:27:33
She knew how to disappear. I think as time progressed and we started learning she hasn't contacted her kid,
00:27:40
okay, there's probably something more to it. As a basic rule, talk to the person who last saw her alive and well.
00:27:49
And that would be her friend, Ashley MacArthur. They were very close friends. They would go hang out, grab a beer, go to dinner.
00:27:57
They went out of town to college football games together. Very good friends. They'd been introduced by Ashley's husband, Zach,
00:28:07
who worked with Taylor in the investigations firm. Zach was ex-police, too, a former sheriff's deputy.
00:28:13
So three veterans of law enforcement, who all spoke the same language in a way, and soon Taylor and Ashley were great pals,
00:28:21
even though their lives were quite different. Ashley also has this Pensacola automatic amusement business
00:28:27
that her and her parents run. A well-known and successful business that supplied pool tables and jukeboxes and such to local bars.
00:28:36
So, while Taylor was still struggling to find her footing, Ashley was an established, married, mother-of-one,
00:28:44
juggling family in a small company. But she always seemed to have time for Taylor.
00:28:50
And now for the effort to find her. So let's start that day from the beginning. Where did she go that last day Ashley saw her?
00:29:01
She wanted to go. Ashley confirmed what Cassandra told them. She and Taylor spent that day running errands.
00:29:09
First to Ashley's office, then briefly back to Cassandra's place. no idea and she never asked that anyway taylor was fine same as ever until she asked ashley to
00:29:31
stop and run into a convenience store and buy her a mid-morning beer But Ashley decided to shrug it off.
00:29:52
She said she could see that Taylor was pretty stressed about an upcoming court appearance with her ex I mean she was upset about the job situation So Ashley said she suggested they go ride horses for a while for therapy
00:30:08
Ultimately, they made it out to a family farm in Milton, Florida. How far away is that?
00:30:13
It was probably close to 45 minutes to an hour. By 4.30 p.m., they were back at Ashley's place, and Taylor got ready to leave.
00:30:21
Ashley said she didn't exactly see Taylor get into the Uber, but... I didn't think anything of it because, like I said, she had been drinking all day and was kind of like, you know, just in one of those moods.
00:30:47
And to Ashley, that slim thread that Taylor was alive was not slim at all. The Taylor she knew, she could handle herself just fine.
00:30:57
I don't believe Taylor's been harmed. I think Taylor's doing what Taylor does. But I don't know.
00:31:04
You know, the only thing that I can think, Taylor is a very tough person. You know, she's always carrying weapons, whether it's knives or guns or whatever.
00:31:14
She's not an easy target. Why would she be a target? Ashley said she didn't know what was in that bag Taylor picked up.
00:31:24
Money? Gun? Drugs? Maybe. Ashley said she knew Taylor had been using, and she was concerned about the dangers that might pose.
00:31:36
If I didn't know about the drug situation, I wouldn't be worried about her. I would say, Taylor's doing what Taylor does.
00:31:44
But then that lifestyle becomes a different group of people. Sure. Which is what I worry about with her.
00:31:55
And one more thing. Ashley said it was a little strange. That last day, she noticed Taylor had two cell phones.
00:32:03
She didn't know why. or what that second number was. Do you think that she could have possibly
00:32:11
have contacted you from that other number? It's possible. Would you mind if we dump the phone?
00:32:18
Principally examine your phone. Yeah. Because you were trying to find Taylor. Oh, yeah, I don't mind.
00:32:23
No problem, said Ashley. She turned it over. And detectives moved on to more sensitive questions.
00:32:29
Has she expressed any interest in leaving Cass at any time? She just... Was it a happy new year?
00:32:37
I don't think Taylor was 100%. Not quite sure, said Ashley, because she seemed to be interested in other women.
00:32:47
In fact... Has she ever come on to you? Taylor asked me one time if I would have a threesome with her and some guy.
00:32:56
And I'm like, no thank you. So, this question. If someone was going to hurt her, who do you think would do it or who do you think would have done it?
00:33:07
I don't know anybody that would want to hurt her. Who do you think would have the most to gain and the most to do it again?
00:33:14
I mean, obviously Jess is the only person really that has any real interest in, I mean, that's the battle that she's going through.
00:33:25
Taylor's ex-husband. Detectives already knew a little about that battle. Time for a deeper look into Taylor's marriage and that ex-husband.
00:33:36
Coming up. I've never seen her like that before. So angry. She was so hurt. A surprising confrontation leads to an ugly battle.
00:33:48
He kept saying, I'm videoing you, I'm taping this, and he called the police. Homicide detectives here in Pensacola couldn't miss it.
00:34:13
It was obvious in every conversation. When Taylor and Jeff Wright split up, it got ugly.
00:34:19
In any relationship where someone just outright says, I want a divorce and you're not really sure why that mudslinging is going to begin.
00:34:27
So, more history lessons. And given its divorce we're talking about, had to be two versions of history.
00:34:35
Nancy Murchison said things really began to go sour when the military transferred Jeff to Florida.
00:34:42
There was a silver lining, though. Taylor wasn't a cop anymore, but... It was an opportunity for her to stay at home, be a mom.
00:34:51
That was a good period. I think she made the best of it then. you know, getting to stay at home with Drake.
00:34:59
As Nancy saw it, Taylor took on all family responsibilities when Jeff was away for training or on assignment somewhere.
00:35:07
Her be-all and end-all was Jeff. Everything Jeff did and said, she supported. She handled everything while he was deployed.
00:35:20
And then, according to Nancy, on their 10th wedding anniversary, no less, It all came apart.
00:35:26
As Nancy heard it, Taylor got all dressed up for a fancy dinner, and he, total surprise, told her he wanted a divorce.
00:35:34
You know, she was betrayed. Betrayed how? He had promised her that if she would move to Pensacola area,
00:35:44
that there would be no more deploying. He would be home all the time, and instead he asked for a divorce Nancy son Daniel Westbrook who spent his teens with Taylor could see how upset she was I think what was most disappointing was she thought that they would all be together finally and live the typical American dream
00:36:13
You won the wish! Now you have to make a wish. Initially, Taylor shared custody of their son, said Nancy.
00:36:20
Did you make your wish? But without a steady job and a stable place to live, she eventually agreed, reluctantly, that the boy would have a better home with Jeff.
00:36:33
And Taylor seemed to fill the emptiness in her life with a series of relationships, both male and female, and a vow to get even with Jeff.
00:36:44
I've never seen her like that before. So angry. So angry. But, you know, I think she was so hurt.
00:36:54
The hurt culminated at Jeff's house, she said, when Taylor got frustrated. He kept saying, I'm videoing you.
00:37:03
I'm taping this. You know, I've got proof that you're acting this way. And she had gone up to him, I think, and poked him in the chest and said,
00:37:16
good video this too. And then she left. He called the police. Taylor was arrested on battery charges.
00:37:30
Jeff dropped the charges, but the damage was done. You can't be a cop after that.
00:37:36
You can't be. They don't hire you. It was now all out war, especially played out when dividing marital assets.
00:37:51
And Taylor dug herself into a foxhole over one issue in particular, which was this.
00:37:57
When they got married, they combined their money, his and hers, and invested it.
00:38:03
But a big chunk of it came from a large insurance settlement Taylor got after a bad car accident.
00:38:10
She was awarded $100,000 from that accident. And then when she and Jeff got married, they said, we'll put our monies in there with my fund.
00:38:25
Well, in the state of Florida, it then becomes marital assets. But Taylor didn't agree with that.
00:38:32
She believed that before their money was added up and split down the middle, she was entitled to take out her insurance settlement.
00:38:40
the 100,000. It was just kind of that little tug of war, I guess you could say, for what percentage goes to Jeff, what percentage goes to Taylor.
00:38:50
And meanwhile, the judge froze the accounts, meaning neither Taylor nor Jeff was to touch a cent of it.
00:38:57
But somehow, Taylor managed to withdraw that disputed $100,000 from the account.
00:39:04
Jeff was furious. So was the judge. Money can make even the most godliest of people turn bad.
00:39:12
And I think that Taylor felt betrayed. I think that Jeff felt betrayed. The judge ordered Taylor to bring $25,000 to the next hearing or face a contempt charge, possible arrest.
00:39:26
Taylor vanished four days before that court date. Was she hiding? Hiding the money and herself from that court order?
00:39:35
Was it clear what she had done with this $100,000? Where she put it? Was she hiding it? What?
00:39:41
Not till we got the bank records back, which told only part of the story. What role did that money play in Taylor's disappearance?
00:39:51
Maybe the ex-husband, Jeff, could help them with that. Coming up. She was very directly saying, I want this marriage to be over.
00:40:01
Jeff Wright tells a very different story about his marriage and his ex-wife Taylor.
00:40:08
Did you ever feel threatened by her? Yes. She was hostile with a very specific intent.
00:40:16
And the intent was to get full custody of Drake. When Dateline continues. Once upon a time, Jeff and Taylor Wright were made for each other,
00:40:39
both smart and strong, both committed to public service, and they shared a son. But time and circumstance and marital battle,
00:40:49
when Taylor seemed to vanish from the face of the earth, Nancy must have been one of the first to think the obvious.
00:40:58
Were you a little suspicious of Jeff? Of course. absolutely i didn't know anyone that wasn't suspicious of jeff so how did something that
00:41:12
started out so good end up so bad jeff's version way back at the beginning when he first saw her
00:41:22
he was bowled over our first date ended up with us throwing knives at a dartboard she liked to
00:41:30
to lift weights and to flex her guns, you know. Okay, we're getting ready to start the engine.
00:41:37
She was different. Here we go. Let's do it. Ah! Smart. Taylor's batting indiscretions.
00:41:46
Take three. Competitive. Oh, yeah. Never dull She could wear a dress and look very pretty but don bite off on that as for who she was This was a card that she could play She was hot and she knew it But the quality that really attracted him
00:42:06
Strength. The strength of her personality. I respected her ability to handle herself.
00:42:11
I respected her drive. That drive turned into an ambition to join the Marines. Jeff made a career out of it.
00:42:21
Taylor couldn't after that auto accident left her with severe injuries. But when Jeff was stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina,
00:42:32
Taylor found her own way. Since the time she was a very young girl, she knew that she wanted to be a police officer.
00:42:39
Did she like it as much as she thought she might? What sustained her was the ability to match wits against bad guys.
00:42:46
Matching wits? She loved poker, he said. What did she like about the process of a poker match?
00:42:54
She really enjoyed the psychological aspect of understanding an opponent. And to see defeat on the face of the other.
00:43:02
To know that they had been beaten, yes. Jeff was often deployed on combat missions.
00:43:09
And so at the end of her police shift, Taylor came home to an empty house. But not for long.
00:43:15
In 2010, baby Drake was born. Did she stay a good and attentive mother throughout this period?
00:43:23
She was very much an ideal mother. The hours weren't ideal for parenting, but her career was taking off.
00:43:31
She shattered the glass ceiling, became SWAT trained. You called her a badass. Taylor was a badass in the sense that she was physically strong.
00:43:43
She was mentally strong. And she did harness it for good things as a police officer and as a wife and a mother and a friend.
00:43:49
But that didn't last, said Jeff. She left the police. The marriage began falling apart.
00:43:56
Jeff's version, though, is very different than Nancy's. He didn't betray her, he said.
00:44:02
Quite the opposite, in fact. Jeff said it was Taylor who wanted the divorce. She was very directly saying, I do not want to be with you anymore. This is not working for me.
00:44:12
And I want this marriage to be over. They went on for a while, unhappily. More bad days than good, said Jeff.
00:44:19
Jeff agreed the final blow-up was their 10th anniversary. They were having dinner.
00:44:24
I was very much advocating to give it another good hard go. Less so from her, though.
00:44:29
I mean, she was not as keen on it as you were. Correct. So that 10th anniversary dinner was me finally laying down an ultimatum,
00:44:36
saying, I want this marriage to work. I want, for the health of Drake, I want all this to work.
00:44:44
But it didn't. And soon it was War of the Roses. she wanted to see you surrender.
00:44:50
I offered her half of my paycheck, all the money, half custody of Drake within the first couple of weeks
00:44:57
of the divorce process. I said, the ill will that a bad divorce will cause is not worth it.
00:45:02
And she rejected it. He had some regrets, he said, like calling the police during that confrontation.
00:45:08
He said he felt like she was trying to provoke him to get him to hit her. He also said he didn't want
00:45:15
to ruin her career. But ultimately, it was Taylor's withdrawal of that $100,000 from their joint account that set up the legal showdown.
00:45:25
So when she disappeared, was she trying to avoid that court date in four days? Jeff said he didn't
00:45:31
know, but he worried she'd show up in North Carolina and snatch Drake. Did you ever feel
00:45:38
threatened by her. Yes, I felt threatened. She was hostile with a very specific intent. And the
00:45:49
intent was to get full custody of Drake, etc. And for me to have surrendered in the process.
00:45:56
A lot of baggage. Perfectly understandable they'd look hard at Jeff. But not for long,
00:46:02
said Assistant State Attorney Bridget Jensen. What kind of reports were you getting back from
00:46:08
investigators. Well, I actually think the ex-husband was ruled out relatively quickly simply because
00:46:13
he was in the military and we knew that Jeff Wright was not in Florida at the time Taylor went missing.
00:46:21
So Jeff was cleared. He contacted Taylor's friend Ashley, said to find out if she knew what happened.
00:46:30
From Cass, I learned the name Ashley MacArthur, found her on Facebook, and I started a dialogue
00:46:35
with her. Jeff had an idea that Taylor was still alive and that the missing money might have
00:46:41
something to do with it. The money wasn't the concern. Finding Taylor was the concern. You can
00:46:47
always make more money, but you can't replace a human life. And I can't replace the mother of my
00:46:51
child. But where was the money? Find that. Maybe they'd find Taylor, too. Coming up. This was one
00:47:04
of those cases where you had to follow the money. Absolutely. Could they find that missing fortune,
00:47:10
cell phone clues were about to help? And we're like, okay, now we're really on to something.
00:47:28
Cassandra Waller was distraught and not getting a whole lot of information from detectives about
00:47:34
the investigation into the disappearance of her girlfriend Taylor Wright. But one person who was
00:47:41
trying to help her was Taylor's friend Ashley MacArthur. Ashley helped reaffirm and calm me
00:47:48
down a little bit. She was there for me. Therefore the police too, always ready to answer their
00:47:54
questions, called them periodically to see how things were going. Um, I just Let's see if there was any update or anything going on.
00:48:04
The update was grim. Taylor had been missing for more than a month. No leads. Except, that is, for the $100,000 Taylor took from a joint bank account with her ex.
00:48:18
This was one of those cases where you had to follow the money to know what happened.
00:48:23
Absolutely. But that would be harder than expected because no one knew exactly what Taylor did with it.
00:48:30
Detectives had found the $19,000 cashier's check at Cassandra's home, but where was the rest?
00:48:38
So, hiding money. So we knew that that cashier's check was still a valid cashier's check and that the money was still in that account.
00:48:49
The detectives also knew that Taylor probably hadn't gone too far because they found her passport, too.
00:48:57
Well, she didn't have a legal way to get outside the country without her passport.
00:49:01
You're eliminating all the possibilities. Yes, sir. Eliminating was good, but it also left detectives very little to work with.
00:49:09
So they took a deep dive into Taylor's phone and financial records to see if they revealed where the money went.
00:49:16
Ashley's phone, too. That would help them nail down an official timeline for the day Taylor disappeared.
00:49:22
It was just like, okay, let's start trying to corroborate her statement through the cell phone records.
00:49:31
They also tried to track down the Uber Taylor took from Ashley's place. If they found that, they'd finally know where Taylor went next.
00:49:40
We tracked all local cab companies. We checked Uber. I think we checked with Lyft as well.
00:49:45
But? We could not find anyone that had went to that address to pick her up. So they went back to Ashley's interview,
00:49:54
reviewed her statements about those last moments with Taylor. She was fine. She just said that she wanted to go have a beer
00:50:00
and that she was going to get an Uber to take her to go have a beer. Ashley said she offered to drive Taylor to her car instead,
00:50:09
but Taylor insisted on Uber. So she denied your assistance to ask your help? Yeah, because I was willing to take her.
00:50:16
I mean, she doesn't live far from the house, so... Ashley never saw Taylor get into an Uber or leave her driveway.
00:50:23
And if Taylor did go to a bar, she didn't leave a trace of her presence. Most people use their credit card to pay for anything at a bar.
00:50:33
So we couldn't find any usages on that. OK, did she really go and have a drink? So how did she get there?
00:50:39
So after she was with Ashley that day, she just disappeared off the map. Can't find evidence of her anywhere.
00:50:46
Correct. Those phone records were suddenly more important than ever. But when they finally got them, they only seemed to add to the confusion.
00:50:58
Remember, Ashley told the detectives she and Taylor went to a family farm about 45 minutes outside Pensacola.
00:51:05
The farm is where? It's office. Highway 90 Milton. But when detectives examined all the cell phone data, it told a completely different story.
00:51:17
It showed that, well, no, they never went out to a farm in Milton. They actually went to a farm in Cantonment, Florida, which is the complete opposite direction of Milton.
00:51:30
How far out is that? Probably another 30 minutes the opposite way, I would say, of where she said she was easily.
00:51:39
Half an hour apart, and as their mapping revealed, along completely different roads,
00:51:46
Milton was to the east. Cantonment was to the west. I mean, I can't imagine what your reaction might have been.
00:51:55
All right, okay, well, now we've got to figure out why she's out here. Yeah, where was she at, why was she out there, and why didn't she mention it?
00:52:01
Why would she lie to us about where she was? Right. On the hunch, a colleague suggests that detectives run Ashley's maiden name, Britt,
00:52:10
through a property database to see if her family had properties in cantonment. And surprise, surprise, they did.
00:52:20
Located on, of course, Britt Road. A sprawling farm owned by an aunt and uncle. And it matched the location of the cell phone activity.
00:52:33
It's right in the middle of that one particular tower she keeps banging off of up there.
00:52:37
Right, there's a pie chart, basically. and it slapped in the middle of it. Wow. And we're like, okay, now we're really on to something.
00:52:44
So she's doing something up there. Absolutely. And Taylor's phone records coincide with that as well.
00:52:49
Correct. So, why did Ashley lie? What was she hiding? They asked her down to the station for another talk.
00:52:59
Only this time, they had a plan. One they believed would lead to a big break in the case.
00:53:09
Coming up. Give me a second. Don't cross your legs in the corner for a second. At this point, she is our prime suspect.
00:53:18
She's at that farm. We're going to find her. That's fine, but she's not going to be there.
00:53:22
Then where's she at? I don't know where she is. Where's her body at? I don't know where she is.
00:53:26
She's dead, though. You know that? I don't believe that. When Dateline continues.
00:53:39
After a month, doubt had become virtual certainty. Taylor Wright was not just missing, she was dead.
00:53:53
And her friend Ashley had been lying all along I don believe Taylor been harmed Her lie exposed by electronic records showing where her phone traveled the day Taylor disappeared
00:54:05
That's when we're like, okay, she's been killed. If Ashley's the one who did it, this is where she's going to be at.
00:54:11
It was a large parcel of land with woods all around it. If you're looking for a body, that's not necessarily going to be easy to find.
00:54:20
It's a needle in a haystack. Although they were sure Taylor was dead, they had no actual proof.
00:54:27
But the clear evidence that Ashley had so blatantly tried to lead them astray was enough to obtain three search warrants.
00:54:34
Not only for the wooded property, but her home and office too. Now, secrecy was critical.
00:54:42
And when Ashley called for updates... I hate father, you got a spy check. Yeah, no worries.
00:54:48
detectives were now extra careful about what they revealed. Okay, she's obviously digging, trying to see what we know.
00:54:56
So at that point, we all just agree that whatever we talk about stays in this office.
00:55:01
It don't go out. When it came time to carry out the search warrants, they decided to do them simultaneously
00:55:06
and devised a plan to get Ashley to the station. We set up for her to come in to get her under the ruse
00:55:15
that she's going to get her phone back, that she's allowed us to download. Once there, they'd question her about the phone records.
00:55:22
And if their suspicions were correct, the search parties found Taylor's body at the farm.
00:55:29
They'd arrest her on the spot. As Ashley settled in, she had no idea they no longer saw her as the helpful friend.
00:55:38
At this point, she is our prime suspect. Detective Wilhide and a colleague stayed at the station
00:55:44
to question Ashley. Well, Detective Brown went to the farm to supervise the search party.
00:55:51
We would team up with Search and Rescue. They had their canines out there to help us out.
00:55:56
Meanwhile, back at the station, detectives did what they could to give him time to search by prolonging the interview.
00:56:03
Anyone else come forward, let you know anything, any other off-screen or anything?
00:56:10
But after half an hour or so, the tone turned decidedly more serious. We confront her with all the cell tower information.
00:56:19
When we started applying all the phone calls that you and Taylor were making that day,
00:56:27
there were some discrepancies in what you had told us. Okay. Okay. We know that you didn't go to Milton when you said you went to Milton.
00:56:40
When you said you went to Milton? Not when you said you went to. Oh, well, I don't know.
00:56:44
Ashley suddenly seemed to be at a loss for words. She started to appear to feel a little bit more uncomfortable with the situation, the line of questioning.
00:56:55
Especially when detectives showed Ashley evidence that she'd actually gone to a farm in containment.
00:57:02
What were y'all doing out there at this farm? We know y'all were there. We picked up some stuff that Taylor had there that she had stored.
00:57:14
I gotcha? Odd response to being caught in a lie. And then the detectives upped the ante.
00:57:33
The day after Taylor disappeared, her phone was still pinging away in exactly the same locations as Ashley's phone.
00:57:41
At one point, Taylor's phone was even thinking at Ashley's house. Her phone is communicating with a tower that covers your house.
00:57:49
Not her house, your house. Again, same tower. Right. Same place. No denials or admissions, and Ashley remained remarkably calm as she stuck to her story.
00:58:03
Why do you have her phone, or why is she with you? She wasn't with me, and I was unaware that I had her phone.
00:58:11
This is a woman who worked CSI. She would have had to have some information about how police solve crimes.
00:58:18
I would assume she would too, especially with Zach being in law enforcement for several years.
00:58:24
Just the same. Detectives turned up the heat, hoping Ashley would break. Tell me what you did to her.
00:58:31
I didn't think anything to her. Can't imagine how a person would feel inside when he or she recognized that you have all this information.
00:58:39
And that's what I ultimately told her during the interview is like, you can either tell us where she's at.
00:58:46
We're going to ultimately find her. I didn't do anything. If she's at that farm, we're going to find her because we're executing a search warrant out there right now.
00:58:54
That's fine, but she's not going to be there. Then where's she at? I don't know where she is.
00:58:58
Where's her body at? I don't know where she is. She's dead, though. I don't believe that.
00:59:04
Out of the farm, Detective Brown and his team had been combing through dense wooded areas for hours.
00:59:12
The investigators that were interviewing Ashley were texting me, you know, have you found anything?
00:59:16
And I'd have to say, no, nothing yet. We're still looking. Downtown, detectives were running out of time and getting nowhere with Ashley.
00:59:24
Wait for a second. Don't cross your legs and look at me for a second. Don't let us tell your story.
00:59:33
Because this is going to tell us what happened. Don't let us tell something that may not be true.
00:59:41
Tell us what happened. I think at this point I need an attorney, because it seems to be that you don't think that I did something to her.
00:59:50
The interview came to a screeching halt. You had all this evidence but not enough to actually effect an arrest at that point We had no body So here the deal We are taking your phones your vehicles
01:00:07
and we just conducted a search warrant on your house. Okay? I'm going to give you your keys back.
01:00:15
You're free to leave. No confession. No body. No evidence that Taylor was, in fact, dead.
01:00:22
So they hid their disappointment and watched Ashley walk away. No telling what would happen now.
01:00:34
Coming up, what really happened out there in the woods? New questions for Ashley, her husband, and her cousin.
01:00:44
You helped her in any way. No, none of that. Detective Jeff Brown was beyond frustrated.
01:01:04
He and his team had spent hours searching the farm on Britt Road, hoping to discover what happened to Taylor Wright.
01:01:11
But they found nothing. You're free to leave. And because of that, Ashley, their number one suspect,
01:01:19
had just walked out of the police department. It was disappointing that I wasn't able to send him that text.
01:01:26
You know, we got her. And then, not more than 10 minutes later, just outside the farm property line,
01:01:34
we believe we found something. And when we look, you can easily see what the top of a human skull
01:01:41
kind of encased in concrete and potting soil. Wait, wait, wait a minute. But you can actually see the top of a head.
01:01:48
You could see the very top part of it. And when they removed the concrete, they found mostly a skeleton.
01:01:59
Then we also found her necklace, and that was the key. That bullet necklace she always wore found where her neck used to be.
01:02:09
After six long weeks, the search was over. It was definitely Taylor. How was she killed?
01:02:16
They found what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the back of the skull. Execution.
01:02:20
It's what it appeared to be. This suggests that she was taken completely by surprise.
01:02:26
By one of her friends, yes. Right away, Detective Brown notified his partner back at the station.
01:02:33
Arrest her. How did she behave then? She was, I believe, a lot more quieter that time.
01:02:42
Yeah. Definitely a different side of Ashley that we hadn't seen or noticed yet. Then phone calls.
01:02:48
Family had to be told. Nancy had to be told. Taylor was dead. I had hoped against hope that someone just, you know, was holding her somewhere.
01:03:02
It was soul crushing. And then a call that was also investigation. Did Ashley have help?
01:03:10
It was always a concern because of Ashley's size. She might needed help moving, you know, moving a body.
01:03:19
And so they called Ashley's husband, Zach MacArthur. Your wife is, she's being arrested this evening and charged with murder.
01:03:30
What? They asked him to come down to the station and got straight to the point. Did you kill or participate, or do you have any knowledge?
01:03:42
Zero, Jason. Absolutely none. If any person in this world was like, hey, Zach, come help me do something,
01:03:48
I would run from that **** as fast as I could. And Zach had an alibi. He was cleared.
01:03:55
But there was one more possibility. A young man named Kyle Britt, Ashley's cousin.
01:04:02
He lived on that farm. And when detectives searched Ashley's phone records, Kyle's number came up repeatedly right around the time Taylor disappeared.
01:04:13
In other words, these are phone calls for a specific purpose. Correct. They pulled him in, questioned him for seven hours.
01:04:22
She's not going to go down alone, and she's going to take the world down with her if she can.
01:04:27
So if there's any kind of conversation that you had with her, I mean, any... If you helped her in any way.
01:04:33
No, none of that. Kyle insisted he had an alibi. And then they understood the reason Ashley kept texting him.
01:04:44
Like, hey, are you out at the farm today? And he responds, no, I'm not. I'm at school.
01:04:51
Of course. Ashley was calling Kyle to make sure he wasn't around. Ashley went to jail while prosecutors built their case,
01:04:59
but she wasn't there very long. Barry and John Barossett were her attorneys. There was a lack of criminal history,
01:05:09
substantial ties to the community, so the judge set a bond. And out she went, on bail,
01:05:16
which didn't sit well with some people. She's walking around free while, you know,
01:05:22
Taylor's dead, and it just seemed like it was the biggest slap in the face. What to do?
01:05:31
A little digging revealed. Three months before Ashley was arrested, she was accused of stealing from her parents' business clients.
01:05:38
Tom Williams was an assistant state attorney. I'm a fly on the wall hearing this,
01:05:43
and I think there's a good fraud case here. If convicted, Ashley would go back to jail.
01:05:50
So they went for it. The family business Ashley ran split profits 50 with the bars that rented their jukeboxes and pool tables But the owners of the Azalea Cocktail Lounge found out she had shortchanged them by about
01:06:07
Jeff DeWeese was the accountant. He called Ashley for a meeting. But the morning of the meeting, Ashley canceled.
01:06:15
Something didn't feel right, so I drove to where her business was. And as I was coming up the road, I saw that it was blocked off by fire trucks.
01:06:24
and sheriff's cruisers. Because the building was on fire, looked like arson. Ashley's attempt, alleged prosecutor Williams,
01:06:35
to burn records and maybe file an insurance claim. And so while they prepared their murder case,
01:06:42
they put Ashley on trial for fraud and arson. The verdict was a split decision. She was found guilty of organized fraud and racketeering,
01:06:52
and she was found not guilty of the arson charge. It was enough to put Ashley back in jail,
01:07:00
but that split decision worried the prosecution. The arson charge was circumstantial,
01:07:07
and so was the murder case. Mind you, those cases may have shared something else, too.
01:07:15
They were different cases with different results, but perhaps the same motive. Greed.
01:07:22
Coming up, Ashley on trial. Jurors want forensics. They want DNA. They want fingerprints. I didn't have any of that.
01:07:31
A bold strategy from the prosecutor. There were so many possible suspects. I put everybody on the stand.
01:07:38
When Dateline continues. August 2019, almost two years after Taylor Wright disappeared, Ashley MacArthur went on trial for her murder.
01:08:00
Ashley's seasoned lawyer said detectives had gotten it all wrong. There's not a single piece of physical evidence that links Ashley MacArthur to the murder of Taylor Wright.
01:08:12
None. Assistant State Attorney Bridget Jensen had no illusions. Proving that this pretty petite mother with no criminal history was a cold-blooded killer.
01:08:24
Wouldn't be easy. What about your case was a matter of concern? Was there a weak spot you worried about?
01:08:31
Well, I think the fact that it was wholly circumstantial is always troublesome. Jurors want forensics.
01:08:39
They want DNA. They want confessions. They want fingerprints. I didn't have any of that.
01:08:43
Well, and in this case, I guess you had a person on trial who knew all about forensics
01:08:48
and maybe had to protect herself in that respect. Maybe. Or maybe not. But first, the prosecutor wanted to address another potential weak spot.
01:09:00
The fact that there were so many possible suspects was not good for the state's case.
01:09:06
Instead of shying away from that, she took it head on. I put everybody on the stand that was a suspect.
01:09:13
You did, yeah. I wanted the jury to see each of these witnesses testify, to look at them, to judge their credibility.
01:09:21
She started with Taylor's ex-husband, Jeff Wright, asked him about their contentious divorce and the money Taylor took against court orders.
01:09:32
Was Taylor in trouble with the court about that? That's correct. You were in North Carolina at this time?
01:09:38
That's correct. There was also Ashley's husband and her cousin, Kyle. And of course, the prosecutor called Taylor's girlfriend, Cassandra.
01:09:49
Now, do you see Ashley MacArthur in the courtroom today? I do. During the trial, that was my first time seeing Ashley,
01:09:56
and it was the most uncomfortable feeling. She was the picture of a grieving lover,
01:10:02
choking back tears when shown a photo of that bullet necklace, the one found on Taylor's skeletal remains.
01:10:09
You'll take a look at that and see if you recognize it. It didn't. I think once the jurors actually saw each of these witnesses,
01:10:18
it was clear that it was not any of them. On day two of the trial, the prosecutor focused on Ashley's image.
01:10:27
Ashley MacArthur was not this meek, you know, submissive, mild-mannered, you know, little mouse, which is what she looks like.
01:10:38
Instead, Jensen wanted the jury to see Ashley as cunning and heartless. She called to the stand three women who told a disturbing tale about Ashley.
01:10:48
It happened, they said, the night before Taylor went missing. I heard her say how much cocaine would it take to kill somebody.
01:10:57
And then a friend of Ashley's testified that she drove Ashley to a strip club called Babes,
01:11:03
where Ashley bought $250 worth of cocaine. She said that she was going to put it in Taylor's beard.
01:11:10
She said the next day she asked Ashley what she had done with the cocaine. And what did she tell you?
01:11:16
that she put in her beer and Taylor spit it out because she said it tastes sour.
01:11:21
So to hear these conversations, and it wasn't just with one girl, it was with three.
01:11:26
The defense attorneys were saying, well, yeah, that's just hearsay. That, you know, maybe it happened, maybe it didn't happen.
01:11:32
Of course, and that's what great defense attorneys do say. You have to minimize something that is that damaging.
01:11:39
Even though she didn't have any physical evidence tying Ashley to the murder, Ashley was the last person
01:11:45
to see Taylor alive and the prosecutor did have one powerful exhibit Ashley's police interviews
01:11:52
and the lies she told police the jury heard Ashley confronted with cell phone records that put her
01:12:00
The very place where Taylor's body was found. So, really, in essence, you spent, it seems like, at least a large portion of the majority of your day out here.
01:12:11
It's really pleasant, though. And remember the concrete and potting soil covering Taylor's body?
01:12:18
The jury saw a video of Ashley at a Home Depot the day after Taylor disappeared, buying...
01:12:26
Two bags of potting soil and the bags of cement. But one thing was missing. The why.
01:12:36
Why would Ashley kill Taylor, a woman she seemed to like so much? A mode of his oldest time.
01:12:44
Money. It all came back to that money. Taylor was trying to hide it from her ex-husband.
01:12:51
She'd given a big chunk of it to Ashley to hold for safekeeping. There was a $34,000 cashier's check that was deposited into a joint bank account with Ashley MacArthur and Taylor Wright.
01:13:05
Ashley was supposed to go to the bank and repay her the day Taylor disappeared. She'd delayed it before, so Taylor texted her.
01:13:14
This is way too important for me not to do today. I'm under a court order or my ass will get thrown in jail.
01:13:20
But Ashley couldn't give the money back because she'd already spent it. Here's Ashley at walk-up ATMs moving Taylor's money around.
01:13:31
One was showing Ashley MacArthur withdrawing $8,300 the day after she deposited Taylor's $34,000 cashier's check.
01:13:44
So was Ashley spending the money on herself? No, not exactly. It turned out she was spending it on this man, Brandon Beattie, the owner of Sticks Billiards, the convicted felon.
01:13:57
The two were having a long-term affair, and she was playing the sugar mama with Taylor's money.
01:14:06
Was she buying supplies at Sam's Club for your business? Yes, ma'am, she did. In approximately August of 2017, did she buy your motorcycle?
01:14:15
I'm not sure of the date, but yes, she did purchase a motorcycle. Okay. Do you know how much that motorcycle cost?
01:14:20
I think it was like 8,000 or maybe just a hair more. Did Ms. MacArthur also buy you a boat?
01:14:26
Yes, ma'am. How much was that boat? 30 grand. After four days of testimony the prosecution rested There was no question in my mind and I hoped that there was no question in the jurors minds that Ashley MacArthur is the one who killed Taylor Wright over money
01:14:44
But the defense attorneys didn't agree. And they were confident they could prove it.
01:14:52
Coming up. How does someone kill someone and then take the body and hide it there without anybody knowing about it?
01:14:58
No forensics. No case. What would the jury decide? My understanding is we have a verdict.
01:15:05
You could have cut the air with a knife. From the start, Ashley MacArthur's defense team, father and son, Barry and John Berossett, had a strategy.
01:15:27
Attack the state's case. We focused on the fact that they did not have forensic evidence to connect her to it.
01:15:37
The defense reasoned with no DNA of the crime scene, no blood evidence, no murder weapon, no proof even of where Taylor was killed.
01:15:46
The jury could easily find reasonable doubt. We told the jury, look, you may not like Ashley and you may think she's a liar.
01:15:53
Maybe you think she stole money, but, you know, in this trial, she wasn't on charge for theft.
01:15:59
John and Barry Barossett took turns chipping away at the state's case. Every law enforcement officer who searched the crime scene for evidence
01:16:07
admitted to turning up nothing that pointed to Ashley. And it wasn't just a farm.
01:16:14
The defense called the crime scene supervisor who helped search Ashley's house and three vehicles.
01:16:20
Are you aware of any evidence that was collected that established that Ms. MacArthur killed Taylor Wright?
01:16:27
No. On top of that, they argued that Ashley wasn't physically capable of pulling off the crime,
01:16:34
of carrying Taylor's dead body over a fence to the adjacent property where they found it.
01:16:41
The defense put Ashley's chiropractor on the stand, who testified she'd been in a car accident several years earlier and left her with a bad back.
01:16:51
She was having trouble traveling, sitting or standing, lift overhead. lifting objects off the floor.
01:17:02
And the defense argued no one at Britt Farm saw anything out of the ordinary during the time Taylor was missing ever The question is how does someone kill someone shoot them in the back of the head there got to be a lot of blood and then take the body just over the fence
01:17:18
and hide it there without anybody knowing about it. The defense continued to try to pick apart the state's case,
01:17:26
like that video of Ashley buying potting soil and cement. The concrete that was found on the body was very coarse,
01:17:34
had stone-like pebbles in it like you might use on a sidewalk. But that's not how the Home Depot employee described it.
01:17:42
Is the concrete that this lake purchased, is it textured? No, man. It's like fine dust.
01:17:50
Are you suggesting that that wasn't the same concrete and potting soil than what wound up on the farm? Absolutely.
01:17:56
But what a remarkable coincidence. Somebody goes and buys concrete and potting soil.
01:18:00
A victim is found buried not very effectively in concrete and potting soil. Burial appears to be around the same time.
01:18:09
You go back to the photographs, the concrete on top of the body was not fine like dust.
01:18:14
As for the three women who testified, they heard Ashley talk about poisoning Taylor with cocaine.
01:18:21
On cross-examination, they admitted they'd never seen any cocaine, not even the woman who drove Ashley to buy it.
01:18:28
Did you see any drugs? I did not see any drugs get handed off. No, sir. So you didn't buy their stories at all?
01:18:36
No. Not at all. And finally, motive. The prosecution claimed Ashley had killed Taylor over money.
01:18:45
But the defense said that's ridiculous. She was from a family that was well-to-do.
01:18:51
So it wasn't like this money was the last straw. I had to kill somebody in order to keep her quiet.
01:18:58
And John Barossa told the jury Ashley had good reason to be spending some of that $34,000 Taylor had given her.
01:19:06
Ashley MacArthur loaned Taylor Wright some money, and some of this was due back to Ashley for that loan.
01:19:12
Father and son felt pretty confident they'd sown enough doubt as to whether or not Ashley had committed premeditated murder.
01:19:20
So when the jury went out, what were your hopes, fears, expectations? Our hopes were that they'd find her not guilty of first-degree murder.
01:19:28
Nancy and Daniel who'd sat through the trial had very different hopes. The not knowing was awful.
01:19:36
I was nervous. What about you Nancy? I was anxious. You know in your mind you're going
01:19:43
oh my god what if they come what if she found innocent They wouldn have to wait long to hear the jury decision My understanding is we have a verdict
01:19:54
Just three hours, Taylor's friend Barbara Evanson held her breath. So the jury came back. What was that like?
01:20:02
An absolute tense moment. You could have cut the air with a knife. The judge's clerk read the verdict.
01:20:09
We, the jury, find the defendant, Ashley MacArthur, guilty of first-degree free meditative murder with a firearm as charged in the indictment.
01:20:16
When they read the verdict, that's the only time Ashley MacArthur showed any kind of emotion during that entire trial.
01:20:24
Ashley's flash of emotion quickly reverted to the stone face she'd maintained through the trial.
01:20:32
But Cassandra, seated behind her, could barely contain herself. We got the verdict that we had been waiting for for two years.
01:20:40
We finally got the justice net Taylor deserved. I'm going to sentence you to life with a mandatory minimum 25 years state prison.
01:20:50
But those who love Taylor, friends and family members close and far, still suffer.
01:20:58
As you look back over the experience, how has it changed you? You know, in so many ways, I feel that I was robbed.
01:21:09
You know, I love her and miss her, and that will never stop. Even Taylor's ex-husband felt cheated, having never got the chance to heal the deep rift between them.
01:21:24
I wanted our relationship to be repaired to the point that when Drake got married,
01:21:29
that she and I could dance together at his wedding and smile and be friends again.
01:21:35
But family and friends agree. It was Taylor's son who lost the most. At seven years old, his mother, gone forever.
01:21:47
One of the most important things is for him to know how much his mother loved him
01:21:52
and how proud of him she was. Okay, you can pull. You won the wish! Now you have to make a wish.
01:22:03
And most of all, she loved Drake more than her life itself. I love you. That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.