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Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397

November 16, 2023 / 55:49

This episode covers the case of Taylor Beal, her disappearance, and the subsequent investigation into Ben Folly, a person of interest with a violent past. The hosts discuss the timeline of events leading to Taylor's abduction, the police investigation, and the evidence found against Folly, including child pornography and his eventual confession.

Nick and the Captain outline how Taylor's social media posts helped police narrow down suspects quickly. They detail the troubling relationship between Taylor and Folly, who had a history of violence and made conflicting statements about the night of her disappearance.

The episode highlights the discovery of Taylor's remains and the evidence that led to Folly's arrest, including surveillance footage and forensic analysis. The hosts also discuss Folly's attempts to fabricate alibis and his eventual confession, which he later claimed was a strategic move.

As the investigation unfolds, the hosts emphasize the emotional impact on Taylor's family and friends, as well as the community's response to her tragic case. They conclude with the legal outcomes and the advocacy work done by Taylor's mother in the wake of her daughter's death.

TLDR

Taylor Beal's case reveals a troubling relationship with Ben Folly, leading to her tragic disappearance and Folly's eventual confession and conviction.

Episode

55:49
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can get off the record our bonus show and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab chair
00:03:30
grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] [Music] crime so thanks to Taylor Beal's online
00:03:57
post investigators knew that Taylor and Ben Folly had a past and continue to talk online and possibly even see each
00:04:08
other but the more troubling thing here Captain is Ben FY online claims to be an
00:04:15
Exon which absolutely turns out to be true so what did this uh douche Berger do well he had some charges for assault
00:04:26
and breaking and entering and I think it goes even Beyond on that one thing that
00:04:31
I find extra troubling here is statements we have from some of her friends that say that Taylor had gotten
00:04:41
into this habit of parking her car on Ben FY Street on the street that he lived on because there were no parking
00:04:49
meters there for her to worry about mhm so what I'm getting at here with this Captain is we have this situation where
00:04:56
there seems to be some kind of friendship between the two it looks to me like Ben fol thinks that it is the
00:05:04
Friendship is one thing that it is not and then we also have the situation of he he's got a violent past a history of
00:05:13
violence and he also probably could know when she's coming and going because he could visually see her vehicle parked on
00:05:21
his street well yeah and and again the ruse of I I'll take some photos for you and and we know that he's involved in
00:05:30
these odd pornographic sites well in regardless of whatever their relationship was or their
00:05:38
friendship I should say friendship because relationship makes it sound like something that it was not regardless of
00:05:44
what their friendship was the the thing is her friends that knew about Folly all really say hey I
00:05:54
think that she was starting to realize that Ben Folly was more screwed up than she really wanted to deal with mhm but
00:06:02
again it appears that they may still have been hanging out now when questioned by police about this
00:06:08
friendship with Taylor Ben FY said that he had no idea where she was and he was worried about her he said the last time
00:06:16
he saw her was around 9:30 p.m. on that Monday night when she left his apartment
00:06:23
after they he said after they hooked up police didn't believe him and fact they named him as one of several Persons of
00:06:32
Interest in the case on October 3rd but the problem was Ben fol maintained that he had an
00:06:40
alibi but before Taylor had even been reported missing Ben fol went to the police station and filed a report
00:06:48
alleging that he had been assaulted on the street by several guys the time frame that he cited for the attack was
00:06:56
around 5:00 a.m. on September 6th this occurred in an alley near Franklin Street in Monument Avenue Folly alleged
00:07:06
that he was hit with an unknown object and a bag placed over his head and then he was thrown in a car and driven around
00:07:14
by several men before being released on a dirt road and he had to hitch a ride home do we have evidence of this do we
00:07:25
have the person that he hits your ride from saying you know cooperating the story do we have any markings on his
00:07:33
individual well so police looked carefully at this claim trying to determine like you said Captain whether
00:07:42
this was true or not the problem is if it is true then it seems very likely that Folly could not have
00:07:51
been responsible for abducting Taylor fol filed this report around 4 p.m. on Tuesday he made made vague
00:07:59
references to the attack likely being a result of a long running altercation with with an ex or another photographer
00:08:08
over rights to some photographs which all seems a little Loosey Goosey to me well you know those photographers they
00:08:15
like to they're a bad Bunch they they have they have a gang of people and they're going to abduct you and place a
00:08:22
bag over your head and hit you with objects the police officer whose name appears on the incident report did note
00:08:30
that Folly admitted that he was extremely he says he was extremely intoxicated when the alleged attack took
00:08:39
place he also said that he took medication for bipolar disorder now yeah okay and's let's dive into that
00:08:49
real quick because most of the the medication that you would be on for bipolar are not things that you would
00:08:59
one want to drink on but they could also cause you death if you do drink on those
00:09:08
medications again though you are a levelheaded individual who makes good decisions we once again find ourselves
00:09:16
discussing a guy who does not make good decisions I would be taking this uh report as the officer and when it would
00:09:22
say officer's name I'd put silly goose so the thing that I have trouble with here I don't know really
00:09:31
why this would be considered any type of Alibi because Folly says that he last Saw Taylor if we are to believe him at
00:09:40
9:30 p.m. and then maintain that the attack happened at 5:00 a.m. right hours hours later seems to me
00:09:48
like you had plenty of time to abduct or kill or do whatever during that that time frame well and we have footage of
00:09:58
her leaving in her dorm but they're going to find footage of him outside her dorm room mhm yeah so but again he's not
00:10:09
denying that they hung out that night well and the thing is I think what we have here is really kind of a front a
00:10:17
bit of a tactic by police we saw how smart they were with the vehicle situation right surveillance of the
00:10:24
vehicle yeah I think they thought hey this Ben FY he's pretty dumb he's pretty stupid we we had a meeting all right all
00:10:33
of us investigators and police officers we got together and we took a vote and we decided this guy's a real
00:10:40
idiot so here's how the meeting went hey uh raise your hand if you think this guy
00:10:45
is a dumbass and like 19 hands went up and then one guy was just kind of sitting there playing on his phone he
00:10:51
for he wasn't paying attention no one guy was that one guy was like but I really like his van right you know I saw
00:10:58
it on the news pretty cool um so I think they all kind of agree this guy's an idiot and they're like publicly let's go
00:11:06
out and say hey we we understand he's somebody that we're interested in we understand that
00:11:12
there was some kind of friendship going on but we have to clear we have to figure this
00:11:17
whole he was allegedly attack situation out we have to figure out if he actually
00:11:23
has an alibi or not make him think that you're kind of falling for it right mhm and see if he does something dumb
00:11:31
because this guy has nothing but a history of 30 some years of doing dumb things so he he may he may give you
00:11:39
whatever you need he may give you that Smoking Gun so you can figure out what he has actually been up to because even
00:11:48
though we have them on record saying that I don't believe that they were falling for anything that he was saying
00:11:55
and I also like you said where's the evidence of this do where's the person that gave you the ride home yeah I'm
00:12:02
trying to see where you're going with this cuz in my timeline I know what cops do next but I'm wondering if I'm missing
00:12:10
something well I really think that it was just a to me it looks just like a front that they were putting on at the
00:12:17
time I think behind closed doors they didn't think anything of this alleged attack other than it was a false Alibi
00:12:25
that it was something that he created to explain away a big window of time that he needs to be accounted for MH well it
00:12:34
seems like our thoughts about their investigation Captain are correct I mean they seem to be suspicious of folly and
00:12:41
this did not come out until later but what we do know took place is that police did review that security camera
00:12:49
surveillance footage from Taylor's dorm on the last night that she was seen and as said she is seen entering the
00:12:57
building around 10:20 p.m she walks through the lobby to the doors on the right hand side of the frame presumably
00:13:05
to head up to her room but someone else then enters the lobby at 10:21 and paces
00:13:12
around for a few minutes clearly waiting for someone and who is this person Ben Folly boner sniffer so his
00:13:23
statement of hey I last saw her in the 9:00 hour can't be true you followed her in we have video surveillance footage of
00:13:32
you following her into the lobby of her residence at 10:20 in the 10:00 hour right and then she's going to come
00:13:40
back out to hang out with them so again we know he's lying about the time frame or just misremembering but it's almost
00:13:49
like he knew that he was caught on tape so he has to admit that he was hanging out with her that
00:13:56
night I don't understand in this whole I was attacked and that's setting up a alibi but the time frame would be early
00:14:05
morning hours and not around that 10 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. window but I think where he really messed up is when he was
00:14:13
telling the cops well and uh we hooked up that night now we have her friend saying yes they were
00:14:22
intimate before but she didn't want to do that again that's not to say that she wouldn't have been intimate with again I
00:14:29
mean we we have proof that she was intimate with him before so I I would actually argue that that would mean
00:14:37
there was more of a possibility just because she told her friends that she didn't want to do it again but that
00:14:43
leads to Polie to go well she's 17 and this is going to be enough for us to get a search warrant to search his
00:14:52
apartment well you are exactly right because what's going on here I believe reading between the lines I think that
00:15:01
police had an idea that Folly was with her at a time that he did not give to them I think they knew that for a while
00:15:09
I think they're are they are trying to figure out what else was he involved in and I also think that just because they
00:15:16
didn't ask him about that 10:00 hour he may be unaware of the security camera footage that he was seeing on camera
00:15:25
they were seing on camera together at 10:24 and then they both leave now their joint
00:15:31
departure is not actually caught on camera but neither of them are seen on camera again so we can assume that they
00:15:39
left together well here here's why I'm saying not not maybe the footage that the cops actually had but here's this
00:15:46
guy that's been around campus long enough to know the campus is heavily secure there's tons of security cameras
00:15:53
everywhere so knowing that you met her on campus you could just assume that at some point they have you on video
00:16:02
footage right and maybe the 9:30 thing is his way of trying to explain that away right but also by just
00:16:10
saying knowing that you met her on campus this is why you have to tell the police well I was with her that night
00:16:17
for a little bit we hooked up and then she left and I don't know what happened to her so the security surveillance
00:16:24
footage plus the fact that he willingly tells police we hooked up she's underage this is enough to allow
00:16:34
officers to obtain a SE search warrant for Ben fy's apartment which was located at 407 Hancock Street on September 16th
00:16:43
they went in and search this apartment and the search warrant must have included you know you have to
00:16:49
specifically State what you are seeking in this warrant it must have included electronic
00:16:56
devices because we know that police left carrying some computers after this first
00:17:01
search and what they found on those computers led to the arrest of Ben fol on September 23rd Captain would you like
00:17:09
to do the honors and inform us as to what was found on these computers well what's interesting is I don't think it's
00:17:16
just on the computers I think maybe also on dis and things like that there was a
00:17:21
lot of child pornography he tries to explain that away by saying well some of this was
00:17:27
left by the tenant before me I I didn't even know it was there but that couldn't
00:17:34
explain away the child pornography that was actually found on the hard drives and that he had multiple uh
00:17:42
computers with extremely large amounts of hard drive space I mean especially for that time 2005 that's right there so
00:17:52
there wasn't really anything on the computers linking Folly directly to Taylor's disappearance although there
00:17:59
were those pictures of her that we we discussed that he took hundreds of pictures of her yeah and hundreds of
00:18:06
pictures this hundreds of images of child pornography well and not just that is what's described in the media release
00:18:14
yeah I mean not just that but also just tons of very I don't know what the correct term
00:18:23
would be but you have pornography and then you have this more like this uh demonic U
00:18:32
pornography okay so this next bit's going to the next 90 seconds might get a little difficult to listen to but here's
00:18:40
what I have in my notes okay so police said they discovered a massive quote a massive amount of extremely graphic
00:18:49
child pornography featuring children as young as three and four years old being raped by some reports as many as seven
00:18:57
computers loaded with pornography were confiscated from the apartment according to the Richmond Times Dispatch senior
00:19:06
assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mike jagal later told judge Kimberly odonnell that there were as many as 30 movie
00:19:15
files discovered on computers that were removed from F's apartment some depicting acts with miners as young as
00:19:24
one this is this is it just tough to even read miners as young as one or two years old and others
00:19:34
featuring individuals tend to 14 years old Folly of course maintained that the computers were not his as you pointed
00:19:41
out he says they belong to a former resident of the apartment no one was buying this load of crap that he was
00:19:48
trying to shovel uh well but this is just proves how how this guy's story changes constantly he's always has some
00:19:57
excuse for things and and so that's when you really know that most likely whatever happened to
00:20:05
her was at the hands of this individual so like we said this results in his arrest it also results in a
00:20:15
second more comprehensive search of his apartment well that but here's what's great we can put him in jail for these
00:20:23
charges and then because of these charges we can go back and look for more evidence we can build our case and know
00:20:30
exactly where he is and hold him and he can't do anything to get rid of evidence
00:20:36
in the process MH so the things that they were looking for in this second search many of the
00:20:43
items that were listed on the search warrant included things that would belong to Taylor you know her clothing
00:20:50
her her jeans a black hoodie sneakers black watch bracelets St Francis necklace student ID NOK cell phone and
00:20:59
car keys all of that's listed on the warrant also listed were skateboards sometimes you want to put a generic term
00:21:08
out there so you can take any skateboard that you find MH burglary tools this would probably go back to his
00:21:17
previous convictions mhm they were also looking for knives hammers shovels and pry bars and I found this to be strange
00:21:26
there's always something Strang l on these search warrants on here we have the ever
00:21:32
suspicious pepp Farm cookie boxes what yeah I couldn't figure out I have no idea why this would be on
00:21:42
the warrant the cops were hungry I don't know if if they had reason to believe that she would have had one of these
00:21:49
cookie boxes in her possession at the time that she went missing and maybe that then they can go okay is it it
00:21:57
might be a coincidence but it also might be a sign that she was here right later
00:22:02
that night I don't have a complete and complete list of what was found in the apartment but here's what we do know was
00:22:11
taken out of the house pursuant to the search warrants uh women's white underwear a
00:22:18
laptop computer a Macintosh computer a digital camera sex toys including two dildos and spiked bracelets a knife two
00:22:28
bags of clothes from a garbage can outside of the house a beaded necklace with a cross from this was removed from
00:22:36
the garbage as well a bicycle chain necklace a watch from the garbage can a 35mm camera a box containing
00:22:47
bones he collected weird things like that which everybody has a right to have weird [ __ ] oh yeah yeah we we we all
00:22:57
probably own some weird [ __ ] M uh rolls of film I mean we probably don't have a bunch of dildos laying
00:23:06
around uh a black bra a machete cigarette butts a prescription bottle skateboards they
00:23:15
did find skateboards a yearbook a hatchet a hammer a pry bar a 32 caliber cartridge and a
00:23:23
partridge in a pear tree I mean it just goes on and on and on the one thing that
00:23:28
was rather interesting of note here Captain police also removed a section from a box spring that was stained with
00:23:36
some kind of reddish brown substance they did include and executed a warrant for
00:23:45
Folly's hair and DNA samples not found were Taylor cell phone that they were looking for her college ID her car keys
00:23:57
again anything linking Folly Ben Folly directly to Taylor's disappearance does not seem to have been
00:24:04
found just on the child porn possession alone police had enough to charge Folly with a felony and as you said hold him
00:24:13
while they continue to build a case against him regarding Taylor's disappearance and they also charged him
00:24:21
with a possession of a firearm because remember he's a convicted felon he's not legally permitted to be in possession of
00:24:28
a gun but their their investigation takes a pretty interesting turn as far as because you you collected all this
00:24:36
stuff but but where do you go from that I mean that none of this other than the child por
00:24:44
pornography can you charge him with or like you said the the gun possession charge so you can add that on top of
00:24:51
things but well they're going to go to the public for help okay because on October
00:24:58
11th police announced that they were specifically interested in the sightings of the following items between the dates
00:25:07
of September 5th and September 17th they want to know had anybody seen a white Ford Escort that's remember
00:25:15
that's the vehicle Virginia license plate JPC 2848 and they asked the public to call
00:25:24
in sightings of the vehicle and a description of whomever may have been driving the vehicle at the time they
00:25:31
wanted to know who had been driving Taylor's car around Richmond during that time that they can't figure out where it
00:25:37
was they also wanted people to report any sightings of of Virginia personalized license plates
00:25:46
grn eer T this was a plate stolen from a vehicle around the time Taylor disappeared and police believed it might
00:25:56
have been in Folly's possession and they also sought information about that Ohio state
00:26:03
license plate as well right so what's interesting to me is while they need the Public's help it seems like they have a
00:26:11
general idea of what was going on at the time he abducted he did something to Taylor and was moving her vehicle around
00:26:20
during the time that it was unaccounted for and he may have been switching out the plates multiple times along the way
00:26:27
right because if if you know this girl's missing you you see what kind of car she
00:26:32
has how many people saw that car looked at the license plates and went well that's not her car yeah yeah it also
00:26:41
came out around the same time the media reported that Folly used his credit card
00:26:45
to buy gas in New Kent County between Matthews County and Richmond on the night that Taylor
00:26:53
disappeared so this really kind of to me would suggest that his later claim that
00:27:00
he was attacked there doesn't seem to be any time left for that to actually have
00:27:05
taken place it's the old Jesse Smet jumped farce we got going on there meanwhile Taylor's family loyer cleaned
00:27:14
out Taylor's dorm room taking all of her possessions back to her hometown of Vienna and they stated Taylor's family
00:27:23
basically stated even if she is found alive she's not going to be returning to VCU at this time right there's too much
00:27:32
going on here and because at this point you have to believe that she's abducted and so if you do find her alive there's
00:27:39
no way that you're going to want as her parents for her to be around that vicinity to have any of those bad
00:27:47
memories well things are looking very very Bleak by this time and now they're really honing in on Folly and he's like
00:27:57
locked up and they can start they want to start going through his Social Circles now we're going to publicly ask
00:28:03
the public for help but we're going to get into his Social Circles and ask these people for help and one of the
00:28:09
people that they come across is this young woman named Aaron who was also a VCU student and somewhat of a a friend
00:28:18
or acquaintance of Taylor and oddly kind of looks like she could be related to Taylor uh definitely looks like uh
00:28:26
Taylor's mother like there's a lot of similarities there and she's a little older than Taylor um she's 23 at the
00:28:36
time apparently she dated Ben Folly for some time I guess they only dated for a couple of months before Aaron broke up
00:28:44
with him well and she she probably didn't want to come forward because it was such an
00:28:50
embarrassment that she dated this douche in in the first place well I think she was the one that the charges some of his
00:28:58
previous convictions stem from so well he had a history of crazy after these girls after a while
00:29:07
well yeah but oddly he would he would start dating them and because oh let me take pictures of you you're so beautiful
00:29:14
and he would make these girls feel like they're the best thing in the world but then that became oh well now I'm jealous
00:29:23
of everybody else and I just love you so much that I'm jealous of everybody else
00:29:28
and then become aggressive almost like self-sabotaging the relationship like well and here's the thing too Captain
00:29:35
what we got going on now we've seen a lot of these types of cases anytime detectives think that we have somebody
00:29:42
who needs to hide something that they never ever want anyone to find they start asking the people that know them
00:29:50
best okay is there anywhere that he like to Camp or go fishing or go hunting you
00:29:56
know outdoor activities what does he do and where does he go so they start talking to
00:30:03
Aaron they start showing her picture after picture from his photography web page M because they need her to
00:30:13
identify some of these locations here's a picture tell us where you think this area is yeah he would take pictures of
00:30:20
girls and things like that but he would also take pictures of like old rundown sheds and you know just feel
00:30:27
and and random items and locations so one photo that caught her eye you know she's looking at photo after photo
00:30:35
finally she sees one and she's like holy moly this might be something here this is a photo of an old abandoned house
00:30:43
with like a tin lean to attached to it the house was oddly enough located on her
00:30:51
family farm which was about 90 M away from Richmond in Matthews County right and I think he she took him there
00:31:00
at some point maybe they even shot shot those photos together well and remember we talked about Folly purchasing gas
00:31:08
with his credit card right out that night now all of a sudden this photo of an old abandoned house 90 M away out in
00:31:16
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to live your most comfortable [Music] [Music] life all right we're back cheers mates
00:35:17
thank you so much for donating to the Beer fun I am sipping on some nice Brew because of you thank you for subscribing
00:35:26
thank you for telling a friend about our little garage show too and thanks for telling your friends not to listen to
00:35:32
and thank you to you captain and thank and and thank you and thank you to our friends that listen all right we might
00:35:38
have might have had a few too many yeah I love you man on October 5th right on October 5th
00:35:45
police headed out to the site where that photo was taken this accompanied by Aaron they creepy photo yeah and they're
00:35:53
going to be searching this whole area and before for too long they identified a body and a plastic bag in a ditch off
00:36:01
the side of a wooded Road The Remains were very decomposed but were wearing clothing that was similar to what Taylor
00:36:10
was wearing when she disappeared sure enough the medical examiner soon identified the remains as Taylor Beal
00:36:18
based on dental records well I'm think about this girl that's helping out the police there she goes out to her
00:36:25
family's property she doesn't know what she's going to find they they find Taylor she then has to think about
00:36:34
the relationship she had with this person and how that possibly could have been her uh that would be a very
00:36:42
traumatic um experience there are several theories as to why this area may have been chosen
00:36:50
for the the dump site you know they seem a little odd who knows what was going on in the mind of
00:36:59
the person who placed her there so there there's one theory that I do find this interesting I don't think it has
00:37:06
anything really to do with the case but there's a thought that maybe Ben Folly thought if he put her on Aaron's
00:37:13
family's property that maybe it would get confusing to investigators and Aaron could somehow be involved in Taylor's
00:37:22
disappearance possibly we we know he lies about everything I think what likely happened is this is just
00:37:31
unfortunately maybe a place that popped into his mind when he thought of like we
00:37:35
said earlier hey I got something I don't want anybody to ever find and he thought
00:37:40
this was a good place to put it well they're going to go back with this information this is basically now the
00:37:47
cops have a loaded gun that they can point at him and he's going to start confessing to what he claims happened
00:37:56
that night yeah and one thing that they will be equipped with when they go in to talk
00:38:03
with Folly is they took some soil samples from the undercarriage of Taylor's vehicle mhm and they were able to match
00:38:12
those two soil samples taken from the area where the body was found so they are able to piece a lot of this together
00:38:20
before they even talk to him they know where she was found they have a general idea of what happened to her being that
00:38:25
she was either abducted or killed and then transported in her own vehicle out to that location and then we know the
00:38:33
vehicle came back to the VCU Campus area and was was placed there now Taylor died in a manner that did not
00:38:43
leave visible marks on her body so they were unable to determine the exact cause
00:38:49
of death there was no broken bones or obvious signs of death now mind you she rather de imposed at this
00:38:57
time Folly continued to deny that he had anything to do with this but that's not
00:39:02
going to last very long Captain just like you pointed out because he will he will offer up some kind of
00:39:11
confession well of sorts and this was against the recommendation of his attorney Folly told investigators that
00:39:20
on the night of September 5th he and Taylor had driven out to a beach in the Matthews County area to hook up he said
00:39:31
he was very drunk and high at the time and was off his meds the two engaged in what he called rough sex and he said
00:39:40
Taylor accidentally died according to him the two had played a sex game and it was all Taylor's idea she wanted to try
00:39:49
erotic xixi but it backfired and when she died he panicked and dumped her body in in
00:39:56
that Ravine although he tried to spin this off as some type of accident Folly himself may have made mention of what he
00:40:06
planned to do to Taylor in one journal entry by skulls 67 in a journal subtitled playing with
00:40:17
fire the trash of a crazy xcon he wrote about his sexual Conquest with Partners referred to by their initials like k and
00:40:26
E he also talked about someone with the initials T and said that there was something he
00:40:34
quote still wanted to try with her MH this was before Taylor died Taylor's mother was quick to dispute Folly's
00:40:43
version of the events of course she says let's be clear Ben Folly murdered my daughter she said in a news conference
00:40:52
his claim that it was accidental is just one more per version of the truth and his Ever Changing Web of Lies yeah he he
00:41:01
claims that they they went out to this location they're trying to hook up there in the backseat of the car that he was
00:41:08
drunk and and high and and office medication all that stuff they were trying to put a bag over her head during
00:41:16
sex that wasn't really working cuz she wanted to pass out this is what he's claiming and so then he took the bag off
00:41:24
her head but then put it around her nose and mouth now once she stopped breathing
00:41:29
here's the strange thing is during his confession he doesn't dump the body that night he doesn't he doesn't just go oh I
00:41:37
got to get rid of her and take the car back he claims that he comes back to VCU with her body in the back
00:41:46
seat and and and that the car is parked there for a day or so then he drives back out to that same location and then
00:41:54
dumps her there um but again this guy will lie about everything yeah and as you pointed out
00:42:02
earlier his story changes when it needs to you know he has an excuse he has a story he has an alibi until boom you
00:42:10
present him with facts with truthful evidence and facts that you know to be true and then he
00:42:17
says well here's a different story for you well but here's the thing though is he already has more and more charges
00:42:25
that are mounting against him yeah and the what's difficult though for the prosecution and for the state Captain is
00:42:33
that we do have this while it does not seem likely it is a plausible defense of this was an accident and maybe he
00:42:42
shouldn't be charged with murder we also have the problem that we really have very little forensic evidence in this
00:42:49
case at all M so it's going to take a good amount of time in fact it was not until January 17th of
00:42:57
2006 that a grand jury handed down an indictment of folly this was for first-degree
00:43:04
murder I would love I would have loved to try this case once the uh grand jury was told and
00:43:14
it was explained that the medical examiner could not have identified an exact cause of
00:43:20
death because of the decomposition then we have an indictment was amended to second degree
00:43:28
murder the death penalty obviously going to be off the table at this point now despite holes in their case prosecutors
00:43:35
went full steam ahead preparing for a trial working with investigators trying to build a circumstantial case to prove
00:43:44
that Taylor was not the initiator of this so-called sex game that she was not into bondage or erotic affixation or
00:43:56
really that she would not have consented to any of this crap and that that Folly
00:44:00
killed her and probably deliberately killed her it was not an accident by any stretch of the imagination well and his
00:44:07
defense team is saying well she was she wanted to try this because he had tons of pornography on his computer and
00:44:15
showed her some different things and she was like oh I'd like to try that yeah that's what he claims but but it doesn't
00:44:22
matter I mean the the idea that that uh any body female or male would be on trial for wanting to try something
00:44:32
sexually that's her right to that doesn't equal being murdered right you know so it doesn't matter how you slice
00:44:41
it doesn't matter if it was his idea or her idea that does that should never equal
00:44:47
murder so what we have here Captain is in August of 2006 the murder trial is about to begin
00:44:56
again mhm but what we get and I man I so love this we get a gift for the prosecution because Folly opens up his
00:45:06
big fat mouth that's right Folly made the mistake of talking and his defense attorneys got wind of this in a
00:45:13
jailhouse conversation with an officer Folly described hold on you got you set it up a little bit better because he is
00:45:21
coming back to his cell after after this like um there was a meeting and and basically this this web
00:45:33
allies that he's been casting he he claims that it's the ultimate chess move right he says he's playing a chess
00:45:41
game and really the story that he came up about Taylor's accidental death was really just that just a story designed
00:45:49
to clear him to take the heat off of him explain away what happened but it's not
00:45:55
what actually happened and then we have a little bit more okay because you you know this
00:46:04
better than me this is the part that's kind of confusing to me because he makes that mission
00:46:09
to uh this officer and then the officer lets the defense team know now they can't they can't represent
00:46:19
that idea because they know it's a lie is that right no I think the thought here is we have people that are going to
00:46:29
testify that he was lying about this story right okay and and then we have this weird thing where he's writing
00:46:37
letters from jail to a female friend the prosecution gets a hold of these letters they did not help Folly's
00:46:44
case I don't know exactly what was in these letters but these were mentioned during this portion of the story right
00:46:52
and what this leads to is by by August 9th we have Folly Consulting with his attorneys
00:47:01
and they decide that Folly should take an Alfred plea for second-degree murder in exchange for prosecutors dropping the
00:47:11
child pornography charges out at The Plea proceedings prosecutors and defense attorneys were
00:47:18
able to present their cases to the judge whose job it is then to determine whether there was enough evidence to
00:47:24
Warrant f taking such a plea the confession his tapes of his confession or so-called confession were
00:47:34
played in court and later transcripts were released to the media more details about this confession came out and you
00:47:41
went through quite a bit of that when you were telling us about what happened I one thing I found weird was it sites
00:47:50
that Taylor wanted to play a game that she called Drunk Monkey I don't know and and again it's
00:47:57
it's almost it seems a little silly to go through this confession when we know so much of it is just completely
00:48:06
false and we can we can say that based off of his plea off of his later plea where he accepts that he's going to be
00:48:14
convicted of this yeah I mean and again I have some questions but I don't think it matters like was she alive when they
00:48:24
went out to this location I don't know did he did he bring did he actually bring the body
00:48:30
back did he bring Taylor back I don't know you know I don't think it matters I think at the end of the day
00:48:40
no matter what he States everything else again he can still say he's still saying in prison I'm not the cause of
00:48:50
her death she wanted to try something it was an accident well we know that you told people hey I'm a genius I came up
00:48:58
with this excuse but everything else points to to murder right this this happens she
00:49:09
blacks out she stops breathing you don't call 911 you then claim that you transport
00:49:16
her body back to Camp campus not telling anybody that equals murder you then change license plates
00:49:26
multiple times on that car that equals murder you then lie to the cops about what happened that equals murder you
00:49:34
then lie to everybody and tell her family almost in a braggadocious way well we hooked up that night no you
00:49:41
didn't you probably raped her that equals murder you then constantly lie about everything and all these twists and
00:49:51
turns and take not only the police but the family members of your victim on this wild ride all that stuff equals
00:50:01
murder and then you put her out in the middle of nowhere and her and this is what her mom
00:50:11
says for her body to be eaten by animals and bugs and insects cuz you don't have respect for
00:50:20
human life you don't have respect for this young lady this was not your friend because all that stuff equals
00:50:31
murder well and unfortunately it seems like for Ben Folly well for those around him anyway that he was ramping up to
00:50:41
something like this probably for quite some time now I don't have those all those letters that he wrote to his
00:50:48
friend while he's in jail but when hold on for a second ladies get better friends you don't
00:50:56
who Who's the who who's the person communicating with this [ __ ] you know well we do have a portion of one of
00:51:04
those letters and this is going to be what really is going to seal the deal here and they read this aloud in the uh
00:51:14
The Plea proceedings I believe that all of them all of these letters were read but the
00:51:19
one that made its way to the media is this and this is directly from Folly's Written Letter to to his friend he says
00:51:26
quote people don't like me they never do as a child I had no friends I was a bother in the way of problem so I spent
00:51:34
most my life alone I never like the thoughts in my head people are right something is wrong
00:51:41
with me all the thoughts of killing and death in my head and now it's true I've killed someone these are his own words
00:51:51
at the conclusion of the Alfred plea hearing judge William Shaw II found that there was substantial evidence that
00:51:58
Folly was guilty of murdering Taylor Beal he sentenced Folly to 40 years with 10 years suspended Folly would serve 30
00:52:09
years Taylor Beal's case is famous because it is one of the first to be solved using the victim's social media
00:52:19
police were able to narrow down the suspect list very quickly because of her postings online
00:52:26
Taylor's funeral was held the day after her 18th birthday Benjamin fol is scheduled to be released on November
00:52:33
14th 2031 that's just too soon Janet Taylor's mother has published a book called love
00:52:43
you more the Taylor Beal story and has become an outspoken advocate for victims Taylor's friend Aaron krael received a
00:52:54
20,000 reward for her assistance in locating Taylor with some of the reward money she
00:53:00
established a fund for women in crisis in honor of Taylor [Music] [Music] Beal all right thanks for joining us
00:53:26
here in the garage Nick do we have any recommended reading yes we do my fine Captain this week we are recommending
00:53:33
without a Prayer by Susan Ashlin this is without a prayer the death of Lucas Leonard and how one Church became a cult
00:53:42
you'll want to pick up this book because this is a very tragic and weird case and
00:53:49
if you pick up without a prayer you're going to find out the how but also the why and you don't have to write that
00:53:55
title down right now no you can just go to True Crim garage.com and click on the
00:54:00
recommended page and we will have that title amongst others right there for you and make sure you sign up on our mailing
00:54:07
list while you're at the website true Crim garage.com and until next week why don't you be good be kind and please
00:54:14
don't [Music] live [Music] this show is sponsored by better help do you look forward to the holidays maybe
00:54:55
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00:55:01
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that's better help hp.com garage

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most emotional
  • 75
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • Quality Sleep with Ashley
    Ashley offers top mattress brands at winning prices, helping you snooze now and pay later!
    “Your mattress purchase helps give the gift of better sleep to children in need.”
    @ 00m 11s
    November 16, 2023
  • Rosetta Stone Holiday Deal
    Rosetta Stone is offering 50% off their lifetime membership for language learners!
    “It's a GameChanger.”
    @ 00m 58s
    November 16, 2023
  • True Crime Garage Introduction
    Welcome to True Crime Garage! Join Nick and the Captain for a thrilling discussion.
    “It's good to be seen and it's good to see you!”
    @ 01m 56s
    November 16, 2023
  • Ben Folly's Troubling Past
    Investigators reveal Ben Folly's violent past and troubling behavior towards Taylor.
    “He had some charges for assault and breaking and entering.”
    @ 04m 23s
    November 16, 2023
  • Discovery of Disturbing Content
    Police find a massive amount of child pornography in Ben Folly's apartment.
    “He tries to explain that some of this was left by the tenant before me.”
    @ 17m 25s
    November 16, 2023
  • Public Appeal for Help
    Police seek public assistance in locating a missing vehicle linked to Taylor's case.
    “They want to know who had been driving Taylor's car around Richmond.”
    @ 25m 33s
    November 16, 2023
  • Discovery of Taylor's Remains
    A body identified as Taylor Beal is found in a ditch, leading to a grim confirmation.
    “The remains were very decomposed but were wearing clothing similar to what Taylor was wearing.”
    @ 36m 04s
    November 16, 2023
  • Folly's Confession
    Folly claims Taylor's death was accidental during a sexual encounter, sparking controversy.
    “He said Taylor accidentally died during what he called rough sex.”
    @ 39m 31s
    November 16, 2023
  • Folly's Confession
    Folly admits to having thoughts of killing and acknowledges his guilt in a letter.
    “I've killed someone.”
    @ 51m 44s
    November 16, 2023
  • Sentencing of Benjamin Folly
    Judge Shaw II sentenced Folly to 40 years for the murder of Taylor Beal.
    @ 51m 51s
    November 16, 2023
  • Taylor's Legacy
    Taylor's friend established a fund for women in crisis in her honor.
    @ 53m 00s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • He had some charges for assault and breaking and entering.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397
  • He was always trying to explain things away with excuses.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397
  • Things are looking very, very bleak.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397
  • This might be something here.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397
  • Let's be clear, Ben Folly murdered my daughter.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397
  • People don't like me, they never do.
    Taylor Behl /// Part 2 /// 397

Key Moments

  • Language Learning00:32
  • True Crime Introduction01:40
  • Shout Outs02:25
  • Suspicious Behavior04:23
  • Disturbing Discovery17:21
  • Folly's Claims39:31
  • Sentencing51:51
  • Taylor's Fund53:00

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown