Taylor Behl | 1987

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Stories and Articles From Friday, September 23, 2005

After the 5 PM news broadcast on the Richmond area NBC stations, later stories broke with even more updates. The case against Ben Fawley continues to take on steam as Ray Daudani of NBC12 say that police have now acknowledged they took Fawley into custody at 3 PM on 16 separate counts of possession of child pornography. The police say that those charges are not "directly" related to Taylor Behl, a 17-year old VCU coed missing since she failed to return to her dorm room early Tuesday, September 6. As Daudani continued his report, he relayed that the police were executing additional warrants inside of Fawley's residence looking for items belonging to Taylor, including clothing. Early in the investigation of the missing student, police established that Fawley and Behl had been involved in a "romantic relationship." Fawley, at 38-years old, is 21 years older than Behl. As you can see in the pictures on this site, Fawley does not appear to be 38-years old. Daudani also reported that the police are seeking warrants to obtain Fawley's DNA.

Ashley Wharton interviewed Taylor Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, about the arrest of Fawley. Ms. Pelasara said that she became physically ill when she heard Fawley admit to police to having a sexual relationship with her daughter.

Pelasara says that the Fawley's claims may very well be true, and even if he is not involved in the disappearance of her daughter, he has still committed a crime against her daughter and one more reason that Fawley should be off of the streets and behind bars. The legal age of consent in Virginia is 18, Behl does not turn 18 until October 13th. During her interview with NBC12, Taylor's mother said this about the possibility of Taylor having a sexual relationship with Fawley, "Maybe this was her dumb decision, but it is still wrong. It's still against the law. He's a sick man for doing it." As she has each time she has given an interview about Fawley's relationship with her daughter, Ms. Pelasara reminds everyone that Fawley is not the focus for her, finding her daughter is her main concern.

NBC-4 in Richmond, VA, ran a story at 5 PM Eastern stating that Ben Fawley had been arrested by the Richmond Police Department on charges unrelated to the Taylor Behl case. The arrest took place at Fawley's apartment at about 3 P.M., confirmed Richmond Police Chief Rodney Monroe. Fawley has been charged with several counts of possession of child pornography. Fawley became a "person of interest" at the beginning of the investigation of the missing 17-year old VCU student, when investigators learned that Fawley had a romantic relationship with the girl. Acting on information that Fawley might have child pornography on his computers, Richmond PD executed search warrants earlier this week and seized several computers and a bunch of media. Apparently the evidence gathered during the search created enough probable cause for an arrest warrant to be issued in such short order. Late Thursday and early Friday stories began appearing about Fawley's report to the police of his own abduction/assault mere hours after the last time anyone saw Taylor.

NBC12 in Richmond, VA also ran the arrest story of Fawley. Along with that story, they interviewed a former girlfriend of Richmond photographer Ben Fawley. Jessica Payton, now 22, says she dated Fawley for about a year while she was a freshman at VCU.

Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, told NBC12 that even though the charges are not directly related to her daughter, she is glad to see Ben Fawley off the streets. She balanced that by adding, "I'm glad that he is behind bars, but it doesn't help the police find Taylor. So, okay, he's arrested on that but now, I want to find my daughter [that] is my ultimate goal." You can view a video clip of the arrest and the interview on the NBC12 website.

In a story reported by WRIC TV8 of Petersburg/Richmond, VA, the Richmond Police Department is investigating the disappearance of another 17-year old girl. Monica Rose Sharp disappeared Sunday, September 18, 2005. Monica was last seen walking her dog at about 10:30 in the morning. Monica's mother filed a missing-persons report later on Sunday. On Monday, the dog returned home without Monica. Missing posters are posted throughout Richmond's Museum District. Police spokesperson, Kirsten Nelson, says that they belive Monica arranged to meet someone with whom she corresponded on the Internet. The police say that even though they believe Monica left home voluntarily, they are still seriously investigating her disappearance. Sharp is described as black, 5' 2", about 210 pounds. The picture posted with the article shows an attractive and very jovial looking young lady.

WRIC TV8 also reported speaking to Janet Pelasara, Behl's mother, who says she remains hopeful that the police will find her daughter. 8News quotes Pelasara, "The police assure me that they are so confident that they are going to find Taylor alive and well that has renewed my spirits again."

In an article by Jim Nolan of The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Richmond Police say that they are unable to investigate the alleged abduction/assault/robbery reported by Ben Fawley. Fawley claims the incident occured several hours after he last saw Taylor Behl, who has been missing since the early morning hours on September 6, 2005.

"In order for us to go forward on [the photographer's] case, we have to have more details than the limited and vague descriptions he gave us in reference to this alleged crime," Police Chief Rodney Monroe said.

Today's article by Nolan revealed a few more details about Fawley's incident. The details came from a supplemental report filed by Fawley. In his initial report, Fawley gave very few details regarding the attack. He gave no details about the stranger that gave him a ride home after being dumped some distance from Richmond, VA. In the new report, Fawley describes the man that gave him the ride as Hispanic. Fawley said it took about an hour before the gentleman stopped to give him a ride.

Despite claims by Fawley's attorney that the attack is unrelated to case involving Taylor Behl's disappearance, investigators say that the details are very important. The details of the incident can help establish the 38-year old photographer's whereabouts in the hours immediately following the last time he claims to have seen Taylor. The police officer who initially took Fawley's report of his abduction indicated that he believed that Fawley was the victim of some type of attack, but "due to his mental state, getting any other relevant information is going to prove to be very difficult." A possible reason for this apparently altered mental state has been attributed to the medication that Fawley takes for a bipolar disorder and that he was drunk at the time of the attack.

The Washington Times quoted Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, who also teaches at VCU, several times in the article written by Christina Bellatoni. The quotes by Mayor Wilder below are taken directly from the article:

"[There is] an important lesson is to be learned: Be careful who your friends are."
"[Be sure to] watch the company you keep."
"The same advice our parents gave us still stands. People should do what they should do and not take up with strangers and not hang around with people you don't know anything about."
Mr. Wilder said Taylor's journals and notes detailing her friends have helped police. He also said authorities were closing in on "what may or may not have happened."
"Even though there is no evidence of foul play, there is no evidence that it's not."

Bellatoni's story offers a lot of information that I have not seen reported elsewhere:

"George Peterson, a family friend and an attorney for Taylor's family, said he thinks that police are making progress in the case. He would not reveal details of his conversations with police, but said the family has a positive attitude. 'We are fully optimistic Taylor will return home safe and sound,' he said."

Regarding the alleged abduction/attack on Fawley: "Mr. Peterson dismissed it as false. 'That doesn't make any sense,' he said. 'He might want to come up with a better alibi.'

"Taylor's mother met Mr. Fawley for the first time when campus police questioned him at his apartment. 'She had to leave; she just couldn't listen anymore,' Mr. Peterson said."

LINKS TO NEWS, BLOGS, COMMENTARIES & RELATED WEBSITES - Friday, September 23, 2005

America's Most Wanted Coverage of the Search
TimesCommunity.com Fairfax, VA Local News - 09/23/2005
WRIC TV8 Petersburg/Richmond, VA - 09/23/2005
The Richmond Times-Dispatch - 09/23/2005
America's Most Wanted Missing Data File for Taylor Behl

The links below are to the major network news and the stations in the area providing full coverage of Taylor's Case. These are the major source of the information provided on this site. Also included are links to the various Weblogs and other sites of interest.

Local Broadcast News
  WVEC 13 NEWS ABC
  WRC NBC4 News
  WWBT NBC12 News
  WRIC TV8 News - ABC
  WAVY NBC 10 News
  WTOP Radio Network
  WJLA ABC7 News
  WTVR CBS 6 News

Local Print News
  Hampton Roads Daily Press
  Richmond Times-Dispatch
  The Washington Post
  Glocester-Mathews Gazette-Journal

National News
  FOX News
  ABC News
  NBC News
  CBS News
  MSNBC News

Weblogs & Other Web Sites
  Riehl World View - Excellent Weblog
  The Dark Side - True Weblog
  Court TV's Crime Library - Full Coverage & BLOGS
  Slobokan's Site O' Schtuff - A Weblog
  Scared Monkeys - A Weblog
  Observations of a Misfit - A Weblog
  Missing & Abducted - Discussions

The information on this page was obtained through public and private sources. The images may be updated, changed, corrected, or deleted by E-mailing me at willnotagz@aol.com. You may also view an updated version of this webpage at: http://taylorbehl.notagz.com/. You may use the pictures and host them on official or other private sites. Where possible give collage credit to E-mail me at willnotagz@aol.com. I also welcome messages regarding broken links, continuity, grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.

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