These collages and the hosting of the images on this site provided courtesy of E-mail me at willnotagz@aol.com.

This morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the legal maneuverings that resulted in prosecutors dropping the gun charges lodged against Ben Fawley. Fawley, the only suspect in the murder of 17-year-old Taylor Behl, summoned police to his jail cell shortly after the discovery of Behl’s remains in rural Mathews County, VA. Since Fawley had retained an attorney to represent him in the Behl case, police could not talk to him without his attorney present. The gun charges came about when Fawley’s current attorney asked another attorney to surrender Fawley’s weapon to police. That put Fawley’s attorney in the position of being a witness in the weapon’s charge, thus creating a conflict-of-interest that would prevent him from representing Fawley in the Behl case. Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Learned Barry told Jim Nolan of the Times-Dispatch that he decided to dismiss the gun charges in order to remove the apparent conflict-of-interest, thus allowing the attorney to be present during Fawley’s statement. This was the statement where Fawley admitted to being with Taylor when she died.

Though prosecutors have yet to charge in the Behl case, they plan to present their evidence to a Mathews County grand jury in mid-January. Taylor disappeared from Richmond, roughly 75 miles from where she died, all evidence points to Mathews County being the place where she died. Because of that, Virginia law requires the trial to take place in the jurisdiction where death occurred. Richmond prosecutors will provide assistance to the 1-man prosecution office in Mathews County.

Fawley remains in a Richmond jail awaiting trial for the child pornography charges that came about because of a search of his apartment subsequent to Taylor’s disappearance. Sources close to the investigation told the Times-Dispatch that the US Attorney’s office is considering filing federal charges in relation to the pornography charges.

Some news sources are reporting that the prosecution has dropped the weapons charges against Fawley. The move appears to be an agreement between the prosecution and Fawley's defense attorney. No details as to what the prosecution gained were released. Fawley is scheduled for a court appearance next week, but word is that the court date will be continued, perhaps to sometime after the beginning of the year. The Mathews County grand jury is supposed to get the case form investigators and the prosecution sometime in January. There may be plans to delay the pending charges to see what indictments might be forthcoming from the grand jury.

If anyone involved in the investigation reads this, I want to be sure that there was follow up on the information that I emailed regarding the meeting between a local Richmond business owner, Fawley, and one of Fawley's friends on the day after Taylor disappeared. I first brought this to the attention of the investigators during the week ending on October 17. I brought the topic up in a posting I made on the 10/23/2005 update page. I have changed the text of that paragraph to this color blue to make it easier to find on the page. Since that time I have heard nothing about it.

This information can establish Fawley's movements and possibly reveal what Fawley knew on either September 6^th or 7^th. At the very least it may help establish a more firm time line regarding Fawley and some of the others that came under scrutiny earlier in the investigation.

Hoping to find some of Taylor Behl's personal items that remain missing, authorities searched a small pond near Mathews County, VA. The multi-jurisdictional task force investigating the disappearance and murder of Taylor Behl released two photographs at the end of November, asking the public for assistance in locating the pond. The pictures were among the many digital images taken by Benjamin Fawley, the only named suspect in the murder investigation, the location of which authorities had been attempting to identify.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE

When investigators announced that they had found the pond earlier this week, sources close to the investigation admitted that they had no direct evidence that tied the pond to the case. Investigators are attempting to locate the many sites that Fawley photographed as they continue to verify Fawley's statement given to police just after investigators found Taylor's body in Mathews County, VA. Sources said the items sought include some of Behl's clothing and a student-identification card that they believe Taylor took with her the night she disappeared from VCU. Investigators confirmed that they have Taylor’s cell phone.

Prosecutors plan to present the case to a Mathews County grand jury sometime in January. Among the material to be given to the grand jury are the findings of the Richmond grand jury that was convened to assist in the investigation.

As authorities continue to build a murder case against Fawley in the death of Taylor Behl, he remains in the Richmond jail awaiting trial on what authorities call 'unrelated child pornography' charges. A major part in establishing a circumstantial case against Fawley is for authorities to prove that the actions taken by Fawley before, during, and after Behl's death were not accidental. Investigators said that Fawley's attempts to conceal Behl's death by hiding her body, and perhaps discarding her personal belongings, should help in strengthening their case against him.

Sergeant D.S. Carr, of the Virginia State Police, issued a brief statement to the press stating that the pond the taskforce had requested help from the media and the public has been located. The pond is located in area adjacent to Mathews County. Sgt. Carr, citing the gag order imposed in mid-October, provided no other information. Sgt. Carr passed along the the gratitude of the taskforce for continued assistance by the media and the public.

The following story appeared in the Saturday edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The article provides some of Fawley's work history at VCU while he was a student there.

The 38-year-old suspect in the death of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl had plenty of chances to interact with VCU students before the Vienna teen showed up on campus last summer.

Benjamin Fawley, a convicted felon going back to his days as a car-stealing teenager in Bucks County, Pa., worked for more than a year and a half handing out towels and checking I.D. cards at two of the university's recreation centers.

Fawley was employed as a student worker by VCU's recreational sports department from April 2001 to January 2003, university spokeswoman Pam Lepley confirmed yesterday.

Lepley said Fawley worked at VCU's gym on the school's Medical College of Virginia campus from April to August 2001, then worked at the Siegel Center until January 2003.

His employment coincided with when he was registered as a student, from the spring semester of 2001 to the fall semester of 2003. Lepley said Fawley did not graduate and was a junior art major when he last attended VCU.

"It's obviously quite disturbing that VCU would allow a convicted felon to be employed in that capacity," said George Peterson, the attorney for Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara.

"He had access to students."

Lepley said that with student employment, "it's up to the individual department whether to require background checks. As far as I know, he did not have any convictions in Virginia [at the time]."

The school was apparently unaware that Fawley was a convicted felon in Pennsylvania.

Fawley was arrested and convicted five times between 1986 and 1990 in his hometown of Doylestown, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. The charges ranged from theft, receiving stolen property and petit larceny to aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment.

Virginia court records indicate he has been arrested and convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery of a family member three times since 2003, with two of the cases involving women. He also was convicted of destruction of property in 2004.

Fawley is being held in the Richmond City Jail without bond on multiple charges of possession of child pornography. The charges are unrelated to Behl's death.

The unemployed, bipolar, Goth skater also has admitted to authorities that he was with Behl the night of Sept. 5, when she died in Mathews County. Fawley described her death as an accident resulting from a consensual sexual encounter during which he restricted her breathing, a claim disputed by Behl's family and questioned by investigators.

An autopsy and forensic tests on Behl's remains have yet to yield conclusive evidence on the cause and manner of her death.

A grand jury is hearing evidence in Behl's case, and prosecutors have indicated they will seek a murder indictment against Fawley in Mathews.

After nearly three weeks of nothing new reported in the murder case of Virginia Commonwealth University Student, Taylor Behl, investigators are once again asking for the assistance of the public in the case. Without expounding upon any possible connection, investigators have released two photographs of what they believe to be a pond. "We'd like to know where it is," Les Lauziere, an investigator with the Virginia Attorney General's office, said Monday.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE

Though investigators call this a "pond,” it is possible that this is photograph of a river, creek, or lake. If you believe that you know the location depicted in these photographs, call the Mathews County Crime Solvers at (804) 725-7001. In asking the public to contact the Mathews County Crime Solvers, the investigation for the first time publicly makes Mathews County investigators a part of the active murder investigation.

You may click on the pictures above to view a larger version of each picture without much loss to resolution. There are some questions I, and others, have about some anomalies in one the pictures. Perhaps these will offer clues that are beneficial to the investigation. When viewing the anomalies, you will notice three boxes:

• the yellow box illustrates a wavy "x" figure that may be something on the camera lens;
• the purple box illustrates a ghosty image that may be a smear on the camera lens, or perhaps it indicates the photographer took the picture through a car window;
• the green box outlines a redish colored spot that may be a leaf on the tree in the foreground, or it may be something in the trees on the opposite shore.

You may offer your opinions on one of the many BLOG sites that have covered this case from the beginning.

Lauziere allowed that the wooded area and pond "may have no significance. But, based on where we found the photos, we believe it may have some significance. It may help us fill in any gaps. It's important to know everything we can know."

The pictures appear to be of the same area with one picture taken slightly further back from the other. Lauziere says that the pictures are a part of "a lot of digital evidence we received." Investigators believe that the pond is likely on the Middle Peninsula, including Mathews County, but it may be anywhere according to Lauziere. Lauziere went on to say that, "There are tons of little ponds and lakes in the area," and he said that investigators have "shared these photos with other law enforcement agencies."

Information provided to the Crime Solvers telephone number may remain anonymous, are not required to testify in court, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 if the information leads to an arrest in the case. The multi-agency task force includes the Virginia Attorney General's Office, Virginia State Police, the FBI, Richmond Police Department, and Virginia Commonwealth University Police Department.

Richmond Times-Dispatch
WRIC TV-8 News
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Hampton Roads Daily Press
Northern Virginia Times Community
93.3 FM WFLS Radio
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
WRIC TV-8 News
WRC NBC4 News
NBC WAVY TV10 News

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.

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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