Going West: True Crime - Alexis Murphy // 134

Episode Date: August 18, 2021

In August of 2013, a 17-year-old girl in Virginia headed out to collect hair supplies for her upcoming senior picture day. But when she didn’t return home that night, her family feared for the worst. After tracking her cell phone to a nearby location and finding surveillance footage of her speaking to a strange man at a nearby gas station, police began looking into a man who was connected to another local girl’s disappearance. This is the story of Alexis Murphy. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailyprogress/name/alexis-murphy-obituary?pid=197892147 https://popculturecrime.medium.com/the-abduction-murder-of-alexis-tiara-murphy-66a69b601c57 http://www.readthehook.com/108360/living-shadow-samantha-clarkes-family-mourns-suspect-claims-police-harassment https://charleyproject.org/case/samantha-ann-clarke https://www.truecasefiles.com/2019/06/the-disappearance-of-samantha-clarke.html https://truecrimedaily.com/2017/02/10/alexis-murphy-remains-missing-as-her-convicted-killer-appeals-for-deal/ https://roanoke.com/news/lawyers-in-alexis-murphy-case-wanted-justice-served-quickly/article_5c94a4fe-da42-11e3-8c59-001a4bcf6878.html https://www.wtvr.com/2014/10/23/the-5-things-people-get-wrong-about-alexis-murphy-and-jesse-matthew/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Teeve and I'm your other host Daphne and you're listening to Going West. Howdy folks, hope everyone's having a great week! Today's case, is a case I found online that I really haven't seen a lot of coverage on, but this case in particular has a lot of security footage and phone pings, which those kind of cases always really interest me and it has recent updates.

Also, Heath and I just released a brand new bonus episode on the murder of Lindsey Booseak, which is a case out of Canada. That's over on our Patreon just came out yesterday. Yeah, and I know a lot of you guys have probably heard that case, but we go over a lot of the details, and it's very interesting, so please go over there and check that out, patreon.com slash going west podcast.

We have tons of bonus episodes for you guys. 45 to be exact, so lots of binging. But thank you guys so much for listening to our show. It means a lot that you tune in each and every week to hear these stories. And patrons, remember, we always give you guys shout outs at the end of each episode every week. So make sure you're listening for your name.

All right, guys, this is episode 134 of Going West, so let's get into it. In August of 2013, a 17-year-old girl in Virginia headed out to collect hair supplies for her upcoming senior picture day. But when she didn't return home that night, her family feared for the worst. After tracking her cell phone to a nearby location and finding surveillance footage of her speaking to a strange man at a nearby gas station, police began looking into a man

who was connected to another local girl's disappearance. This is the story of Alexis Murphy. was connected to another local girl's disappearance. This is the story of Alexis Murphy. Alexis Tiarra Murphy was born on June 5, 1996 to parents Troy Brown and Laura Murphy in Charlottesville, Virginia, which is a super charming city of around 50,000 people with a very cute urban downtown about an hour's drive northwest of the larger city and capital of Virginia Richmond. And Charlottesville is also the home of the University of Virginia, so it's a nice little college town.

Alexis was described as happy, hilarious, and wise beyond her years. She loved her brothers dearly, Avery Cameron and Noah, even though they constantly got on her nerves as brothers do. I can confirm you were the annoying brother. So she was stunningly beautiful, had a wonderfully vibrant personality, and she was an athlete. While attending Nelson County High School, she played volleyball on her school's team and she worked hard to be made captain for her upcoming senior year. She enjoyed volleyball so much and hoped to play in college as well.

And she also really loved Kendrick Lamar and Starbucks. She was a huge Starbucks fan. She was incredibly smart and was getting set up for a slew of honors courses for her upcoming school year. And her high school was located in Loveingston, Virginia, which is where she spent most of her upbringing. And Loveingston is a very small, yet beautiful rural town of just under 500 people,

and it's around 40 minutes from Charlottesville. Wow, only 500 people, that's pretty small. Oh yeah, very small. There's other neighboring towns that are around that population or a little bit more, but definitely small town. And sorry guys for all the information about towns, but in the summer of 2013, she and her family were living in Shipman, Virginia, which is a town also of around 500 people

right next to Loveingsden. So towards the end of summer, 17-year-old Alexis Murphy was getting ready to start her senior year of high school, but before classes started she had to take her senior pictures. And as most of you know, you typically try to look a bit nicer for your senior picture day than any other school year, so Alexis decided that she was going to get new hair extensions a few days prior, especially since she wanted a new hairstyle anyway. Saturday, August 3rd, 2013 started out like any other day. Alexis tweeted at 8.58am, I'm so late for work.

She had gotten a new job just one month before this, and although she didn't love going to work, she tweeted about how chill and fun her job actually was. Sadly, we could not find where she worked. We just know that it was at a store of some kind. So a few hours later, at around 5pm, Alexis painted her nails and then took a shower. Her mom worked at the local post office and often worked to overnight shifts. So her schedule was a bit screwy, and she was just getting up for the day before 6 p.m. so she could get ready to go to work for the rest of the evening and into the following morning. And Laura, Alexis' mom, wanted to give her money for her daughter's hair extensions.

So she did so and noticed that Alexis was laughing and seemed super happy. Then, Alexis hopped in her dad's white 2003 Nissan Maxima and headed to get her hair extensions. And by the way, according to a ton of different articles, it seems that Alexis wasn't actually getting the extensions on that day, but that she was just buying the extensions that day. For a hair appointment that was a few days later, right before her senior photos.

Because for those who don't know, typically people bring their own extensions into a salon, or at least some of the time to ensure that, you know, the set matches your hair type, and that they're the quality that you want. Not every salon will sell extensions, so she was going to buy them that day. So that's what Alexis planned to do that evening. And since she lived in a very tiny town as we mentioned, she headed to Lynchburg, Virginia, for the evening, which is a town of around 80,000 people. So they have a mall and a bunch of shopping centers, and a lot of other stores that Shipman

wouldn't have. It was just about a 35 minute drive southwest of her home and she planned to be home well before her curfew, which was at midnight. And it was Saturday night, so it's possible Alexis was going to meet up with some of her friends there after getting her hair extensions, but no clear plan was ever made public. So at 6.04pm, Alexis tweeted, Berg bound with a peace sign, indicating that she was on her way to Lynchburg. Whether she was just leaving or was already driving there. 20 minutes later, she tweeted, if you don't like what you see, don't look.

And we did look this up to see if it was maybe like a song lyric, but it doesn't seem to be one. So whether she had encountered someone in that moment that looked at her weird or made a comment in some sort of way, or if she was just thinking about a memory or a recent event, we can't know about this for sure. And Alexis tweeted a lot, like many, many times a day. And for example, this very same day, she tweeted 50 times. And typically it was just kind of random thoughts or lyrics and they're often very

short. So you know just just random stuff or what she was doing but typically it was more random or just a thought she was having. And for example like after she tweeted that she was late for work that morning she also tweeted, sleepy. I feel like I'm always on the go. I want to be catered to just once and got a headache amongst other things. And it seems she was up late that night because after 3am she tweeted, I mean you know me up at 3-something tweeting like I don't have work in a few hours. Her final tweet which came 17 minutes after if you don't like what you see, don't look. At 6.40pm, Alexis tweeted, I actually look cute right now. And then she never tweeted again. This was very strange because she was constantly posting, so you can only imagine that something very bad

happened sometime after she tweeted that. So as we know, Alexis's mom Laura left to just after Alexis did to go to work at the post office for the night, so she wouldn't be home to see Alexis get back, but Alexis's grandmother lived with the Murphy family. So when midnight rolled around and Alexis hadn't walked through that door

or contacted them, she felt that something was very wrong. So she called Laura to explain that Alexis still wasn't home, and then Laura called her husband Troy to tell him, and Troy naturally started to panic and told her to call the police. Laura also just felt that something was wrong and was quoted saying, she had never done that before. That's something that's not right. That's not Alexis. And we know Alexis' dad traveled a lot for work,

but we can't confirm whether or not he was in town that evening. But it seems like if the grandmother was home to notice Alexis wasn't there and didn't go to Troy personally, maybe he was out of town, especially since Alexis was able to take his car, or he at least maybe wasn't home. The following day, Alexis still hadn't called, texted, tweeted, or showed up at home. So the search was on. The family created missing posters while the police began a proper investigation, and the missing poster read, both photos shown are of Alexis. She was last seen on August 3, 2013.

She may be traveling in a white 2003 niece on Maxima with Virginia license plates, WYN3706. Alexis was last known to be wearing leopard print Capri pants and a burgundy long sleeve shirt. Birth 65 1996. Race Black. Hight 57. Weight 156 pounds. Eyes Brown. Hair Black. Sex Female. and 56 pounds, eyes, brown, hair, black, sex, female, missing from shipment Virginia, piercings in her right nostril and upper lip.

So the word got out all over social media that 17-year-old Alexis Murphy was missing, and volunteers began showing up to help search for her. Less than 24 hours after she was last seen, a helicopter flew over the area to search by air while the FBI searched on the ground. But days went by with no solid leads or clues that could lead to where Alexis was or what happened to her until three days after she disappeared. On August 6, 2013, police discovered the car Lexus had been driving, which was her father's

white Nissan Maxima, in a movie theater parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia, and there was nothing and no one in it. This was weird for multiple reasons, but first of all, the location. We know Alexis often went to Charlotte's film because it was yet another local city that she liked to hang out in with her friends. Charlotte's film has a population of around 50,000 people as Daphne mentioned earlier, while Lynchburg, where Alexis was headed that day, hosts around 80,000 people. So Lynchburg is nearly twice as big. But the weird thing is that Charlottesville is about an hour and fifteen minutes northeast

of Lynchburg, and Shipman, the small town of 500 people that Alexis lived in, is essentially smack dab in the middle of both cities. So why would she go to the larger city of Lynchburg, then drive over an hour past her house to go to a movie? It just really doesn't make sense. She could have just gotten her extensions in Charlottesville and saved herself a whole long trip. So when investigators realized that the car was in view of an outdoor surveillance camera,

they felt very positive about getting a good clue from it. But once they checked them, they realized they were almost of no use whatsoever video wise. But the timestamp helped put some of the puzzle together. So at around 10.30pm, the night after Alexis was last seen. So roughly 28 hours after she left her house in Shipman to head to Lynchburg, the car is seen pulling into a movie theater parking lot in Charlottesville. Sadly, thanks to the very grainy black and white image and the angle, you just could not see at all who got out of the car.

That's so frustrating, I hate when that happens. Why even have a security camera if you can't see anything in it? That makes me crazy. Yeah, that kind of is my thought, and I guess it's useful for the timestamp, but damn, that's so irritating. It's also frustrating because this is 2013, when better video technology was available, and I get it, you know, some people don't care, they don't have enough money to put towards a better camera. I mean, come on, they're not that expensive. But it's

very frustrating because that could have literally solved everything, essentially. But this can at least lead us to the conclusion of, someone more than likely planted her car there, because this was the following evening, and it was just left there. And since we know she hadn't contacted anyone in over a day, we can pretty much say this was not her, which makes the whole thing even scarier, and that's why I mean we could probably have solved this whole thing just right then and there, with proper footage. Yeah, I mean, this definitely gives us something, but police knew that they had a lot more work on their hands because they still didn't know where Alexis was.

So they began thinking of places in the shipment area that she maybe would have gone to hang out that night, and one of those places was the Liberty Gas Station in Loveingsden. Apparently a lot of local teenagers would hang out there, so they wondered if possibly Alexis had gone there to either hang out or even just fill up on gas. And crazy enough, she was spotted on camera there the night that she disappeared. But by the way, we also read that someone had witnessed Alexis there, so this tip could have very likely been what brought police to that gas station. But either way, they figured it out and were interested to see what else those security cameras showed. And since we're talking about so many towns, remember Lovingston is where she went to high school

and it's the town of 500 people that is right next to her little town, Shipman of 500 people. So right next to her town. So which I'm gonna get into in a second anyway, but anyway, Alexis was seen going into the gas station at around 7 p.m. on security footage, and we posted the photo on our socials you can see,

and while she was leaving, a man was caught on camera holding the door for her. Alexis walked out the door and didn't talk to him, didn't look at him, or anything. She just walked out like normal. He was this sort of, like, rough looking white man who appeared to be in his late 40s or so with a noticeable neck tattoo, like on the side. The cashier remembered seeing them talking outside of the gas station,

and then they left at the same time. Alexis's car was seen driving behind the man's old custom camouflage Chevy Suburban. Unfortunately, we can't know if she was actually following him, or if she just happened to leave at the same time, but both cars headed north on the US-29, which is bizarre because, again, Lynchburg was south. So why was she headed north? And the other weird thing about this to me, again, is location. So this gas station was only around 10 minutes from her house. And we don't know the exact time she left her house, but remember, at 6.04pm, she tweeted,

bird bound. So that was a whole hour before she was seen at this gas station. And then her last tweet that said, I actually look cute right now, was at 6.40pm. So 6.04, then another tweet at 6.40, and then she was seen at around, they think it was like, I read that it was around 7.15. So I wish we had a more accurate idea of when she left the house just for timeline purposes, but all the articles I read just said she

left the house at 6pm. But either way, 7ishpm, she was at that gas station, which was on the way to Lynchburg. And another weird thing, of course, is that she was headed north on the US 29 highway behind this man's car, which if you're going north, you'll go up to Charlottesville. So I just can't imagine why she would follow him if that's what she was doing. And the even spookier part of this whole Alexis potentially following this man's car thing is that just minutes after she left the gas station, her phone went dark, just one mile north of this gas station. So before that quick break, we discussed that Alexis' phone went dark one mile north of the Liberty gas station, just minutes after seemingly following that mysterious man's

car. Of course, when police put all this together, they knew that they had to question everyone they could on the video and figure out who this man was. Luckily he had a very distinct neck tattoo, along with a very distinct car, the custom camouflage Chevy Suburban. While they worked to find this man's identity, they zeroed in on where Alexis's phone's last location was, which was at an abandoned property right there in Loveingsden. There was an old house that sat on the land and was right next to the US Highway 29.

And because of the time of year, the vegetation was overgrown, so the house and property seemed very hidden away. As police walked the property where Alexis' phone was pinged, there it was. The camouflage Chevy Subur suburban parked right outside. And moments later, the man from the video came out to greet the officers. 48-year-old Randy Allen Taylor. They were able to see his neck tattoo closer up now,

and noticed it was a large image of Daffy Duck from Looney Tunes. Okay, weird neck tattoo, but alright. I just wonder if the story behind that. So Randy seemed normal at first and didn't give off any clear signs of being guilty of anything, but the investigators were just generally creeped out by him. One of them later described that his demeanor just made the hair on their neck stand up. Before going inside his camper, they made note of the video camera that was sitting on top, pointing out at the driveway. When they entered, one of the detectives noticed a diamond stud laying in the carpet,

which appeared to be either a facial ring or a very small earring, and we know that Alexis, like many others, had her lip and her ears pierced. They also noticed a fingernail in the carpet, and a long black hair on the pillow that was consistent with a black female. And this was obviously all incredibly strange, especially since they knew Alexis' cell phone pinged right around this property as well, and then it turns out to be the same guy from the video? It was all too much to be a coincidence, but to be sure, they collected some evidence

for DNA testing, and after they sent it off to the crime lab, the Diamond Studd, Strand of Hair, and Broken Fingernail were all a positive match for Alexis's DNA, which is such a horrifying discovery because it really paints just a devastating picture of what she would have gone through inside that camper. I can't even imagine finding a broken off fingernail in some creeps carpet in his camper. I know, so this is obviously, I mean, this is a huge sign. Exactly, so it's pretty clear now that Randy Taylor instantly went from their number one person of interest to their number one suspect, even though he denied ever seeing Alexis. They still didn't have a body or anything to indicate that Alexis was definitely dead, but the DNA evidence made them feel that she sadly was. So after the testing, investigators went back to Randy's property to tell him what they'd found,

and basically just tell him to fess up. They told Randy to think of his own son who was just 14, so three years younger than Alexis. You know, they're like, wouldn't you want someone to be honest if your son was in question? And his son, by the way, lived with his ex-wife and didn't live on the property, but I think she owned that property. So they also told Randy that they had evidence that her phone was still on the property. So they knew he had done something and he needed to just be honest. And that's when Randy said, okay I saw her. We smoked a little weed and I got some beer. But he said that he didn't hurt her. After he and Alexis got to the camper, he says a black guy with corn rows came into

sell them drugs and all three of them drank a few beers and then Alexis left in a positive and happy mood and that was the last time he saw her. He said the man who came to his camper was named Damian Bradley and that the man knew Alexis and we know that Alexis smoked weed because she tweeted about it a lot and that's what Randy was buying and weed by the way was her marijuana will say And we know that Alexis smoked weed because she tweeted about it a lot. And that's what Randy was buying. And weed by the way was, or marijuana will say, was recreationally illegal in the state of Virginia until just about a month ago actually in early July of 2021.

So she would have had to buy it from someone. But would she have gone to some random necktact, camo car white guys house to buy it from someone that was coming by his camper? It's kinda hard to believe that she would, but even so, the story's just too bizarre because even if she did buy something from him that wouldn't explain a broken fingernail and earring and hair on his pillow. Like there's either way more to this story or he's just straight up lying. So police went and spoke to this Damien Bradley guy to see if the story's matched up.

But he denied even knowing Randy Taylor. And police were able to confirm that he certainly wasn't there when Alexis was because Damien had a solid alibi. He was with his dad in Alabama, which is four states in over 700 miles away during that whole weekend. So at this point, police had at least enough to arrest Randy on abduction charges, and they knew that he had likely done more to Alexis. After they arrested 48-year-old Randy Allen Taylor, they informed Alexis's family and

showed them a photo of him, hoping that they would maybe recognize him. And Alexis's aunt, who was named Trina, did. Trina Murphy had bought a car from a used car lot previously, and Randy had been the one to hand over the keys since he worked there. And, you know, this really isn't too strange because again, lovingston has a population of around 500 people and so does Shipman, which we all know by now. And they're right next to each other, so this general area is very small, and recognizing someone's face wouldn't be uncommon at all. Yeah, I mean, I grew up in a town of about 8,000 people, and I know a lot of them.

Exactly, so... It's no surprise that as police began to ask people around town about Randy Taylor, that they knew who he was and they didn't have great things to say. He apparently visited that Liberty gas station quite frequently, which makes sense because it was likely the closest gas station to his home because it was only a mile away, and workers and regulars there said that Randy always made them feel uncomfortable. Especially since he would often just park his car in the corner of the parking lot, and watch people coming in and out of the store, typically for over an hour.

Oh god, that's so weird. It just makes you wonder if he was, you know, looking to abduct someone or something. Like, I know some folks like to people watch, but it's different to have a drink and watch people on the street somewhere. And it's another thing to sit in your car and stare at a freaking gas station door for an hour. Just weird. When the news got out about Randy's arrest, police began to receive various calls from people with more information about him, including a local porn shop employee who told police that just about 45 minutes before Randy was at that gas station, so likely around or right before 6.30 pm, Randy had come in to purchase

two adult videos. So police got to thinking that this was more than likely a sexually motivated crime, considering just shortly after purchasing these tapes, he ran into Alexis Murphy at that gas station. Everything was becoming more and more clear to police, so they got a search warrant for Randy's trailer, and scoured it for as much evidence as they could collect. Inside, they found a t-shirt balled up under the sofa, and it appeared to be the very same one that Alexis had been wearing the date she went missing. They also found black hair extensions and a set of false eyelashes. And by the way, Alexis was a very beautiful young woman, so that also kind of leads us to believe that he was a sexual predator and that was his motive.

Oh, absolutely. And we encourage everybody to go look at photos of her, photos of him, the security footage, and all the other photos that are associated with the case. Because I think it just will give you guys a better picture and idea of this whole story. Our Instagram is at Going West Podcast. Our Twitter is at Going West Pod, our Twitter is at Going West POD, and we also are on Facebook. So then the investigators headed into the abandoned home on the property, you know, after searching the camper and finding those items that Heath just mentioned, and in the house, they found a

scrapbook with pornographic images in it. And what the person did, and they're assuming this person was Randy, was cut out the faces of the women in the magazines and taped photos of another woman's face on their bodies. And the Nelson County Commonwealth attorney was in on this search, a man named Anthony Martin. And he recognized the face that was, you know, the face that was cut out and put on these woman's bodies

to be the daughter of one of his co-workers. Oh my God, Randy is so sick. Creepy, right? Like, so this was obviously a super disturbing discovery. But police continued to search the property just hoping to find any other evidence that could lead them to more answers regarding Alexis Murphy. And one thing they really wanted to find, other than Alexis, of course, was her cell

phone. And crazy enough for those who don't know because I actually didn't, there are canines who specifically are trained to detect cell phones, so they used one of those canines on the property. And shortly after the dog began searching, it discovered Alexis's shattered iPhone around 15 feet away from Randy's camper. When police had the DNA evidence processed, they noticed on the shirt they found that there was a stain on the back that appeared to be blood. And when they tested it, it matched Alexis's DNA and So did particles on the hair extensions and the eyelashes. So with all of this including the evidence that they had found and tested previously as well as her broken iPhone

Randy Allen Taylor was formally charged with Alexis's murder. And although police thoroughly believed that they had the right man behind bars, they just couldn't ignore the fact that other women had gone missing or had been murdered in that general area over the last couple years, and they wondered if any of these cases could be connected to Alexis. The first of the three took place on October 17, 2009, so just under four years prior to Alexis' disappearance. A 20-year-old woman named Morgan Harrington went missing from Charlottesville, which

remember is where Alexis' father's car was found. Morgan had been attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia when she disappeared. And three months later, her remains were discovered in rural farmland just south of Charlottesville. DNA evidence connected her murder to 28-year-old Jesse L. Matthew, Jr., who was also the prime suspect in the murder of Hannah Graham, who will discuss in a minute, and Hannah's murder came later, but just so you guys know, they are connected the two cases to this guy. But the next young woman to go missing in the area after Morgan was less than one year later on Monday, September 13, 2010. 19-year-old Samantha Clark vanished from her family home in Orange, Virginia, which is right

outside of Charlottesville. She had left around midnight and told her young brother that she would be home in the morning, but she never returned. She only took her house keys with her and left her cell phone, which I had read that she shared with her mom and her mom had it at the time at work, and she had even placed her pajamas on her bed. So really weird, she just kinda said she was gonna be back, took her house keys, and then never returned. In Samantha wasn't known to go out after dark, and since public transportation would have been closed at that time, she would have had to have been picked up by someone.

And crazy enough, Randy Taylor is a suspect in Samantha's case. At this time, he was about 45 years old, and he had just met Samantha. Even Samantha's mother stated that he had called their house five times the very night that Samantha disappeared. So that previous weekend, since she disappeared on a Monday night, Samantha had gone to a bar with her mom and met two guys in their early 20s, one of which she was interested in, and with them was Randy Taylor. Randy later admitted that he was there that night, and that's when they exchanged numbers, but maintained his innocence that he had nothing

to do with her disappearance. But no trace of Samantha was ever uncovered and her body was sadly never found. And it was really interesting reading an article from October 2012 on this and seeing Randy discuss how he's innocent and then less than a year later in August of 2013, he is arrested for a different young girl's abduction like it's just way too suspicious to me. But after Alexis' disappearance and Randy's confirmed connection, police then began looking into Samantha's case as a homicide and Randy remains the main suspect, which we'll

go into again a little bit later on. So after Samantha Clark's disappearance was Alexis, and about a year after that, another young woman in the area went missing. On September 13, 2014, 18-year-old Hannah Graham from Redding, Berkshire, England, who we briefly mentioned before, was out with her college friends in Charlottesville, Virginia because she was studying abroad when she went missing. She had texted her friends at 120 a.m. saying that she was going to a party, and then afterwards, she was never seen again. But she was seen on surveillance footage earlier in the evening at a restaurant with Jesse

L. Matthew Jr. About one month later, her remains were found on an abandoned property near Charlottesville. And this is when Jesse Matthew Jr. became involved in both Hanna's case and Morgan Harrington's case and DNA evidence as well as surveillance footage made him the prime suspect in both cases. So, this is about five years after Morgan's case and it's finally getting some answers. And he was immediately charged for the murders and was formally charged the following year in 2015.

And this is all to kind of say that this guy Jesse Matthew Jr. was, you know, free in this area when Alexis went missing. Also, this was kind of to tell you that Randy had been a suspect in another disappearance before, and that another man was creeping around the area the same time that Alexis went missing. Remember when Randy had described a black man with cornrows being in his camper and leaving with Alexis? Well, Jesse Matthew Jr. almost fit that description, except Jesse had dreadlocks not cornrows, but these two have been interchanged in a lot of different articles. But it's been confirmed that Damien had cornrows, and although it's not a very detailed or unique description, it made police wonder if Jesse was involved in some way.

But this thought wouldn't cross their minds until after Jesse was arrested in late 2014. So, back to 2013 for a minute. After Randy was officially charged with Alexis's murder, and they found her cell phone smashed outside of his trailer, they continued to search tirelessly for her. And for five whole months, they did just that. But again, nothing else was uncovered. Despite not having a body, they knew that they had enough evidence to convict him anyway, so they proceeded forward. And the phone had been really messed up, Alexis' phone. It was smashed to bits, the battery was missing, the cables had smashed to bits, the battery was missing, the cables had been pulled out, the processor was cracked.

So although her final phone activity occurred at 7.36 pm, so 20 to 30 minutes after she left the gas station, they were unable to retrieve any information from it to learn what that activity was from because of how destroyed the phone was. So the following year on May 1st, 2014, Randy Taylor's murder trial began, and he pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder, stating that Damien Bradley had driven to his camper

in his maroon Chevy Caprice to sell marijuana when Alexis was there and that they left together. And his defense argued that, despite the fact that police went and questioned him and checked out Damien's alibi, that they didn't investigate Damien enough as they should have, and instead focused on Randy. And they also pointed out that it was suspicious that Damien Bradley left the state of Virginia again, shortly after Alexis went missing. I do think it would have been a good idea to look further into Damien Bradley at the time,

but the fact that her cell phone was smashed outside of Randy's trailer, and that all that evidence that matched Alexis's DNA was found inside his trailer once again Like I understand why they focused on Randy because if Damien's Alibi checked out and all the suspicion is on Randy anyway I don't I don't really blame him for forgetting about Damien Yeah, and I totally agree. So let's talk about Damien's Alibi a little bit more Damien did test to find court and explained side of things, and this is where we get a little more information on things regarding him. Damian Malcolm Bradley moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where he had been the previous weekend,

shortly after Alexis disappeared. He said that when he received a call from police after her disappearance, he was very surprised, because he didn't know her that well, despite the fact that he was dating one of her cousins. He stated that he and Alexis had never done anything together or rode in a car together, and that they had only met before briefly. They were friends on Facebook, but since Damien graduated seven years prior to her disappearance, making him around 24 years old when she went missing,

they didn't ever hang out. This is where it gets a little confusing, because we had read in an article that one of the investigators was quoted saying that Damien told them that he was in Alabama with his father that weekend. But he told the court that he was at a motel in Madison Heights, Virginia, which is right outside of Lynchburg with his girlfriend that weekend, and that they had no car. On Sunday, August 4, 2013, so the morning after Alexis disappeared, Damien's mother picked him up from the motel in Madison Heights, and then he left for a week to move to Birmingham. So it seems he told the police he had been in Birmingham

that weekend because he was actually but he just didn't get there until Sunday. So he was in the area when the same area as Alexis when she disappeared but he states that he didn't have a car hence why his mom picked him up. So Randy sang he pulled up in his maroon Chevy and went off with Alexis is contradicting Damien's statement. And Damien didn't even drive a maroon Chevy Caprice and he didn't know anyone who did. But strangely, Damien did work at the McDonald's that was located at the Liberty Gas Station, where Alexis was last seen, and that's how it's believed Randy knew him.

So although there do seem to be some strange things in Damien's story, and it definitely would have been good for police to look into him further originally, it still doesn't explain how all the evidence was found in Randy's trailer. And the fact that the car was moved to Charlottesville the night of August 4th, while we know Damian was in Alabama. And the prosecution discussed that Randy would have had to have been the one to move the car, especially since by the way, Randy Taylor's DNA

was found inside Alexis's father's car. So, you know, there's no- Kind of no way around that. Yeah, no way around that. So during the trial, they played a taped conversation between police and Randy, where Randy says this. If you guys want to arrest me fine, I did not go back to Charlottesville. Then he went on to explain that he had been with another friend on Saturday night to buy marijuana, and that same friend came back to his camper on Sunday with a planned cell marijuana and earlysville, which is just outside of Charlottesville. Randy says that he rode with that friend there that day, and that he was dropped off at

an applebees, where Randy says he had two heineken's and then called a cab back to Nelson County. But he wouldn't give his friends name up to the police. On the tape, the conversation also led to Randy explaining that he had left to go get beer and left Damian and Alexis alone for over an hour. Investigators found this very strange because they didn't understand why a dealer would come to the house of someone that he didn't know, and then stay in the guy's camper for an hour with a random girl while there's a security camera sitting on top of the trailer and then kill said girl. Because that's pretty much what Randy was insinuating that he left for an hour, something

could have happened then, but he doesn't say he came back to find Alexis murdered. He says he saw them leave together, so him saying that they were together alone for an hour, it doesn't really, it's almost like it's two different stories, you know what I mean? Yeah, he's just trying to implicate someone else in Alexis's murder, but he's not doing a very good job at that. Exactly, and the defense also tried to argue that Alexis could have been abducted and sold into human trafficking by Damien or someone else at the trailer that night, but no evidence was brought in to back up these theories at all. Seven days later on May 8, 2014, Randy Allen Taylor was found guilty for the first degree

murder of 17-year-old Alexis Murphy in the commission of an abduction and abduction with intent to defile in connection with Alexis' disappearance. So this whole time, Randy played the innocent card, but during his sentencing, like while his sentence was being read to him, he tried to bargain for a lesser sentence by telling the judge that a third person was involved, and if they would just exchange his sentencing to a 20-year sentence, he would reveal the name

of the person and the location of Alexis' body. But his offer was declined, and two months later, almost exactly one year from when Alexis was last seen, he was given two life sentences. And this is why I don't trust this guy at all, like he tried to tell the media that in Samantha Clark's case, in back in 2012, that the police were planting evidence and making him look guilty when he wasn't. And then he tried to pretend that some guy who came to his camper was the one to actually kill Alexis. And then at the final moment, he says, oh wait, actually I know more more let's try to deal and I'll spill all the deets like this just proves to us that he's a liar.

Yeah he's a liar in a manipulator. And sadly that may be true, you know there may have been someone else who helped him, possibly Jesse Matthew Jr. or someone else, but the offer was declined so we can't know at least at this time. And I don't blame them for declining it either, because he was probably just messing with them, and their whole thing was, you know, we don't make deals with killers. But please did still wonder who this supposed mysterious friend was, and if it could be the man that he apparently sold marijuana with the following day before going to Apple

Bees and catching a cab home. And I do think it's funny too that he says, oh I wasn't in Charlotte'sville, I was in early'sville, which is right outside of Charlotte'sville, and that he took a cab home because if he did plant Alexis's car, which I believe he did, he would have had to take a cab home then to from that same area. So I feel like that was maybe him trying to set up a reason for to take a cab home then too, from that same area. So, I feel like that was maybe him trying to set up a reason for him taking a cab home that day if they could have uncovered that, you know what I mean?

Yeah, I totally agree. And when the news broke after Jesse Matthew Jr.'s arrest, this is when they wondered if it could have been him. As we know, Randy brought up a maroon Chevy Caprice with 22-inch wheels, but Matthew drove a burnt orange Chrysler coupe. Some speculated that in the Liberty gas station footage, you see Alexis Pasacar that looks like Jesse Matthews, but it was confirmed not to be after the FBI re-examined the footage. The orange object that people believed could have been a car was determined to be a sign. Randy's lawyer pushed police to check the car Alexis was driving when she disappeared

for evidence that could potentially match Jesse. Inside Alexis's father's car, Randy's DNA was found. But there was also DNA found that didn't match her or anyone in her family, nor anyone else that they tested. In 2014, police said that they were going to test it to see if it matched Jesse Matthew, Jr.'s. And the following year it was determined that the samples taken from the car did not match Jesse's DNA. So he was excluded from being involved in her case. But it couldn't mean that there really was another person involved that helped him, that helped Randy plant that car.

Oh, absolutely. Also for anyone wondering if the camera on Randy's camper gave any answers to what happened, I searched and searched for any information on this and I couldn't find anything. I read so much of the court details and I couldn't find it there either, even though it was mentioned to have been on the trailer in court. So I don't know why that wasn't

brought up. It just then makes me assume that the camera was either broken or turned off during the time Alexis was there because it would have caught exactly what you know we're asking was Damien really there was anybody else there was Alexis there how long was she there and then never see her leave you know like that would a little answer everything so there's no footage weeks after the trial Alexis's parents accepted an honorary high school diploma for their daughter and a few months later, her high school dedicated a garden on campus to Alexis. And on the anniversary of her disappearance, the one-year anniversary, hundreds of classmates, teammates, and other community members got together to place flowers, signs, and balloons at the

gas station where she vanished from. There was a dedication ceremony for her as well, and that took place in October of 2014 that also brought in other families with missing children, and a scholarship was set up called the Alexis Murphy Scholarship that would annually be awarded to one or two Nelson County High School senior girls. In 2015 and 2016, Randy Taylor filed appeals for his case saying that he received poor representation by his attorney and that he did not receive a fair trial, but both appeals were denied as he maintained his innocence despite the slew of evidence against him. And the years continued to go by without

any trace of Alexis's remains, so her family just waited in agony hoping that answers would come someday. And on December 3rd, 2020, they finally did. Seven and a half years after her disappearance, Randy Taylor told investigators where Alexis Murphy's body was. Despite the fact that Anthony Martin, the Nelson County Commonwealth's attorney, didn't strike any deals with him for a new sentencing. Randy led authorities to a private property located right there in Loveingsden, where she was last seen. The property was at the intersection of Route 221 and Stage Bridge Road. The remains weren't confirmed to be hers until February 5th of 2021, so very recently. Yes, and the sheriff's office gave the family time to process the information, grieve, and

make proper arrangements before they released it to the public. Which is something I've, I don't think I've ever heard of them doing, because usually that information just gets out to the media right away, but they gave them multiple weeks to, you know, have this information before anybody else did. The location of the remains were found roughly three and a half miles from the gas station that she went missing from, meaning it was also only a couple miles from Randy's property. No information has been released regarding the state of the remains, her cause of death, nor exactly where the remains had been hidden for all those years on the property, but if there are updates on this in the future which I assume there would be, we will make

sure to let everybody know. Alexis' family released a statement through the Sheriff's Office saying, our family is so grateful for the continuing love, support, and prayers for Alexis and our family over the past seven years. While we have been grieving the loss of Alexis since 2013, we remained hopeful that she would be found alive and well.

Alexis was the fashionista, athlete, and joker of our family. We were blessed to have loved her for 17 years, and her memory will continue to live on through us all. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and next week we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. It makes me so angry that Randy maintained his innocence all this time just to tell police where her remains were seven years later. That's what pieces of shit do.

And this is why I wholeheartedly believe that he murdered Samantha Clark as well. And there is apparently new technology that could tie Randy Taylor to Samantha Clark's disappearance. And that's all happening right now. So if he is indicted, we'll make sure to cover her case on a future episode and give you guys all the details as it unfolds, because this guy is clearly a scummy, scummy liar.

So thanks everybody for listening to this tragic case and like he said next week we'll have a new episode for you but if you just can't wait don't forget we have over 40 earn maybe not over but we have 45 full length ad free bonus episodes on our Patreon and we just release a brand new episode. So head on over to patreon.com slash going west podcast to have a ton more content to binge. And don't forget to share this show with your friends and your family.

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