Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Teen Rapper in in Prison Now - The Tay-K Story

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

The case of Tay-K centers on Taymor McIntyre, a teenage rapper whose rising career was eclipsed by a violent spiral that began with his involvement in a 2016 home-invasion robbery that left 21-year-old Ethan Walker dead. While awaiting trial, McIntyre cut off his ankle monitor and fled, turning his run from the law into a combustible piece of internet lore as he recorded “The Race,” a song that unintentionally documented his own flight. During that period, he was linked to additional violent incidents, including an alleged robbery and the fatal assault of 23-year-old Mark Saldivar outside a Texas Chick-fil-A.

So this teenage rapper ends up getting famous for a terrible reason. Now the guy calls himself TayK, and TayK is 16 when this story starts and he's living in Texas, and Bro is a small-time rapper who is starting to get a following. He mostly uploads his stuff to SoundCloud and YouTube, it's kind of that thing. But rap isn't the only thing TayK's doing. On the side, he and his friends make money by straight up robbing people. In fact, according to what I read, they don't have jobs. have jobs, they just rap and rob people. So one day in 2016 one of these robberies

goes wrong because one of TayK's friends comes up with a plan to make them all a bit of money. So his friend has a boyfriend, this guy, Zachary. And I guess she's not really into her boyfriend all that much because she believes that Zachary has money and drugs stashed in his apartment and she wants to rob him. And so she goes to TayK. and his friends, and she suggests that they go to Zachary's place and steal whatever he's got. And I guess Tayk and his friends are like, all right. So her plan is for she and two of her female friends to go over to Zachary's apartment beforehand. Then once Take Hay and the guys arrive, the three girls will unlock the door and let them in.

Then they'll grab whatever cash and drugs they can find, and they'll leave. Sounds easy enough, what could possibly go wrong? So the day of the robbery finally comes. And as planned, Taked and three of his friends put on masks and they pull up to Zachary's apartment. And one of the girls lets them in. And as they enter, they start yelling, everyone on the floor. Put your hands up. And Zachary's there and he does.

But it turns out that there are two other people there with him, Zachary's roommate and Zachary's roommate's girlfriend. So Tay and his friends continue the robbery. And they're looking around the apartment for money and drugs and stuff, but unfortunately for them, they don't find anything. There's no big stash of money or drugs as they thought there would be. So now they're frustrated. And that is when one of TayK's friends points a gun at Zachary's roommate. And I don't know if it's intentional or what, but blam, he shoots the guy in the stomach.

And this unfortunately kills him. Meanwhile, one of the other goons shoots Zachary in the shoulder. But luckily, he survives. Then, Tay-K. and his friends and the girls all realize that this robbery has gotten out of hand, so they all flee the scene. Now, eventually, police show up, and they start investigating, and pretty quickly, they identify the people that were involved. And so, bam, they tracked down and arrest Tay-K. and all of his friends. And all of them are charged with the murder of Zachary's roommate. Now, while waiting on his trial,

TayK actually gets out of jail and he's placed on house arrest and he has to wear one of those ankle monitors. So several months go by and it's now 2017. And TayK, he's still chilling at home on house arrest and while he's there, he's been recording some new music

and releasing it on his SoundCloud. But honestly, the dude is starting to get bored. I mean, he's been stuck at home for months and bro isn't about that life. and he decides it's time to go on the run. So he gets on Twitter and he tweets, fuck this house arrest. Then he cuts off his ankle monitor and he leaves the house.

After that, he goes and he meets up with one of his friends. This kid, Jalen. And Jalen is also on house arrest. And Jalen cuts off his ankle monitor too. And together, the two of them come up with a plan to flee to San Antonio. But there's a problem. They don't have any money. They don't have jobs.

Also, now they're officially fugitives. So it's not like they can go out and get a job or something. So Tay K. and Jalen, they go back to doing what they do best. Robbing people. And that is where the story gets really wild. So Tay K. and Jalen end up driving three hours away to San Antonio. And while they're there, they come across this photographer on Instagram. His name's Mark.

So Takey and Jalen decide that they're going to rob Mark. They're going to trick him into meeting. up and then they're going to steal his camera and any money he has. So Jalen messages Mark and he tells him that they're interested in his photography services and they say they want to do a photo shoot. And Mark agrees to meet up. So TayK. Jalen and some other go and they pick up Mark to go do this photo shoot. Once Mark is in the car, they're driving along and suddenly, boom, TayK's goons pull out guns and they force Mark to hand over his camera. So Mark hands over his camera. And pow, one of them pistol whips him.

Then they pull over and they shove him out of the car. Then they apparently try to run him over with the car. And I guess Mark doesn't want to let this go. I mean, his camera is his livelihood. I mean, he's not about to let these guys take it. So he jumps onto the hood of the car trying to stop them. And this pisses TayK off. So he takes a gun, he leans out of the car, and blam, he shoots Mark.

And unfortunately, Mark doesn't survive this. So now what are TayK and Jalen gonna do? They're involved in two murders. So they do the only thing they can. They skip town. And they drive from San Antonio to Arlington. And while they're there, I mean, they should be laying low. But TK.

ends up robbing a 65-year-old man. So they end up leaving the state. And Tay and Jalen drive from Texas all the way up to New Jersey, where they hide out and they stay with some friends, I guess. And during this time, TayK. making and releasing music again, as if he's not supposed to be hiding out from the law. In fact, he makes a song called The Race that flexes about his fugitive status and alludes to his crimes, and he records a whole ass music video for it.

And at one point, you can actually see him in the video standing next to a wanted poster of himself. And so he releases this song on SoundCloud, but not the music video yet. And the song starts getting a lot of traction. So, Tay-K, he's getting all kinds of attention now. He's like getting recognized by fans. They're like stopping him for pictures and shit. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marshals, who have been looking for him, they still haven't been able to find him.

So it's starting to look like Tay K. and his friend Jalen might actually get away with their crimes. Until. Until the U.S. Marshals inevitably get not just one tip, but dozens of tips that TayK was cited in New Jersey. And so they track him down. Now, on this particular day, TayK actually releases that music video that he shot. And he tweets out, the feds can't hold me back.

Here it go! With a link to the video. Shortly after he tweets, the feds can't hold me back, feds bust in, and they definitely hold him back because bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot. Also, bam, they arrest Jalen too. Here's his mugshot. Here's the wild part, though.

After he releases his music video, it starts to blow the fuck up and go viral. And it quickly gets hundreds of millions of views on YouTube, and the song starts charting on the Billboard Hot 100. So this terrible-ass song ends up getting 255 million views. So all this makes TayK. Internet famous. while he's in jail awaiting his trial. And his song actually ends up going platinum. Anyway, in 2019, TAKEA goes on trial for the first murder. Even though he's not the one who pulled the trigger,

he's actually convicted of murder and aggravated robbery, and he's sentenced to 55 years in prison. Later in 2025, he's tried for the murder of the photographer, Mark, and for this, he's sentenced to an additional 80 years in prison. While Jalen, he's also found guilty and he's sentenced to 30 years in prison.