Snapped: Women Who Murder - Debra Taylor

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

When an Arkansas family man is shot to death in his home, his widow is quick to point the blame around town. As detectives tail the suspects, a torrid affair and deadly secret come to light, revealing a manipulative wolf in sheep’s clothing.Season 34 Episode 08Originally aired: Sun, Aug 25, 2024Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A deadly home invasion leaves a quiet suburban community in shock. He was in the National Guard. He had his fatigues, his boots with him. It was very clear he had been shot multiple times. The evidence points to a single-minded killer with intimate knowledge of their target. Other than the broken door, nothing had been disturbed within the house. Someone had forced it from the inside. It was not a break-in but a breakout.

The killer had to have a very strong motive, personal or financial. As the investigation unfolds, detectives find the victim was covering up a few secrets of his own. There had been some child support issues recently with the first ex-wife. I don't know any other way to put this, except that he loved women. He had a girlfriend that was engaged with another man. She said he became upset and must have done this on his own. When detectives have nearly closed the case, shocking details rise to the surface. They talked about it jokingly.

It would be nice if he, which got shot in a hunting accident. Sheep was this evil, manipulative wolf and sheep's clothing. You know, sin has real-world consequences, in this case, someone got killed. Saturday, October 22nd, 1988. It's just after 10 a.m. in Little Rock, Arkansas, when police receive a panicked call from a woman named Esther Watts. Esther says she was helping out her neighbors, Deborah and Roy Taylor, when she made an alarming discovery. They had keys to each other's houses.

Deborah was out of town and Texarkana with her brother. She calls Ms. Watts and ask her to go over and check and see if she'd left the iron pressing machine on. When she went over there to check the pressure, she saw. boy laying on the floor. Aberseiz's unconscious, doesn't know whether he's dead or not, calls the fire department because she doesn't know what else to do. And then they called the police. North Lorok Police Patrolman came to the house

and went in and saw that Mr. Taylor was obviously deceased. It was very clear that from the initial examination that he had been shot multiple times. The fact that the the fact that the... The neighbor didn't initially notice the blood. I think it's probably attributable to the shock. At this point, he backs out of the home and of course calls it in his homicide. He was in the National Guard.

And that weekend, he was getting ready to go to drill. He had his fatigues, his boots with him. Those were near the body. He was dressed in underwear and a t-shirt. Based on the examination of the body at the scene, it was determined that Roy Taylor had died earlier in the morning of October 22nd, or the very late evening of October 21st. They did find three projectiles on the floor. They appeared to be a 38 special. The lack of shell casings informs police what type of gun was likely used. A revolver wants the projectile leaves, the casing stays in the gun.

Unlike a semi-automatic gun which ejects the casings, we didn't have a gun that's a crime scene. So they searched the remaining portion of the house. At the garage door, one major clue stands out to detectives. It appeared to have been forced open. There was some of the cases. or molding was cracked and broken, and the lock was in a locked position.

At first glance, it seems to detectives that Roy interrupted a burglary. But several telltale signs are missing. There were no drawers pulled out, things turned over, nothing missing in terms of personal items or TV or recording equipment. Other than the broken door, nothing had been disturbed within the house, so that's not a typical burglary. Closer inspection of the broken door reveals a more unsettling possibility.

Someone had had it forced it from the inside. It was not a break-in, but a breakout. This is a pretty clear indication that that damage had occurred after Roy's death by their killer. trying to make it look like a forced entry into the home. The big question for law enforcement is who did this. The police is part of standard procedure that day. Talk to the neighbor who discovered a body about what they may have seen, learn information about Roy and Deborah Taylor,

their relationship with each other and with the people in the neighborhood. Roy Taylor was born and raised in the tiny town of Belleville, Arkansas, and grew up in a close-knit family. He was in the kitchen a lot with his mom cooking, and he hunted and fished and everything with his dad. By the time Roy went off to college, he'd grown into a charismatic young man. We were in Western Civilization class, and I was sitting there one day looking at him, just admiring him. He was extremely easy on the eyes, very handsome. He met my gaze and I was so embarrassed and I said, you've got the prettiest blue eyes.

And he looks up and he said, you're not so bad yourself, Toots. We wound up going out and married about a year later. He had a marvelous work ethic, even when we were in college. He worked at night and got off at like seven in the morning and made eight o'clock classes. He joined the National Guard and got a job with Sears in the automotive store. Over the next few years, Roy and Brenda had two children together. He seemed to kind of settle down and, you know, be the husband, the father, that kind of figure, the longer we were married. He just couldn't stay in one place, I guess.

Boy's wandering eye led to trouble at home. I don't know any other way to put this, except that he loved women. I got concerned that maybe I wasn't the only one, and I was right. It was several. And I wasn't going to live like that. We were divorced in 73.

Though the children lived with Brenda, Roy kept in contact. His house wasn't but maybe a mile from us, and sometimes he would come take the kids on the weekends. We saw a lot of him, really. Roy married again, but that relationship didn't last long either. By his late 20s, Roy had given up on love and was focused on his work, until he met a beautiful young woman named Deborah Bryant. Debbie, she grew up in Belleville.

We were best friends for a long time. She was very family-oriented. Yes, she loved her family. She was working in a nursing home, and he had gone over there one of his trips up to his parents to see his aunt, who was a resident there, and that's where he met her. She was a hard worker. She did about anything for anybody. I just loved her to dance.

28-year-old Roy was instantly smitten with 19-year-old Deborah, and the feeling was mutual. The two dated for a little more than a year before tying the knot in 1977. He was kind of laid back, but if he got to know you, he was Mr. Personality. I think they had a real good relationship. The couple's first son was born three years after the wedding in 1980. Their second arrived four years later. Debra was a wonderful mother. Those kids meant everything to her.

Now, she loved the boys, but she wanted a little girl so bad. Roy agreed to let them adopt a little girl. Kept the boys busy keeping up with the sister. They went places together and done things and fished and hunted and done all that stuff for the kids. Roy and Deborah seemed to be ideal parents, and they were equally successful as business partners. Roy and Deborah had a pool business.

They would install swimming pools in-ground, above-ground type of swimming pools. Roy was the guy that did all the work. He would work out in the field with the homes and servicing. While Deborah stayed at the office and was essentially the office manager for the business. As the pool business grew, it provided the tailors with a comfortable lifestyle in an affluent. neighborhood. They had a very nice home. Roy was still a member of the Arkansas National Guard.

They participated in neighborhood activities, so it really appeared to be the American Dream family. But their seemingly charmed life has taken a tragic turn. Roy has been found shot to death, and Arkansas police find signs that this isn't just a isn't just a burglary gone wrong. As far as the neighbor knows, she's the only person other than the Taylor's who has a key to the house,

and Deborah is still out of town with the children. When a spouse dies by homicide, that usually the other spouse is involved. But obviously, his wife, Deborah, and the children were not there. So first off, we need to talk to Ms. Taylor. They still don't know how this all happened and who is involved. So obviously it leads a question is, what do we have here?

Is this an intruder? Is this some kind of setup or what? Coming up, the coroner's report deepens the mystery. The medical examiner theorized that Roy Taylor, he saw the attacker and saw what was coming. But like the crime scene, not everything is what it seems. I said, well, why don't you get out? And he said, I can't get out. Little Rock investigators are within the first 24 hours

of the murder investigation of Roy Taylor. And word is spreading quickly after neighbors found the body. Saturday morning, after Roy's body was discovered, The family member called Deborah in Texarkana and told her that boy was dead and that she needed to come back. She first gets her kid situated, and then she gets in her car and drive from Texacana to Little Rock and then talks to the police. When detectives questioned Deborah, she is distraught over her husband's death. She says she took the children. children to Texas because Roy was going to be busy with the National Guard all weekend.

She didn't want to be alone and she wanted to see her, see her brother. Deborah said she was utterly shocked when she got the phone call on Saturday morning. She didn't have any idea who would be responsible for Roy's death. She wasn't aware of any reason someone would want to kill Roy. She says they had a picture perfect marriage. picture perfect marriage and a greater relationship. Detectives contact Deborah's brother, who confirms she was with him.

Police might not know who shot Roy, but on Monday, October 24th, an autopsy helps determine how it happened. There was a wound to the front of his left forearm, exited on the backside of his forearm. In his chest area, there was a wound There's a wound in his right shoulder from behind. The medical examiner theorized that the wound to the left forearm was a defensive wound, and

that Roy saw what was coming. He raised his arm up to bullet pass through the forearm, striking him in the chest. The medical examiner also finds gunpowder residue on Roy's lower back and arm, indicating The shots came from close range. The fact that it was clear that the sole purpose was to kill Roy Taylor meant that the killer had to have a very strong motive, personal or financial. We knew that Deborah was not the trebigger person because she was in Texarkana. So at this point in the investigation, the big question, if it's not Deborah Taylor, what

relationship or motivation could have prompted the killer to come and kill Roy. When investigators talked to Roy's friends, they discover there were aspects of his life that Deborah wasn't privy to. Roy was a ladies man. He was screwing around everywhere. He installed more than pools. The fisherman buddy had told the police Roy had a girlfriend and was that who was engaged to another man. He was seeing the girl whenever Devers out of town. According to Roy's friends, his lover has an impulsive fiancé who may have sought revenge. The police did contact Roy's girlfriend and the person that she was engaged to. But they had good alibi, so there wasn't anything there.

Roy also has two ex-wives. Detectives wonder if either of them could have been involved. Fairly early on, the second ex-wife was considered eliminated, but they learned that there had been some child support issues recently that it caused a disagreement between Roy and the first ex-wife. Detective Randy Johnson called me, asked me if I would come down to the police station. He said, we've heard that y'all had been involved in a very bitter court dispute over child support. I said, there wasn't any bitter court battle. We just walked in, signed some papers, that was it. We actually got along better after we were divorced than we did marry.

Brenda explains to police that Roy had another reason for spending time away from home. About two weeks before he was killed, he and I were just sitting there at the table and like a big tear, you know, ran down his face. That wasn't like him at all. And I said, what's the matter? And he said, oh, nothing. And I said, home, he said, yeah. I said, well, why don't you get out?

And he said, I can't get out. And that was the last thing I ever heard him say. depiction of Roy's married life is contradictory to Deborah's. So investigators revisit the Taylor home. The North Ler Rock Police had occasion to obtain written consent by Deborah Taylor to conduct other searches, both at the home, conduct a search of Taylor Pool Company, looking for any types of records or any indication of a motive to have some of the someone to have killed Roy. The Taylor's financial records reveal that some suspicious changes were recently made to Roy's

life insurance policies. It already had $200,000 worth on his life, plus he had $50,000 life insurance policy for the National Guard. It was Roy that asked to have the insurance increased and they put about another $300,000 worth the insurance on his life. Roy, he felt like the whole life. life insurance policies were a good investment and that he wanted to increase the amount of the whole life insurance to over $500,000.

Despite Deborah's alibi, the discovery raises red flags for investigators. The fact that someone bought life insurance just a few months before his death would automatically have the police suspect the person who's a beneficiary. in this case to be Deborah Taylor. After discovering Deborah Taylor stood to gain over $500,000 from her husband's death, Little Rock Police are reevaluating her potential involvement in the murder. On October 26th, four days after Roy's death,

friends and family gathered to say their final goodbyes. Roy's family raised a funeral in a hometown of Belleville, Arkansas. Police are getting information from the attendees that something was off. People indicated that Deborah did not appear to be a grieving widow to any degree. Roy's loved ones are primarily concerned that Deborah came to the funeral with a man named Henry Price. Henry Price had known Roy and Deborah for 12, 13 years. He'd performed work for the pool company.

But according to attendees, Deborah was acting as though Henry was more than just a friend. So detectives angle their investigation toward Deborah and her new bow. Wanted to return to North L'Roc. The North L'Roeck police placed them under surveillance. and they followed Deborah and Henry. We load up in our cars and had assignments. There, I think there was like five of us going to trail this person.

The main goal was for the surveillance team to catch the two together, if in fact that was the truth, and to get photographs. Surveillance followed her to a local Lakinta Inn hotel. And lo and behold, Henry Price, was checked into the hotel. Team members observe the two as they spend a romantic night together.

We were able to get photographs of them acting like a couple, lovers, if you will. It just raised a lot of suspicions and that was really putting her and Henry on their radar screen. Detectives find out Henry is estranged from his wife's show. So they interview her to learn more about him.

We bought a pool, swimming pool from them. And then my husband started working on the motors of the pools for extra money on the site. I liked Roy. He was very nice, kind person, not so much Deborah. She seemed to be kind of sneaky and conniving. Because Deborah ran the business side and Roy was very rarely in the office, the friendship developed between Henry and Deborah. Sherry tells investigators she found out the two had been having an affair on October 1st,

three weeks before Roy's murder. Deborah called when we were, my husband, I were together, and I heard her on the phone. called and said the coast was clear and he was supposed to go over to her house. That's when I first accused him of being unfaithful. And I asked him to make a choice between me and the children are her. Chose her on after. Sherry says she has no idea how far Henry might go to please Deborah. Puzzle pieces are starting to come together.

At that point, they didn't have any information as to where Henry Price was on October the 21st and 22nd. But Henry Price present in behavior with her at and after the funeral, in addition to the Taylor's increase in the life insurance, is starting to strongly indicate that Henry Price is the trigger man. Coming up, a suspect is cornered. My daddy always told me, you can't catch a fish unless they open their mouth. And investigators get a surprising confession. He had stolen a 38 pistol so it could never be traced back to him. Police are 10 days into the 1988 murder investigation of Roy Taylor.

They subpoena Henry Price and Deborah Taylor's phone records to build their case. Though an affair isn't proof of a murder plot, Henry Price seems to be the most likely gunmen. In examining the Taylor's phone records for the landline, there were numerous calls in the preceding months to and from the Taylor phone and Henry Price's phone. One call in particular catches their attention, one that Deborah never mentioned, that came in after the time frame of Roy's murder. And that call was made Saturday morning from the Taylor home phone to Deborah's brother's home phone and text her Kanna.

And it was very short. We think after Roy's death, someone other than Roy Taylor had placed that call. So to the detectives, this was a clear indication. that whoever killed Roy Taylor called Deborah Taylor and let her know the job was done. At this point, detectives decide his time to hear from Henry Price. They call him up, invite him down to the police station, and starts off. Henry is explaining his business relationship with the Taylor's,

his friendship with the Taylor's, how long he had known them, no mention of any romantic involvement with Deborah Taylor. Detectives advised him that they had been surveilling him. Showed him photographic evidence of that. At this point, I think Henry pretty much knew that this was going bad for him, and that's when he started opening up. Henry told them that Deborah had told him

had told him that Roy was abusive. He said that she had a bruise that Henry had seen. She also had Henry believing that Roy had found out about him and Roy was out to kill him. Henry said that they then began hatching different plans to kill Roy Taylor. And ultimately, they decided that Henry would go into the home, lie and wait, and kill Roy while Deborah was at her brother's house and Texer Canna.

Henry said that he had stolen a 38 pistol from his brother-in-law. He went over there, actually parked the car on the back side, and walked through a trail to get to the house. Henry says Deborah had already provided him with a house. the key to get inside. He entered through the back door. At that time, Roy Taylor walks in and with his clothes, getting ready to guard drill.

That's when Henry, he shot three or four times, and killed him. Henry confirms he was the one who made the phone call from the Taylor's home after the shooting. On a prearranged plan with Deborah, he calls her at a brother's house and the code to let her know that Boy was dead was you need to buy a black dress and that was his way of letting Deborah know that he had killed Roy. He apparently to make it staged as an intruder Berkeley breaks in the garage door and then flees the scene. He took a gun disassembled it, drilled out the barrel and threw it into the

Arkansas River. Henry Price is interviewed the North Lurite Police Department was pivotal. There was a lot of suspicion, but there was no direct evidence. If Henry had simply came into the department and said, I want to talk with a lawyer, I'm not going to talk to you all about that. I don't know where this case would have ended up. My daddy always told me he's a lawyer's a long time. He says you can't catch a fish unless they open their mouth.

With Henry's confession, police prepare to confront Deborah. But before they can contact her, she calls them. Henry has called Deborah and said, the police have called me. They want me to come down and talk to the detectives about Roy's death. Deborah, I guess in an attempt to salvage this, calls the police department and says,

I want to come down and talk about this. Little Rock investigators meet with Deborah Taylor. She seems eager to tell her side of the story. When Deborah arrived at the detective bureau, she was placed in an interview room. She proceeded to sit on a table in a seductive manner. Deborah Taylor at this point, I believe, was thoroughly convinced in her ability to

manipulate people in a situation, but then the detectives advised her that they had Henry Price and that he had confessed to the killing of Roy Taylor. According to Deborah, Henry was a simple man who'd misinterpreted the things she told him. Deborah fairly candidly admitted that she and Henry had discussions about possibly killing Roy, something happening to Roy, but she said she wasn't really serious about that.

They talked about it jokingly. It would be nice if Roy had a heart attack and died. Henry would, it said one time, well, we could hire somebody to kill him and kind of jokingly. And she said, no, no, that someone would find out about it. But apparently Henry was pretty serious. So the police questioned, Deborah, why didn't you tell us? about Henry, your affair with Henry, the abuse at the hands of your husband. She said Henry had been, became upset and must have done this on his own. Deborah denies any involvement in Roy's death, but police aren't convinced,

especially considering Roy's recently adjusted insurance policy. They still believe she seduced Henry into doing her bidding. It became obvious to me that Deborah had had this non-sexual relationship with Henry up until the summer. And in that summer, she made her mind up to get rid of Roy. She thought there's no way that Roy would ever let her get a divorce. Deborah said that he stated that, you'll never leave me. I'm not going to be a three-time loser. I think she knew Roy was screwing around on him and that she was not happy.

And that in order to leave Roy, keep the children and have a comfortable way of life, she needed the insurance policies, she needed a house, and she needed the proceeds from the pool company. Investigators suspect that when it came time to hire a hitman, Deborah already had the perfect person. Henry wasn't dumb, but he was so naive and socially awkward. I think she spun her web and pulled Henry in. She was the driving force. She's the one that devised the plan for her to be out of town, for Henry to go into the house and kill Roy.

She might as well have pulled the trigger. Based on the evidence, and Henry's confession, he and Deborah are both charged with capital murder. The arrests come as a shock to friends and loved ones. Debbie called me from the police department after they booked her. I said, why did they arrest you? And she says they think I killed Roy. I said, did you?

And she said, no. I believed her. She was my friend, and I believed her. I think she had convinced him that her husband, husband Roy was abusing her. It just was really hard to believe that anybody could be like that, particularly Henry. I mean, he was not geared that way, made that way.

I never saw him being aggressive or anything. So, you know, it just seemed impossible. Prosecutors are concerned a jury might also find it hard to believe. We had a, we thought, a fairly strong circumstantial case against Deborah. But we were afraid of the possibility of a hung jury, possibly somebody not believing the circumstantial evidence, and quitting Deborah Taylor. And so the police and the Taylor family and I all met, and it was determined that it was more important. to get Deborah Taylor convicted.

So that's when the decision was made for a 40-year plea agreement the contingent on Henry testifying at trial against Deborah. Seven months after the death of Roy Taylor, his wife Deborah goes on trial. She stands accused of being the mastermind who planned the shooting. She was charged a capital murder originally

and after we made numerous motions and hearings, they waived the death penalty and just went for life without parole. Deborah always wore this very demure church-type clothes and carried a Bible at times, presenting herself as this person who was not capable of something like this. The prosecution's key witness is the confessed gunman, Henry Price. He, on direct and even more so on cross-examination by the defense attorney, said that he truly believed that Roy had done these terrible things to, Deborah. And although there's no direct evidence of any of that, except one neighbor at one time

saw what appeared to be a black eye. But I knew that Deborah Taylor was this evil, manipulative wolf and sheep's clothing. He said, I would never kill Roy to get Deborah. But I did kill Roy to protect Deborah. Despite Henry's vehemence, investigators are unable to officially corroborate Deborah's claims of abuse. They asked Henry, were you in love with Deborah? He said, oh yes, very definitely.

They'd plan in life together. And the prosecutor asking him, well, do you still love her? And he looks over at the table where she's sitting and he said, yes, I am. So my next question to Henry was, well, Henry, what does that make you if everything Deborah Taylor told you you about Roy abusing her was not true. It'd make you a dupe, wouldn't it? And Henry said, I don't know what a dupe is. What is that?

And that was the whole essence of this relationship. The defense has a surprising star witness of its own. Nor me don't put your client on the stand, but in this case, there wasn't any way in a work that a jury is going to do anything but to find her guilty unless she took the stand. Deborah did a very good job. She explained things very coherently. She described in great detail the abuse that she alleged she suffered at the hands of Roy Taylor. She admitted that she had talked to Henry Price about this,

but that Henry had acted independently on his own. on his own and that she had no involvement in the execution of Roy Taylor. Once all the evidence is in, the jury takes just 50 minutes to reach a verdict. They found her guilty and gave her life without parole. Instead of being weak and frail, she came across cold as ice, and I think that's what caused the jury not to believe her. I'm sure there's lots of different ways that can be prevented this crime, but sin has real-world consequences. In this case, someone got killed.

I just wanted to portray him as he really was, not as some abusive man. I did absolutely adore him. He could walk in a room and just, without even trying, command the room. I think about the way he's just... the way he left here. And I don't care what kind of man you are. Nobody deserves to die the way he did at all.