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Interrogation Raw Season 1 Episode 5
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00:00News 5 has been on the case of Taylor Wright.
00:08The private investigator has been missing for more than a month.
00:12A mother and former cop disappears without a trace.
00:17We found a handgun that was missing around.
00:21She knew how to cover her tracks.
00:23She knew how to hide.
00:25Is she a victim of foul play or did she run away?
00:29She would have never just left her son.
00:31She took that matter and left.
00:33Someone is hiding the truth.
00:35If something's happened, tell us.
00:37I don't know where she is.
00:39I'll take a lot to take a chance.
00:41Investigators searching for answers.
00:44We keep pressing, pressing, and pressing in the interrogation room.
00:48Who's on Taylor?
00:49They don't know.
00:51You need to tell us where she's at.
00:54They are not going to find her.
00:58Every suspect accused of a crime has the right to remain silent.
01:09Many agree to be interrogated anyway.
01:11But they can stop the interview at any moment,
01:14making it a race against time.
01:18Justice hangs in the balance.
01:20Authorities say the search for Taylor Wright is ongoing.
01:31She is 5 feet 6 inches tall with brown hair.
01:34If anyone sees her or has any information of her whereabouts,
01:38you're asked to contact police.
01:39Taylor's girlfriend, Cassandra Waller, said,
01:56hey, my girlfriend who's living with me hasn't come home.
02:00I'm just concerned about her welfare.
02:01Cassandra said it wasn't normal for Taylor to just come up missing
02:07and not respond in text messages or phone calls.
02:11According to Cassandra, the day Taylor Wright disappeared,
02:14her friend Ashley MacArthur picked her up at approximately 10 a.m.
02:18They were going to run some errands.
02:21And then Taylor, at the end of the day, vanished.
02:23Taylor Wright was a 33-year-old mother of a small child.
02:31She was a former law enforcement officer,
02:34currently working as a private investigator.
02:37With Taylor's law enforcement background,
02:39if she was attacked, she would have some knowledge on what to do.
02:44And she probably knew how to hide.
02:47So I began questioning,
02:48is she missing because she wants to be missing?
02:51Or was she harmed?
02:54We had to travel down each of those roads
02:56to try to figure out exactly what happened.
02:59If she did want to up and leave,
03:01it's not against the law for an adult.
03:04You know, people do it all the time.
03:05But the first thing that we did
03:07was attempt to find out everything about Taylor.
03:20We found laptops.
03:22Taylor's passport, IDs.
03:25We found a cashier's check that was made payable to her for $19,000.
03:30Things that, if you were trying to hide, you would probably take with you.
03:34You've got to have money.
03:35You've got to have ID to do just about anything.
03:38It's not as easy as people make it sound,
03:40to where you can just up and vanish.
03:41It's very hard for someone to do in today's world.
03:45We also found a handgun, a six-shot revolver that had five rounds in it.
03:50So it was missing a round.
03:52That did make us think that maybe Cassandra is involved in the disappearance of Taylor.
03:57At that point, we began to be concerned that this ain't just a normal missing person's case.
04:04That something is wrong, and we really need to figure out where Taylor's at.
04:08Taylor Wright was a very, very good friend of mine, and she was an amazing person.
04:20She absolutely loved law enforcement.
04:22I mean, as a police officer, Taylor was fearless.
04:26She would go into neighborhoods, try to find drugs, try to find guns.
04:31When I met Taylor, she was married to a man named Jeff.
04:35He was an officer in the Marine Corps, and he was deployed a lot,
04:38but they eventually had a little boy named Drake.
04:44Taylor loved being a mom.
04:46It was amazing to see her transition from the police officer that was hardcore to the mom.
04:53Taylor.
04:54It was beautiful to see.
04:57A little bit after that, Jeff got military orders down to Florida.
05:02From what I understand, a lot of issues started once they moved,
05:05and they ended up divorced.
05:09She ended up meeting Cassandra,
05:11and they ended up moving in together and falling in love.
05:15For Taylor, everything was going great.
05:17She had a great relationship with her new girlfriend.
05:20She was successful in her job.
05:22To have been vanished.
05:23It just typically doesn't happen.
05:29When I found out Taylor was missing, it was shock,
05:33because I knew how close she was with Drake.
05:35She would have never just left him like that.
05:38Something's wrong.
05:38There's several people we have to look at first that are in her inner circle,
05:44whether it be Cassandra Waller, who is the current girlfriend,
05:48whether it be Jeff Wright, who is the ex-husband.
05:51We were able to rule out Jeff Wright pretty quick as a person of interest.
05:55Based on knowing where he works,
05:58we were able to confirm that he was at work at that time.
06:01So that left Cassandra.
06:02This is your personal cell phone, Craig.
06:17If you're okay with that, there's something right there.
06:34So while the detectives are interviewing her, I'm going through her cell phone.
06:39The last day that y'all were together,
06:44can you kind of walk me through that day?
06:47Woke up, she made me breakfast.
06:49She made me, like, eggs and bacon and stuff.
06:51And she was in no hurry for anything.
06:54You know, it was just like a normal morning.
06:55I said, well, we'll go to the grocery store.
06:57I'll pick up some stuff.
06:58We'll have wings tonight.
07:00And that was that.
07:02She was like, okay, well, Ash is coming over.
07:04We're going to go to Ash's bank.
07:06And we're going to pick up my money and stuff out of the safety deposit box.
07:10So as I was getting in my car, Ash had pulled up.
07:14And I was like, all right, you know, we hugged.
07:16We kissed.
07:17Said love you.
07:18I went my way.
07:25Any other plans?
07:27Aaron's ahead of Ron?
07:27No.
07:28But when Taylor went and texted me back, I texted Ash.
07:33And I was like, Ash, like, where are you guys at?
07:35Because I thought that they were just going to run to the bank.
07:37That's the only thing I knew of that day.
07:39Finally, Ash called me.
07:40And Ash was like, hey, we're up at my mom's house, which is up in Milton.
07:44They own a farm.
07:45She was like, you know, Taylor's broke down and cried twice today.
07:48I'm like, what is going on?
07:51So she was like, she's out riding the horse right now.
07:54I'll tell her to call you when she gets off.
07:56I texted Taylor a couple more times, no responses.
08:01A little bit after that, like, 7.58, Taylor sent me that text.
08:04I'm not mad at you.
08:06I should have called.
08:07I just need some time to think.
08:09I'm trying to get my life organized and back on track.
08:11And, like, I kept asking her about, like, please, like, whatever.
08:17I said, like, come on.
08:23While speaking with Cassandra, we learned about some issues they had in the past, potential infidelity issues.
08:31These issues could be the motive for Taylor being missing.
08:34You know, we have to ask these questions.
08:40Have you ever suspected Ash and Taylor of being involved?
08:44I made a comment to Taylor once before because I thought it was funny, like, that they would give each other a kiss.
08:49You know, like, I don't kiss my friends.
08:51We really got to be careful how much we're poking and prodding because she could just get up and walk away.
09:04When we were at the house, you told me you started logging into all our different bank accounts.
09:08Well, before I started getting into the bank accounts, first off, am I getting myself in trouble?
09:14You're, like I said, you're free to go whenever you want.
09:16I can't help but be scared that I'm going to get in trouble for something that I did when I was trying to help.
09:23I didn't want her to know, like, I was trying to track and find her.
09:29Wow, this looks really bad on me.
09:31When we're doing these interviews, we want them to feel uncomfortable to a point, but not so uncomfortable they don't want to talk to us.
09:41So it's a balance that we have to juggle.
09:46But, at this point, an hour into the interview, we needed to start applying some pressure.
09:54Do you know who harmed Taylor?
09:59Yeah.
10:00I don't know who did.
10:01If he knew who harmed her, would you tell us?
10:14I don't know.
10:18She was dead right now and you knew, would you tell us?
10:20I don't know.
10:22I don't know.
10:24I'm hurt for her.
10:26She was.
10:28Did you hold her?
10:29No.
10:30I don't know.
10:32I think, ultimately, we have to ask that question.
10:35No matter how aggressive we are with it or not, we would not be doing our job if we didn't ask that question.
10:41Do you think Ashley would have the capability or the means to harm Taylor?
10:57I don't know.
10:58I don't know when it will.
10:59I can't answer.
11:00I don't know.
11:03Sit down in a second, okay?
11:05I'm going through Cassandra's cell phone.
11:09And I went in to get the detectives out to talk about what I'm learning through the phone.
11:13I can see there is communications about a bank and money and some other weird things that we didn't know about before.
11:33What's she at?
11:35So, Taylor, it seemed like she was getting paranoid.
11:40She was talking about how she felt like something just wasn't right with Ashley.
11:44She wasn't sure if Ash had her money or not.
11:46Because Taylor had been trying to get the money out of Ash's safety deposit box.
11:51Taylor said for, like, four or five days.
11:54And I was like, Taylor, you know, she's probably been really busy.
11:57And she goes, no, Cass.
11:58She goes, like, I'm telling you, something just doesn't feel right with me.
12:01I don't want to think this, but, like, I want to give you guys, like, whatever you guys need.
12:06Because I could be so wrong.
12:08No, I'd rather you be wrong and have a feeling or know something to tell us.
12:12I want Ash to be mad at me, though.
12:13Because I, like, maybe accuse or something.
12:16I shouldn't even want to know anything.
12:17That interview was huge because Cassandra said that Taylor had given Ashley money.
12:25The money was the biggest red flag that shifted this from a missing person to a very suspicious activity,
12:31potentially a homicide investigation.
12:33We would have to consider Ashley MacArthur a potential suspect.
12:55Ashley was the last person to see Taylor.
12:58And Ashley was also holding on to this large sum of money that Taylor had asked her to hold.
13:03Taylor had been going through a difficult court battle with her ex-husband
13:07over some finances that they shared while they were married.
13:11Just prior to Taylor going missing, she had taken approximately $100,000 out of a joint bank account
13:18that she should not have taken.
13:19Of that $100,000, Taylor had given Ashley $34,000 to hold on to.
13:26And Cassandra said Taylor gave this check to Ashley because she has a safety deposit box
13:32she could put this check into.
13:34From looking at the text messages between Taylor and Ashley before she disappeared,
13:39Taylor kept asking Ashley, hey, I need that money back.
13:42I need to get the money back.
13:44I need to have it for court.
13:45The judge is making me get this money back.
13:49Ashley was pretty much blowing Taylor off.
13:51Cassandra told us that the day that Taylor went missing, she was expecting Ashley to pick
13:58her up, take her to the bank, get the money out of the safety deposit box, and everything
14:03be okay.
14:04The purpose of the first interview is to let her tell us what she wants to tell us, whether
14:22it be the truth or a lie, but get something on video that we can begin to investigate.
14:28Let's start with the last day that you saw her.
14:35Was what day?
14:36Friday.
14:37Day.
14:38That's okay.
14:41She came out, y'all left.
14:43Where'd you go after that?
14:45That's when we went to the gas station there to get a drink.
14:47Okay.
14:48So what'd y'all do at the store?
14:49Ashley seemed to be bubbly, outgoing, wanting to tell us everything, somewhat flirtated.
15:19Horatious, not standoffish.
15:23We want to build friendly banter back and forth with her, so she'll trust us.
15:28Then where?
15:29Then we went, that's where we went to the farm.
15:32Okay.
15:33And who owns that farm?
15:34Um, my aunt.
15:36And y'all were out there for how long?
15:39Probably maybe an hour.
15:43Would you mind if we, what's it called?
15:46We just intrinsically examine your phone.
15:48Yeah.
15:48It just basically just dumps the phone, and we can see the numbers that are calling.
15:52Wow.
15:53Immediately when we ask her about her cell phone, you can see she starts getting a little bit
15:58more nervous.
15:59Actually, she adjusts the way she crossed her legs.
16:02You'll see she starts playing with the phone, and it is my belief that she's purposely trying
16:08to change her password there.
16:10She hands over her phone.
16:12We can see there are text messages about the safety deposit box.
16:16But then, the phone locks up, so we can't access the file because we don't have the correct
16:22password.
16:25She gives us multiple different variations of passwords, and none of those, um, worked.
16:33And that's a little weird.
16:34But we do need to start crying into why Ashla was holding on to this large sum of money that
16:41Taylor had asked her to hold on to.
16:43So we want to be able to keep this friendly, because at this point, she's free to go whenever
16:48she wants.
16:48What were the rest of your plans for that?
16:51So when did you go next?
16:52We went back to my house, I believe.
16:57Yeah, what was your purpose for going back there?
16:59Um, to get any of the papers that I have for her, and the money and stuff for her.
17:05So the money was being kept at your house?
17:07Right.
17:08How long had the money been being kept there?
17:10Um, it was only there for a few, a few days.
17:16Did y'all end up getting that?
17:17Yeah.
17:18Okay.
17:19So this whole thing about a safety deposit box of yours, do you know anything about that?
17:25Well, Taylor wanted to get a safety deposit box initially, but she didn't want her name
17:33or anything to be on anything that Jeff could find.
17:36So I was like, we'll just keep it and give it to you or whatever, because I don't know
17:44why she didn't keep it.
17:45She has a safe.
17:47Yeah, it was odd.
17:50Had she asked before that at any point to go get the money?
17:53Yeah, and I had been super busy that week because of the, what we had done before that,
18:01the week before.
18:02And I had just eight million things going on.
18:07Do you own a safety deposit box?
18:09I don't.
18:10This was kind of curious to us because Cassandra said that Taylor thought Ashley had a safety
18:18deposit box, but Ashley said she didn't have a safety deposit box.
18:22That was another reason to throw a red flag in the case.
18:26Why would someone give us a false story other than if they're trying to hide something?
18:31Authorities say Wright is listed as a missing person in the National Crime Information Center.
18:42If anyone has any information, you're asked to contact police.
18:47When I found out that she was missing, it was a very bad feeling.
18:51You know, it was the gut punch of something's wrong.
18:54This isn't right.
18:55This isn't normal.
18:56Do you know who harmed Taylor?
19:21No, I don't.
19:22I don't know that she's been harmed.
19:24I think Taylor's doing what Taylor does.
19:30Did you harm her?
19:32No, I didn't.
19:36We directly asked her if she harmed Taylor.
19:39Her body language didn't change any.
19:41She tells us no.
19:42So we moved on to the next question.
19:45Did she ever talk about where she would go if she wanted to hide?
19:49She never talked to me about hiding.
19:51She talked to somebody, and I don't remember who it was, maybe it was Cass, that she could just disappear if she wanted to.
19:59Taylor appears to be this chameleon that, like, changes and shapeshifts to whatever person she's around and whatever impression she needs to give them.
20:08That's a little weird to be talking negative about your friend who's missing.
20:13Added to my suspicion, I think maybe she was just trying to throw us off on another track.
20:19That's a little weird to be talking to her.
20:21Sorry.
20:22These things just sometimes take time.
20:24We want to go over every little thing.
20:27Well, that's confusing.
20:29I mean, it's hard to keep it together.
20:30You've provided a lot of information that we didn't know, we didn't know where the money came from.
20:38Well, they, I mean, it's just so convoluted.
20:41And who knows?
20:42Like, that's the thing, like, everybody gets a different piece of some sort of something.
20:48Well, she's going around telling all of y'all different things.
20:50And that's why we have to talk to every single person and go through these things in detail, because each person may have one little small piece that could end up giving us a clue on this to where she may be.
21:06We thought we had at least a good starting point.
21:09She gave us a timeline, and we got her locked into some kind of statement to start working to corroborate or prove that it's all a lie.
21:20When we heard about this safety deposit box and the $34,000 Taylor gave to Ashley to hold, the first thing that we did was subpoena Ashley's bank for all the records.
21:42We learned two things from this.
21:44One, we confirmed she didn't have a safety deposit box at Wells Fargo.
21:48Second, I could see a deposit for $34,000 come into Ashley's bank account.
21:56And the following day, that money is transferred out into various accounts.
22:01That deposit was taken down to zero within a day.
22:06That's an alert for law enforcement.
22:07Also, when we got a copy of the cashier's check and looked at the signature on the back, it did not match any of Taylor Wright's signatures on other checks that she had cashed.
22:17Those multiple lies show us that she is now involved in Taylor's disappearance.
22:24When she missed her court date, we knew that something was wrong.
22:34We began really seriously thinking, like, okay, she's not just hiding out.
22:53Because she would have gone to that court case immediately.
22:57We started doing all the physical searching.
23:00We were clearing the bayous with canine dogs.
23:04Went back and searched Cassandra Waller's house.
23:07We even used the dog to search Ashley's neighborhood.
23:12We were knocking on doors, talking to neighbors, handing out flyers.
23:17At this point, we had pretty much agreed that this was going to be a homicide investigation, more than likely over money.
23:23Ashley left a trail of evidence for us to follow, and we did start breaking apart her story.
23:40Instead of holding on to Taylor's $34,000 check like she was supposed to for safekeeping,
23:47Ashley deposited it into her account.
23:49And then immediately began moving that money to various other accounts at her bank.
23:57We also discovered that Ashley had purchased a boat and a motorcycle for her boyfriend before Taylor disappeared.
24:06Ashley was married, but also had a boyfriend on the side.
24:11We have to look at everyone in her inner circle.
24:14How are you doing, man?
24:17How are you?
24:18Taking a giggly hug.
24:19Can you tell us, do you have any idea where you're down here?
24:37It's got something to do with Ashley.
24:39Okay.
24:40Are you familiar with the missing persons case that we were working now?
24:44Yeah.
24:44The Taylor or whatever that goes in there is.
24:46Can you tell us a bit about your knowledge of her and any experiences you've had with her?
24:51I've never met her.
24:51You've never met her?
24:52Nope.
24:53Okay.
24:53Not one time.
24:55What has Ashley told you about her?
24:57She told me she took a bunch of money and high-tailed it.
25:02Your feelings on all this missing person and her talking to you, what's your thoughts?
25:07There's more to the story.
25:09There's a reason y'all got her phone.
25:10You know what I'm saying?
25:11I don't know if she's point-of-blank, so they are not going to find her if she took
25:15that money and left.
25:16What do you think about that?
25:18Don't make no sense.
25:19Girl ain't a liver kid.
25:22How well do you trust Ashley?
25:24I don't trust her at all.
25:26Really?
25:27You don't trust her at all?
25:28Hell no.
25:29You know, she wouldn't give me no trouble, but I don't, as far as, like, I catch her
25:34in too many lives.
25:44During this investigation, we looked at cell phone records.
25:48Cell phone records can tell us where someone's been, even if they tell us it's somewhere else,
25:54right?
25:54The cell phone doesn't lie.
25:55We got information that showed us her story was completely false.
26:01Cell phone data showed Ashley never went to Milton, Florida, where she said she went
26:05with Taylor.
26:06Actually, she was 30 miles away in Cantonment.
26:10Why was she in Cantonment, an area that she never told us about, and she was there for hours?
26:16During the investigation, we learned that Ashley's family had a second farmhouse in Cantonment,
26:22right in the middle of where that cell phone was at for those hours.
26:28That was a huge break in the case because we figured that potentially is where Taylor's
26:34going to be.
26:35That's when we knew, okay, we got the money missing, and now she's lying about where she
26:41had been.
26:41And what else is she lying to us about?
27:01Before we ask you any questions, you have the right to remain silent.
27:05Anything you say can be used against you in court.
27:08You understand that?
27:13She had no clue that we had her cell phone records, that we had subpoenaed the bank.
27:19So we wanted to confront her with everything that we had learned and break apart her lie.
27:24We decided to search the Cantonment property simultaneously with the interview, because if we
27:32did find Taylor, that's another thing that we could confront her with and also arrest her
27:36at the same time.
27:39The ultimate goal is to get her to confess and tell us what took place.
27:43Do you have any ideas, anyone that we can go talk to?
27:49I don't know, but I mean, so I've been there for a long time, I've already talked.
27:55Has your mind changed at all?
27:58Do you feel any different?
27:59Have you thought about any other ways that this could have went down?
28:04Not really.
28:06Have you ever had to sign her name to a check?
28:09To deposit her?
28:11No.
28:11Do you recall how much the cashier's check was for?
28:14I think 30, 30, 30, 30, 30.
28:20And she or you deposited that?
28:24I deposited that.
28:25I actually deposited all the checks for her.
28:28She's starting to realize that we've gotten her bank records and she starts squirming around
28:34a little bit more, crossing her hands into her legs, and that's an indication that she's
28:40uncomfortable and not really liking that line of questioning.
28:44I wanted to, at some point, go back over your timeline again, if you didn't mind, and the
28:56day that she last went missing.
28:58So, you were at the, you said you went to the store, grabbed a drink.
29:03Mm-hmm.
29:04Um, which, do you recall what store that was?
29:06Mm-hmm.
29:07It's something.
29:07And then what did y'all go do after that?
29:10At that time, I went to the farm.
29:11Y'all went to Milton's farm?
29:13Mm-hmm.
29:14Farm.
29:14Mm-hmm.
29:15We wanted to give her an opportunity to change her story.
29:18She didn't take it.
29:20She continued to lie.
29:21When was the decision made, you were called to go out there?
29:25I don't know, you were just talking, and she just, she just wanted to ride around.
29:32Do you recall how you got out there, or which?
29:35That's your family's farm?
29:40Right.
29:41OK.
29:42She's here on her own free will, she could just get up and walk away.
29:47So, you got to be careful not to push too hard.
29:51We're trying to keep her there long enough to where we can hopefully find Taylor's remains
29:55out at the farm.
29:57Um, do you know how cell towers work, and how phones communicate with cell towers?
30:05What happens is, your phone is still communicating with the tower.
30:11Oh, yeah.
30:12Even if it's in this building.
30:13Right.
30:14Um, you're always the best that I can.
30:19When we started plotting all the phone calls that you and Taylor were making that day,
30:26um, there were some discrepancies in what you had told us.
30:30OK.
30:31We know that you didn't go to Milton when you said you went to Milton.
30:38Not when you said you went to Milton.
30:39Oh, why?
30:40You went that evening.
30:41Oh, OK.
30:42We knew she was lying, but we had to be careful not to push too hard, because there's still
30:47information we want to extract from her.
30:49We move on past the question and plan to come back later on down the line.
30:56I want to go back to the cow stuff here for a minute.
30:57This right here.
30:58This totally could be explained when that's why.
30:59Yeah, that's why.
31:00I think this is the...
31:01Do you know whose signature that is?
31:02It says Taylor's name but it doesn't really look like her signature.
31:03Would you have maybe wrote her name on there by chance?
31:04Yeah.
31:05It's a special�� here and we're gonna get it under the rookie.
31:06We have to do every morning here today.
31:07Oh, so don't know.
31:08It's a reasonable information we want to extract from her.
31:11We move on past the question and plan to come back later on down the line.
31:13Sure.
31:14I'll go back to this, this, the cow stuff here.
31:16Yeah.
31:17This right here.
31:18This totally could be explained when that's why.
31:19Yeah, that's why.
31:20That's why.
31:21That's why.
31:22I think this is the...
31:24Do you know whose signature that is?
31:25It says Taylor's name,
31:27but it doesn't really look like her signature.
31:29Would you have maybe wrote her name on there by chance?
31:32Probably not.
31:34Is that clearly Taylor's signature?
31:37Yeah, it looks like it.
31:39It's a chess game.
31:41I'm always thinking two or three moves ahead,
31:44so I know where I'm going.
31:46I'm running play after play after play,
31:48and she's not able to think as quick on her feet.
31:51Is this your signature?
31:52Mm-hmm.
31:53But all these signatures are here, that's correct.
31:56Right.
31:57I think she knew she was really backed up in a corner.
32:00Now I just keep pressing, pressing, and pressing,
32:03and hopefully she'll eventually crack.
32:08You had the ability to plot all your phone calls for that day.
32:12I don't know where you were.
32:14I don't know.
32:15Taylor.
32:18And it all starts at 9 to 5, okay?
32:21So 9 to 5, you're probably at home.
32:23Right.
32:24Now, at 1210, you are in here.
32:28Mm-hmm.
32:29We know that your aunt and uncle own the farm there on Britt Road.
32:34Right.
32:35And it's showing that you're probably near that farm,
32:38or if not, outside that farm.
32:40This is the time when you're telling us that you're probably melting our head towards your home,
32:45because it's 1210 in the afternoon.
32:47What were y'all doing out there at this farm?
32:49So we know y'all were there.
32:51We picked up some stuff that Taylor had there that we had.
33:00What was that?
33:01That she had stored.
33:02Some kind of lockbox that she had.
33:04Why would you not tell us that originally?
33:06Because she asked me not to tell anyone ever.
33:10It's locked.
33:12I got you.
33:13We finally got her to admit that they were out at this farm in Cantonment,
33:18and not at a farm in Milton.
33:21She placed herself and Taylor out there, which is a big deal,
33:25because we needed to physically place her there in case we ultimately find Taylor out there.
33:31So y'all left there, or where did y'all go?
33:34I don't know.
33:43I don't believe.
33:44With her pausing and dragging out her answer,
33:48it's just another indication of having to come up with another lie
33:51and have a reason on why she and Taylor are out there at the farm
33:55when she's never told us about that.
33:57I think something happened when you're trying to forget about it, personally.
34:00Okay.
34:01Here's the thing.
34:02You tell us that y'all went out to Milton and Road Courses.
34:05Right.
34:06Honestly.
34:07Did that happen?
34:08Yes, it did.
34:09So, you'll have cell tower hits out in Milton.
34:12There should be cell tower hits in Milton at some point in a day.
34:15Oh, sure.
34:17Here's your phone work.
34:18160 pages worth.
34:19Oh, I understand.
34:20You actually did go back out there, about 245.
34:23And you were out there for quite a while.
34:26We get it.
34:28So, really, in essence, you spent, it seems like,
34:32at least a large portion of the majority of your day out here.
34:37It really wasn't.
34:38I don't know.
34:39I mean, we were...
34:40Several hours.
34:41Here.
34:42Yeah.
34:43You're still there.
34:44You're still there.
34:45You're still there.
34:48It's a totally different Ashley at this point.
34:51She's pulled her leg in a lot closer to her body.
34:55She's kind of tucked her hands in between her legs and she's nervous.
35:00At that point, we knew that we had her.
35:03We just needed to get her to tell us exactly what took place.
35:07Where is Taylor at?
35:08I don't know.
35:09You need to tell us where she's at.
35:10I don't know where Taylor is.
35:11I don't know how to live.
35:12Tell me what you did to her.
35:13I didn't do anything yet.
35:14You can tell you this.
35:15If she's at that farm, we're going to find her because we're executing a search warrant
35:16out there right now.
35:17That's fine, but she's not going to be there.
35:18Then where is she at?
35:19I don't know where she is.
35:20Where is her body at?
35:21I don't know where she is.
35:22She's dead though.
35:23You know that?
35:24I don't know.
35:25I don't believe that she's not going to be there.
35:28Then where is she at?
35:29I don't know where she is.
35:30Where is her body at?
35:31I don't know where she is.
35:32She's dead though.
35:33You know that?
35:34I don't believe that's at all.
35:38We were at the point in the interview where we just have to confront her.
35:43It was make or break time.
35:46Give me it for a second.
35:47Okay.
35:48Don't cross your legs and look at me for a second.
35:50Okay.
35:51Don't let us tell your story.
35:54This is going to tell us what happened.
35:57Reaching over, moving her chair, and moving it really close is a way to try to break down
36:03that defensive posture, make her feel uncomfortable.
36:08She's either going to shut down or potentially tell us exactly what happened.
36:15We didn't know where Taylor was at that point, so I knew that there was a big risk.
36:21She could ask for an attorney, an interview would be over.
36:24Don't let us tell something that may not be true.
36:26Tell us what happened.
36:27I think at this point I need an attorney because it seems to me that I did something to her.
36:33Okay.
36:34I respect that.
36:36I respect that.
36:37Sit tight and go from there, okay?
36:38I respect that.
36:39Sit tight and go from there, okay?
36:40Okay.
36:41I respect that.
36:42Sit tight and go from there, okay?
36:49I respect that.
36:50I respect that.
36:51I respect that.
36:56Sit tight.
36:58I respect that.
37:05I respect that.
37:10I respect that.
37:21We had search and rescue dogs that can locate human remains, we had multiple ATVs, we had
37:36a dive team on standby.
37:39We didn't have Taylor.
37:41We needed Taylor to say that there was a homicide.
37:45A couple hours into the search, officers noticed an area that had some foliage on it that didn't
37:53really match.
37:55And when they moved the bushes and the branches, they could see what they thought was a human
37:59skull, sticking up in a mix of what appeared to be potting soil and concrete.
38:10After we found the skull, we were able to put the skeletal remains together.
38:16And we actually found a necklace that Taylor had.
38:21That moment, I knew it was her.
38:24We could see that on the back of the skull, there was a bullet hole.
38:29So we knew that she had been shot in the back of the head.
38:40Once we confirmed it was Taylor, we got units over to Ashley's residence where we had her
38:45under surveillance and we arrested her.
38:58We knew that Ashley had stopped off at a convenience store.
39:02So we went to that convenience store and pulled the surveillance footage.
39:07We could see Ashley inside that store.
39:10We could see Ashley's truck in the background and we could tell that it looked like another
39:17person was in the passenger seat.
39:18So we believed that, at this moment in time, Taylor was alive.
39:26Later in the investigation, we found surveillance video of Ashley buying concrete and potting soil,
39:33which matched the concrete and potting soil that was found on Taylor.
39:37That video was definitely the nail in the coffin for Ashley McArthur.
39:43What we believe happened was Ashley took Taylor up to the farm, up in Cantonment, shot her in the back of the head, buried her in a shallow grave, covered her body up with a mixture of concrete and potting soil and left her.
39:59I believe Ashley McArthur felt backed into a corner because she did not have the money to give back to Taylor and the only option she saw was to get rid of Taylor Wright.
40:09Ashley McArthur had the motive to kill Taylor Wright money.
40:27She had the opportunity to kill Taylor Wright.
40:31She did, in fact, kill Taylor Wright, and then she tried to cover it up.
40:39Imagine you're on your sofa at home.
40:46Everybody take a deep breath.
40:48Here we go.
40:50The interrogations gave the jury an insight to her ability to manipulate.
40:57They were able to show her lies and her deceit and her constant pointing the guilt away from her and toward anyone else.
41:06My understanding is we have a verdict.
41:11Let's bring the jury in.
41:13We, the jury, find the defendant, Ashley McArthur, guilty of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm as charged in the indictment.
41:21When it all came together, it was clear beyond a reasonable doubt that Ashley was guilty.
41:28She was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
41:33The way she didn't blink, didn't cry.
41:37I don't understand how a human could be like that.
41:40Such an evil person.
41:42Ashley took away the life of a young woman, the mother of an eight-year-old little boy who will never have his mother see him go through all the milestones in his life.
41:56Ashley being in jail for the rest of her life, I think that's very justified.
42:03There's a child that doesn't have a mom.
42:05It was over something senseless as money.
42:09We're glad that we got closure for Cassandra, Jeff, and Drake.
42:16They can work toward moving past this tragedy in their lives.
42:20Drake, growing up without his mom, I mean, it hurts.
42:24But he has his dad, so I know he'll grow up really happy and healthy.
42:30Taylor was a mother, she was a friend.
42:34She lived life to the fullest.
42:36I will always remember that about her.
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