Alexis Murphy, Abductions in Central Virginia, Samantha Clarke

Starting this topic to keep up with possible information about these two missing women...

I'm thinking this creep from MI is one and the same as the creep in VA...

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Good morning

Looks like two different people to me, Papa...Eyebrows, nose and chin are much different..

going to read the links you posted to get informed on these cases...

NELSON, VA (WWBT) -
The FBI released a picture of a vehicle Monday in the ongoing search for a missing Nelson County 17-year-old.

Agents also confirmed the arrest of 48-year-old Randy Taylor of Lovingston Sunday in the case. He is charged Sunday night with abducting Alexis Murphy. However, there is still no sign of Alexis.

In a brief press conference Monday, agents asked anyone with information on Taylor or his late model GMC Suburban-like truck with Virginia plates to call police. Officials did not answer any questions about the case.

Murphy's mother said Monday would have been Murphy's first day back at school and tearfully pleaded for help in locating her daughter.

FBI agents are scouring a property off Route 29 in Lovingston, not too far south of Charlottesville. An active FBI investigation unfolded just after that arrest was announced. NBC29 in Charlottesville reports that agents are specifically targeting a property near the Cannery Loop. Investigators completely blocked off a property. A number of large, unmarked vehicles were seen at the site and investigators worked the scene into the night. There is no word on whether agents are searching for Alexis Murphy, or clues in her case.

NBC29 has reported that police searched that same area off Route 29, along with homes, last Monday and Friday. Neighbors say investigators tracked Alexis's last cell phone activity to the Lovingston area, as well.

Meanwhile, Alexis's family says the arrest is a bittersweet development in her abduction.

"Exciting. Obviously, very bittersweet to know that they have a suspect, but Alexis isn't home yet. But a jolt of energy, hope and faith," said Angela Taylor, Alexis's aunt.

"It's been determined that she really was abducted, and we have a suspect and they're in custody, that's major," said another aunt, Trina Taylor.


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He has been arrested..

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Taylor Advisement Hearing to be Held in Nelson
--snip--

Randy Allen Taylor is due in Nelson County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court at 1:30 p.m. for an advisement hearing. He is scheduled to appear via video conference from the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail where he is being held without bond. A judge will advise him of his right to be represented by an attorney.

Taylor, 48, is charged with abduction in connection with the disappearance of Alexis Murphy. The case was transferred to Nelson County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court because Alexis is a minor.

FBI agents searched Taylor's home and the surrounding woods along Route 29 near Lovingston Monday. They removed a camper, bags of evidence, and Taylor's camouflage-wrapped GMC suburban truck.

NBC29 has also learned from an employee at Ultimate Bliss on Route 29 in Charlottesville that surveillance cameras show Taylor in the store the day Alexis disappeared - Saturday, August 3.
~~~~~

Taylor remains held without bail and will appear by video from the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. The sole purpose of an advisement hearing, which generally lasts less than five (5) minutes, is to inform Taylor of his right to be represented by an attorney. He can waive his right to a lawyer and represent himself; he can try to qualify for a court-appointed lawyer if he meets certain financial requirements; or he can hire a lawyer to represent him. There will be no plea entered nor evidence heard at this hearing.

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Suspect Connected to the Samantha Clarke Case
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Randy Taylor's arrest in Alexis Murphy's case has brought up questions about similar disappearances over the past couple years.

Morgan Harrington, Samantha Clarke and Alicia Showalter Reynolds also went missing. Harrington and Reynolds were later found dead. Clarke has never been found.

One case though, has a definite tie to Alexis Murphy.

Samantha Clarke's disappearance from Orange County has so much in common with Alexis Murphy's case, that Orange County investigators were in Nelson County Monday.

The common denominator in both cases is Randy Taylor.

It will be three years next month that anyone has seen 19-year-old Samantha Clarke, but Orange County Commonwealth's Attorney Diana Wheeler says the investigation has always been open and active.

One of the people heavily considered in Clarke's disappearance is Randy Taylor.

Taylor called Clarke's cell phone several times the night she went missing, but he has never been charged with anything in her case.

Wheeler said his arrest and charge in Murphy's case is a step in the right direction for them

--wow,what a ramshackle dump of a place.

Katie Love ‏@KLOVEREPORTER    
Close look of suspect's home in #AlexisMurphy abduction case. Randy Taylor hearing at 1:30pm. More updates soon.

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Alexis Murphy Abduction Suspect Due In Court; Teen Still Missing
Posted: Aug 06, 2013 7:20 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 13, 2013 10:36 AM EDT

RICHMOND, VA—The man charged with the abduction of missing Nelson County teenager Alexis Murphy is set to appear in court Tuesday, as authorities continue to search for the still missing teen.

Randy Allen Taylor, 48, of Livingston, was taken into custody Sunday and has been charged with felony abduction. Despite the arrest, the teen's whereabouts and condition remains unknown.

"We will keep looking as long as it takes to find her," authorities said Monday.

The 17-year-old was last seen leaving her Nelson County home Saturday, August 3. She was later captured that evening on surveillance footage at a Liberty gas station in Nelson County on her way to go shopping in Lynchburg.

Murphy's car was later found in a movie theater parking lot in Albemarle County. ... read more at the link

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UPDATE: Nelson court clerk confirms to NBC29 that Randy Taylor will appear in person for his advisement hearing today at 1:30 p.m. in Nelson County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. The video equipment - to be used for the video conference - is not working.

The suspect in the disappearance of Nelson County teenager Alexis Murphy will appear before a judge on an abduction charge for the first time Tuesday.

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Details emerge on man arrested over missing Nelson County teen

Randy Taylor has been arrested in the disappearance of teenager Alexis Murphy. His rap sheet stretches back more than 20 years.
--snip--

While details in the Clarke case remained murky, the timeline in the Murphy search became more vivid Monday. Authorities obtained a search warrant for Taylor's home on the afternoon of Aug. 6, roughly six hours before they found Murphy's car in the Carmike Six cinema parking lot off Gardens Boulevard.

On Saturday, agents on four-wheelers scoured the area near Taylor's home off U.S. 29 just north of Lovingston with axes, rakes and hoes, neighbors said. In Charlottesville, authorities retrieved footage of Taylor from video surveillance at Ultimate Bliss, an adult novelty store some 2 miles from the Carmike, said store manager Kevin Bennett. Murphy did not show up anywhere on the footage, Bennett said.

Bennett would not say when Taylor visited the store but said authorities showed up there Saturday.

"It's kind of a shock to get a call that there's some FBI agents wanting to talk to you," Bennett said. Agents showed store employees a picture of Taylor, Bennett said.

"My part-timer recognized him from the Daffy Duck tattoo on his neck, because there aren't too many people walking around with a cartoon character on their neck," he said. "He just purchased some movies."

--more@link

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NBC29 ‏@NBC29  
Orange Commonwealth’s Attorney confirms that Orange County investigators are assisting in the #AlexisMurphy investigation

CONTD: Orange Commonwealth's atty also confirms that the case of Samantha Clarke, 19-yr-old who went missing in 2010, is active and ongoing

Suspect in #AlexisMurphy abduction, Randy Allen Taylor, appointed a public defender by Nelson Co. judge. Next court appearance Jan. 9

CONTD:Randy Taylor, suspect in #AlexisMurphy case, was appointed public defender Scott DeBruin, who has offices in Lovingston and Lynchburg

CONTD:Taylor will be held without bond at Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail until his next court appearance on Jan 4, 2014 at 10 a.m.

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Randy Taylor in court Tuesday

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--snip--

"We know we have our guy," Mays said. "Now it is a matter of finding Alexis."

The criminal investigation will continue until they find Murphy, Mays said.

Mays also confirmed to WDBJ7 that detectives have not located Murphy's cell phone at this point.

Taylor is not due back in court until 10 a.m. January 9. He is being held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Taylor appeared in court for the hearing. He was originally supposed to appear via video conference, but there was an equipment malfunction. He wore a gray jail-issued jumpsuit. His legs were shackled and his hands were in handcuffs. Tattoos were visible on his arms and neck.

Reading the updates. This creep was driving an hour each way to work for a used car lot? Something sounds odd to me about that. The employer must be a close friend or something. It's forty-six miles from Lovingston to Ruckersville, but it's via U.S. route 29, Seminole Trail, and it is a traffic nightmare. Probably took longer than an hour each way.

papapi wrote:Reading the updates. This creep was driving an hour each way to work for a used car lot? Something sounds odd to me about that. The employer must be a close friend or something. It's forty-six miles from Lovingston to Ruckersville, but it's via U.S. route 29, Seminole Trail, and it is a traffic nightmare. Probably took longer than an hour each way.

--creep (!) is right papapi.

--it makes me ill to think that alexis came across this CREEP/FREAK and we don't know what became of her.

--I was hoping he'd be linked to the 'route 29' disappearance of Alicia Reynolds for the sake of her family/friends, but apparently not.

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UPDATED: Alexis Murphy abduction revives interest in unsolved cases

--snip--

As investigators dive into Taylor’s past, they’ve learned there’s one thing he is not - the “29 Stalker.”

Taylor’s police mugshot taken after his arrest Sunday bears some resemblance to a 1996 composite sketch of the “29 Stalker,” a moniker given the killer who murdered 25-year-old Alicia Showalter Reynolds. Reynolds was abducted in Culpeper County while driving to Charlottesville on U.S. 29 on March 2, 1996.

Her remains were found two months later in a remote logging community in Culpeper.

Taylor, however, was incarcerated in Virginia Beach in June 1993 after being convicted of burglary and grand larceny. He remained in prison, transferred among three correctional centers, until Sept. 20, 1996, records sho

--i'm hopeful that he IS responsible for Samantha, and her family/friends will finally get closure, of some sort.

While Taylor has an ironclad alibi in Alicia Reynolds murder, he has publicly admitted he was once a suspect in the September 2010 disappearance of a 19-year-old Orange County woman, Samantha Clarke. In an interview with a Charlottesville alternative newspaper, The Hook, Taylor was quoted as saying police “harassed him by planting evidence and illegally tracking his whereabouts.”

He was never charged and Clarke has never been found.

The Orange County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office released a statement Aug. 14 saying investigators there are working closely with detectives on the Alexis Murphy case.

“As Randy Taylor is someone that Samantha spoke with immediately prior to her disappearance, he remains someone we are very interested in learning more about,” Orange Commonwealth’s Attorney Diane Wheeler said in the statement.

Alexis Murphy’s accused abductor appears in court
Posted on: 7:00 pm, August 13, 2013, by Joe St. George, updated on: 07:14am, August 14, 2013

NELSON COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) — Ten days after 17-year-old Alexis Murphy went missing, her accused abductor appeared in Nelson County Juvenile Court Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the search for Alexis continued.
Randy Taylor, 48, appeared calm and stoic in his ten minute court room appearance. He wore his jail uniform and answered the judge politely. ... more at link

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Alexis Murphy Case Gains National Attention

Posted: Aug 13, 2013 6:42 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 13, 2013 9:21 PM EDT
Flash
Flash


Alexis Murphy
Timeline: The Search for Alexis Murphy
National media outlets are picking up the story about the missing 17-year-old from Nelson County, Alexis Murphy.

A well-known legal commentator is now rallying her audience around the case. Nancy Grace is pushing Alexis' disappearance into the national spotlight. The CNN Headline News commentator spent most of her show detailing Alexis' disappearance to her prime time viewers Tuesday night.

Alexis' family continues to put itself out there in the public eye, demanding the story dominate headlines.

"I think our purpose is just to get her story and her face out there," said Trina Murphy, Alexis' great-aunt. ... more at the link

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Law Enforcement is back at Randy Taylor's house today. So far I've seen search dogs and officials on ATV's

Just within the past hour the police activity at Randy Taylor's house has picked up significantly. More coming up on 13 news at 5. ...

Wow, my granddgtr travels that route...

Thanks Pap and Elle, I need to keep up on this case.

--LIAR, he's just making it up as he goes along to account for her hair being found in his dumpy camper.

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Defense: Missing teen Alexis Murphy was in camper of suspect

Alexis Murphy and a man left in separate cars after Randy Taylor bought drugs, his lawyer said.

--snip--

On the evening Alexis Murphy went missing, she stood inside Randy Allen Taylor’s ramshackle camper while a man with her sipped Icehouse beer and smoked marijuana with Taylor, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Taylor, 48, didn’t know the man’s name but purchased $60 in marijuana from him, said Michael Hallahan, Taylor’s court-appointed attorney. Murphy, 17, neither smoked nor drank as the group talked, Hallahan said.

The Nelson County teen and the man left in separate cars before dark, Hallahan said. He never saw them again.

Eight days later, after finding a strand of Murphy’s hair in Taylor’s camper, authorities arrested him on an abduction charge, Hallahan said. He is being held without bond in Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail and faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence if convicted.

“We absolutely say that he is maintaining his innocence,” Hallahan said. “The evidence is very weak, from what I hear.”

--more@link.

So, does Taylor have a receipt for the $60 bag of pot he allegedly purchased from this "mysterious" unnamed man? Maybe the mystery man kept a transaction receipt? I'm guessing Taylor is saying he doesn't know the name of the mystery man?

All I can say is,,,,, contrived.

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NBC29 ‏@NBC29    
Randy Taylor's attorney tells NBC29 the suspect in the #AlexisMurphy case will have a bond hearing Thursday August 22nd in Nelson County.

Charlottesville and the surrounding area certainly has it share of missing persons. The easily forgotten, at least by law enforcement – Dashad "Sage" Smith...

New questions: Dashad Smith's family keeps pressure on investigation

By Courteney Stuart | [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Published online 1:03pm Thursday Mar 7th, 2013
and in print issue #1210 dated Thursday Mar 7th, 2013

Fifteen weeks. Almost 3,000 hours. Dozens of candles lit at vigils across the city. Countless tears. There many ways Dashad "Sage" Smith's family can measure the time since the 2011 Charlottesville High School grad disappeared two days before Thanksgiving [2012], but none of them add up to the answers they need.

"We haven't gotten any results," says Smith's cousin, Kenneth Jackson, who, along with Smith's grandmother, Lolita "Cookie" Smith, held a press conference on Friday, March 1, in an effort to keep public attention on Smith's disappearance and to express frustration with the investigation they continue to fear is stalled.

With no sign of Smith and little information released by police since the unfruitful search of a Richmond landfill, the family's desperation is growing– and so are their questions.

...
"We've gotten no response," Jackson told reporters in front of city hall, stressing that he and other family members believe Smith – who [occasionally]  dressed as a woman but, according to friends and family, was not transgendered – may have been the victim of a hate crime. ... more at the link...

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Attorney for Alexis Murphy Abduction Suspect: Wrong Man Arrested
Updated: Thu 7:43 AM, Aug 15, 2013

video – Taylor's Attorney Speaks About Case

August 14, 2013

The attorney for the suspect in Alexis Murphy's abduction says his client was not the last person seen with the missing 17-year-old Nelson County girl.

Attorney Mike Hallahan told WDBJ-TV that authorities arrested abduction suspect Randy Taylor because of a marijuana deal.

Hallahan says Alexis met Taylor last month at the car wash where he worked and noticed he was smoking marijuana. They started talking about it.

Then, Hallahan said, Murphy saw Taylor again on Aug. 3 at the Liberty gas station in Lovingston. Hallahan said his client asked Alexis for a marijuana dealer. The two went to Taylor's home where a black male in his late 20s sold Taylor some weed, Hallahan said.

The man and Murphy left the home, and that's the last time Taylor saw the 17-year-old, he said.

The attorney says authorities have known about this man and that he drives a maroon Chevrolet Caprice Classic with after-market 22" rims.

He also tells WDBJ that he plans to request a bond hearing in Nelson County to force the commonwealth to present its evidence against Taylor.

It's been 11 days since Murphy was last seen on the night of Aug. 3.

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Suspect claims drug dealer, Alexis Murphy left house together
Posted on: 12:10 am, August 15, 2013, by Nick Dutton – includes video

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Katie Love ‏@KLOVEREPORTER 8m
Just talked to Taylor's attorney, he's located person Taylor says was with #AlexisMurphy before she went missing. Giving info to police.

ALEXIS MURPHY
Bond hearing set for suspect in teen's disappearance

Parker Michels-Boyce/The News &
Virginia Department of Corrections officers scour the wooded area surrounding Randy Taylor's residence at 10506 Thomas Nelson Highway in Lovingston, Va. Wednesday.

The search for Alexis Murphy
Alexis Murphy, 17, left her Shipman home Saturday evening, August 3, for a shopping trip to Lynchburg and never came back.


Posted: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:23 am | Updated: 12:53 pm, Thu Aug 15, 2013

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