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“In my expert opinion, her DNA was from the blood,” Carr said.
The shirt and other items linking Murphy to Taylor’s small 1956 camper off U.S. 29 near Lovingston were the subject of testimony from FBI investigators Monday. Taylor, 48, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, murder in commission of abduction and abduction with intent to defile in connection with Murphy’s disappearance.
A human nail embedded in carpet, a long hair root and a diamond stud found in the camper Aug. 7 also have been linked to the teenager through DNA,
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Nelson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Anthony Martin, who described Murphy as a “silent witness” through the evidence, has said Taylor is the last person she was seen with as she left the Liberty gas station shortly after 7 p.m. Aug. 3.
He said investigators uncovered evidence of a violent struggle and believe that led to Murphy’s death, though a body has not been recovered.
Michael Hallahan, Taylor’s attorney, said the only thing prosecutors and law enforcement have to connect Taylor to the teen’s disappearance is “a theory.” He claims authorities singled out Taylor and did not properly vet other suspects, especially a male friend of Murphy’s who was in the camper that night.
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A cashier has testified she saw the two talking a few minutes before they left; the video captured an image of him holding the door open for her as she entered the store.
On Aug. 4, the day an extensive search for Murphy began, surveillance video at a Charlottesville movie theater recorded her car pulling into a parking spot at 10 p.m., but the driver was not identifiable. About 30 minutes later, Taylor was at a nearby Applebee’s looking “sweaty,” the bartender has testified,
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Taylor said his friend had passed out, which is why he needed the ride. The cab driver and bartender said in court they saw no one with Taylor that night.
Jeremy D’Errico, an FBI computer scientist, testified Monday he searched Taylor’s camper for a cellphone Aug. 11 and found the navy blue shirt “balled up” about an arm’s length under a sofa. The shirt contained hair extensions and an eyelash extension, he said.
Jon Cromer, of the Virginia State Police, said the hair “was enough to make a ponytail of” and outside of the scope of the team’s search warrant so the camper was sealed
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Taylor had been arrested that evening and no one other than law enforcement was at the residence, Cromer said.
Clay Overholt, a Virginia State Police agent, testified items found in the camper included a pellet gun and buck knife. Hallahan said Taylor gave a statement to police that he drank Ice House beers with a man who was with Murphy in his camper that night and asked if bottles were examined; Overholt replied two Ice House bottles were collected and analyzed.
Joshua Friedman, an FBI forensic examiner, tested hair found on a pillow in the camper showed characteristics of being “forcibly removed,” though he could not determine the type of force,
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Carr said DNA showed the hair came from Murphy, as did a diamond stud recovered in the camper; the nail was a “mixture” of at least two individuals, of which Murphy was the main contributor and Taylor was excluded as a minor contributor. DNA also showed the eyelash extension belonged to Murphy.
She also was a “major contributor” to the mixture of male-female DNA found on the hair extensions; results of a minor contributor were inconclusive
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While addressing the shirt, Circuit Judge J. Michael Gamble asked Carr if she could distinguish blood from perspiration. Carr replied sweat or skin cells from the shirt’s owner could have been the source of the minor DNA contribution.
“You’re 100 percent sure that’s her blood on that shirt?” Hallahan asked Carr.
Carr said she was not 100 percent but more than 99 percent certain — “a reasonable degree of scientific certainty” — it was Murphy’s blood.
After Monday’s court proceedings, Murphy’s great-aunt Trina Murphy said it was painful to see the shirt displayed and know “some sort of struggle” took place. But she is comforted by the thought of Murphy fighting back.
She has no doubt the blood on the shirt belongs to her niece, she said.
“That was very difficult to look at,” she said. “I had seen pictures of the shirt before but to actually see it and know that’s my niece’s blood on there is difficult.”
The hair extensions, she said, belonged to Murphy.
“Alexis was a girly girl,” Trina Murphy said. “She didn’t leave home unless she was polished.”
Martin played roughly an hour and a half of recorded interviews with Taylor at his camper Aug. 5 and 7. In the 39-minute recording from Aug. 5, Taylor said he was in Orange County the day Murphy disappeared.
“I don’t remember seeing that girl up there at all,”
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He said he went to Sheetz in Madison Heights that night but later retracted the statement after further questioning.
He said in the recording his 13-year-old son went to Nelson County High School with Murphy; he fathered the boy with an ex-girlfriend, whose family owns the property where his camper sat.
In the 45-minute recording from Aug. 7, investigators continued to pressure Taylor for information on Murphy’s whereabouts, stating multiple times he was the last person to see her.
Taylor voiced fears in the recording that admitting to drinking beers and engaging in drug use could lead to legal troubles, but investigators insisted they were concerned with finding Murphy.
“You’re a parent, just like we are,” Nelson County Investigator Billy Mays said in the recording. “Our interest and focus now is on this young lady and trying to figure out where she went and what her plans were.”
Taylor, in the recording, continued to deny meeting Murphy and said she was not on the property or in his truck. Mays said, to date, Taylor has not revealed the name of a friend he claimed to have gone to Amherst County to meet Aug. 3.
That day, Taylor purchased two pornographic films from a Charlottesville store, and investigators have said they found nearly a dozen in his camper.
Hallahan requested Gamble block Martin from introducing photos into evidence of pornography found in the camper, stating it would only be “prejudicial” to Taylor and is not relevant.
“They’re trying to basically smear the defendant’s reputation” by showing what could be considered to be immoral but legal images. “This is not a child pornography case.”
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“There’s absolutely no evidence of intent to defile,” Hallahan responded. “The commonwealth is trying to load up the jury with this pornography angle.”
Gamble ruled to deny the use of the photos but later said his decision was not final and he may reconsider.
hope they find her...
