A Campus Mystery Unraveled

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Speaker 8 Taylor was a very self-confident, beautiful person.

Speaker 8 She just saw all the good in everyone. She was never really negative.
She just made sure that you felt comfortable. and that you knew you were loved.

Speaker 8 My name is Gleniscio, and I'm Taylor Beale's best friend.

Speaker 8 In the fall of 2005, Taylor was very excited about going to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. I didn't worry.
She hadn't even turned 18 yet.

Speaker 8 And I'm Janet Pellisera and I'm Taylor's mother. I kissed her goodbye and she got in her car and off she went.

Speaker 8 She didn't call me that night, which is weird to me. I was scared.
You know, why isn't she turning up? Did she run away?

Speaker 10 In the initial stages when she was first reported missing, we didn't have a whole lot to go on. My name is John Venuti.
I'm a captain with the Richmond Police Department.

Speaker 10 We know that she left the dormitory and basically she's gone. Her car is gone.

Speaker 11 The mystery deepens. A missing Virginia Commonwealth freshman.
17-year-old Taylor Beale seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.

Speaker 8 Where would she go? Who would she go with? She wouldn't skip school. It's the second week of school.

Speaker 10 We actually wanted to find out what she did, where she went, who she hung around with, who her friends were.

Speaker 8 One day we were like talking and she was like, I have a secret to tell you. There was this man and he's showing a lot of attention to me.
I mean, I know it's wrong, but don't tell anyone.

Speaker 12 He was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Speaker 8 There was no way to know.

Speaker 8 My name is Erin Craville. I was a student when Taylor disappeared.
I think that she was just a normal college girl and got mixed up with the wrong person.

Speaker 13 Taylor Beale is just an interesting girl. On one hand, you've got this very bright, very bubbly, very personable college student.

Speaker 14 And then on the other hand, you have this young lady that is very amorous and very flirtatious towards older men.

Speaker 8 They were saying that Taylor was very into bondage. I knew that she was not into this weird, creepy sex.
She never would have done any of that. That wasn't who she was.

Speaker 10 About 30 days into the investigation, Aaron Crabel gave us some really significant information that would wind up busting the case wide open.

Speaker 8 This is Taylor. This is my friend.
And I will do what I can.

Speaker 10 Searching for secrets.

Speaker 12 America's patchwork quilt. Oh, you got me.

Speaker 12 So wrapped up.

Speaker 12 Fly, fly, fly, fly.

Speaker 12 For 17-year-old Taylor Beale of Vienna, Virginia, happiness was sipping cappuccino and listening to live music at her favorite neighborhood coffee shop.

Speaker 12 But on Labor Day 2005, having spent the long weekend at home, all Taylor wanted was to get back to her freshman year of college.

Speaker 8 She was so excited. She had met tons of people and she liked her roommate and her sweetmates.

Speaker 12 Virginia Commonwealth University, known as VCU, was only two hours away in Richmond, but too far away for Taylor's mother, Janet Pellisara.

Speaker 8 I was having migraine headaches, panic attacks, just knowing that she wasn't going to be around.

Speaker 8 This is the first picture of the two of us.

Speaker 12 Taylor is Janet's only child.

Speaker 8 It was the happiest day of my life and I just squished her every chance I got.

Speaker 12 The two were inseparable.

Speaker 8 When we would go shopping, it was nothing for us to hold hands, even as a teenager, or lock arms or arms around each other. And she had no problem with that.

Speaker 15 She was a very kind girl.

Speaker 16 She was always concerned about

Speaker 15 other people.

Speaker 12 Matt Beale, Taylor's dad, and Janet divorced when Taylor was almost two.

Speaker 12 But they shared a profound love for their daughter.

Speaker 15 She didn't have a wide circle of friends, but those that really knew Taylor really liked her.

Speaker 12 When I say the name Taylor Beale, what first comes to mind?

Speaker 8 Her smile, actually.

Speaker 12 Taylor's best friend, Glennis Keogh.

Speaker 8 She would always stand up for her friends, and you could turn to her for anything. Like she would always be there.

Speaker 12 So, on that Labor Day weekend, no one wanted to see Taylor leave

Speaker 12 as she headed back to VCU.

Speaker 16 And the last memory memory is

Speaker 16 giving her a hug and a kiss and

Speaker 17 telling her I loved her.

Speaker 12 A few hours later, Taylor arrived here in Richmond at her college dorm. She unpacked, chatted with a few friends, and then called both of her parents to let them know she was okay.

Speaker 12 But later that night, Taylor Beale disappeared.

Speaker 8 She came in,

Speaker 8 picked up her keys, and left.

Speaker 8 And she said she would be back in three hours.

Speaker 12 Those were the last words Taylor said to her roommate, Emma Ellsworth. When did you really become worried about her?

Speaker 8 The next night, when we realized she hadn't been back for a day.

Speaker 8 Her books were still there. She hadn't gone to any of her classes, which was odd.

Speaker 12 Emma notified the VCU campus police who told Janet that both her daughter and her car were missing.

Speaker 8 I paced around the house thinking, okay, do I panic?

Speaker 12 Did you try calling her on her cell phone? Yes. No answer.

Speaker 12 VCU police questioned friends and acquaintances. Could Taylor have simply wandered off?

Speaker 8 She was a teenage girl, but she was still a responsible teenage girl.

Speaker 12 Taylor's VCU friend, Aaron Crable.

Speaker 8 She wasn't the kind of person who would just go, hey, that motorcycle guy looks cool. I'm gonna go drive off down the block with him.

Speaker 12 A desperate mother turned to the press to get the story out. The search for Taylor went nationwide.
Police in Richmond, Virginia say there's still no sign of a college freshman.

Speaker 8 Somebody had to have seen her. Someone had to have seen her car.

Speaker 8 Hope became less and less.

Speaker 8 I kept telling everyone around me, you know, it's going to be okay. She's going to come back alive.

Speaker 12 Ten days after Taylor's disappearance, VCU turned the case over to the Richmond Police. Chief Rodney Monroe organized a task force made up of university, state, and federal investigators.

Speaker 20 Task Force was mainly created just so that we could handle the volume of information that had to be processed.

Speaker 10 Let me hit your back.

Speaker 12 Richmond Police Captain John Venuti.

Speaker 10 Everyone had one objective, and that was for the task force to find Taylor Beale.

Speaker 12 I think he's just a thing. Investigator Les Lozier of the Virginia Attorney General's Office feared the worst.

Speaker 22 We had no cell phone activity. We had no charge card activity.
None of those things that would show that she's out and about.

Speaker 10 Where do you start? You start with your victim.

Speaker 10 Everyone your victim knows.

Speaker 10 Every place your victim's been and that's what was our starting point.

Speaker 12 Ben Folley was one of the last people to have seen Taylor the night she disappeared. What happened when Taylor came over?

Speaker 9 Well, she was upset because she had been dumped online by her official boyfriend.

Speaker 12 But when police interviewed the boyfriend, Jacob Cunningham, they learned that he and Taylor had dinner that night and had made up.

Speaker 23 We were on good terms. We left holding hands.

Speaker 12 Richmond police detective Jason Hudson.

Speaker 23 Once you talk to Jacob, he's a very nice young man. We narrowed his timeline to where we felt comfortable excluding him from any person of interest.

Speaker 12 After dinner, Taylor told Jacob she was planning on going skateboarding. Could you find anybody? She had made plans to go skateboarding.

Speaker 21 Not for that million. Not for that million.

Speaker 12 This is the last sighting of Taylor the night she disappeared. Captured on campus surveillance video at 10.24 p.m.

Speaker 10 This video represents the last time that we know for certain that Taylor was alive.

Speaker 12 12 excruciating days pass, and finally, a break.

Speaker 12 Taylor's car is found on a quiet residential street not far from campus.

Speaker 8 Did that give you hope? Yes, it did give me hope.

Speaker 8 That she was still alive.

Speaker 22 At least we found the car. Now maybe in that vicinity, we may find Taylor.

Speaker 17 Good boy. Work hard.

Speaker 12 Detectives showed us how the bloodhound they called in

Speaker 12 picked up a scent around the car. That scent led them to a home five blocks away.
Where did that scent ultimately take you?

Speaker 10 It took us to Jesse Schultz.

Speaker 12 So who's Jesse Schultz?

Speaker 10 Jesse Schultz was pretty much an average young guy.

Speaker 10 He wasn't affiliated or enrolled in VCU, but I guess he would go down to the VCU area to meet girls.

Speaker 12 Let me ask you something, Jesse.

Speaker 12 Do you know Taylor Beale?

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Speaker 12 Almost two agonizing weeks had passed since the disappearance of Janet Pellisara's 17-year-old daughter, Taylor.

Speaker 8 Did someone have her in their basement? Was she being held hostage?

Speaker 12 Whoever has her, just let her walk away. Just let her go.

Speaker 12 Task force members, Les Lozier, Jason Hudson, and John Venuti worked around the clock searching for clues.

Speaker 10 The momentum was just, I mean, it was incredible.

Speaker 12 And how would you describe that momentum?

Speaker 10 Like a runaway train.

Speaker 12 A train coming straight at 23-year-old Jesse Schultz.

Speaker 12 Why would the police who are looking for Taylor Beale come to you?

Speaker 10 It had to have stemmed from the dog.

Speaker 21 I mean, that's the only way.

Speaker 17 Good boy.

Speaker 12 A bloodhound led police from Taylor Beale's car to Schultz's relatives' house. Investigators searched the house, but came up empty until they asked one last question.

Speaker 21 On leaving, they asked Ma and Uncle who was the last person to visit here. They're like, probably our nephew, Jesse.

Speaker 12 So detectives brought Jesse in, questioning him for several hours. Later, they asked him to take a polygraph.
And how did he do on that polygraph?

Speaker 10 The results from the polygraph indicated deception.

Speaker 21 Frankly, I told him they were effing crazy.

Speaker 12 Did you know Taylor Beale?

Speaker 17 No.

Speaker 12 Had you ever met Taylor Beale?

Speaker 21 Not to my knowledge, no.

Speaker 12 As days passed, Jesse Schultz's story began to ring true.

Speaker 10 Do I think Jesse had anything to do with Taylor's disappearance? No.

Speaker 12 As for the scent picked up by the bloodhound?

Speaker 10 To this day, it still remains a big question mark.

Speaker 12 Just as Jesse Schultz was being cleared, police were taking another look at Ben Folley, one of the last people to have seen Taylor before she disappeared.

Speaker 12 First sticker was on the original bumper. And the original bumper is not there anymore, but the original stickers were these Team GT stickers.

Speaker 12 Ben Folley was known around campus for his colorful hair and his equally colorful van. A van so distinctive, it was featured on local television.

Speaker 8 I've seen it all over Richmond. I think it's very interesting.

Speaker 12 I do that to almost all my vehicles. I've had a 66 Dodge dart that was...
Folly had been a suspect almost from the very beginning.

Speaker 10 His story had lots of holes in it. He left a gigantic gap in the timeline.
We knew he was affiliated with Taylor, so he was a good suspect.

Speaker 12 Folly first met Taylor in February 2005 when she and her father Matt visited colleges and checked out the VCU campus. A very different looking Folly talked with us about the encounter.

Speaker 12 What was your first impression of Taylor?

Speaker 9 A very beautiful, very attractive young lady with her dad at the door.

Speaker 12 Taylor planned on staying over with a friend already enrolled at the university. Folly was the friend's roommate.

Speaker 9 We had a lot in common. We had very similar opinions about things.
We spent the entire time talking

Speaker 9 about everything.

Speaker 12 Taylor's dad, Matt, spoke with Folly before leaving Taylor for the night. Did you have hesitation leaving Taylor with really a stranger?

Speaker 16 No, because Taylor was comfortable. He was very friendly, very personable.

Speaker 16 You know,

Speaker 16 dressed a little differently, but appropriately for what you would think you would see on a college campus.

Speaker 12 What Matt didn't know was that Ben Folley was no longer a student at VCU.

Speaker 12 Even more alarming,

Speaker 12 Folly was 37 years old. How old did you think he was?

Speaker 16 Mid-20s at best.

Speaker 12 And he didn't volunteer that he was much older than that.

Speaker 16 No, not at all.

Speaker 12 Back home, while still in high school, Taylor continued communicating with Folly by email. And when she visited the campus again, this time on her own, she again saw Folly.

Speaker 9 She liked the fact that I respected her opinion and that I didn't treat treat her like a child.

Speaker 12 Folly, an amateur photographer, took this series of pictures during one of Taylor's visits.

Speaker 8 Mostly it was just him shying her with attention. She never thought of him seriously.
It was never, I want to date him. It was more like

Speaker 8 intriguing.

Speaker 12 But at one point, Taylor shared with her best friend Glennis Keough that she and Folly had been intimate.

Speaker 8 It was a one-night thing. She didn't regret it, but she didn't want to do it again.

Speaker 12 Aaron Crable,

Speaker 12 another of Taylor's VCU friends, understands how Taylor could be drawn to Folly. The 24-year-old once dated him.
What attracted you to him?

Speaker 8 You were the only person in the world. All of his attention was on you.
And he had all these crazy stories. He would steal cars and break the law, but he was reformed.

Speaker 12 He was your bad boy.

Speaker 8 He was the ex-bad boy.

Speaker 12 But Erin ended her relationship with Folly almost as soon as it began.

Speaker 8 He became very jealous. And then the thing that caused me to end it was he broke into my apartment in the middle of the night.

Speaker 12 With what Erin says were evil intentions.

Speaker 12 What was actually in Ben's hands? What did Ben have?

Speaker 8 Mace and a hammer. I felt like I don't know what this man is capable of.

Speaker 12 Neither did task force detectives, who continued questioning Folley about Taylor's disappearance. As they delved deeper into his past, they discovered a disturbing pattern.

Speaker 22 We found that there were other young girls who had been in contact with him over the years and had been assaulted or had been threatened or felt threatened by him.

Speaker 12 In fact, Folley was convicted of assaulting one former girlfriend in 2003.

Speaker 22 At that point in time, for all of us, you know, Folly's starting to look like he's the guy.

Speaker 12 But the task force needed evidence linking Ben Folley to Taylor's disappearance. Under questioning the only thing Folly would admit to was having sex with Taylor.

Speaker 12 But Taylor was a minor and that violation gave detectives what they needed to search Folly's apartment.

Speaker 12 What they found here disturbed even the most experienced investigators.

Speaker 22 There's a massive amount of child pornography.

Speaker 12 And when you say child pornography, how graphic was it?

Speaker 22 Extremely graphic.

Speaker 14 These are images, movie images of children as young as three and four being brutally raped.

Speaker 9 None of the pornography that was in that apartment was mine.

Speaker 12 Fawley claimed it had been left behind by the previous tenant. Still, possessing child pornography is a felony.

Speaker 25 Open the door, Ben.

Speaker 12 The police immediately arrested him.

Speaker 10 That was the vehicle that was used to put Ben Folley in jail so that we would have the time to find Taylor and eventually put all the pieces together.

Speaker 12 But the search of Folly's computers yielded an unusual clue that led investigators to an unlikely crime solver.

Speaker 8 Whoa, I just got chills.

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Speaker 12 Ben Folley, now 38, was in jail under arrest for the child pornography police had found on one of his six computers.

Speaker 14 That was really only the beginning.

Speaker 12 For Detective Jeffrey Dean, revelations about Folly began with the sheer volume of data he'd stored away.

Speaker 19 It was just an amazing amount of

Speaker 24 material.

Speaker 19 One computer had, I believe, five hard drives in it.

Speaker 12 In an endless variety of random photos, abandoned buildings, secluded locations, maps and weapons, the truly bizarre, along with photos of Taylor, investigators sensed a jigsaw puzzle of evidence.

Speaker 14 The job is to put the puzzle together.

Speaker 12 Ben Folley was now a prime suspect in the disappearance of Taylor Beale, and police were looking for someone who could link the talented student to the temperamental college dropout.

Speaker 12 Aaron Crabel would be that someone.

Speaker 8 Taylor's missing, and I know Ben, and I know Taylor, and I want to talk about it.

Speaker 12 Aaron, as a one-time girlfriend of Folly's, soon figured out just what the police were beginning to conclude.

Speaker 8 I realized they were looking for someone who was dead. They weren't looking for live Taylor anymore.

Speaker 8 And then they started showing me photographs that had been pulled off his computer. And they said, Do you recognize this one, the one that you've got in your hands?

Speaker 12 So, when they showed you this and it says Home, Sweet Home, what was your reaction when you saw this picture?

Speaker 8 I said, Oh, that's right next to my parents' house.

Speaker 12 And how did the detectives react when you said that?

Speaker 8 They said, Oh, I just got chills, you know, I got goosebumps. And she said, That place is going to be important.

Speaker 25 We need to go there.

Speaker 12 After Erin Crabo told two VCU cops how she had once taken Ben Folly to this house in the photo, it was pure police instinct that led them to rural Virginia's Matthews County, 90 miles from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Speaker 12 Still, Aaron wasn't sure what, if anything, police would find.

Speaker 8 I'm thinking, God, I feel so bad. I'm wasting their time.
They could be doing other things. They could be doing something important.

Speaker 12 It was a month since Taylor Beal had disappeared.

Speaker 12 Aaron Crabel led the way.

Speaker 8 First officer said, Do you smell something?

Speaker 8 I said, Yeah.

Speaker 8 It smelled like the end of something.

Speaker 8 The officer saw her before I did.

Speaker 8 He said, We found someone.

Speaker 22 A shallow grave and with you know remains strewn about.

Speaker 22 That's pretty much that.

Speaker 24 That's what it was.

Speaker 8 I didn't want to believe that it was her.

Speaker 8 I didn't want to think

Speaker 25 that she was gone

Speaker 25 because I knew

Speaker 25 that if She was dead,

Speaker 25 that Ben had killed her.

Speaker 12 It was not just the news of her daughter's death that hit Janet Pellisara so hard, but how Taylor died.

Speaker 8 For him to leave her in

Speaker 8 a shallow grave, a ravine, to be eaten

Speaker 8 by animals, by insects.

Speaker 8 She was a skeleton. That's what was left of my baby because of him.

Speaker 9 I didn't murder anybody, but you know, that's what everyone expects me to say.

Speaker 12 That's what Ben Folley told the police. In a rambling statement, he adamantly denied killing Taylor Beale.
But he did admit he was with Taylor the night she died.

Speaker 9 It's not like we were hiding.

Speaker 12 But that would be virtually the only part of his story.

Speaker 9 My

Speaker 9 concept of time is a little wax.

Speaker 12 That would be clear?

Speaker 9 No, that was something else.

Speaker 12 Or straightforward.

Speaker 28 I

Speaker 9 was very drunk and very high and I don't know why Taylor died.

Speaker 12 Folly claims that everything about that evening was consensual.

Speaker 9 She asked me to wait for her. I waited for her.

Speaker 12 Starting with his picking up Taylor at her college dorm.

Speaker 12 Police discovered Folly on the college security videotape waiting just outside Taylor's dorm at 10.21 p.m.

Speaker 12 Minutes later is when the same camera captures Taylor leaving. Folly says they ended up at his apartment.
He started drinking and she started egging him on.

Speaker 8 How much had you been drinking?

Speaker 24 It was a bit.

Speaker 12 Narcotics?

Speaker 9 Yeah.

Speaker 12 A daring teenager out for a thrill. That's how Ben Folley tells the tale.
And he adds, there was much more that Taylor Beal wanted to do.

Speaker 12 So they drove her car out towards Matthews County and started to play a different, far deadlier game.

Speaker 9 She wanted to try an activity.

Speaker 12 What kind of activity?

Speaker 9 She was calling it drunk monkey, I think was the term.

Speaker 12 Ultimately, this is how 38-year-old petty thief Ben Folley claims 17-year-old college freshman Taylor Beale died at her own game, a sex game known as erotic asphyxia.

Speaker 12 It's where you pass out during sex. And she's the one who came up with this idea?

Speaker 9 I had never heard of it before.

Speaker 12 You had never heard of erotic asphyxia? Never. We only have your word for that.

Speaker 10 I'm aware of that.

Speaker 12 We only have your word for that. And I'm aware of that.
And what are you saying that Taylor wanted you to do that night?

Speaker 9 She wanted to pass out

Speaker 28 during sex.

Speaker 12 For what purpose?

Speaker 9 The ultimate orgasm.

Speaker 12 So Folly claims, at her urging, during sex in the back seat of her car, he tried various ways to restrict Taylor Beale's breathing.

Speaker 9 She wanted me to put a bag over her head.

Speaker 12 Is that what you did?

Speaker 9 We tried that several times.

Speaker 12 What do you do with it then?

Speaker 9 I held it over her nose and her mouth.

Speaker 12 For how long? I don't know. And what happened?

Speaker 9 At first, I thought she was...

Speaker 9 laughing because we fell off the seat. We'd fallen off the seat several times this night.
I thought everything was fine and dandy.

Speaker 12 Was she talking to you?

Speaker 9 But she was passed out.

Speaker 9 And that's what she wanted.

Speaker 12 Then he claims, unable to wake Taylor up, he froze into a stone-cold panic. Why didn't you call for help?

Speaker 9 I thought about it.

Speaker 12 Did you try calling?

Speaker 9 9-1-1? I thought about it.

Speaker 12 And why didn't you?

Speaker 9 Because by the time

Speaker 9 I tried to wake her up

Speaker 9 what was running through my head was

Speaker 9 i'm in some serious here

Speaker 9 you might have been able to save her i might have i don't know

Speaker 12 and no one ever will because ben folly then claims he panicked again that he drove the body of taylor beal back to richmond left her in her car went to sleep and then a day later returned to matthews county dug a shallow grave, and left the once vibrant girl by the side of the road.

Speaker 12 By the time her body was discovered, a month later, it was impossible to tell exactly how Taylor Beale died.

Speaker 8 You thought you could get away with it?

Speaker 9 I thought I could.

Speaker 9 Yeah.

Speaker 12 Ben Folley was charged with first-degree murder, but he may not be the only one who was on trial.

Speaker 14 It's almost like you're dealing with two different people when you talk about Taylor Beale.

Speaker 12 One day after what should have been a celebration of Taylor Beale's 18th birthday,

Speaker 12 Family and friends were instead mourning Taylor's death.

Speaker 25 The service was beautiful and touching, short and sweet,

Speaker 25 just like Taylor's life.

Speaker 12 On that wet, gray October day, Janet Pelisara was filled with grief and rage for the man believed to have murdered her daughter.

Speaker 25 My prayer is for the courts see fit

Speaker 25 to give him the death penalty so he may continue

Speaker 12 his downward spiral into the depths of hell.

Speaker 12 But Ben Folly claims that Taylor's death was an accident, the result of a sex game that went horribly wrong.

Speaker 9 I definitely did not murder Taylor. Am I the direct cause of her death?

Speaker 10 I very well could be.

Speaker 9 But am I guilty of murder? No.

Speaker 12 Prosecutors Jack Gill and Chris Bullard disagree.

Speaker 15 And this predator descends upon her, selects her, picks her out, and kills her.

Speaker 12 You know, he says that Taylor Beale's death was an accident. I mean, isn't it possible it was?

Speaker 24 It's possible a meteor landed on Taylor Beale. Is it probable? No.

Speaker 24 The evidence shows that Mr. Folley killed her.

Speaker 12 The prosecution's theory? Folly took Taylor for a drive to a secluded area to have sex. When Taylor rejected him, an angry Folly strangled her.

Speaker 15 It's unlikely to the point of being almost impossible that she was interested in anything to do with sex or kinky sex with this guy.

Speaker 12 Prosecutors point out that in Folly's own statement to police, he admits he flipped out and told Taylor to shut up.

Speaker 24 He says he thinks he put his hand over her mouth and told her to shut up. That's I'm angry.

Speaker 9 Taylor and I were not mad at each other. She was not rejecting me.
She was not telling me it was over. There was nothing for there to be over between us.

Speaker 12 Prosecutors also say Folly duct taped Taylor's wrists, not as part of a sex act, but to restrain her.

Speaker 15 There was duct tape on the cuff.

Speaker 24 On the outside of the jacket.

Speaker 15 Now, that's not

Speaker 15 erotic asphyxiation, bondage, or any kind of sex that any of the textbooks that I've looked at have.

Speaker 12 What is that to you?

Speaker 15 That's not consensual.

Speaker 12 Her hands, according to your own statement, were tied behind her back.

Speaker 9 I know at one point they were.

Speaker 12 Isn't that more consistent with an abduction than a sexual consent?

Speaker 10 I did not abduct Taylor.

Speaker 9 It was two people consenting.

Speaker 12 In his statement recorded by police, Folly insists the duct tape was simply part of the game.

Speaker 29 She wanted to feel like I was kidnapping her, make her feel like she was being kidnapped, tie her up.

Speaker 29 And she said, really tie her up.

Speaker 12 Do you think the jury is going to believe that this 17-year-old girl came up with this idea?

Speaker 9 I think if

Speaker 9 people are honest, you don't realize what people are doing until a tragedy like this happens.

Speaker 18 She's a sweet, young college girl who was experimenting with sex and who knows what else. and unfortunately, it led to her death.

Speaker 12 Attorneys Chris Collins and Bill Johnson are defending Ben Foley.

Speaker 12 How would Taylor Beale have any kind of knowledge about this bondage or any of these sexual practices?

Speaker 10 Fawley showed her.

Speaker 14 He had a computer that was filled with pictures of young ladies involved in various bondage poses.

Speaker 12 And at trial, the defense plans to show that Taylor wasn't wasn't a naive college freshman.

Speaker 13 Taylor was very aware that these models were involved in the bondage industry.

Speaker 23 I think that may have perked her fascination.

Speaker 12 It sounds as if, in order to save Ben Folly from a long time in prison, you're going to really have to put the blame on Taylor Beale, the victim here.

Speaker 24 Not going to put any blame on her, no.

Speaker 18 But we're certainly going to incorporate her activity.

Speaker 24 And I think that's fair.

Speaker 12 Not according according to Taylor's best friend and confidant. Glynnis Keo says the defense theory is simply ridiculous.

Speaker 8 I know for a fact that Taylor would have never done that. She would have never been into bondage.
She was not a sexually experienced person.

Speaker 12 Did she ever talk about being interested in bondage?

Speaker 8 No, never.

Speaker 8 According to 17-year-old standards, she was approved.

Speaker 12 In fact, prosecutor Chris Bullard says he was unable to find any evidence other than Ben Folley's word that Taylor had any interest in bondage and risky sex acts.

Speaker 24 There's no computer evidence to show that she was visiting websites about erotic asphyxiation. We're confident that that was not

Speaker 24 what she was into.

Speaker 12 What's more, prosecutors say they can prove that Ben Folley is lying about how Taylor died that night.

Speaker 12 By reenacting Folley's story, Richmond police showed us what they learned.

Speaker 8 I'm Officer Sarah Powell. I was portraying Taylor Buell.

Speaker 22 Jason McClung with the Richmond Police Department and I portrayed Ben Folley.

Speaker 12 The two young Richmond police officers are the same size as Taylor and Folly.

Speaker 12 And the car, an exact replica.

Speaker 23 We did it as accurately as possible as it was told to me by Ben Folley.

Speaker 12 Detective Jason Hudson read from Folly's own statement as a script.

Speaker 23 I was half off, half on the seat. Her head was against the door, and she was bent sideways.

Speaker 12 And this is Folly's voice.

Speaker 29 I was looking at the side of her. Her front was facing the front of the car.

Speaker 29 She was on top of me. Her

Speaker 12 bottom was right on

Speaker 29 her hips were right on top of me. And I remember hooking my arm in her arm and grabbing her by the hip and pulling her up onto the seat.

Speaker 23 Is that hard?

Speaker 17 Yeah. Very hard.

Speaker 12 The obvious takeaway, say the officers?

Speaker 22 Someone could not get any kind of enjoyment out of this.

Speaker 8 Well, I've only been here a few minutes and already half of my body is completely numb. So I know that any teenage girl wouldn't settle for this too long.

Speaker 12 As for Detective Hudson...

Speaker 23 Well, it tells you it didn't happen the way that he said it did.

Speaker 12 But will this be enough to prove that Folly intended to kill Taylor? Or, as the defense is counting on, will 12 jurors have their own doubts about the victim herself?

Speaker 14 Rural jurors expect men to act like gentlemen, and they expect young women to act like ladies.

Speaker 14 That mindset, we believe, certainly played into our favor.

Speaker 12 And Matthews County is as rural and conservative as it gets.

Speaker 11 Jan, you're on 11:40 WRVA.

Speaker 8 It was almost like she was asking for it.

Speaker 12 The quiet conservative community of Matthews County, Virginia was bracing for a sensational trial in the death of Taylor Beale.

Speaker 13 For Matthews County, it's huge.

Speaker 14 It has no peer.

Speaker 13 God knows how many people are going to be there for the trial. It's a real, real, real big event.

Speaker 12 Everyone seemed to know about the 17-year-old college freshman abandoned by the side of a country road.

Speaker 16 To think that she was discarded in the woods the same way that you might throw a piece of paper out of your car window, it makes me sick.

Speaker 12 Janet fears the trial will force her to confront the horror of what happened to her child.

Speaker 12 What scares you the most about this trial coming up?

Speaker 8 Hearing

Speaker 8 lies,

Speaker 8 but mostly is being exposed to the photos

Speaker 8 of Taylor in that ravine.

Speaker 8 I don't want to see those pictures.

Speaker 12 The trial seemed set to begin when suddenly defense attorneys learned about a startling statement made by Ben Folley from behind bars.

Speaker 12 Even from the isolation of his cell, Folley managed to do what he had done all his life.

Speaker 9 I am king at putting my foot in my mouth.

Speaker 12 In a flipped jailhouse conversation with an officer, Folley described his previous statement to police as nothing more than a cynical strategy to beat the system, leaving the impression his story about erotic asphyxia was completely made up.

Speaker 12 It put his lawyers in a very awkward position.

Speaker 18 He went back to his cell and immediately said

Speaker 18 to one of the deputies, it's a big chess game and I just made a huge move. Let's see what they do.

Speaker 18 That's pretty devastating stuff.

Speaker 12 And then there was this jailhouse letter penned to an ex-girlfriend.

Speaker 14 I can't quote it verbatim, but it simply said that I am the reason why Taylor is dead. I deserve to be imprisoned.

Speaker 12 Prosecutor Chris Bullard plans to use that letter against him in court.

Speaker 10 People are right.

Speaker 24 Something is wrong with me. All the thoughts of death and killing in my head.
And now it's true. I've killed.

Speaker 12 The letter, coupled with his description of the proceedings against him as nothing more than a chess game,

Speaker 12 left Ben Folly with few options.

Speaker 12 All right.

Speaker 14 He knew he was in a box.

Speaker 10 I'm advised there's an agreement in this case.

Speaker 14 That's correct, Judge.

Speaker 12 Trapped by his own boastful words, Ben Folly could only manage a whisper

Speaker 12 as he agreed to a plea deal.

Speaker 18 Mr. Folly, your plea is guilty, is that correct? Yes.

Speaker 18 Was it your decision?

Speaker 18 Yeah.

Speaker 10 Say it again. Your enemy to speak up, Mr.
Folly.

Speaker 10 He can't understand.

Speaker 5 Yes.

Speaker 12 The deal? Second-degree murder. And the child pornography charges dropped.
Instead of life in prison, 30 years, which Folly's lawyers thought was a pretty good deal for him.

Speaker 12 If this is a big chess game, did you win or lose?

Speaker 18 It gets pretty close to a tie, I think.

Speaker 17 I agree.

Speaker 14 I think things could have gone far worse for Mr. Fawley.

Speaker 14 I think he may have come out on a little bit better end of the stick, all things considered.

Speaker 10 Mr. Folley, before sentence is formally pronounced, is there anything you would like to say?

Speaker 10 No.

Speaker 12 But Taylor's mother, Janet, had something to say

Speaker 12 to her daughter's killer.

Speaker 8 After the trial, once he was put away, I thought there would be some relief.

Speaker 8 But it hasn't really made a difference.

Speaker 16 It's something that you think of every single day of your life.

Speaker 12 You really miss her, don't you, Matt?

Speaker 25 It's just very,

Speaker 8 very heartbreaking and sad to have to keep going on without her.

Speaker 12 But Janet Palisara has vowed to keep going.

Speaker 8 She's written a book, Love You More, and this is what she left me when she went off to school. It says, I love you more.

Speaker 12 That special little phrase

Speaker 12 she and Taylor always ended their conversations with.

Speaker 8 It's about her, about what he took from her.

Speaker 8 She was so excited about the future, the list of things that she wanted to do and who she wanted to be.

Speaker 8 And she would have succeeded. She would have been all those things.

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Speaker 30 Now streaming. Everyone who comes into this clinic is a mystery.

Speaker 7 We don't know what we're looking for.

Speaker 30 Their bodies are the scene of the crime. No symptoms and history are clues.

Speaker 7 You saved her life.

Speaker 30 We're doctors and we're detectives.

Speaker 3 I kind of love it if I'm being honest.

Speaker 30 Solve the puzzle, save the patient.

Speaker 3 Watson, all episodes now streaming on Paramount Plus.