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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Taylor Barksdale Part 2 · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It's really scary. I don't know if I'm supposed to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: be back here.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: I'm in Madison County, Arkansas, known locally by its nickname
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Booger County. When I was working on another case down
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: here a while back, the Billie Jean Phillips murder, I
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: asked a lot of people where this nickname came from,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: by the way, and heard a bunch of different explanations.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Madison County, like a lot of the Ozarks, was very
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: sparsely populated and had very few highways running through it
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: until the nineteen sixties. The original road, which was then
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: called Highway four twelve to Kingston, was dirt until nineteen
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: sixty one. My dad and some other people told me
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: that people from Madison County were referred to as boogers
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: because they were tough, like a crusty booger on the
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: inside of your nose. Other people think it's because of
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the expression it was a booger to get around there
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: or to live there, meaning that it was tough to navigate.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: There are also some rumors the nickname has something to
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: do with ghosts or spirits or an old moonshiner. The
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: point is that everyone seems to know about the nickname,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: but no one really knows how it got started. It's
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: just something that has always been that way, and they
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: think it will always be that way in Madison County,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: which is the same thing a lot of people say
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: about local law enforcement and about what they see is
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the relationship between people who have power and people who don't.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: The Madison County Sheriff's office got a nine to one
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: one call in the early morning hours of August fifth,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. The caller heard sounds she believed that
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: they were coming from a woman who was being raped
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: or tortured, but the police never came. Then a few
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: weeks later, around September fifth, people were expressing concern about
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Taylor Barksdale, a thirty year old woman who had been
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: living in Huntsville and who had gone missing. When police
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: finally went into the area of the nine to one
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: one call to investigate, more than a month after the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: nine to one one call was made, on September ninth,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: they went out to a residence in Kingston. They found
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Taylor's remains. Side note, I've also been told that the
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: rumor about Taylor's remains being found in a hay bale
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: or not true. But I have another source who says
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: they were present on the day the remains were found
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: and they said that it is true. The Madison County
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Sheriff's office is not saying one way or another, and
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: I don't want to fuel rumors, so I should make clear.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: We don't know for sure whether Taylor's remains were found
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: in Heybale's, but either way, we do know that her
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: remains were found on a property in Kingston. Taylor was
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: a mother of two young children, someone who was loved
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: by her friends and family, and someone who was vulnerable,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: someone who died screaming in a dark field, desperately waiting
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: for help that never came.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I'm Catherine Townsend.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: as a small town where murder never happened. I've received
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: And their communities.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: If you have a case you'd like me and my
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: team to look into, you can reach out to us
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: seven four four six one four five. That's six seven
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: eight seven four four six one four five. Or you
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonpod.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone Murder Line. I talked to Taylor's
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: aunt in the last episode. Now that I'm in Madison County,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: I make a plan with her and Taylor's uncle to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: meet up with them. My source, Jay Brown, and I
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: meet beforehand, then we head to a local gas station
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: to meet with them. Our plan is to go out
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: and to get near the area where the caller heard
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: the screams and to try to piece together what was
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: going on with Taylor between July twentieth, when she was
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: apparently reported missing by someone, and August fifth, the night
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: she was heard screaming when we believe she was killed.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Taylor's aunt tells us about her frustrations with the Madison
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: County Sheriff's office. Since Taylor's remains were found, a lot
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: of people have been expressing their frustrations with the Sheriff's
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: office and what they believe is a lack of information
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: on social media pages chatting about Madison County. Taylor's aunt
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: brings up the fact that in Facebook posts, the sheriff
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: mentions he doesn't have enough officers and says that the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: county needs a new jail. And while this might be true,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: many people feel that this is a deflection from the
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: real issue. A woman was in distress, a deputy failed
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: to respond to her and later lied about it, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: yet this deputy was allowed to resign. She's asking, quite rightly,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, what does any of this have to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: do with a new jail. She says that even though
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: she understands the sheriff wants a new jail, better facilities,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: and more manpower, she believes that his response to Taylor's
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: family was unacceptable. She said that her husband is even
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: offered to become a reserve deputy.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: And donate one night a week. And we told him
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that you can be a reserve. Yeah, my dad did.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I told me.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: I said, he's offered to be a reserve. Yeah, and
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: that would be an I'm not bragging. We're not reaching
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: any means, but I would be willing to let him
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: miss the day of our pay and that's big money
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: to go reserve that night and stay up all night
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: to reserve.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: But he doesn't want it.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: And we talk about our shared outrage that the deputy
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: blake Castle admitted to Drew Scott, the officer on duty,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: that he did not respond to the nine to.
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: One one call.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: He admitted that on August fifth, so Drew knew the
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: next day that blake Castle had lied about taking that call.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And even when Sheriff Ronnie Boyd did respond, which we'll
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: go into in detail later in the episode, it seemed
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: to me that a lot of the sheriff's response was
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: focused on venting the frustrations that the police officers feel
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: and not on what consequences, if any, this deputy was
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: going to face. It was just like, you know, how
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: about the I mean, I don't know, from my perspective,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: it should have said something like, we're so sorry that
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: we failed this victim, and you know, the deputy will
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: be thinking about the for the rest of his life,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: the fact that he did not respond to that call
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: and someone is dead as a result of his negligent,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: utter negligence.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, instead of.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: That, we can sare iff, why did he not follow up?
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Would Taylor still be dead or could have he gotten
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: to her? She probably would have been. But if you
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: would have gone on the fifth, if Drew Scott, who
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: wrote the fifth it's it's on there. You signed it.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: You're just as guilty. Sorry, Why didn't you go check
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: up on that nine one one call?
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he knew.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: We did a foy A request and we got a
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: statement back saying that blake Castle, the deputy who was
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: the only one on duty in the early morning hours
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: of August fifth when the nine to one one call
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: came in, did not respond to the nine to one
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: one call. Later that same day, when Drew Scott, the
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: officer in charge, asked about it, blake Castle was given
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: what they referred to in the statement as verbal counseling.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: This means that the sheriff.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Presumably would have known about the deputy's failure to respond
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: to the call on August fifth, and yet blake Castle
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: was allowed to remain on duty until September eleventh, two
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: days after Taylor's remains were found, he was allowed to resign.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: He wasn't fired. There was no mention of firing him
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: or potential criminal charges. So what led Taylor to that
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: field where she was on August fifth, alone at night,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: screaming with.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: No one to help.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Taylor's aunt tells me that Taylor was one of five siblings,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: and that her mother passed away when Taylor was fifteen
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: years old. Her father worked long hours to provide for
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: the family. I've seen many posts talk about her kindness,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: how she was a great friend, and how much she
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: loved her children. At some point, Taylor became involved in drugs,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: and even though we have talked to people who say
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: that she was focused on seeing her children and trying
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: to find a job in the weeks before her death,
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: she continued as so many people do, to struggle with addiction.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Before the incident on August fifth, multiple sources say that
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Taylor was staying on and off with a man named Kenny.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: We talked to one of Kenny's neighbors, someone who lives
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: very close by. She said that Taylor and Kenny fought
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: often and loudly. She said that she lived in a
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: spot where she could hear everything coming from that residence.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: She heard them screaming at each other often. The neighbor
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: also said that she would frequently see Taylor walking up
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: and down the road.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: She said she wanted.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: To help Taylor, but she felt totally helpless to intervene
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: because Taylor would refuse help. As someone who has had
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: people close to me struggle with addiction. I totally relate
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: to this, and judging from the calls and emails I've
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: gotten a lot of our listeners do too. Then, sometime
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: around July twentieth, twenty twenty four, Taylor and Kenny got
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: into a big argument, one that apparently resulted in Taylor
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: leaving the residence, either because Kenny kicked her out or
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: she left voluntarily. Again, we're not sure what happened here.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: That's part of what we're trying to figure out. We
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: do know that apparently someone called nine to one one.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: That's well, that's my question.
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: We seen, we saw, We have one calls where there
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: was three. It was out there midnight nineteenth to the twentieth,
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: and there was two. In the last one, there was
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: a Taylor Borsdale name in the last call.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: That on July twentieth.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Apparently one of Taylor's children was in this area, So
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Taylor may have been trying to see her child.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: But that's really just a theory.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: In reality, we don't know a lot about what she
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: was doing during those days. Then, at some point, Taylor's
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: clothing was found scattered in the Big Clifty area. That's
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: about a forty five minute drive from Kingston, but we
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: don't know exactly when that happened either. The sheriff referred
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to the clothing on social media in one of the
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Madison County Sheriff's Offices press releases, we don't know why
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: her clothes were scattered in that spot or exactly when
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: it happened, but it was sometime on or around July twentieth.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: We also don't know how did she get from Big
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Clifty to Kingston, the area where she was seen by
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: the nine one one caller. I talked to one of
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: my sources, Jay Brown, about the fact that on July twentieth,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Taylor's picture was on a missing person's website. We're trying
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to figure out who put it there, since he worked
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: in law enforcement. He explains the sequence of events.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: So somebody, she's got a missing date of seven, twenty
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: twenty four.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: At some point a deputy had to tell a dispatcher
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: to enter her into ACIC as a missing person.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Well, it seems kind of quincid. Old. There was a
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: nine to one one call.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: That a friend of Taylor's had gotten her from somewhere,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: and she went to this friend's house and slept.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: For a long time, probably coming off of drugs. I don't.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, they know where I do.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: But when she woke up after sleeping for a long time,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: she wanted to see her son. One of her sons
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: lives on Kipper Street, Okay. So she called this dad
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: and asked if she could come over, if she could
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: bring Taylor over there, and he said yes, So Taylor
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: went to his house. I don't know how long she did,
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: how many days she stayed with him or what, but
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: she stayed with him for a while, slipped up and
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: came back high one time, and he kicked her out.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: You gotta go, So I believe that that is going
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: to be that timeframe that he kicked her out. But
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: she still wanted to see her son. So she's on
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: Cooper Street way around Okay.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Again, we aren't sure exactly what happened. We're not sure
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: what the argument was about, but we do know that
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: her drug use had Taylor in a dark place, which
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: made her vulnerable. After the argument, Taylor was not seen
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: by the neighbor at her ex boyfriend Kenny's residence again,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: and then somehow Taylor made her way from her ex
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: boyfriend's house to the area where Taylor was hanging out
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: in Kingston. Other than Kenny, Taylor was sometimes seen hanging
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: out with three mutual friends. They were three men and
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: they knew Kenny and Taylor. We know these men's names.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: They're also posted on social media. But we're still talking
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: to people and also trying to reach out to these
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: mystery men to figure out exactly what happened and when
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: they last saw Taylor. One of these men was staying
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: in a camper near the nine one one callers property,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: the camper that, according to Taylor's aunt and uncle, was
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: moved a few days after her body was found.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Said that her posessions auver belongings round in the field.
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: Then on September the six, someone let them get some
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: information or gave them information that she was last seen
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: in the Huntsville Kingston area.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, so that's.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: I guess when she's trying to make it click that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: The Kilston area that now I'm on home cancers.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Because he still didn't know her.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: After calling nine one one and the lack of police response,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the nine to one one caller went through social media
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: pages to see if she could make a connection to
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: figure out who Taylor was. She contacted Taylor's aunt to
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: confirm her identity. The nine to one one caller blamed
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: herself for not doing more, but Taylor's aunt told her
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: it wasn't her fault, that it was the police's responsibility
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: to answer the call, not hers. After talking with Taylor's
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: aunt and uncle, we head out to an area near
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: where Taylor's body was found.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: This is really scary.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Supposed to be back here.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: We can't get all the way to the spot where
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Taylor's body was found, but we drive to an area nearby.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: It's very remote. We can see bales of hay everywhere.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: We can't figure out how Taylor's remains ended up out here.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: Thinking about the entire scenario is horrific. There are so
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: many unanswered questions in this investigation. The county prosecutor, Matt
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Durrett told NWA online, quote, We're treating it as a
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: homicide until it's determined it is or isn't. We're not
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: assuming anything end quote. Taylor's uncle talks about the lack
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: of crime scene tape and this sounds weird, But honestly,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: I'm unsure about who has controlled the investigation because Sheriff
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Ronnie Boyd said in a press release that the Arkansas
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: State Police were assisting with the case, but the Madison
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: County Record called the ASP to confirm that, and the
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: ASP apparently said they were not officially assisting. The sheriff
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: later clarified that he had discussed the case with someone
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: in the ASP in a more unofficial manner. The release
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: says something like the Arkansas State Police have been contacted
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: to assist in the investigation, So the wording is a
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: little ambiguous, but again, it seemed to Taylor's aunt and
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the rest of the family that law enforcement was not
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: being forthcoming with them with information. Jay Brown talked about
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: what he had heard about irregularities and evidence collection. He
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: claimed that sources told him the Sheriff's department collected evidence
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: at the crime scene in a potato chip back.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: That made me laugh. That actually made me laugh. Okay,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: here's the story behind that. There is a chat tooo too.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Okay, he owned property.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: How about testing and see this human blood? I mean sorry,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I mentioned the back of chips because I'm sorry.
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: I've done this job before and I have never in
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: my life collected it.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Anyone who's ever watched law and order knows not to
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: do that. You don't even have to be a cop.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's crazy.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know if the chip bag rumor is true,
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: but if it is, it would not totally shock me.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: In the Rebecca Gould case, the local police department had
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: to go to Harp's grocery for evidence bags.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: But in that case, the.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Izard County Sheriff's Department did the right thing in my opinion.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: They immediately realized that they needed help and they immediately
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: turned the case over to the Arkansas State Police. And
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: in this case, if the Madison County Sheriff's office is
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: so understaffed and overwhelmed, I'm wondering why they don't just
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: hand the whole case over to the Arkansas State Police.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Thank you for driving us around.
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: This is the kings to the squair and the camp
• 17:27
  Speaker 4: is there if that's not yet, but it's right, gotcha.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: So we can plan if you want to be in
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: so you can see.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: I'll give you an idea.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I look that I look on the maps the proximity
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: between the nine WI one caller and this location.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, what she was hearing was a viable call. Yeah,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: it was reasonable to call for help. Sure, they just
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: chalked up to a bunch of junkies were not.
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: So said, there's a bunch of junkies were not even
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: going out through the mission.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: Oh no, But but this guy says, if it was
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: people off their medicine and not in the.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Saw that, yeah, And he said we always something like
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: what really like actually enraged me? Was and he said
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: we always we try best to give help to people
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: who actually want help.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Or it was something like.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: That, And I was like, what you think someone getting
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: murdered might want some help?
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: Because has said if he would have arrested her a
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: long time ago and gotten her help, she could be clean,
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: then go arrest him.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: We are still reaching out to people. We are filling
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: in the blanks of what was going on in Taylor's life.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: We have heard that during some of this time, the
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Taylor spent time in the library. Some people say she
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: was applying for a job. Others say she would stop
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: in to look for information or to use the Wi Fi. So,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: if anyone out there was in the library in the
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: time period between mid July and August fifth, that critical
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: few weeks and saw Taylor Barksdale, please reach out. We've
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: also been in touch with another person, someone who says
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: that she has information about Taylor being at a residence
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: on August fourth, right before Taylor disappeared, and this person
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: claims that Taylor was there with one of the mutual friends,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: one of the men who Taylor had been hanging out
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: with recently. We need to find out if that's true,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: and if it is true whether Taylor and this guy
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: left the residence for a few minutes and then came
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: right back and basically stayed the night, which is one
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: version that we've heard, or if as this woman apparently claims,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: the guy left with Taylor then did not come back
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: until after daybreak, and when he came back, he returned alone.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: While we're trying to figure out who these mystery men are,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: what their background is, and what Taylor's movements were on
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: the night of August fifth, the Madison County Sheriff's Department
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: posted a response on Facebook. Actually, I should say it
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: was posted by Madison County Sheriff Ronnie Boyd on the
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Sheriff Ronnie Boyd page. It reads, in part quote, when
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I ran for sheriff, I knew that there were going
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: to be a lot of challenges ahead of me if elected.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: There have been a lot of issues from the past
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: that still get brought up to this day. I knew
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: that I would have some opposition or outright enemies from
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: the outsid said, because I knew I wasn't the choice
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: for some. But I hope that I've won some of
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: those over by my actions of doing what's right and
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: trying to improve the quality of law enforcement in our county.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I know that I've.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Also acquired some new enemies by not succumbing to requests
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: of giving some people special consideration for running a foul
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: of the law, and by actually holding people accountable some
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: even in law enforcement. I have some very basic guidelines
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: that I believe are easy to follow and hold my
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: personnel to account.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Show up ready to.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Do your job, do your job to the best of
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: your ability, do what's right, and treat all people with respect.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: End quote.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: He goes on to talk about the challenges of being understaffed.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: He says the police department would rather work shorthanded than
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: to deal with those who aren't striving to meet his principles.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: He goes on to say, quote, I know the recent
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: case of what happened to Taylor Barksdale has angered and
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: dismayed a lot of people.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: Many of those were already.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Looking for any reason to go after the sheriff's office
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: or me personally. For those who are using this situation
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: to further you're already existing personal agreements with a sheriff's
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: office or me.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I find that despicable.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: To say that the incident did not sit well with
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: me either would be an understatement. My sympathies are with
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Taylor's family and friends. I wish that I could turn
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: back time and create a different outcome, but I know
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I can't. To Taylor's family and friends, I want to
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: say that I'm sorry our deputy on the morning of
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: August fifth, twenty twenty four, failed Tailor and you, and
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: could have potentially saved her life by just responding to
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: the call. I have acknowledged his wrongdoing from the start
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: and not once tried to cover it up. I will
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: not speak on the form of Deputy's behalf, but I
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: know that the decision he made is something he will
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: have to deal with for a long time, if not
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: for the rest of his life.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: End quote.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Then he goes on to say quote many of those
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: who I see commenting negatively couldn't even pass the background
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: check to become a law enforcement officer. They also don't
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: have the physical ability, the mental tough nor the moral character,
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: and are fueled by emotion, making them incapable of making
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: reasoned decisions that are a necessity in law enforcement. Are
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: we to count on you to protect and serve others
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: in an improve capacity? What have you done to help others?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Like Taylor end quote. He talks about some of the
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: good deeds the deputies have done, and I'm not denying
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: there are some wonderful members of law enforcement out there
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: and they are working hard to help people and make
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: their communities better. I want to stress again this podcast
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: is not anti law enforcement. I want to give the
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: police officers who are out there doing the right thing
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: their credit. I am sure that it is a hard
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: job and that many of them are doing their best.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: It goes on, but I'm going to stop there. In
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: my opinion, this response is ridiculous. The deputy failed to
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: respond to a nine to one one call someone died,
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: and after that he lied about it. People are asking
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: very legitimate questions. Why was he allowed to resign and
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: not fired immediately? And why is he not facing any
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: charges himself or disciplined in any way other than a
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: verbal counseling. The police are not the wronged party here,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: and if Sheriff Boyd is serious about cracking down on criminals,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: surely the same rules should apply to his own staff member,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: whose own deputy, who has broken the law. The wronged
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: party in this is the woman who died and waited
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: for help that never came. We're going to continue to
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: ask those questions, and since the police are so understaffed,
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: I'm going to put out here right now we are
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: trying to help them. I know that there are a
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: lot of people out there who may be nervous about
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: talking to law enforcement, So we're conducting interviews and we'll
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: be turning everything helpful we find over to police. I'm
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: trying to reach out to the woman who said she
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: saw Taylor earlier on the night before the screams were heard.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: We're also going to fill in more of the gaps
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: and try to figure out who Taylor was hanging out
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: with and who could have wanted to hurt her and why.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Taylor's aunt said the failure of the deputy to respond
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: to Taylor's screams is something she thinks about a lot.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: Why did he not follow up? Would Taylor still be dead?
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: So once again I'm headed back into the woods.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Hot to see the woods. I always end up in
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the woods.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: I hate him.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: That is my fate.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: I'm Catherine Townsend.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: by Gabby Watts and Miranda Hawkins. Special thanks to Amy
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Tubbs for her research assistance. Noah Kamer mixed and scored
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: this episode. Our theme song is by Ben Solee, Executive
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Else Crowley. Listen
• 25:12
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• 25:15
  Speaker 2: True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you are
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: interested in seeing documents and materials from the case, you
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: can follow the show on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. If
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: you have a case you'd like me and my team
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: to look into, you can reach out to us at
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven
• 25:32
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• 25:35
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