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Poisoned Pregnant Woman’s Final Call Exposes Her Killer · Murder Files Unsealed

0:00
Speaker 1: Imagine for a second that you were trapped in, like
0:03
Speaker 1: an absolute suffocating nightmare.
0:05
Speaker 2: Oh, wow.
0:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, just an ordinary evening in your own home. You've
0:09
Speaker 1: just finished cooking dinner, you know, and you're standing in
0:11
Speaker 1: your kitchen. But suddenly, your body just begins to rapidly
0:16
Speaker 1: fail you.
0:17
Speaker 2: Like a medical emergency.
0:18
Speaker 1: Exactly. But it's not just a wave of dizziness or something.
0:22
Speaker 1: Your nervous system is literally short-circuiting.
0:25
Speaker 2: Terrifying.
0:26
Speaker 1: You realize with just this mounting horror... That you can't
0:29
Speaker 1: feel your legs. You try to take a step and
0:32
Speaker 1: you can't walk straight. Right.
0:33
Speaker 2: You're losing total motor control. Yeah.
0:37
Speaker 1: And the person who is supposed to love you, the
0:40
Speaker 1: person you are, you know, building a life with sitting
0:42
Speaker 1: right next to you, is just watching you deteriorate.
0:45
Speaker 2: They aren't helping at all.
0:46
Speaker 1: Not at all. They aren't rushing to your side. They
0:48
Speaker 1: aren't calling for help. They're actively gaslighting you, telling you
0:51
Speaker 1: that you're just acting crazy.
0:53
Speaker 2: That is just deeply, deeply chilling.
0:56
Speaker 1: It is. But in your final moments of consciousness, as
0:59
Speaker 1: your organs are literally collapsing under the weight of like
1:02
Speaker 1: a massive chemical toxicity, you do something incredible.
1:06
Speaker 2: You fight back. Right.
1:07
Speaker 1: Pushing through the paralysis and the panic, you manage to
1:10
Speaker 1: leave behind the ultimate flu. To solve your own murder.
1:14
Speaker 2: I mean, it is a profoundly terrifying premise to put
1:17
Speaker 2: yourself in, but it is exactly what happened in the
1:21
Speaker 2: case we are exploring today.
1:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, here we is.
1:23
Speaker 2: For this deep dive, we are opening up a massive
1:26
Speaker 2: stack of true crime documentary transcripts, court records, and investigative notes.
1:32
Speaker 1: So much material to get through.
1:33
Speaker 2: Tons of it. Specifically, we're focusing on a 2023 case
1:37
Speaker 2: out of Nashville, Tennessee.
1:38
Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this. Because our mission here isn't just to, like,
1:42
Speaker 1: recount a tragic sequence of events.
1:44
Speaker 2: No, exactly. We're aiming to really understand the terrifying dichotomy
1:48
Speaker 2: between a person's public, you know, their golden boy image
1:53
Speaker 2: and their private lethal actions.
1:55
Speaker 1: And we're going to look really closely at how forensic
1:57
Speaker 1: anomalies happen.
1:58
Speaker 2: Right. And how severe investigative missteps can almost let a
2:02
Speaker 2: killer just, you know, walk free.
2:04
Speaker 1: Which is infuriating. But most importantly... We want to look
2:08
Speaker 1: at how a victim's incredibly quick thinking in the face
2:11
Speaker 1: of death ultimately brought down her own killer.
2:14
Speaker 2: Right. The two people at the center of this story seem,
2:18
Speaker 2: while on paper, like they have the world on a string.
2:21
Speaker 1: You look at them and think they just have everything
2:23
Speaker 1: figured out.
2:23
Speaker 2: Exactly. Let's start with Jade Benning. She is 24 years old,
2:28
Speaker 2: originally from Little Rock, Arkansas.
2:30
Speaker 1: And she's described by everyone who knew her as wildly optimistic.
2:34
Speaker 2: Oh, completely. Charismatic, the kind of person who never met
2:38
Speaker 2: a stranger.
2:38
Speaker 1: If you walked into a room, you'd just want to
2:40
Speaker 1: be her friend.
2:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, she had that kind of energy. She graduated from
2:44
Speaker 2: culinary school in 2020 and moved to Nashville to chase
2:47
Speaker 2: her dreams.
2:48
Speaker 1: She's working as a chef at a popular spot called
2:50
Speaker 1: Nest Bar in Idaway.
2:51
Speaker 2: And because she apparently has absolutely boundless energy, she's also
2:56
Speaker 2: running her own catering business on the side. JTB Eatery.
3:00
Speaker 1: Which is so impressive for a 24-year-old.
3:02
Speaker 2: It really is. And crucially, by the time of the
3:04
Speaker 2: events we were going to be discussing, she is nearly
3:06
Speaker 2: six months pregnant.
3:08
Speaker 1: With a little girl she had already decided to name Ivy.
3:10
Speaker 2: Yeah. And that pregnancy was just the center of her world.
3:14
Speaker 2: She was vibrant, she was ambitious, and she was deeply,
3:18
Speaker 2: intricately connected to her community.
3:21
Speaker 1: Right. The sources note that she spoke to her mother, Bridget,
3:23
Speaker 1: almost every single day.
3:25
Speaker 2: Every day. She was also practically inseparable from her childhood
3:28
Speaker 2: best friend, Nyjah Jackson.
3:30
Speaker 1: They'd known each other since she was just six years old,
3:32
Speaker 1: I think.
3:33
Speaker 2: Exactly, since they were little kids. When you have relationships
3:35
Speaker 2: that tight, your support network is like a steel web.
3:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, she was very loved.
3:41
Speaker 2: But then we have the other half of this equation.
3:43
Speaker 2: We have Blaze Taylor.
3:44
Speaker 1: Right. And if Jade is the ambitious, creative, community-focused soul,
3:51
Speaker 1: Blaze is the absolute picture-perfect all-American success story.
3:55
Speaker 2: He really is. On paper, he is 26 years old,
3:59
Speaker 2: a former college football star.
4:01
Speaker 1: And football is literally in his blood. His dad's Trooper Taylor, right?
4:04
Speaker 2: Yes, a very well-known and respected football coach at Arkansas State.
4:08
Speaker 1: But Blaze wasn't just a player who skated by on
4:10
Speaker 1: his athletic ability, you know.
4:13
Speaker 2: No, not at all. He was a four-time team captain
4:16
Speaker 2: for the Arkansas State Red Wolves.
4:18
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just athletics where he was shining. He
4:20
Speaker 1: made national history in the classroom.
4:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, this part is wild. He was the very first
4:25
Speaker 2: FPS player in the entire country to earn both a
4:28
Speaker 2: bachelor's degree and a master's degree before his true senior
4:32
Speaker 2: season of football even started.
4:34
Speaker 1: That is insane time management and dedication. I mean, he was,
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Speaker 1: as the commentators called him at the time, the total package.
4:40
Speaker 2: A rare, highly marketable combination of elite book smarts and
4:43
Speaker 2: high-level football IQ.
4:45
Speaker 1: And the thing you really have to understand about Blaze
4:47
Speaker 1: is that he leveraged that image flawlessly.
4:50
Speaker 2: He knew exactly how to package his success.
4:52
Speaker 1: Right. Alongside his sister, Star, who was also a college athlete,
4:56
Speaker 1: by the way, he co-founded a nonprofit organization.
4:59
Speaker 2: The Power of One or Two, right?
5:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, a 501c3. The stated mission was empowering at-risk youth.
5:05
Speaker 2: So you look at this resume, and people in his
5:08
Speaker 2: orbit were literally talking about him running for president one
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Speaker 2: day or becoming an NFL general manager.
5:13
Speaker 1: And by early 2023, he was well on his way
5:16
Speaker 1: up that ladder. He was working as a professional scout
5:19
Speaker 1: for the Tennessee Titans.
5:20
Speaker 2: It is the ultimate pristine resume. But as we transition
5:24
Speaker 2: into the actual timeline of their relationship, we see how
5:27
Speaker 2: quickly this collision course was set.
5:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have these two highly successful people, but the
5:32
Speaker 1: dynamic between them is messy.
5:34
Speaker 2: It moves at warp speed.
5:35
Speaker 1: And it completely shatters that curated, perfect image Blaze has
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Speaker 1: built for himself.
5:41
Speaker 2: Right. The relationship began in a very modern, typical way.
5:45
Speaker 2: They matched on the dating app Hinge in January of 2022.
5:49
Speaker 1: OK, so pretty standard.
5:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, they messaged back and forth for a bit, but
5:52
Speaker 2: it just sort of fizzled out, which is common enough
5:54
Speaker 2: in the modern dating landscape, you know.
5:56
Speaker 1: Oh, for sure. But then they reconnected several months later
5:59
Speaker 1: in August of 2022.
6:01
Speaker 2: And this time the dynamic shifted. The physical relationship accelerated very,
6:05
Speaker 2: very rapidly. Right.
6:06
Speaker 1: So fast forward to early November 2022. Jade is at
6:10
Speaker 1: home and she's taking a pregnancy test.
6:12
Speaker 2: And it comes back positive.
6:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's about seven weeks pregnant. Now think about who
6:17
Speaker 1: she leans on immediately.
6:18
Speaker 2: Her best friend, Nidja.
6:20
Speaker 1: Exactly. Nadia jumps right into action, calling around to find
6:24
Speaker 1: a doctor who can confirm the news, which they do
6:26
Speaker 1: on November 3rd.
6:27
Speaker 2: And Jade is thrilled. She wants to keep this baby unconditionally.
6:31
Speaker 1: She calls her family. Her mom starts buying baby supplies.
6:34
Speaker 1: They are immediately planning baby showers in Nashville and back
6:37
Speaker 1: in Little Rock.
6:38
Speaker 2: And here is where we really see her drive right.
6:41
Speaker 2: She actually goes out and buys a two-bedroom apartment at
6:44
Speaker 2: the Ontario complex to make room for the baby.
6:46
Speaker 1: Wow.
6:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, she is nesting. She is building a foundation.
6:50
Speaker 1: But Blaze, his reaction is the polar opposite of a
6:53
Speaker 1: supportive partner.
6:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, when Jade communicates the news to him, Blaze reacts
6:58
Speaker 2: with intense, immediate hostility.
7:00
Speaker 1: Which is just awful.
7:01
Speaker 2: According to the text messages that Jade forwarded to her mother,
7:04
Speaker 2: Blaze instantly pushed for an abortion.
7:06
Speaker 1: He didn't want any part of it.
7:08
Speaker 2: He stated unequivocally that he wanted absolutely no involvement with
7:11
Speaker 2: the child, and he went so far as to demand
7:13
Speaker 2: that the child never even know who he was.
7:16
Speaker 1: And I want to pause here for a second and
7:17
Speaker 1: look at how Jade handles this rejection, because it is
7:20
Speaker 1: so revealing of her character, you know?
7:22
Speaker 2: It really is.
7:24
Speaker 1: Put yourself in her shoes. You are 24, pregnant, and
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Speaker 1: the father is aggressively telling you he wants nothing to
7:30
Speaker 1: do with it.
7:31
Speaker 2: Most people would lose it. Right.
7:33
Speaker 1: On November 6th, just days after the doctor officially confirmed
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Speaker 1: the pregnancy, Jade sends Blaze a text message. She doesn't
7:41
Speaker 1: scream at him.
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Speaker 2: She doesn't threaten to ruin his pristine public image.
7:45
Speaker 1: She doesn't lash out at all. She writes a mature,
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Speaker 1: definitive message, cutting ties.
7:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, paraphrasing the sources here. She essentially says, I think
7:54
Speaker 2: it's best we cut ties in communication. You stated you
7:57
Speaker 2: want no part, so I will let it be that.
8:00
Speaker 1: Right, and she adds, I will love this child unconditionally
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Speaker 1: with or without you.
8:04
Speaker 2: She even provides him with the date of her next
8:06
Speaker 2: OBGYN appointment, just in case he changes his mind.
8:10
Speaker 1: She leaves the door open for him to step up,
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Speaker 1: but she sets a very firm boundary.
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Speaker 2: It is an incredibly composed response to a highly volatile situation,
8:18
Speaker 2: but Blaze does not show up to that appointment.
8:21
Speaker 1: Not surprisingly.
8:22
Speaker 2: In fact, they cease all communication entirely for almost two months. Wow.
8:27
Speaker 1: Two whole months of nothing.
8:29
Speaker 2: Yeah. And before we analyze Blaze's eventual return to her life...
8:33
Speaker 2: I want to be very clear about our parameters here,
8:36
Speaker 2: especially when discussing the friction over this pregnancy and the
8:39
Speaker 2: topic of abortion.
8:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really important.
8:42
Speaker 2: As we dive into this, it is essential for you,
8:44
Speaker 2: the listener, to know that we are impartially reporting the
8:47
Speaker 2: facts exactly as they are laid out in the documentary
8:51
Speaker 2: transcripts and court records.
8:52
Speaker 1: Right. We aren't taking sides on the political or social issues.
8:55
Speaker 2: Exactly. We are analyzing Blaze's motives, his psychological state, and
9:00
Speaker 2: his intense desire to protect his public image. without endorsing
9:04
Speaker 2: or condemning either party's personal stance on abortion itself.
9:08
Speaker 1: Our focus is strictly on the mechanics of how this
9:11
Speaker 1: disagreement over their futures escalated into a calculated crime.
9:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
9:15
Speaker 1: And when we look at Blaze's motive to protect that image,
9:18
Speaker 1: I can't help but think of an analogy.
9:20
Speaker 2: Okay, what are you thinking?
9:21
Speaker 1: Well, Blaze's public persona is like a high-end, heavily curated,
9:25
Speaker 1: sponsored Instagram feed, right?
9:27
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a perfect way to describe it.
9:29
Speaker 1: Every single post, every public appearance... is filtered to look successful, pious,
9:35
Speaker 1: and intensely disciplined.
9:37
Speaker 2: To the world, he is this benevolent non-profit founder, this
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Speaker 2: historic scholar-athlete, this rising NFL scout.
9:45
Speaker 1: But behind the scenes, a pregnancy out of wedlock with
9:49
Speaker 1: the women he was casually dating simply doesn't fit the brand.
9:52
Speaker 2: No, it shatters the image.
9:54
Speaker 1: He is ruthlessly trying to edit out a reality that
9:57
Speaker 1: threatens the image he has built. And honestly, They have
10:07
Speaker 1: impressive academic degrees or athletic trophies.
10:10
Speaker 2: That is a phenomenal point.
10:12
Speaker 1: We seem to constantly conflate professional achievement with personal morality.
10:16
Speaker 2: We really do. And it speaks directly to the cognitive
10:18
Speaker 2: dissonance that allows people like Blaze to operate in plain sight.
10:22
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:23
Speaker 2: If we connect this to the bigger picture, you're talking
10:25
Speaker 2: about a documented psychological bias known as the halo effect.
10:28
Speaker 1: Oh, the halo effect.
10:29
Speaker 2: Yeah. This is the tendency for positive impressions of a
10:33
Speaker 2: person in one area to to positively influence our opinion
10:37
Speaker 2: of their feelings or character in other areas.
10:39
Speaker 1: So because he's good at football, he must be a
10:42
Speaker 1: good person.
10:42
Speaker 2: Exactly. We assume that because someone is exceptional in the
10:46
Speaker 2: football field or because they can earn two degrees simultaneously,
10:50
Speaker 2: they must possess a superior moral compass.
10:53
Speaker 1: And Blaze relied heavily on that halo. He knew exactly
10:56
Speaker 1: how much societal armor his resume provided.
10:59
Speaker 2: He did. But let's look at what happens next, because
11:02
Speaker 2: it reveals a chilling shift in his methodology. Right.
11:05
Speaker 1: After those months of total silence.
11:06
Speaker 2: Yeah. Right around New Year's 2023, Blaze reaches out to
11:10
Speaker 2: Jade completely out of the blue.
11:12
Speaker 1: And Jade, being the unfailingly optimistic and forgiving person she is,
11:17
Speaker 1: welcomes him back.
11:19
Speaker 2: She probably thinks, you know, maybe reality has set in.
11:21
Speaker 2: Maybe he's coming around to the idea of being a father.
11:23
Speaker 1: So they start hanging out again. But Blaze is still
11:26
Speaker 1: refusing to publicly claim the baby.
11:28
Speaker 2: Right, he's demanding a paternity test after the birth. He's
11:31
Speaker 2: keeping her an absolute secret.
11:32
Speaker 1: There is actually footage of him doing a media interview
11:36
Speaker 1: around this exact time where he looks into the camera
11:38
Speaker 1: and says he's completely single and not dating anyone.
11:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that is the key to understanding his psychology here.
11:45
Speaker 2: His return at New Year's wasn't a sudden change of heart.
11:48
Speaker 1: It wasn't him warming up to fatherhood at all?
11:50
Speaker 2: No, it was a shift in tactics. He realized that
11:52
Speaker 2: ignoring the problem, ignoring Jade, wasn't making the baby go away.
11:57
Speaker 1: Because Jade was progressing in her pregnancy. She had purchased
12:00
Speaker 1: an apartment. The reality of a child was materializing rapidly.
12:04
Speaker 2: Exactly. He recognized that to regain control of the situation,
12:08
Speaker 2: he needed proximity to her.
12:10
Speaker 1: Which brings us to a terrifying question. How does a
12:13
Speaker 1: man who is desperately trying to hide a pregnancy act
12:17
Speaker 1: when the third trimester is fast approaching?
12:19
Speaker 2: You can't hide a baby bump forever. Right.
12:22
Speaker 1: Time is running out in a secret. The collision is imminent.
12:25
Speaker 1: So what does he do? He sets a date.
12:27
Speaker 2: He does. February 25th, 2023. This is the night everything culminates.
12:33
Speaker 1: And the timeline we have from the digital footprint of
12:35
Speaker 1: that evening is incredibly precise.
12:38
Speaker 2: And equally devastating to analyze, yeah.
12:41
Speaker 1: Jade plans what sounds like a beautiful, cozy evening at
12:44
Speaker 1: her new apartment. She's a trained chef, remember? So she
12:47
Speaker 1: makes her famous chicken alfredo.
12:49
Speaker 2: She bakes fresh cookies.
12:51
Speaker 1: And the activity she has planned for the night is
12:53
Speaker 1: painting two blank canvases... to hang in baby Ivy's future nursery.
12:58
Speaker 2: Let's trace this photographic timeline because the timestamps on her
13:01
Speaker 2: phone are the key to unlocking the entire case.
13:04
Speaker 1: Okay, so at 6.48 p.m., she takes a photo showing
13:08
Speaker 1: the dinner is set.
13:09
Speaker 2: Around 7.30 p.m., her best friend Nisha and a classmate
13:12
Speaker 2: named Keontae drop by the apartment just to pick up
13:15
Speaker 2: some leftover Alfredo.
13:16
Speaker 1: And they stay for about 15 minutes, right?
13:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they report that Jade is happy, completely normal,
13:21
Speaker 2: in great spirits. There is absolutely nothing amiss.
13:24
Speaker 1: Then, at 8 to 9 p.m., Jade takes a photograph
13:27
Speaker 1: documenting the progress of their paintings.
13:30
Speaker 2: And this is where the psychological profiling of this crime
13:33
Speaker 2: becomes incredibly dark.
13:35
Speaker 1: Tell me about it.
13:36
Speaker 2: The photograph shows Jade's canvas, which is brightly colored, featuring
13:39
Speaker 2: colorful stripes and inspirational, loving words for her daughter.
13:42
Speaker 1: And next to it is Blaze's canvas. He is painting
13:48
Speaker 1: his entirely, solidly black. I have to stop you right
13:52
Speaker 1: there because when I read that detail in the source material,
13:56
Speaker 1: I had a visceral reaction.
13:57
Speaker 2: It's hard not to.
13:58
Speaker 1: The blackened canvas. It is like something out of a
14:01
Speaker 1: psychological thriller.
14:02
Speaker 2: It really is.
14:03
Speaker 1: Just put yourself in that room for a second. She
14:05
Speaker 1: is sitting there, six months pregnant, glowing, painting words of
14:09
Speaker 1: hope and love for her unborn baby.
14:11
Speaker 2: Right.
14:12
Speaker 1: And he is sitting right next to her, literally painting
14:15
Speaker 1: a black void. for the nursery of a child he
14:18
Speaker 1: does not want.
14:19
Speaker 2: It's awful. And the most horrifying part of this entire
14:22
Speaker 2: image is that based on the medical timeline, the poison
14:24
Speaker 2: is likely already in her system or is just about
14:27
Speaker 2: to be. Right.
14:27
Speaker 1: The medical examiner later determined that Jade ingested a massive
14:31
Speaker 1: lethal dose of oral cocaine.
14:33
Speaker 2: And when we look at the pharmacology of oral cocaine ingestion,
14:36
Speaker 2: the absorption rate is different than if it were, you know,
14:39
Speaker 2: inhaled or injected.
14:40
Speaker 1: Because it has to pass through the stomach and be
14:42
Speaker 1: absorbed into the bloodstream.
14:43
Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly. Based on the metabolization rate and the exact
14:47
Speaker 2: time she ultimately collapsed, forensic toxicologists estimate the drug was
14:51
Speaker 2: ingested roughly 30 minutes before she began showing severe neurological symptoms.
14:56
Speaker 1: Let's keep moving through the photos, then, because it makes
14:58
Speaker 1: the next set of pictures sickening.
15:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, it really does.
15:00
Speaker 1: At 9.10 p.m., the paintings are nearly complete. Between 9.24
15:05
Speaker 1: and 9.28 p.m., they are taking affectionate, silly photos together
15:10
Speaker 1: in the kitchens.
15:11
Speaker 2: They are looking at the camera and they are smiling.
15:13
Speaker 1: What's fascinating here, and I use that word in the
15:16
Speaker 1: darkest sense, is the sheer level of detachment required to
15:19
Speaker 1: execute this.
15:20
Speaker 2: It's mind-boggling. At 9.24 p.m.
15:23
Speaker 1: When those smiling photos are being taken, that massive dose
15:26
Speaker 1: of oral cocaine is already working its way through Jade's
15:29
Speaker 1: gastrointestinal tract and into her bloodstream.
15:32
Speaker 2: And Blaze is looking into the camera lens, smiling, posing affectionately,
15:35
Speaker 2: knowing full well that a lethal chemical time bomb is
15:38
Speaker 2: ticking inside his pregnant girlfriend.
15:40
Speaker 1: It requires a profound, almost unimaginable lack of empathy.
15:43
Speaker 2: He is acting out a pantomime of domestic bliss while
15:47
Speaker 2: literally waiting for her organs to begin shutting down.
15:51
Speaker 1: It is purely sociopathic.
15:52
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:52
Speaker 1: You look at that photo and you realize you are
15:55
Speaker 1: looking at a mask.
15:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:56
Speaker 1: And that facade cracks almost instantly. Exactly one minute after
16:01
Speaker 1: the last happy photo is snapped at 9.28 p.m., Jade
16:05
Speaker 1: realizes something is horribly, horribly wrong with her body.
16:08
Speaker 2: At 9.29 p.m., she picks up her phone and calls Nija.
16:12
Speaker 1: But she doesn't treat it like a normal phone call.
16:14
Speaker 2: No, this isn't a simple cry for help. She doesn't
16:16
Speaker 2: hold the phone to her ear and say, hello, Nija,
16:18
Speaker 2: I need help.
16:19
Speaker 1: She initiates an open line.
16:21
Speaker 2: Right. She dials her friend and just leaves the connection open,
16:24
Speaker 2: allowing Nyjah to hear everything unfolding in that apartment for
16:27
Speaker 2: the next six minutes.
16:28
Speaker 1: This is the moment I was talking about at the
16:30
Speaker 1: very beginning of this deep dive. The presence of Nind
16:33
Speaker 1: is astounding.
16:33
Speaker 2: It's incredible.
16:34
Speaker 1: Think about what is happening to her physically. She is
16:37
Speaker 1: experiencing a catastrophic medical event. She tells Blaze she can't
16:42
Speaker 1: feel her legs. She says she can't walk straight.
16:45
Speaker 2: And over the open line, Nyjah hears Jade directly accuse him.
16:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, she says, what did you put in my drink?
16:51
Speaker 1: I knew my drink tasted funny.
16:53
Speaker 2: She demands to see his pockets.
16:55
Speaker 1: She is actively investigating him while her nervous system is
16:59
Speaker 1: shutting down.
17:00
Speaker 2: It is an extraordinary survival instinct. The human body's reaction
17:04
Speaker 2: to massive cocaine toxicity involves severe neurological distress. You know, tremors, disorientation,
17:12
Speaker 2: cardiovascular strain and eventual paralysis.
17:15
Speaker 1: And yet, as her nervous system is being overwhelmed, her
17:18
Speaker 1: immediate cognitive reflex isn't just blind panic.
17:21
Speaker 2: No, it is the deliberate collection of a witness. She
17:25
Speaker 2: essentially solved her own murder in real time.
17:28
Speaker 1: And if we look at Blaze's responses on that recorded call,
17:31
Speaker 1: they are textbook examples of manipulation and deflection.
17:34
Speaker 2: Right. Because over those six minutes, Nija hears Blaze say
17:38
Speaker 2: almost nothing helpful.
17:39
Speaker 1: He doesn't ask what she's feeling. He doesn't offer to
17:41
Speaker 1: call a doctor.
17:42
Speaker 2: His only responses are gaslighting her. He tells her, you're
17:45
Speaker 2: scaring me. He turns the victimhood onto himself.
17:48
Speaker 1: He flatly denies having anything in his pockets. He makes
17:51
Speaker 1: zero attempt to provide medical aid.
17:53
Speaker 2: And then suddenly the call drops. Yeah. Neja, who is
17:56
Speaker 2: listening to her best friend deteriorate, is now in a
17:59
Speaker 2: total panic. She texts Jade, getting no response.
18:04
Speaker 1: So she calls back.
18:05
Speaker 2: And this time, Blaze answers the phone. Nige begs him
18:08
Speaker 2: to FaceTime her so she can physically see Jade and
18:11
Speaker 2: assess what is happening.
18:12
Speaker 1: And Blaze refuses the FaceTime.
18:14
Speaker 2: He casually mentions he is going to call 911, almost
18:17
Speaker 2: as an afterthought to get off the phone with Nige.
18:19
Speaker 1: Which brings us to 9.38 p.m. Blaze finally calls 911.
18:24
Speaker 2: Right.
18:25
Speaker 1: And if I can use another analogy here to try
18:27
Speaker 1: and wrap my head around his behavior, his 911 call
18:30
Speaker 1: is like a community theater actor doing a terrible audition.
18:33
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
18:34
Speaker 1: He is putting on this performance of a confused, slightly
18:37
Speaker 1: concerned boyfriend, but none of the details he provides make
18:40
Speaker 1: any logical sense.
18:41
Speaker 2: He lies to the dispatcher, claiming she is having a
18:44
Speaker 2: sudden food allergy.
18:45
Speaker 1: He explicitly says she's awake and breathing freely, not struggling
18:49
Speaker 1: to breathe.
18:49
Speaker 2: But later in the very same call, he contradicts himself
18:52
Speaker 2: and admits she vomited.
18:54
Speaker 1: And here is the absolute kicker. He deliberately fails to
18:59
Speaker 1: tell the emergency medical technicians... that the woman who is
19:02
Speaker 1: currently collapsing in front of him is six months pregnant.
19:05
Speaker 2: I want to focus on that omission because here's where
19:08
Speaker 2: it gets really interesting from a tactical forensic standpoint.
19:11
Speaker 1: Okay, break that down for us.
19:12
Speaker 2: Omitting the pregnancy isn't just a casual mistake made in
19:15
Speaker 2: a moment of stress. It is a deliberate, calculated, tactical delay.
19:20
Speaker 1: Wait, really? How so?
19:22
Speaker 2: If you understand how 911 dispatch protocols work, they use
19:25
Speaker 2: computer-aided dispatch systems that rely on determinant codes.
19:29
Speaker 1: Okay.
19:30
Speaker 2: If you tell a 911 dispatcher that a woman who
19:32
Speaker 2: is six months pregnant is experiencing sudden paralysis, vomiting, and
19:36
Speaker 2: incoherent speech, the response code elevates instantly to the highest
19:40
Speaker 2: possible priority.
19:41
Speaker 1: Ah, so they would send the cavalry.
19:43
Speaker 2: Exactly. You get the fastest possible dispatch, the sirens are on,
19:46
Speaker 2: and the paramedics arrive prepared specifically for a severe obstetric emergency.
19:51
Speaker 1: But by framing it as a simple food allergy and
19:54
Speaker 1: actively omitting the pregnancy.
19:55
Speaker 2: Blaze is managing the response time and the urgency. He
19:59
Speaker 2: is ensuring that help arrives too late for both Jade
20:02
Speaker 2: and the baby.
20:03
Speaker 1: It's like applying a digital tourniquet to the emergency response.
20:05
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
20:08
Speaker 1: I hadn't even thought of it as dispatch manipulation. I
20:10
Speaker 1: just thought he was lying to cover his track.
20:11
Speaker 2: It's both.
20:12
Speaker 1: But you're right. He is weaponizing the bureaucracy of the
20:15
Speaker 1: 911 system against her. That is incredibly dark.
20:18
Speaker 2: And his plan works, tragically.
20:21
Speaker 1: By the time EMTs actually make physical contact with Jade
20:25
Speaker 1: at 9.50 p.m., 12 agonizing minutes after the 911 call started,
20:31
Speaker 1: they find her face down on the bed.
20:32
Speaker 2: There is a pink frothy liquid coming from her mouth,
20:36
Speaker 2: which is highly indicative of pulmonary edema, you know, fluid
20:40
Speaker 2: in the lungs, often caused by massive trauma to the
20:43
Speaker 2: heart or overdose.
20:44
Speaker 1: And she has no pulse.
20:45
Speaker 2: She is immediately rushed to Vanderbilt Hospital. And this is
20:48
Speaker 2: where the narrative shifts from a desperate medical emergency to
20:51
Speaker 2: a potential crime scene.
20:53
Speaker 1: But what happens, or rather what doesn't happen at that
20:56
Speaker 1: apartment next, severely complicates the pursuit of justice for years
21:00
Speaker 1: to come.
21:01
Speaker 2: Let's get into this, because if you are listening to
21:03
Speaker 2: this and wondering how the system could fail, Jade, this
21:06
Speaker 2: part is going to make your blood boil.
21:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, the police arrive at the Ontario apartment. A young, healthy,
21:12
Speaker 1: pregnant woman has just inexplicably flatlined.
21:16
Speaker 2: Her boyfriend's story about a food allergy is entirely inconsistent
21:20
Speaker 2: with the medical reality of what the EMTs just saw.
21:23
Speaker 1: And what do the police do? They do a quick
21:26
Speaker 1: cursory sweep of the apartment, and then they leave the
21:29
Speaker 1: scene unsecured.
21:30
Speaker 2: They just leave.
21:31
Speaker 1: They don't tape it off with yellow crime scene tape.
21:33
Speaker 1: They don't post a uniformed officer at the door. They
21:36
Speaker 1: fail to secure the apartment of a potential homicide victim.
21:39
Speaker 2: It's baffling.
21:41
Speaker 1: I have to push back on this, or at least
21:42
Speaker 1: ask for an explanation. How is that even possible? Is
21:45
Speaker 1: it pure incompetence? Or did they just assume it was
21:48
Speaker 1: a tragic natural event and write it off without thinking?
21:51
Speaker 2: It appears to be a catastrophic failure of standard investigative protocol.
21:55
Speaker 2: In standard law enforcement procedures across most jurisdictions, An unexplained
22:00
Speaker 2: medical collapse of a young, healthy person, especially one who
22:03
Speaker 2: is pregnant, should automatically trigger preservation of the scene until
22:08
Speaker 2: foul play is definitively ruled out by a medical examiner.
22:11
Speaker 1: Right. The protocol is simple. You secure the perimeter, you
22:14
Speaker 1: log who goes in and out, and you preserve transient evidence.
22:17
Speaker 2: Which includes things like half-empty drinks, trash, and biological fluids.
22:22
Speaker 1: But by failing to secure the apartment... The police allowed
22:25
Speaker 1: a massive window of opportunity for evidence to be altered, destroyed,
22:29
Speaker 1: or inadvertently contaminated by well-meaning people.
22:32
Speaker 2: And contaminated it was, but not necessarily by who you'd think.
22:36
Speaker 1: Right, because the police just left the door open. Jade's
22:39
Speaker 1: family and friends are left in a desperate panic for answers.
22:42
Speaker 2: Jade is on life support at Vanderbilt. The doctors are
22:45
Speaker 2: telling the family it looks like a massive cocaine overdose.
22:48
Speaker 2: And her mother, Bridget, is understandably frantic and confused.
22:52
Speaker 1: So... Her friend, a former school teacher named Stephanie Franklin,
22:56
Speaker 1: actually takes it upon herself to go to the apartment
22:58
Speaker 1: with a few others to try and collect evidence themselves.
23:02
Speaker 2: It is a remarkable testament to their dedication to Jade.
23:05
Speaker 2: They wanted to know what happened to her.
23:07
Speaker 1: But forensically speaking, having civilians process a crime scene is
23:13
Speaker 1: a nightmare.
23:14
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Stephanie and her group did try to be careful.
23:17
Speaker 2: They wore gloves, they took photos, they recorded videos, essentially
23:21
Speaker 2: acting as citizen investigators.
23:23
Speaker 1: But when they enter the apartment, what they find is
23:25
Speaker 1: highly suspicious.
23:27
Speaker 2: They find an apartment that is suspiciously pristine. Right.
23:31
Speaker 1: Think about the timeline we just discussed. A woman collasses,
23:34
Speaker 1: loses the ability to walk, vomits, loses her pulse, and
23:38
Speaker 1: her boyfriend is supposedly frantically calling 911. while trying to
23:41
Speaker 1: help her.
23:42
Speaker 2: You'd expect chaos in that apartment.
23:44
Speaker 1: You'd expect spilled drinks, knocked over chairs, a massive mess
23:47
Speaker 1: in the kitchen.
23:48
Speaker 2: Instead, Stephanie walks in, and the Alfredo dinner is neatly
23:52
Speaker 2: packed away in Tupperware.
23:53
Speaker 1: The cookies they baked are just sitting calmly on a
23:56
Speaker 1: baking tray.
23:56
Speaker 2: The painted canvases and a water glass are neatly arranged
23:59
Speaker 2: on the kitchen island.
24:00
Speaker 1: But Stephanie is sharp, and she notices two huge red flags.
24:04
Speaker 2: The first major red flag involves the Blink security camera.
24:08
Speaker 1: Right, Jade kept a small Blink camera... on the kitchen counter,
24:12
Speaker 1: and it was normally facing inward toward the living area
24:15
Speaker 1: and the kitchen.
24:16
Speaker 2: But Stephanie finds that the camera has been physically moved
24:19
Speaker 2: to the window ledge, deliberately pointed outward toward the street,
24:23
Speaker 2: completely away from the interior of the apartment.
24:26
Speaker 1: Which means whoever moved it, and I think we can
24:29
Speaker 1: safely assume it was Blaze, didn't want it capturing what
24:31
Speaker 1: was happening inside that room.
24:33
Speaker 2: No, of course not.
24:34
Speaker 1: And here is the tragic, heartbreaking irony of this detail.
24:39
Speaker 1: Jade didn't even have a recording subscription for that camera. Oh, man. Yeah,
24:43
Speaker 1: it was only live feed. So even if it had
24:45
Speaker 1: been pointing inward the whole time, it wouldn't have saved
24:47
Speaker 1: video to the cloud.
24:48
Speaker 2: But Blaze didn't know that. He moved it in a
24:50
Speaker 2: panic to cover his tracks.
24:52
Speaker 1: The second red flag Stephanie found was in the bedroom.
24:55
Speaker 2: On the bed where Jade was found unresponsive by the EMTs,
24:59
Speaker 2: there was a pink stain on the comforter, likely from
25:01
Speaker 2: the vomiting.
25:02
Speaker 1: But around that pink vomit stain was a larger dried ring.
25:07
Speaker 1: strongly suggesting that another liquid had been poured over it
25:11
Speaker 1: in an attempt to dilute or clean the original stain
25:14
Speaker 1: before the EMTs or police arrived.
25:16
Speaker 2: Stephanie, acting as a makeshift CSI, actually bags this comforter
25:21
Speaker 2: and gives it to Jade's parents for safekeeping.
25:23
Speaker 1: They also secure a jug of pink fruit punch and
25:25
Speaker 1: some lemonade from the fridge.
25:27
Speaker 2: Eventually, the police realize the magnitude of their mistake and
25:30
Speaker 2: start testing things.
25:31
Speaker 1: But what do they find? Absolutely nothing useful. There's no
25:34
Speaker 1: cocaine found anywhere in the apartment, none in the juice jugs,
25:38
Speaker 1: none in the neatly arranged glasses.
25:39
Speaker 2: And to make matters worse, the surveillance footage from the
25:42
Speaker 2: apartment building, which might have shown Blaze taking out the
25:44
Speaker 2: trash or disposing of evidence during that 12-minute gap, was
25:47
Speaker 2: deleted by the building management's automated system before the cops
25:51
Speaker 2: even bothered to ask for it.
25:52
Speaker 1: Just failure after failure. Yeah.
25:55
Speaker 2: The only thing that ultimately tests positive for cocaine is
25:58
Speaker 2: the vomit stain on the comforter that Stephanie preserved.
26:01
Speaker 1: This confirms scientifically that Jade expelled the drug, but it
26:05
Speaker 1: does absolutely nothing to link the drug directly to Blaze.
26:09
Speaker 2: This presents a massive logistical puzzle for the prosecution later on.
26:13
Speaker 2: How does a massive lethal dose of oral cocaine simply
26:17
Speaker 2: vanish from a closed apartment?
26:19
Speaker 1: Exactly. This is the question I kept asking myself while
26:22
Speaker 1: reading through these sources. He must have given it to
26:24
Speaker 1: her in a glass or a bottle or mixed into
26:26
Speaker 1: a drink.
26:27
Speaker 2: If she drank it, the vessel had to be somewhere.
26:30
Speaker 1: Did he wash it? Did he sprint down the hall
26:32
Speaker 1: and throw it down the trash chute in the building
26:34
Speaker 1: while she was dying on the bed?
26:36
Speaker 2: That is the most plausible theory. Remember that 12-minute gap
26:39
Speaker 2: between his 911 call and the arrival of EMTs? Yeah.
26:42
Speaker 2: Combine that with the time between the open line call
26:45
Speaker 2: dropping and him finally dialing 911. That gave him ample
26:49
Speaker 2: time to wash a specific glass thoroughly or dispose of
26:52
Speaker 2: a container down a chute.
26:53
Speaker 1: But the mystery of how it was administered deepens significantly
26:57
Speaker 1: when we look at the medical anomaly in the toxicology report.
27:00
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the toxicology, because this part is wild and, frankly,
27:04
Speaker 2: deeply confusing at first glance.
27:06
Speaker 1: Tragically, baby Ivy dies just days after the incident. Jade
27:10
Speaker 1: holds on on life support until March 6th, which was
27:12
Speaker 1: actually her 25th birthday, before she is taken off life
27:15
Speaker 1: support and passes away. Dr.
27:17
Speaker 2: Erin Carney, the medical examiner, officially rules the cause of
27:21
Speaker 2: death a cocaine overdose. But the manner of death is
27:24
Speaker 2: left as undetermined.
27:26
Speaker 1: Wait, hold on. If they know the cocaine killed her,
27:28
Speaker 1: why is the manner of death undetermined? Doesn't one equal
27:32
Speaker 1: the other?
27:32
Speaker 2: It's a crucial legal distinction. The cause of death is
27:35
Speaker 2: the medical reason the body stopped functioning, in this case,
27:38
Speaker 2: cocaine toxicity.
27:40
Speaker 1: Okay, so what's the manner?
27:41
Speaker 2: The manner of death is a legal classification. Was it
27:44
Speaker 2: a homicide, a suicide, an accident, or natural causes?
27:47
Speaker 1: I see.
27:48
Speaker 2: Undetermined is a highly frustrating classification for law enforcement. It
27:52
Speaker 2: means the medical evidence alone, without the missing glass or
27:55
Speaker 2: a confession, cannot definitively prove whether the drug was taken voluntarily,
28:00
Speaker 2: which would be an accident, or administered covertly by someone else,
28:03
Speaker 2: which is a homicide.
28:05
Speaker 1: But the toxicology report revealed a fascinating and vital chemical detail,
28:09
Speaker 1: the presence of cocaethylene.
28:11
Speaker 2: I had to look this up because I'd never heard
28:12
Speaker 2: of it. Cocatethylene is this highly specific chemical compound that
28:17
Speaker 2: your liver produces when it processes cocaine and alcohol at
28:20
Speaker 2: the exact same time.
28:22
Speaker 1: It creates this entirely new, highly toxic chemical in your
28:25
Speaker 1: body that is even more damaging to the heart than
28:28
Speaker 1: cocaine alone.
28:30
Speaker 2: But wait, Jade wasn't drinking alcohol. She was six months pregnant.
28:34
Speaker 1: And yet the defense later tries to use this exact
28:37
Speaker 1: finding of cocathylene to argue that Jade willingly drank a
28:41
Speaker 1: cocaine-laced alcoholic beverage.
28:43
Speaker 2: Or, ridiculously, they argue that the alcohol in her system
28:46
Speaker 2: came from the vanilla extract used in the cookies they
28:49
Speaker 2: baked that night.
28:50
Speaker 1: And this raises an important question about the sensory experience
28:53
Speaker 1: of consuming these specific substances. We need to think about
28:56
Speaker 1: the practical reality of drinking a lethal dose of liquid
29:00
Speaker 1: cocaine mixed with alcohol.
29:02
Speaker 2: Cocaine, particularly in a liquid oral dose large enough to
29:05
Speaker 2: cause systemic failure so quickly, is incredibly bitter and highly
29:09
Speaker 2: numbing to the mucous membranes.
29:11
Speaker 1: Alcohol, as we know, has a distinct burn and a
29:13
Speaker 1: strong flavor.
29:14
Speaker 2: If someone hands you a glass of juice laced with
29:17
Speaker 2: a legal dose of cocaine and enough alcohol to trigger
29:21
Speaker 2: hepatic cocafoline production, you are going to taste it immediately.
29:25
Speaker 1: Your mouth will go numb. It is not something you
29:27
Speaker 1: can just casually sip without noticing.
29:29
Speaker 2: And the prosecution completely dismantles the defense's theory... With one simple,
29:34
Speaker 2: undeniable fact.
29:35
Speaker 1: Which is?
29:36
Speaker 2: Jade was a trained chef. She had a highly refined
29:39
Speaker 2: palate that was her entire career, tasting nuance in food
29:43
Speaker 2: and drink.
29:43
Speaker 1: Wow, of course.
29:44
Speaker 2: If she took a sip of a drink that was
29:46
Speaker 2: secretly spiked with hard liquor and liquid cocaine, she would
29:49
Speaker 2: have spat it out instantly. She wouldn't have just casually
29:52
Speaker 2: chugged it while cheerfully painting a nursery canvas.
29:55
Speaker 1: She clearly knew something was wrong. That's exactly why she said,
29:58
Speaker 1: my drink tasted funny, on the phone to Nyjah. But
30:02
Speaker 1: by the time she fully registered the strange, bitter taste
30:05
Speaker 1: and the numbness, she had likely already consumed a fatal amount.
30:09
Speaker 2: Precisely. The chef's palate argument is incredibly compelling. It proves
30:13
Speaker 2: she didn't know what she was drinking.
30:15
Speaker 1: But even with that, investigators are still left with a
30:18
Speaker 1: missing murder weapon, essentially. Where on earth did the liquid
30:22
Speaker 1: cocaine come from?
30:23
Speaker 2: The prosecution couldn't definitively prove the source in court. However,
30:27
Speaker 2: outside of the courtroom, legal commentators reviewing the case noted
30:31
Speaker 2: a fascinating theory regarding Blaze's connections.
30:34
Speaker 1: What theory?
30:34
Speaker 2: Blaze Taylor had family connections to a dental office.
30:38
Speaker 1: Whoa, really? A dental office? Hold on, I'm struggling with
30:41
Speaker 1: the dental office theory. Even if he knew someone at
30:44
Speaker 1: a clinic, how does a football scout actually acquire highly
30:47
Speaker 1: regulated liquid cocaine... without a prescription or a paper trail?
30:51
Speaker 2: It's a very valid question. To understand this, you have
30:54
Speaker 2: to know that in certain clinical environments, particularly in oral surgery,
30:58
Speaker 2: sexualized dentistry, or ear, nose, and throat practices, pharmaceutical-grade liquid
31:03
Speaker 2: cocaine is still legally utilized.
31:05
Speaker 1: Really? I didn't know they still use that.
31:07
Speaker 2: Yeah. It is highly valued as a topical anesthetic because
31:10
Speaker 2: it numbs the area, but also as a powerful vasoconstrictor,
31:14
Speaker 2: meaning it shrinks blood vessels to reduce bleeding during procedures.
31:18
Speaker 1: This theory was never introduced in court, likely because investigators
31:22
Speaker 1: couldn't find a definitive paper trail, a missing inventory log,
31:26
Speaker 1: or a witness willing to admit they gave it to him.
31:29
Speaker 2: Right. But it provides a highly plausible, terrifying explanation for
31:33
Speaker 2: how a professional NFL scout with absolutely no known ties
31:37
Speaker 2: to the street drug trade could suddenly acquire a lethal,
31:40
Speaker 2: untraceable dose of liquid cocaine.
31:44
Speaker 1: That is bone-chilling. If that's true, it shows a level
31:47
Speaker 1: of premeditation that is hard to even fathom.
31:49
Speaker 2: But because they couldn't definitively prove the source of the drug,
31:53
Speaker 2: and because the police completely botched the initial crime scene,
31:56
Speaker 2: prosecutors were stuck.
31:58
Speaker 1: They had to wait. It wasn't until a full year
32:00
Speaker 1: later that they finally felt they had enough circumstantial evidence
32:02
Speaker 1: to indict him.
32:03
Speaker 2: Building a case entirely on circumstantial evidence is an immense
32:06
Speaker 2: challenge for any prosecutor.
32:08
Speaker 1: When you lack the smoking gun, or in this specific case,
32:12
Speaker 1: the laced drinking glass of the drug supplier, You must
32:14
Speaker 1: build a fortress of context.
32:16
Speaker 2: You have to rely on behavior, digital timeline, motive, and
32:20
Speaker 2: opportunity to prove to a jury that the only logical
32:23
Speaker 2: conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt is the defendant's guilt.
32:27
Speaker 1: And they finally make their move in March of 2024.
32:30
Speaker 1: Blaze is arrested by U.S. Marshals in Utah.
32:33
Speaker 2: And of course, the Golden Boy hasn't missed a beat
32:35
Speaker 2: in the year since Jade died. He's out there working
32:38
Speaker 2: as a football coach, having just been hired for a
32:40
Speaker 2: new position at Texas A & M.
32:42
Speaker 1: But the detail that really sticks out to me, the
32:45
Speaker 1: thing that shows exactly who he is, is who he
32:48
Speaker 1: is with when he gets arrested in that car.
32:50
Speaker 2: He is in the car with a woman named Xavier Winford.
32:52
Speaker 1: And Xavier is not just a casual acquaintance or a
32:54
Speaker 1: new co-worker. She is the absolute linchpin for the prosecution
32:59
Speaker 1: in establishing his true motive.
33:00
Speaker 2: The trial finally begins in June of 2026. And the
33:04
Speaker 2: prosecution starts methodically peeling off the layers of Blaze's golden
33:08
Speaker 2: boy mask.
33:09
Speaker 1: They bring up Xavier Winford. They show the jury that
33:11
Speaker 1: Blaze had known her for years, since 2017.
33:14
Speaker 2: And the day before the murder, literally the day before
33:17
Speaker 2: he sits in Jade's kitchen painting that black canvas, he
33:20
Speaker 2: is texting Xavier.
33:21
Speaker 1: He tells her, I love you and I need you
33:23
Speaker 1: to love me back. Everything is going to work out.
33:26
Speaker 2: Everything is going to work out. That phrase takes on
33:29
Speaker 2: a profoundly sinister double meaning when viewed in hindsight.
33:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does.
33:34
Speaker 2: He is actively assuring another woman that the primary obstacle
33:37
Speaker 2: in his life, which in his mind is Jade and
33:41
Speaker 2: the impending reality of the pregnancy is about to be handled.
33:44
Speaker 1: He was living a complete, compartmentalized double life. He wanted
33:49
Speaker 1: a future with Xavier, completely unencumbered by the financial, social,
33:53
Speaker 1: and reputational tether of having a child at a wedlock
33:56
Speaker 1: with Jade.
33:57
Speaker 2: But proving motive is only part of the puzzle. The
33:59
Speaker 2: prosecution also had to prove that this wasn't just a
34:02
Speaker 2: spontaneous one-off tragedy, but a calculated, deeply ingrained pattern of behavior.
34:07
Speaker 1: And to do that, They put his college ex-girlfriend, Apple Denny,
34:11
Speaker 1: on the stand.
34:12
Speaker 2: And I have to say, reading the transcripts of her testimony,
34:15
Speaker 2: it is one of the most damning things I have
34:17
Speaker 2: ever heard in a courtroom.
34:18
Speaker 1: Apple Denny's testimony was the architectural blueprint of Blaze Taylor's psychology.
34:23
Speaker 2: She testified that years prior, when she was just 19
34:25
Speaker 2: and dating Blaze in college, she became pregnant.
34:29
Speaker 1: She panicked and ultimately chose to have an abortion, a
34:32
Speaker 1: decision Blaze fully and enthusiastically supported. However.
34:36
Speaker 2: The critical, case-breaking part of her testimony wasn't about her
34:39
Speaker 2: own pregnancy. It was about another woman Blaze had dated
34:43
Speaker 2: in college. Right.
34:44
Speaker 1: This other college girlfriend also got pregnant. But unlike Apple,
34:48
Speaker 1: this woman wanted to keep the baby.
34:50
Speaker 2: And what was Blaze's reaction? Apple testified that he became
34:53
Speaker 2: completely erratic. He had a total meltdown.
34:55
Speaker 1: And then he approached Apple and asked her to illegally
34:58
Speaker 1: procure abortion pills for him. Why? So he could secretly, covertly,
35:03
Speaker 1: slip them into this other pregnant girl's drink.
35:05
Speaker 2: It establishes a clear, undeniable, and terrifying pattern.
35:08
Speaker 1: When faced with an unwanted pregnancy that threatens his upward
35:11
Speaker 1: trajectory and his curated image, Blaise Taylor's default problem-solving mechanism
35:16
Speaker 1: is to covertly poison the woman's drink to terminate the
35:20
Speaker 1: pregnancy without her knowledge or consent.
35:22
Speaker 2: He had literally conceptualized this exact framework of a crime
35:26
Speaker 2: years prior.
35:27
Speaker 1: It makes you wonder, if you're sitting in that jury box,
35:30
Speaker 1: if he had tried it before and failed, or if
35:33
Speaker 1: Jade was simply the first time he actually went all
35:34
Speaker 1: the way through with it.
35:35
Speaker 2: So what does this all mean for the defense team?
35:37
Speaker 2: They have a client facing a mountain of circumstantial evidence,
35:40
Speaker 2: a proven motive, and a prior pattern of wanting to
35:43
Speaker 2: poison pregnant women's drinks.
35:45
Speaker 1: Their strategy is the oldest, most infuriating trick in the
35:49
Speaker 1: defense playbook, blatant victim blaming.
35:52
Speaker 2: The defense leaned heavily into Blaze's curated halo effect persona.
35:57
Speaker 2: They argued to the jury that he was a professional
36:00
Speaker 2: NFL scout. an educated man with absolutely no history of
36:03
Speaker 2: hard drug or alcohol abuse.
36:05
Speaker 1: Therefore, they posited there was no logical way he could
36:09
Speaker 1: possess a lethal amount of cocaine. Instead, they pointed the
36:12
Speaker 1: finger directly at Jade Benning.
36:14
Speaker 2: It is absolutely disgusting. They comb through Jade's old text
36:17
Speaker 2: messages and they find some casual references to her using
36:20
Speaker 2: marijuana and mushrooms in the past.
36:22
Speaker 1: And they try to spin this massive narrative to the
36:24
Speaker 1: jury that because she smoked weed or took a mushroom
36:28
Speaker 1: once upon a time, She must secretly be a hardcore
36:31
Speaker 1: drug addict who willingly chugged a massive dose of liquid
36:35
Speaker 1: cocaine while six months pregnant.
36:38
Speaker 2: I have to push back hard on this, and I
36:39
Speaker 2: think anyone listening would too.
36:41
Speaker 1: The logical leap there is utterly absurd. Smoking a joint
36:44
Speaker 1: to relax after a shift in a kitchen does not
36:47
Speaker 1: equate to a pregnant woman who is joyfully planning baby
36:50
Speaker 1: showers and painting a nursery, suddenly deciding to ingest a
36:53
Speaker 1: lethal amount of a hard narcotic.
36:55
Speaker 2: It is a textbook logical fallacy designed specifically to exploit
36:59
Speaker 2: societal stigma. The defense was hoping the jury would view
37:02
Speaker 2: the victim through a prejudiced lens, conflating soft recreational drug
37:06
Speaker 2: use with suicidal hard narcotic abuse.
37:08
Speaker 1: However, they failed to account for the overwhelming documented evidence
37:12
Speaker 1: of Jade's state of mind. She was actively preparing for
37:15
Speaker 1: a future.
37:16
Speaker 2: And the prosecution countered this victim blaming beautifully by simply
37:19
Speaker 2: reminding the jury of the timeline.
37:21
Speaker 1: Why would a woman secretly ingest a massive dose of
37:24
Speaker 1: liquid cocaine? sit down calmly to paint a nursery canvas,
37:29
Speaker 1: take smiling, affectionate photos with her boyfriend, and then, a
37:32
Speaker 1: minute later, call her best friend, screaming that her drink
37:35
Speaker 1: had been spiked.
37:37
Speaker 2: The defense's narrative directly contradicted the victim's own dying words.
37:42
Speaker 1: And thankfully, the jury saw right through the smoke and mirrors.
37:45
Speaker 1: It only took them two and a half hours of deliberation.
37:48
Speaker 2: Think about that. A weeks-long trial, and it took them
37:51
Speaker 2: two and a half hours to look at the golden boy,
37:53
Speaker 2: look at the evidence, and say, guilty.
37:55
Speaker 1: He was convicted of four counts, which included first and
37:58
Speaker 1: second degree murder for both Jade and baby Ivy.
38:02
Speaker 2: He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole,
38:04
Speaker 2: but under Tennessee state law, that means a mandatory minimum
38:08
Speaker 2: of 51 years behind bars.
38:10
Speaker 1: His final sentencing hearing to determine if the sentences for
38:13
Speaker 1: Jade and Ivy will run consecutively is actually scheduled for
38:16
Speaker 1: September 9th, 2026.
38:17
Speaker 2: Synthesizing this entire trial and investigation, the prosecution achieved something remarkable.
38:23
Speaker 1: They overcame a botched, unsecured crime scene and a total
38:27
Speaker 1: lack of physical drug evidence linked directly to the defendant.
38:30
Speaker 2: They did it by painstakingly weaving the timeline of the
38:33
Speaker 2: digital footprint, the dual-life motive established by the Xavier texts,
38:38
Speaker 2: and the prior behavioral pattern from Apple-Genny's testimony into an
38:42
Speaker 2: undeniable tapestry of guilt.
38:44
Speaker 1: But as we look at the mechanics of the trial,
38:46
Speaker 1: we must also acknowledge the profound human toll.
38:50
Speaker 2: Jader's mother, Bridget, and her best friend, Neja, had to
38:53
Speaker 2: sit in that courtroom for days, enduring the defense's brutal
38:57
Speaker 2: character assassination of the woman they loved, just waiting for
39:00
Speaker 2: the justice they finally received.
39:03
Speaker 1: It is heartbreaking to think about what they endured in
39:05
Speaker 1: that room. But it brings us back to the core
39:08
Speaker 1: realization of this entire story, the thing that makes this
39:10
Speaker 1: deep dive so important.
39:12
Speaker 2: The ultimate unraveling of Blaise Taylor wasn't because of brilliant
39:15
Speaker 2: police work.
39:16
Speaker 1: It wasn't forensic science swooping in at the last minute
39:19
Speaker 1: to save the day.
39:20
Speaker 2: It was entirely because Jade Benning was smart. She was
39:23
Speaker 2: exceptionally brave and she was deeply, intrinsically connected to her
39:26
Speaker 2: best friend.
39:27
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Her final act of Clayton. realizing she was in
39:31
Speaker 1: mortal danger, refusing to suffer in silence, and having the
39:35
Speaker 1: presence of mind to leave that phone line open for
39:38
Speaker 1: Nyjah to hear Shattered Blaze's carefully constructed reality.
39:42
Speaker 2: He thought he could control the narrative, just as he
39:45
Speaker 2: controlled his public image, but Jade ensured the truth survived her.
39:49
Speaker 1: We lost a vibrant, talented young chef and a baby
39:52
Speaker 1: girl who never got to see the beautiful, colorful nursery
39:55
Speaker 1: her mother painted for her.
39:56
Speaker 2: And we are left looking at the cold reality of
39:59
Speaker 2: the man who took them away.
40:01
Speaker 1: But before we wrap up today, there's one final thought
40:04
Speaker 1: I want to leave you with. Something that has been
40:06
Speaker 1: lingering in the back of my mind since we started
40:08
Speaker 1: looking at the crime scene.
40:09
Speaker 2: You're thinking about the blink camera, aren't you?
40:11
Speaker 1: Exactly. The blink camera. We mentioned earlier that Stephanie found
40:15
Speaker 1: Blaze had moved it from the kitchen counter to the
40:17
Speaker 1: window ledge. pointing it outward at the street.
40:20
Speaker 2: And we know it only had a live feed, no
40:23
Speaker 2: recording subscription.
40:24
Speaker 1: But think about the illusion of security we surround ourselves
40:27
Speaker 1: with today. We buy these smart cameras for our living rooms.
40:31
Speaker 1: We share our GPS locations with our friends on our phones.
40:34
Speaker 1: We text constantly.
40:36
Speaker 2: We genuinely believe that this technology creates a bubble that
40:39
Speaker 2: protects us, especially in our private spaces.
40:43
Speaker 1: We rely on a digital perimeter to keep the bad
40:45
Speaker 1: actors out. We assume the threat is always external.
40:50
Speaker 2: Right. But what happens when the threat isn't an intruder
40:53
Speaker 2: creeping through the window caught on your camera?
40:55
Speaker 1: What happens when the threat is the person sitting right
40:57
Speaker 1: next to you on your couch?
40:59
Speaker 2: The person who knows the camera doesn't record.
41:01
Speaker 1: The person who knows your passwords, your daily routines, and
41:03
Speaker 1: your blind spots.
41:04
Speaker 2: It forces you to wonder. In our hyper-connected world, how
41:08
Speaker 2: much of our safety is just an illusion, easily dismantled
41:12
Speaker 2: by the very people we invite inside?
41:14
Speaker 1: It is a chilling vulnerability to consider. It highlights that
41:18
Speaker 1: technology is merely a tool, and it is entirely neutralized
41:22
Speaker 1: when the danger comes from within the house.
41:24
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining us for this deep dive.
41:26
Speaker 1: Keep questioning the narratives you are presented with. Keep looking
41:30
Speaker 1: beneath the curated surface and take care of yourselves out there.