Taylor Marie Behl (; October 13, 1987 – September 6, 2005) was a 17-year-old college freshman from

Vienna, Virginia Vienna () is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Vienna has a population of 16,473. Significantly more people live in ZIP codes with the Vienna postal addresses (22180, 22181, and 22182), bordered approx ...

. She moved to Richmond, Virginia, in August 2005 to attend

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

. About two weeks later on Labor Day, September 5, 2005, Behl disappeared. Acting on a tip one month later, VCU police located her remains at a rural area in

Mathews County, Virginia Mathews County is a county located in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,533. Its county seat is Mathews. Located on the Middle Peninsula, Mathews County is included in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk- Newpor ...

. The case was an

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

cause célèbre A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...

Case

In the early morning of Saturday, September 17, 2005, Behl's car was found about a mile and a half from the VCU Campus. A tracking dog led police to Jesse Schultz, 22, who lived in the area where Behl's car was found; Schultz was eventually cleared. Police also questioned a former boyfriend of Behl with whom she had dinner on September 5, and other acquaintances. Another of the last individuals to have seen Behl alive was Benjamin Fawley, a 38-year-old amateur photographer and self-described "Goth/skater from the 1980s." Fawley's alibi could not be confirmed, and after executing a search warrant police arrested him on September 23 for 16 counts of

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

. A surveillance video showed Behl and Fawley leaving Behl's dormitory together on the night she disappeared. According to police, Fawley told them Behl died accidentally during a consensual sex act (likely

erotic asphyxiation Erotic asphyxiation (variously called asphyxiophilia, hypoxyphilia or breath control play) is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for the purposes of sexual arousal. The term autoerotic asphyxiation is used when the act is done b ...

) with him in her car at

. He claimed he then panicked and dumped her unburied body in a ravine. Behl's mother Janet Pelasara called Fawley "a big, fat liar" and claimed that Behl had sex "once out of curiosity" with Fawley in April 2005, "and then didn't want anything to do with him." In August 2006, Fawley's

Alford plea In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and ...

to second degree murder was accepted and he was sentenced to thirty years in prison.

Use of internet

In September 2007, Chuck Cohen, a first sergeant with the

Indiana State Police The Indiana State Police is the statewide law enforcement agency for the U.S. state of Indiana. Indiana was the 12th state to offer protection to its citizens with a state police force. Its headquarters are in the Indiana Government Center Nor ...

, told a class of 21 law enforcement agencies studying "how criminals often leave an online trail at social networking sites such as MySpace and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

" that the Taylor Behl case marked one of the first times that police narrowed down their suspect pool using a MySpace friends list. Cohen said that Fawley's Internet footprint eventually led police to Behl's body.

References

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External links

Taylor Behl's LiveJournal
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behl, Taylor 2000s missing person cases 2005 in Virginia 2005 murders in the United States Deaths by person in Virginia Formerly missing people Violence against women in Virginia Missing person cases in Virginia People who entered an Alford plea September 2005 crimes in the United States Virginia Commonwealth University Mathews County, Virginia

Case

Use of internet

See also

References

External links