For many years, the United States has been the focal point of some devastating and atrocious crimes; among them, the 2017 Slaying of Taylor Wright by an acquaintance Ashley McArthur was a cruel example of cold-bloodedness.
The 2017 vanishing of Taylor Wright is the topic of the episode of the investigative series on April 23.
Reporter Keith Morrison will converse with Wright’s loved ones and her colleagues about who the private detective was as a person. He will also depict all that occurred after she vanished.
Ashley McArthur was the last person to be seen with Taylor Wright, who became a suspect in the case almost immediately. When Wright’s body was found, she was arrested for her homicide.
To learn more regarding where Ashley McArthur is currently and for further details on what occurred to Taylor Wright, continue reading.
Who is Ashley McArthur?
Ashley worked as a crime scene investigator and purportedly was close friends with the murder victim.
Taylor, the 33-year-old private detective and a former police officer, was going through a divorce.
She withdrew $100,000 from a joint account between her and her then-husband, Jeff Wright.
Then, she handed over more than $30,000 to McArthur to safeguard on her behalf.
What happened to Taylor Wright?
Initially, it was believed that Taylor was missing. At the time, Casandra, her live-in girlfriend, notified authorities that she had not seen her partner since September 8, 2017.
They had been exchanging texts until 11:20 am, but then Taylor stopped responding.
Later in the evening, around 8 pm, Casandra received a text from Taylor’s phone stating that she needed some time to get her life back on track.
Officials noted that Ashley McArthur had messaged her cousin asking if he would be at the farm that day. (He was away at a funeral).
In an interview with the police, McArthur said that both the victim and she had gone to her family’s property to ride horses. After an hour, they returned to McArthur’s house, from where Taylor possibly took an Uber to go to a bar.
The former technician continued, “I don’t believe Taylor’s been harmed. I think Taylor is doing what Taylor does, but I don’t know, you know. She’s always come across as being tough, and never made it anything other than–She’s always carrying weapons whether it’s knives, or guns, or whatever. She’s not an easy target.”
But cell phone records indicated the opposite. So when the authorities pursued this lead, they found Taylor’s body concealed in another farm owned by McArthur’s family on Britt Road in North Pensacola.
After being shot in the back of her head, the victim was callously hidden beneath a layer of potted soil and concrete. McArthur’s bank records also provided a clear picture.
A cashier’s check in Taylor’s name worth $34,000 had been deposited in the perpetrator’s bank account. The money was then spent, and McArthur possibly even purchased a boat for Brandon Beaty, a man she had an affair with.
Prosecutors alleged that when Taylor confronted McArthur about the money, it was the last time the victim was heard.
On September 9, 2017, the former crime scene technician was also seen purchasing potting soil and concrete from a Home Depot on surveillance footage.
Prosecutor Bridgette Jenson emphasized the difference in McArthur’s behavior in two different police meetings held importance— “If you look at the first interview, she was flirty, maybe a little playful with law enforcement. In the second interview her demeanor was different. I think she knew she was caught.”
At the hearing, witnesses came forward and affirmed that McArthur had spoken of killing Taylor in other incidents as well.
Audrey Warne, who is a local bartender and also one of McArthur’s friends, testified, “She said she was going to put it [cocaine] in Taylor’s beer. She said this world would be better if Taylor wasn’t here and she wasn’t a good person, once that she was too small to hurt anybody so she’d just shoot them.“
But John Berose, McArthur’s lawyer, stated that his client had no financial issues.
His opening statement was: “There will be no physical evidence introduced in this trial to show you that Ashley McArthur had anything to do with the death of Taylor Wright.”
He explained that the type of bullet that killed Taylor could not be linked to any of the guns that had been presented as evidence, thus reducing the presence of a murder weapon in McArthur’s arsenal.
Additionally, he also brought up Taylor’s alleged drug use and scrutinized the victim’s mental state.
Where is Ashley McArthur Today?
Bridgette Jenson told the jurors, “Ladies and gentlemen, Ashley McArthur had a motive, Ashley McArthur had the opportunity, Ashley McArthur murdered Taylor Wright and then she tried to cover it up with lies, concrete and potting soil.” The prosecution, throughout the trial, reiterated that the motive was financial in nature.
It was noted that the defendant was at a wedding in Alabama when Taylor’s phone also pinged off a tower in the vicinity (indicating that McArthur had kept her friend’s phone).
She Was Found Guilty of 1st-Degree Murder & Sentenced to Life in Prison.
McArthur was sentenced to first-degree premeditated murder on August 30, 2019, and received a life sentence in prison. The 43-year-old is presently serving her sentence at the Lowell Correctional Institution, also known as the Lowell Annex, public records show.
The Annex is a women’s prison with a 1,500-inmate capacity located in Ocala, Florida, northwest of Orlando.
Prosecutors contended that McArthur killed Wright for financial gain and presented motive and opportunity to the jury during the week-long trial, as reported by the Pensacola News Journal.
She Was Also Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Other Unrelated Crimes, Including Fraud
In March 2018, while she was out on bail before her trial for Wright’s murder, McArthur was charged with arson, racketeering, and fraud for separate incidents that occurred before Wright’s murder, CourtTV reported. According to investigators, McArthur embezzled thousands from local businesses while managing her family’s company Pensacola Automatic Amusement between 2015 and 2017.
The day McArthur was supposed to meet the businesses about their lost revenue at Pensacola Automatic Amusement, a fire broke out, leading to the arson charges against McArthur.
In January 2019, McArthur was convicted of racketeering and organized fraud but not arson, and she was sentenced to seven years in prison, public records show.
McArthur Appealed the Verdict, but the First District Court of Appeal in the State of Florida Upheld Her Conviction
McArthur filed an appeal against her guilty verdict to the First District Court of Appeal in the State of Florida, but the court upheld her judgment and sentencing on April 16, 2021.
Ashley argued that the jury was unfairly prejudiced when a photo of herself holding and pointing a shotgun was accidentally shown. She also claimed that statements she made to investigators and cell phone records should not have been admitted into evidence.
In their ruling, the appeals court wrote that the trial court did not make an error in allowing those pieces of evidence to be heard and also added that the shotgun photo “wasn’t soprejudicial to invalidate the entire trial.” It stated that further testimony presented during the trial indicated McArthur’s ownership and possession of firearms, as well as her attire in camouflage.
At present, it remains uncertain whether McArthur’s legal counsel will pursue a retrial of her conviction.
Is Ashley McArthur still married?
With a glimmer of hope, Ashley McArthur observed as her cherished spouse, Zachary McArthur, took the stand to reinforce the prosecution’s case.
Zach McArthur. Ashley McArthur Husband
Despite his earlier assertion of unawareness concerning the victim’s whereabouts, Taylor, his steadfast dedication to the truth ultimately triumphed.
The courtroom was further captivated by the appearance of Ashley’s former romantic interest, Brandon Beaty, who arrived to furnish a crucial piece of evidence that would aid in unraveling the intricate web of falsehoods and deception surrounding the accused.
The stakes were high, but the unwavering determination of those seeking justice pledged to illuminate the darkest corners of this confounding case.
Keynotes
- Taylor Wright, a law enforcement officer turned private investigator, disappeared in Pensacola, Florida.
- Following her divorce, she recently relocated to Pensacola and was embroiled in a custody battle over their child at the time of her disappearance.
- Taylor withdrew $100,000 from her joint bank account with her ex-husband in violation of court orders, distributing the funds among friends to conceal it.
- Ashley McArthur was among the beneficiaries of Taylor’s financial assistance, asserting that she would safeguard the funds in a safety deposit box and make them available to Taylor when she was prepared. However, McArthur failed to return the funds when requested by Taylor.
- On September 8, 2017, McArthur and Taylor had planned to visit the bank to retrieve the funds, but McArthur called and proposed horseback riding in east Milton instead.
- Taylor’s girlfriend, Cassandra Waller, grew worried and messaged Taylor, receiving a response only at 7 p.m., when Taylor expressed a need for time to contemplate and organize her life.
- In the ensuing days, Waller became increasingly anxious and reported the disappearance to the authorities.
- Following a police investigation and scrutiny of McArthur’s text messages and whereabouts, suspicions arose. McArthur had cashed forged checks and provided false information about her location.
- The police eventually discovered Taylor’s body on a farm, wrapped in a hammock with a gunshot wound to the head.
- Following McArthur’s arrest, she was charged with first-degree premeditated murder. She pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years.
