VA - Alexis Murphy, 17, Shipman, 3 Aug 2013 - **ARREST** - #3

[ATasteOfHoney]

What is "SM"? I could t find it on the abbreviation list.

SM = Social Media....which is FaceBook, Twitter, Vining, Blogs, MySpace, etc....

 

[Just K]

A scent was traced from her car to the clubhouse of the apartment complex next to the movie theater parking lot, if I'm not mistaken.

Has there been any information revealed as to the nature of the phone calls RAT made to Samantha? Has he even had to address that, legally speaking? It's decidedly more frightening to me if he can abduct/murder acquaintances and strangers with equal ease (and lack of remorse). I'm already scared of what else we're going to find out about him soon.

If you read the Hook article, they decsribe the events surrounding how SC met him and his two male and younger friends at a bar. SC's mother was there. Samantha showed affection for one of the two younger men and actually he came home with her and stayed the night. The following night she met up with the three and hit it off with the 2nd younger guy. But, he had a girlfriend who SC said threatened her. SC told her mom about it. Then the next evening SC was going to hook up with second young guy. RAT says he calls her to tell her not to come that she is walking into a trap...and that it doesn't look good for her reputation, etc, etc. But SC leaves her house that night, anyway and she is never seen again.

There is a very similar story about a VCU part-time professor who went with two male friends to Louisa County. The men told police that she OD'd and they didn't know what to do...

http://wasdmz2.courts.state.va.us/CJISWeb/Search.do

But, people who knew her don't believe this is how she died. Her body was found, IIRC, behind a dumpster at McDonalds. I have been thinking about this one woman and two male friends and the female ends up dead in Louisa...right near Samantha Clarke's case.

 

[astridxx]

There is also the possibility that her cell phone battery just happened to die in that particular location. That would be a crappy hand of fate if it did. It's a stretch but cell phones these days do not have long battery life. LE did say her cell phone was no longer active, meaning the battery was dead or it was destroyed.

Or...what if RATman did the slider thing and took the battery from her phone while she was paying, and then followed her knowing her phone was disabled. Just a thought. Either way we know her phone was active until she was in that area.

Bouncing off your ideas here I assume she had an iPhone (based on heavy usage of emojis in her tweets). iPhones don't have the greatest battery life, especially if you use them heavily for SM or texting. Also, iPhones, to my knowledge, don't have removable batteries.

 

[chris24]

Bouncing off your ideas here I assume she had an iPhone (based on heavy usage of emojis in her tweets). iPhones don't have the greatest battery life, especially if you use them heavily for SM or texting. Also, iPhones, to my knowledge, don't have removable batteries.

My iPhone dies in just a few hours if I use a lot of apps. That definitely is a possibility it just died there.

 

[billthom56]

Thanks everybody, for your very kind words. There are a lot of unsolved murders and disappearances in Virginia that are worth a look for possible links to the Randy Allen Taylor/Alexis Murphy case. Some of the cases have DNA evidence, while others do not. Just based on what we know so far, my instinct steers me toward the 2010 Samantha Clarke case, and perhaps the Alicia Showalter Reynolds/Route 29 Stalker case from 1996; DNA evidence in some of these cases could be a huge help. I love the map of the places that Mr. Taylor has lived-- very though provoking.

As always, we are all innocent until proven guilty.

Bill Thomas
Brother of Cathleen Thomas
Los Angeles, CA

 

[Tonto]

The one thing that makes me doubt this RAT was the 29 stalker is that the women who escaped said he just seemed like a really nice, trustworthy guy. He didn't seem scary at all. Richard Evonitz seemed much more able to pull off the charming, kind helpful persona than this guy would seem to. Evonitz also bragged to his co-workers about being able to pull women over on the road by flashing his lights at them.

The profile of Evonitz's victims indicates that he was more of a serial hebephile than a murderer of adult women. Also, his crimes in Virginia are well north of the corridor where the 29 stalker ravaged.

 

[forestchilde]

Bouncing off your ideas here I assume she had an iPhone (based on heavy usage of emojis in her tweets). iPhones don't have the greatest battery life, especially if you use them heavily for SM or texting. Also, iPhones, to my knowledge, don't have removable batteries.

Yes, you are right! So if she had an iPhone then removal of the battery can be ruled out. And believe me, I know all about iPhone battery life. As heavy as a user as she was she would have been lucky to probably get 4 hours. And upon looking at her "selfies" on Twitter, she definitely had an iPhone.

 

[carbuff]

The cretin who attacked the woman near Jermantown Rd in '05 (not far from George Mason Univ) and subsequently murdered Morgan has "sub-Saharan" DNA. One of the theories I have About this perpetrator is that he may be an undocumented person who might even slip in and out of the country. Apparently they did not digitize the fingerprints of illegals back in '05. I have wondered if this perpetrator deals drugs and moves about to areas where he can make sales. I am also concerned he may be responsible for other murders in which the bodies have not been found. As a side note, the attack on the young lady walking from the bus stop in Fairfax was very brazen. It is not an isolated area like the locale in which Morgan was found.

Do you have a source for the sub-Saharan DNA? I thought I'd read every Morgan article there was and I don't recall seeing that anywhere. Of course it wouldn't be the first time I missed something, or forgot it...

 

[teknoge3k]

I wouldn't exactly nail down an iPhone in her case. Droids are just as popular if not more popular than iPhones now. I have a Razr Maxx, and my battery life lasts well over a day, even with me listening to music, playing on Facebook all day, etc. A lot of Droid phones have extended batteries in them and they last forever! They can do everything an iPhone can, and more. (not getting into a phone battle here, just stating that she could very well of had a Droid phone and been doing "selfies", and so forth)

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

Yes, you are right! So if she had an iPhone then removal of the battery can be ruled out. And believe me, I know all about iPhone battery life. As heavy as a user as she was she would have been lucky to probably get 4 hours. And upon looking at her "selfies" on Twitter, she definitely had an iPhone.

I regularly recharge mine in the car via the ole' cigarette lighter/charger. Did she have one of those? They recharge fairly quickly by using them.

 

[wendle83]

Bouncing off your ideas here I assume she had an iPhone (based on heavy usage of emojis in her tweets). iPhones don't have the greatest battery life, especially if you use them heavily for SM or texting. Also, iPhones, to my knowledge, don't have removable batteries.

In one of her Vine vids she has a "new" Galaxy. She wipes her hand over the face of it and it comes to life.

I'm not sure if I would be allowed to put a link to it, but you can look it up easily.

 

[cluciano63]

We have seen more and more suspects being charged with murder, without the victim's body being found. It all depends on what evidence they have. They may find her DNA in his home or vehicle, and since she is a minor who was VERY active on SM, be able to conclude that she is no longer living. A lot will depend on where they find DNA, what type it is, etc. JMO

 

[tootsiepop]

Looking at the surveillance pics of Alexis walking into the store, it looks like she is carrying her phone as she's walking in the store. As a mother of teenagers, I cannot imagine any kid of this age not having a car charger as well as home charger, especially with an iphone & the reputation they have as far as battery life.

Going back to RAT's vehicle. Someone mentioned earlier about something funny hanging down from the rear view mirror. I'm familiar with a few tow truck drivers and most that I know usually drive around with police scanners. Could that be either a police scanner hanging from the mirror, or maybe a set of flashing lights that volunteer rescue people use in their personal cars?

There has to be a reasonable explanation as to how he got her out of her car to over power her.

 

[forestchilde]

I wouldn't exactly nail down an iPhone in her case. Droids are just as popular if not more popular than iPhones now. I have a Razr Maxx, and my battery life lasts well over a day, even with me listening to music, playing on Facebook all day, etc. A lot of Droid phones have extended batteries in them and they last forever! They can do everything an iPhone can, and more. (not getting into a phone battle here, just stating that she could very well of had a Droid phone and been doing "selfies", and so forth)

Her "selfies" show her phone and it is an iPhone. You can see the Apple logo in some of the videos.

 

[forestchilde]

In one of her Vine vids she has a "new" Galaxy. She wipes her hand over the face of it and it comes to life.

I'm not sure if I would be allowed to put a link to it, but you can look it up easily.

I think that video was taken in a store. You can hear the noise and it sounds like a really crowded place like a Best Buy or something.

 

[LoveVA]

BBM--if there's one important lesson for women in Gavin de Becker's book "The Gift of Fear", it's that if your gut is telling you something is wrong--BE RUDE.

Predators are counting on the fact that women are taught to be nice.

AMEN!!!! BE RUDE!!! Go with your GUT!!! My mom got in a big fight (not physical just yelling) with my crazy aunt one time about this. She was telling me about how people can sometimes try to fool you by acting like they need directions, or help, or even that they are disabled etc (a la "Silence of the Lambs") but that you need to always be aware of your surroundings and always be cautious around people you don't know, especially in a vulnerable situation, like when you are alone and in the dark etc. My aunt was like, "don't tell her that! she'll never help anyone or she'll be rude to people" my mom was like "ummm it could save her life!! She is smart she should trust her instincts and always be cautious!!" Obviously if you are in a safe enviornment with lots of folks around you can be helpful, but you should be totally aware that people can try these tricks in order to hurt you.

 

[momrids6]

Having that camper tells me that he at least had a to have had a trailer hitch.
My money is on him towing her car to the C-vile theater lot.

He has a trailer ball on that vehicle. The camper has the hitch. Never seen nor heard about the ability to tow a car with a vehicle with a trailer ball- especially a car with front wheel drive-that has to be towed with the front end off of the ground.

I asked my dad, who owned a towing company as well as DH. I would love to hear how to do this- as my trucks that pull our camper and boat both have trailer balls on the back- could save me some time waiting for roadside assistance.

 

[popsicle]

In one of her Vine vids she has a "new" Galaxy. She wipes her hand over the face of it and it comes to life.

I'm not sure if I would be allowed to put a link to it, but you can look it up easily.

I remember seeing that video.

 

[Inspector Gidget]

Now we can add Charleston, SC to the places he lived.Check out #82
http://www.beenverified.com/p/sc/randy+taylor

 

[ArianeEmory]

Do you have a source for the sub-Saharan DNA? I thought I'd read every Morgan article there was and I don't recall seeing that anywhere. Of course it wouldn't be the first time I missed something, or forgot it...

I'd be interested too. I'm new to these cases and I've been watching the back-and-forth on the African American question all day, and so far I've only seen that there is DNA evidence from a victim who described the attacker as AA. Not seeing where race was *proven via DNA*. A minor distinction but details matter.