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Fawley indicted for murder in college student's deathBy the Associated Press January 17, 2006 RICHMOND, Va. -- Amateur photographer Benjamin Fawley was indicted Tuesday for the murder of Taylor Behl, a 17-year-old college student whose body was found in rural Mathews County. The county's commonwealth's attorney, Jack Gill, said Fawley was indicted on a first degree murder charge. "I don't want to go into any of the evidence in the case," he told reporters outside the courthouse. Behl was found dead on Oct. 5, one month after she was reported missing from Virginia Commonwealth University. Fawley, 38, is currently being...

Authorities will wait until January before presenting evidence to a grand jury about suspect Ben Fawley in the death of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl, sources familiar with the case told The Times-Dispatch. The sources said Behl task-force investigators want to gather additional evidence to seek a murder charge against Fawley, a 38-year-old amateur photographer who told police he was with Behl when she died in Mathews County, less than 24 hours after last being seen in Richmond by her dormitory roommate the night of Sept. 5. Fawley told police that Behl died by accident during a consensual sexual...

At 71 years of age I have to admit that I really don't know what goes on inside the mind of someone in their teens. To many of you I'm just an old fart with a big mouth...and that's fine. If that's how you wish to regard me, that's your prerogative. I would prefer to think of myself as a concerned grandfather who has helped to raise three kids of his own; who now has seven grandchildren - including one teenager; a reasonably youthful "oldster" who is extremely passionate about life and who wishes to ensure that others feel the...

The judge presiding over a multijurisdictional grand jury hearing evidence in Taylor Marie Behl's death has signed a gag order prohibiting witnesses who appear before it from publicly discussing their testimony. Grand jury proceedings are secret, but witnesses called before the panel are customarily not prohibited from discussing their testimony after appearing. But yesterday's order, signed by presiding Judge Margaret Spencer, legally binds the witnesses called before the panel, which is expected to convene tomorrow for a second time to hear evidence in the case. Behl, a 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman, disappeared on Sept. 5. Her decomposed body was...

Benjamin Fawley, a suspect in the death of Taylor Marie Behl, told police that the Vienna teenager died accidentally while they were having a sexual encounter, an attorney representing Behl's mother said yesterday. Her grieving mother disputed the account. "Let's be clear -- Ben Fawley murdered my daughter," Janet Pelasara said during a hastily arranged news conference outside her attorney's McLean office. "His claim that it was accidental is just one more perversion of the truth in his ever-changing web of lies." Fawley told investigators that he had consensual sex with Behl in her car parked near a beach in...

Richmond police are reaching out to Mathews County residents with the hope that they can provide details about the final hours of Taylor Marie Behl – the 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University student whose badly decomposed body was found in the coastal community last week. Detectives are asking whether, between Sept. 5 and 17 , residents recall seeing a white, four-door Ford Escort or any car with personalized Virginia license plates “GRN ERTH,” or Virginia license plates JPC 2848, or Ohio license plates EP 34 KW. “Investigators need to know when and where the vehicle was spotted and a description of...

The family of VCU freshman Taylor Behl has scheduled her funeral, now that her remains have been released from the medical examiner. Viewing will be Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. at Money and King Vienna Funeral Home in Vienna. Services will be Friday at 11:00 a.m. at The Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna. The 17-year-old's remains were discovered in a shallow gave in rural Mathews County last Wednesday. Police say they were led to the location after examining a photograph found on Ben Fawley's Web site. Fawley, 38, of Richmond,...

A man held in connection with the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl, already facing 16 child pornography charges, has now been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Ben Fawley, 38, an amateur photographer who admitted to having a sexual relationship with the 17-year-old Behl, "was in possession of firearms prior to Taylor being reported missing," police said.

MATHEWS -- The Mathews High School class of 2000 voted Erin Crabill "Most Unique." Now she's at the periphery of the mystery surrounding the death of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Behl, whose body was found in a shallow grave on land adjoining property owned by some of Crabill's family members. Crabill was known by Benjamin Fawley, the man considered a suspect in Behl's death, according to friends and Fawley's Web log. Fawley, a self-described amateur photographer, is in police custody, but not because of Behl's disappearance. Investigators following leads that he was seen with her the night she vanished...

The mother of a missing college student on Thursday said she believes a body found in a wooded area is her daughter. "The body found is most likely my baby's," Taylor Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, said at a news conference of her home in Viena, Va. A task force investigating Behl's disappearance found a decomposed body in rural Mathews County Wednesday _ one month after the 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman vanished. The body was found in a grave off a dirt path that led from one of the county's roads into a heavily wooded area.

Taylor Behl's mother and her family's attorney said this morning they are nearly certain that remains found yesterday in Mathews County are of those of the Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who has been missing since Sept. 5. Family attorney George Peterson said there is a "high degree of confidence that the body that was found is Taylor's." Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, said the body is "most likely my baby." "I'm positive the authorities will bring these subhumans to justice . . . and pray they will receive the death penalty." Peterson said that he expected a positive identification shortly and...

MATHEWS COUNTY — The police task force investigating the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University student Taylor Marie Behl discovered the remains of a body Wednesday possibly connected to the case, said Richmond Police Chief Rodney D. Monroe. The badly decomposed body was found in a shallow grave in the Diggs area of the county – a wooded area roughly 70 miles east of Richmond in the 500 block of Knight Wood Road – after an extensive investigation by two VCU police detectives. Shortly after the discovery, the task force – which comprises law enforcement officials from the Richmond Police Department,...

Police want more information about Taylor Marie Behl, and today they're turning to a multijurisdictional grand jury to help them get it. Behl, a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman, disappeared Sept. 5, less than two weeks after the start of classes. Sources close to the criminal investigation into her disappearance told The Times-Dispatch that the grand jury, which typically meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, agreed to meet today, in part to hear evidence on the Behl case. The number of witnesses subpoenaed to testify could not be determined last night. The convening of the grand jury...

Skateboards, sex toys, women's undergarments and a box with bones are among the items investigators removed last week during a search of the Richmond apartment of a 38-year-old man questioned in the disappearance of Taylor Marie Behl, according to court documents released yesterday. Detectives also removed cell phones, a machete, a .32-caliber cartridge, discarded clothing and the dirty laundry of Benjamin "Skulz" Fawley -- one of the last people to see the 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman before she disappeared the night of Sept. 5.

Police are searching for information on a stolen license plate that may be connected to the case of Taylor Marie Behl, the Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who disappeared on Labor Day. The personalized "GRN ERTH" Jamestown 400th Anniversary Virginia plate was stolen in Richmond about the time the 17-year-old disappeared, police said. "This plate may be connected to the Taylor Behl investigation," said Maj. Peggy Horn of the Richmond Police Department. "At this time, we need additional information to make a final determination." The person from whom the plate was stolen is not connected with the case, police said. Police,...

RICHMOND, Va. Police NO longer consider a 38-year-old Richmond man a person of interest in the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl (beel). Richmond police spokeswoman Cynthia Price says police initially called Ben Fawley a person of interest in Behl's case because they wanted to interview him. But they've done that, and NO longer classify him as such.

The search for Taylor Marie Behl enters its fourth week today with a "person of interest" in the investigation into her disappearance in jail on unrelated charges and teams of police and family members growing increasingly concerned for her safety. "Whoever has her, let her walk away," Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, pleaded yesterday during an interview with reporters. "Let her come home. I need my baby, and I want her back." Pelasara's plea for her daughter followed a court hearing yesterday morning for an unemployed photographer who was one of the last people to see the missing Virginia Commonwealth University...

Richmond Police yesterday arrested an amateur photographer - one of the last people to see Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl before she vanished Sept. 5 - and charged him with 16 counts of possession of child pornography. Ben Fawley, 38, was arrested about 3 p.m. just as a phalanx of armed and armored police officers converged on his doorstep in the 400 block of Hancock Street. "Open the door, Ben," ordered a detective, who was filmed making the arrest by a local TV crew. Moments later, the bespectacled Fawley exited in a black T-shirt. Police said his long, dyed...

Officials at Virginia Commonwealth University are pledging a $20,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the location and return of missing VCU freshman Taylor Marie Behl. "Please keep Taylor, her family and friends in your thoughts as we hope for her safe return," VCU President Eugene P. Trani wrote yesterday in a letter to the university and VCU Health System "communities." The announcement came a day after Behl's family posted an $11,000 reward for information about her disappearance.

The investigation into a missing Virginia Commonwealth University freshman from Vienna took a new turn Wednesday. Police filed unrelated charges against a person questioned in the student's disappearance. Police searched the apartment of 38-year-old photographer Ben Fawley as part of a child pornography investigation, according to court documents. According to the search warrant, investigators went to Fawley's apartment looking for images and documents related to child pornography and the distribution of child pornography. Investigators said they took away at least five computers and an assortment of computer equipment. Fawley is a friend of 17-year-old Taylor Behl, who has been missing...