Former Idaho cop bludgeoned his elderly parents to death because they didn't let his dog in; kept bodies with him for a week
A 50-year-old former Idaho police officer, William "Willie" Taylor, has been found guilty in the brutal slaying of both his parents in an incident that occurred in 2017. His father, 76-year-old Paul Robert Taylor, and his mother, 77-year-old Mary Jane Taylor, were killed in their Nampa home. Taylor has been found guilty on all four counts that he was charged with — first-degree murder, second-degree murder and two felony counts of failing to notify authorities about a death.
According to a probable cause affidavit that was reported by People, the elderly couple was found dead wrapped in a blue tarp and duct-taped in a shed in their home in September 2017. Idaho Statesman reported that when Taylor was arrested on September 14, 2017, in relation with the deaths, he was found sleeping in his late father's truck in Oregan and he had his parents' credit card on him. He had used stolen license plates on the truck to evade identification. The trial also revealed gruesome details about what happened after the deaths of the couple.
Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Ellie Somoza pointed out that Taylor had snapped because his parents had rules in the house that involved a no drinking policy and that was a problem because he was an alcoholic. He had a DUI and a car accident and had lost his job and driver's license. His parents had agreed to let him live with them but did not want to give him money. The elderly parents also did not want pets in the house and when they didn't allow Taylor's dog Gator to come home with him, it seemed to upset the man. "He spent the entire weekend living in his parents’ house with their dead bodies," Somoza told jurors.
The autopsy report for the two murders revealed that the woman had suffered 21 wounds to her head and neck while the man had two broken bones in his throat and injury to his head. The woman's injuries were reported to be caused by two or more instruments. At the time, authorities had said that their wounds were so large, they were like "baseball-sized" holes. The size of these injuries was a sign of the intensity of violence inflicted by the ex-cop on the elderly couple, prosecutors had argued. The fact that he didn't call the cops, even though he was one himself, also did not work in his favor.
However, Taylor had denied the accusations and said that he had panicked when he found the bodies and that he had tried to clean it up but then freaked out and made a run for it. His defense attorney Ryan Dowell told the court that Taylor had plans of returning to Nampa. His sentencing is scheduled for July 9.