Who's Cheating Who?
Whose Cheating Who?
On August 7th, 1947, Roy Taylor was born in Belleville, Arkansas. Belleville is a small town about 100 miles northeast of Little Rock whose census in 2020 was merely 312. The community is made up of primarily blue-collar folks with a median income of just $25,000. Roy had one thing going for him as young man- he was very good looking.
He quickly drew the attention of Brenda who became his wife shortly after high school. The two were very much in love and soon became the parents to two children. Brenda absolutely adored Roy, but she knew he had a wondering eye. She grew suspicious that her husband was having affairs. When she investigated, she was devastated to learn her suspicions were not without merit. The two divorced in 1973.
Roy moved just a mile away, making it easy for the children to navigate between the two houses. Despite being divorced, Roy and Brenda remained cordial. Roy married again, but the marriage didn’t last very long. By his late 20’s, he had pretty much given up on love. He had joined the National Guard and accepted a life of being a bachelor.
Then one day, when Roy was twenty-eight years old, he went to visit his aunt in a nursing home. There he met nineteen-year-old nurse Debra. The two became smitten with each other instantly. It didn’t take long before Roy changed his mind about never getting married again. Debra became Mrs. Taylor in 1977.
Roy and Debra Taylor built a life that most Americans would envy. They had two sons together. Debra wanted a daughter, so the couple adopted a little girl as well. The couple built and ran a successful pool installation business. Roy did the manual labor work while Debra did the business side. They had a very nice home in Little Rock and a lovely life. From the outside, life was great for the Taylor family.
On Sunday, October 22nd, 1988, Debra and the children were 150 miles away from home visiting family in Texarkana. Roy was home that weekend as he had National Guard duties. Debra called her neighbor and asked her to let herself into their home because she was afraid that she had accidently left the iron on before she left the house. The neighbor had a key for emergencies of course. The neighbor did as she was asked, letting herself in around 10 am.
What she found was not a plugged in iron. She found Roy Taylor dead on the floor. He was forty-one years old. It was clear he had been shot. His boots and fatigues were placed neatly on the couch, indicating he was shot while getting ready to report for duty. He had sustained three gunshot wounds from a .38 special revolver at close range.
The investigation of the house at first indicated a possible burglary. The door to the garage looked as if it had been forced open. However, upon closer inspection, it was clear that the damage to the door had been caused from someone forcing it open from the inside of the house, not the outside. It was as if someone was staging a break in. Furthermore, nothing had been taken, and the house did not appear ransacked or disorderly.
If burglary was not the motive, then why would someone shoot Roy Taylor? Why was this man dead in his own living room? Clearly his wife did not kill him as she was 150 miles away at the time he was killed. Debra gave authorities their first suspect, however. She told authorities that he was in a contentious argument with his first wife over child support. She told them he had recently been to court with Brenda to settle the dispute.
Brenda was brought in for questioning. She admitted that, yes, she had recently been to court with Roy about child support. However, she stated it was just a simple matter that they settled and was not argumentative. She stated that she and Roy actually got along better since their divorce than they ever did when they were married. She considered them friends. She also told authorities that Roy’s marriage with Debra wasn’t all roses and rainbows. In fact, she said the last time she saw Roy, at the court hearing, he seemed upset about something. She asked if it was the marriage and he said yes. She told him he could just leave, but he said, “I can’t”. Brenda also shared that Roy was a serial cheater.
Investigators spoke with friends of Roy and Debra and learned that Brenda was not wrong about Roy’s reputation as a “ladies’ man”. He had numerous affairs behind Debra’s back including with pool clients. One of his affair partners was engaged. Police investigated to see if his affair partner or her fiancé could have possibly killed Roy, but they were ruled out as suspects when their alibi was confirmed.
Continuing on with the investigations, police learned of life insurance policies that Roy had on his life. He originally had a policy worth $200,000 and another worth $50,000. A few months before his death, he increased his policy by another $300,000. That is a total of $550,000 of insurance on his life. That was in 1988. Today’s value of those policies would be around $1,566,500. That’s an astronomical amount of money for a man that came from Belleville, Arkansas were the median income is $25,000 in 2020. The beneficiary was, of course, his wife Debra.
Life insurance may cause suspicions and provide a motive, but it doesn’t indicate guilt. What really propelled suspicions towards Debra was her behavior at Roy’s funeral. She showed up with a date. Yes, a date. She showed up with Henry Price, a former friend of Roy’s. The two were not acting as if they were just friends and were very flirty with each other throughout the funeral.
Police started surveillance on Debra following the funeral to see if she was indeed having an affair with Henry Price. The covert operation proved fruitful quickly as they captured photos of her with Henry coming and going from a romantic visit at the local LaQuinta Inn. Debra didn’t behave like a grieving widow. Perhaps her husband wasn’t the only one with a wondering eye and cheating heart.
Sherry Landreth Price, Henry’s wife, was interviewed by police. She told the police that she was aware of Debra and Henry’s affair. She had caught Henry and Debra and given Henry an ultimatum: Her and the children or Debra. He chose Debra. She described Debra as sneaky and conniving. Sherry said this occurred just a few weeks before the murder.
Phone records indicated that Henry and Debra had several phone calls to one another, further proving their affair. One of the phone calls they noticed was particularly of interest. It was a phone call from the Taylor (Roy) home to Debra’s brother’s home in Texarkana where she was staying the morning of the murder that was “very short”.
When confronted with the evidence of the affair, Henry Price quickly admitted to both the affair and the murder of Roy Taylor. He told the police that Debra had confided in him that Roy Taylor was abusing her and that he had learned of their affair and may kill them both. There was no evidence to suggest Roy had ever harmed Debra and she never accused him of abuse in her interviews with police. This was just a lie she told Henry to get him to do her dirty work. She gave him a key and instructions. When he finished the job, he called her brother’s house and told her, “You need to buy a black dress”. That was his way of telling her that the job was done. Henry stated that he stole the gun from this brother and later threw it in the Arkansas River.
Without Henry Price’s testimony against Debra, authorities were afraid they may not get a conviction in the largely circumstantial case. They made a deal with the trigger man for his testimony. He received a 40-year sentence for the murder of Roy Taylor. In 2000, he was paroled after serving on 12 years for the murder.
Debra Taylor was found guilty of first-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
A court awarded the children of Roy Taylor 1.5 million dollar in damages against Debra Taylor and Henry Price in 1989, ensuring the two murderers do not profit from their crime and that Roy’s children receive any benefits from his estate.
References
Snapped Season 34 Episode 8 Debra Taylor
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