The Money Trail (Taylor Wright)

Summary

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Anatomy of Murder – "The Money Trail (Taylor Wright)"

Released: September 30, 2025
Hosts: Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi & Scott Weinberger

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Anatomy of Murder" dives into the complex, multilayered case of Taylor Wright—a private investigator and former police officer whose sudden disappearance in 2017 exposed underlying tensions between money, trust, and betrayal. By dissecting the victim's background, relationships, and the police investigation, hosts Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi and Scott Weinberger illuminate the chilling unraveling of a friendship, where financial disputes spiraled into deception, murder, and ultimately, justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Taylor Wright: Background and Circumstances Leading to Disappearance

• Taylor Wright’s Early Life and Career

  • Grew up as a tomboy in Florida, loved hunting, horses, and karate [02:46].
  • Joined Jacksonville PD in 2008, described as "spirited and dedicated" [02:54].

• Transition and Personal Turmoil

  • Paused career to raise her son, later embroiled in divorce and custody battle [03:06].
  • Moved to Pensacola, began new relationship with Cassandra Waller, sought to restart her PI career [03:29, 03:40].
  • Detective Richard Giglioti shares personal insight:

    "She was trying to get back into law enforcement... move on and live a normal, happy life." [03:46]

The Disappearance (Chronology and Initial Investigation)

• Events of September 8, 2017

  • Taylor left anxious about upcoming custody hearing; planned to run errands with her close friend Ashley MacArthur [04:25].
  • Cassandra received inconsistent updates—Ashley claimed they were horse riding in Milton, later said Taylor left for a bar [05:00].
  • Taylor sent a cryptic text that sounded like a breakup:

    "I should have called, but I just needed to think, just trying to get my life on track." [05:40]

• Growing Suspicion

  • After days of silence, Cassandra filed a missing persons report, despite Jeff’s (ex-husband) concerns about damaging Taylor’s career [06:10, 08:12].
  • Police initially cautious, noting Taylor’s skills as a PI and ability to "make herself disappear" [06:41, 07:01].
  • Cassandra insisted the disappearance was out of character, especially given their fresh, happy relationship and shared plans [07:44].

Financial Motive: The $100,000 Settlement

• Settlement and Custody Conflict

  • Taylor had withdrawn a $100,000 settlement from a joint account during her divorce [10:30].
  • Judge demanded its return; Taylor was attempting to gather cashier’s checks she’d distributed among friends, including Ashley MacArthur and Cassandra [13:27].
  • Cassandra was found with a $30,000 check; explained funds were split for safekeeping, not to abscond [12:50, 13:42].

• Key Investigative Shift

  • Investigators zeroed in on money as a possible motive—Ashley as last known person to see Taylor alive [15:04, 21:04].
  • Detective Giglioti outlines the investigation’s complexity:

    "For a simple missing persons case, it's actually not that simple. There are really multiple people with multiple motives..." [20:48]

Ashley MacArthur: From Friend to Prime Suspect

• Ashley’s Relationship with Taylor

  • Former crime technician, married to a sheriff’s deputy, well-connected and exuding confidence [19:19].
  • Owned local businesses and family property, became one of Taylor's trusted confidants [19:43, 20:01].

• Inconsistent Accounts and Cell Phone Evidence

  • Ashley gave highly detailed timelines, but omitted any mention of banking or money withdrawal on the day of disappearance [21:49, 22:24].
  • Provided her phone to police but later “forgot” passwords; phone data extraction ultimately successful [24:09, 25:46].
  • Uber records contradicted her story—a ride was never called [26:32].
  • Det. Giglioti:

    "We pretty well confirmed she's lying... Either Ashley is involved in harming Taylor or she's involved in helping hide her and this money." [27:59]

The Break in the Case: Cell Towers, Forensic Tracking, and the Family Farm

• Piecing Together the Timeline

  • Cell tower data revealed Ashley’s phone was in North Escambia—not the horse farm in Milton as claimed [32:14, 33:33].
  • Phones of Taylor and Ashley “travelled together” after Ashley claimed they’d separated, pointing to Ashley having Taylor's phone [33:40].
  • Location matched Ashley’s family-owned Britt Road property, which she didn’t fully disclose [33:58, 34:08].
    • Notable Quote:

      "She can't recall the road, the name of the road that her family property's on, but it's her last name." [34:47]

• Confrontation and Discovery

  • Investigators present Ashley with evidence—cell data, bank activity, forged checks—at which point she changed her story [35:28, 35:40].
  • Deposited and quickly spent Taylor's money [36:01].
  • As police confront Ashley, techs simultaneously search Britt Road and make a grim discovery [37:18].

The Grim Unveiling: Taylor’s Body and the Path to Justice

• The Discovery

  • Taylor’s remains found in a shallow, concrete-covered grave on Britt Road; identified via her necklace and dental records [38:04, 38:26].
  • Cause of death: shot in the back of the head [38:35].
  • Investigators reflect on loss and betrayal:

    "It's this weird feeling... there was this hope that there is a chance she's still alive..." [38:58]

• The Motive and Arrest

  • MacArthur killed Taylor to avoid returning funds she’d already spent; Ashley’s own family had cut her off financially [39:28].

  • "She had a decision to make, and it was, I stole your money and I spent it. Knowing that she would likely be charged for it or kill her." [39:28]

  • Arrested without resistance; showed no emotion when charged [40:00, 40:17]:

    "You are going to be arrested and charged with first degree premeditated murder... and she just had no response, a blank stare..." [40:17]

Prosecutorial Case and Outcome

• Evidence at Trial

  • Circumstantial but comprehensive: cell data, financial records, video of Ashley buying concrete and potting soil (used to conceal the grave) [41:01].
  • Testimony: Ashley had mused to friends about spiking Taylor’s drink to simulate an overdose [41:20].
  • Prosecutors argued she weaponized her forensic training [42:42].

• Verdict

  • Ashley MacArthur found guilty of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison [42:13].
  • Emotional reactions from Taylor’s family and investigators; closure, but no real consolation for the loss [42:25, 42:42].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "There is just small chance that Ashley, in fact, is lying to us, which was pretty apparent. But she's lying to us trying to cover for her friend and not, in fact, that she murdered her friend. That was a possibility."
  – Det. Richard Giglioti [31:12]

• "The deepest harm can hide in plain sight... Most lethal violence doesn't come from the shadows. It comes from the people that we know."
  – Scott Weinberger [42:42]

• "She chose the most cruel and final decision of all. Murder. She murdered her friend and then took numerous steps to cover it up."
  – Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi [43:28]

• Taylor’s mother after the verdict:

  "We've been waiting for justice for almost two years now, and we finally have it. So maybe our family can start healing." [44:50]

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Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|--------------------------------------------------| | 02:46 | Taylor’s background and police career | | 04:25 | Day of disappearance: Taylor’s last morning | | 05:40 | The cryptic text message from Taylor | | 08:12 | Cassandra’s initial search for Taylor | | 10:30 | Discovery of the $100,000 settlement issue | | 13:42 | Explanation for the cashier’s checks | | 21:49–26:32 | Investigator interviews with Ashley | | 32:14 | Cell phone data exposes Ashley’s false timeline | | 37:18 | Critical search at Britt Road property | | 38:26 | Identification of Taylor’s remains | | 39:28 | Motive: Ashley spent the money and chose murder | | 41:01 | Home Depot surveillance footage revealed | | 42:13 | Jury verdict and sentencing | | 44:50 | Family statement after verdict |

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Takeaways & Final Reflection

The episode delivers a powerful cautionary tale about betrayal masquerading as friendship, especially when money is the catalyst. Through meticulous detective work and the unraveling of countless lies, justice was ultimately served—but only after unimaginable loss for Taylor Wright’s loved ones.

The closing remarks from Nicolazzi and Weinberger reflect on the emotional and moral weight of the case:

• "Violence doesn't come from the shadows. It comes from the people that we know, where money and control live and become a motive for murder." [42:42]
• "Taylor's child lost a mom. Cassandra lost her partner. Her ex lost the mother of his child." [43:28]

Ultimately, the episode underscores a haunting truth: the greatest risks—and betrayals—often emerge from those closest to us.

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For listeners seeking a gripping, step-by-step analysis of a murder fueled by money, trust, and manipulation, this episode exemplifies the Anatomy of Murder’s unique perspective and sensitivity toward victims and the pursuit of justice.

Transcript

[A]

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[C]

We had nothing. In fact saying that she was dead. There is a chance she's still alive. I just wanted her to know that you know you are going to be arrested and charged with first degree premeditated murder.

[A]

I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former Deputy Sheriff.

[D]

I'm Anasiga Nicolasi, former New York City Homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.

[A]

And this is Anatomy of Murder.

[D]

They say you should never let money come between friends. An unpaid debt can lead to resentment, distrust and in the most extreme cases, even violence.

[A]

In some cases, a dispute over what may seem like a small amount of cash can snowball into an avalanche of lies and deceit, turning even your closest friend into your worst enemy. Or maybe even a murder suspect.

[D]

Growing up in Florida, Taylor Wright was a self proclaimed tomboy. She loved hunting, riding horses and earning her black belt in karate.

[A]

In college, Taylor studied criminology and in 2008 she joined the Jacksonville Police Department where she was described by her deputy chief as a spirited and dedicated young officer.

[D]

But Taylor decided to put her law enforcement career on pause when she and her husband Jeff welcomed their first child and she decided to take time off to be a full time mom.

[A]

And by all accounts, she was a great mom. But there was something missing. And by 2015, her marriage to Jeff was headed for divorce and a contentious custody battle over their son.

[D]

But as they say, when one door closes, another opens. And shortly after a move to Pensacola for a fresh start, Taylor met someone new, a woman named Cassandra Waller.

[A]

And she also got her private investigations license and had plans to restart her career.

[C]

She seemed to be trying to develop a relationship with Cassandra, develop a relationship with her kids, strengthen that. She was trying to get back into law enforcement. She was actually an applicant here at the police department and move on and live a normal, happy life.

[D]

That's the voice of Richard Giglioti, a detective in Pensacola who would come to know all the ins and outs of Taylor's personal life, including Taylor's devotion to her young son and her ongoing effort to appeal for a new joint custody arrangement with her ex husband.

[C]

Cassandra got along with the child, was totally supportive of that, knew about the child prior to the relationship starting.

[A]

That custody hearing was coming up. And according to Cassandra, on The morning of September 8, 2017, Taylor was visibly stressed and anxious. But Cassandra promised that everything would be okay and they would talk more about it after she returned from running errands with her best friend, a former crime tech from the Escambia County Sheriff's office named Ashley McArthur.

[D]

And that's sometimes all you need, right? A few hours with a close friend. But those few hours, they turned into all day. And the whole time, Taylor wasn't returning any of Cassandra's calls or texts.

[A]

So eventually, Cassandra messages Ashley, who tells her that there was nothing to worry about, that the two were riding horses at her mom's farm in Milton, a town about 20 miles north of Pensacola.

[D]

So Cassandra's thinking, okay, an impromptu horse riding session. It hadn't been on the agenda, but, you know, whatever. But when Taylor had still not come home by 7pm she was getting more than a little bothered. She was also getting worried.

[A]

And this is exactly when things started to get a little strange. Because when Cassandra texts Ashley again, Ashley responds that Taylor had left her house hours before, saying something about heading to a downtown bar.

[D]

It wasn't until after 8 that evening that Cassandra finally heard from Taylor, when she received a somewhat cryptic text message saying, I should have called, but I just needed to think, Just trying to get my life on track. Which to Cassandra, it sounded a bit like a breakup text.

[A]

Cassandra naturally answered with a few choice words of her own, but figured it would just blow over. However, after a few days went by, she reached out to Teller's friends and family and no one had heard from her.

[C]

So naturally, when days start passing and she hasn't heard back from her, she finds it odd. She reaches out to the agency in which the jurisdiction is that she not only lives, but the jurisdiction in which she last saw Taylor.

[D]

And this is one of those situations where police officers have to consider the details of the incident. In this case, it's a woman who's basically ghosted her partner for a few days, and they basically say, look like, let's not panic. After all, Taylor's an adult. She's not at risk. There's nothing else pointing to anything having happened. So let's just wait a couple days and see if she turns up.

[A]

And which, on the surface, is reasonable. I mean, even Cassandra had mentioned that to police. She even had heard Taylor say once that as a private investigator, she had the ability to just, quote, make herself disappear. And according to Richard, there was more than enough reason to believe that that may have been just what happened.

[C]

As you look at the case, you hear Cassandra laying out that, yes, this is my partner. She disappeared. But then she makes this reference to Taylor having said in the past that she could disappear if she wanted to. So when the officers are hearing this, I mean, she's right. If she wants to disappear, she certainly has the right to do so. So it doesn't really raise any alarm. So there's really no need to call out a detective or anything like that, looking on the surface of what's going on.

[D]

But in her gut, Cassandra knew that something was wrong. First, because it was totally unlike Taylor, and second, because, according to her, there was never any type of argument to begin with.

[C]

The two had just moved in together. So pretty fresh relationship. But they were getting along fine. They had plans together. They were gonna buy appliances together. Plenty to do together as a new couple. The way Cassandra explains that to us is it doesn't align with anything that makes any sense, because, mind you, she's seeing messages coming from Taylor's phone saying, everything's fine. I just need some time to think. And Cassandra's trying to wrap her head around it, and it doesn't line up.

[A]

Cassandra's confusion was amplified when she talked to Taylor's ex husband, Jeff, who. Who told her not to go back to the police because a missing person's report was, quote, not a good look and could potentially harm Taylor's future career opportunities in law enforcement.

[D]

But was he trying to protect his ex, or was this suspicious in light of their custody battle? Cassandra didn't know, but she also did not listen to him and headed back to the Pensacola PD to file the report.

[C]

We're six days or so into the disappearance, and it's not until after that I dive into the case and start learning there are some suspicious aspects to it.

[A]

So Richard and his partner, Chad Wilhite, were assigned to the case. Little did they know just how challenging the search for Taylor Wright would become.

[C]

I called Cassandra as a reporting person just to touch base to see what about this is reason to contact law enforcement. And there may be, as you well know, plenty of reason. But it wasn't very clearly laid out. In the initial report.

[D]

Cassandra again described the last time she'd seen Taylor. The text with Ashley, the cryptic breakup message, her statement matching everything that she had told the police days before.

[A]

A follow up search of Taylor's home revealed nothing out of the ordinary. No signs of a struggle, but also no signs that she had gone anywhere. Her personal items were still inside the car, which was in the driveway. Her suitcases still in the closet.

[D]

Which could mean she hadn't gone anywhere or that she'd left in a hurry, perhaps against her will. So the next stop, as you can imagine, was with Taylor's ex husband, Jeff.

[C]

So we just wanted to link up with anyone that knew her that could kind of shed some light on what was going on.

[A]

Jeff claimed that he hadn't talked to Taylor since September 9th during a short text exchange. And his phone seemed to prove that. Richard's gut told him that despite their divorce, he. He bore no ill will towards the mother of their son.

[C]

They had their conflict and obviously their separation, but everything kind of made sense. You know, they grew apart, but still, even Jeff would say she was a good mother.

[D]

But Jeff did shed some light on some financial issues that piqued investigators interest. Issues that would prove to be central to the mystery of what happened to Taylor Wright.

[A]

Apparently, Taylor had been awarded a sizable settlement from a car accident that occurred before they were married. Assets. They were supposed to stay in a joint account while their divorce was finalized.

[D]

But at some point, Taylor had withdrawn that money, as much as $100,000. And Jeff, he was definitely not pleased.

[C]

Jeff's position on the matter is that needs to be part of the assets to be divvied up by the judge. And so the judge orders it to be returned.

[A]

But with the court's deadline looming, Taylor still hadn't returned it. Jeff even suggested that maybe his ex wife had skipped town with the money, which was possible.

[D]

But then again, a missing hundred thousand dollars, that also sounds a lot like a motive. Which is why police pressed Jeff for an alibi. On the day that Taylor disappeared. It turned out that he was present and accounted for on a military base in North Carolina.

[A]

So you may be asking, what about her work as a PI Was there a possibility that. That she had gotten herself involved in a dangerous situation?

[C]

We dove into that as a possibility as well. Is it a chance that she was looking into one of these cases and nothing was uncovered to corroborate that?

[D]

Which left investigators with the simple explanation that despite her money issues with Jeff, Taylor was simply MIA and without any leads on her whereabouts, there wasn't that much they could do.

[C]

Mind you, in the beginning, we certainly found it odd that there was some money involved in this. This girl's disappearance. But outside of that, we, you know, really had no evidence at all to believe that she was harmed.

[A]

But there was someone that they believed might still know more than she had initially told police, especially in the light of the missing $100,000. And that's Taylor's partner, Cassandra.

[C]

So we just wanted to get her locked into a statement. We really wanted to just speak with everyone involved and get an initial soft statement from them. Not detained, very non confrontational, just get them locked in.

[D]

And Cassandra, she was more than willing to cooperate.

[C]

Cassandra provided everything. She offered up us to search her house, search her workplace, every digital aspect, passwords to everything, her bank account. I mean, she gave us everything.

[A]

However, a search of her house did turn up something that raised a few eyebrows in the detective squadron. A Cashier's check for $30,000. And not the kind of money most people just leave lying around.

[D]

Investigators decided to question Cassandra in an interview room at the station.

[C]

She was emotional during our interviews, but, you know, we look at that from the perspective of if this was my spouse, girlfriend, you know, loved one, and I was totally lost about, about what was going on. I mean, it's. It's a fair response, right?

[A]

During that interview, Cassandra denied knowing where Taylor was, but she did tell investigators what she knew about the missing $100,000 and what it might have to do with Taylor's disappearance.

[D]

According to Cassandra, after Taylor had withdrawn the money, she had divided it up in the form of cashier's checks between her friends for safekeeping. The that accounted for the check found at Cassandra's home.

[A]

But with the order from the judge to return the money, Taylor was in the process of retrieving those checks. And from one friend in particular, Ashley MacArthur.

[C]

Taylor had expressed to Cassandra that she kept trying to meet with Ashley and that Ashley was Always inconvenienced by it or got lost, couldn't find the bank. Whatever the case, it could never come that Ashley could get the money back to Taylor.

[D]

Which brings us to the morning of September 8, 2017, the morning Cassandra last saw Taylor.

[C]

The plan of the day was that Taylor had been trying to get this money back from Ashley. And it was always an excuse. So that day they were like, we're going to get a hold of this in the morning. There's no excuse. I'm going to go with you. We're going to, we're going to knock this out. That's the plan. The whole objective of the day, everything's fine. They're hugging, kissing, great that morning. And then Cassandra calls and calls and there's. There's no answer. Well, Ashley calls Cassandra back and says, Taylor's up on the horse right now. We're out here at my family's farm in East Milton. And Cassandra immediately, this doesn't make any sense. That wasn't the objective. The objective of the day was to get the money.

[A]

So according to Cassandra, Taylor was never trying to run off with the money, money she had earmarked as child support for her son. She was trying to get it back.

[C]

She was reaching out to Ashley, trying to get this money back. And Ashley was kind of the hiccup. She was the bump in the road. The next step is to contact Ashley, Taylor's best friend.

[D]

Ashley was the last person to speak to her on the day she went missing. So could she be part of the plan to help Taylor disappear?

[A]

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[A]

But aside from a few cryptic farewell texts, no one had heard or seen from Taylor since. Had she taken the money and run? Or was there something else going on?

[D]

Taylor's ex husband. He thought that maybe Taylor had skipped town with the money. But if that was the case, Wiley behind a Cashier's check for $30,000 at her partner Cassandra's house.

[A]

Not to mention the fact that Cassandra had told police that their relationship was in good shape and that they even had plans to move in together. She just couldn't believe that Taylor would leave her with no warning.

[C]

The morning of the disappearance on the 8th, everything was fine. They got up, they had breakfast. Taylor had plans to go meet with Ashley and go get the money. Taylor was adamant that she had to get this money back into the bank because this judge was ordering her to do so.

[D]

So who is Ashley McArthur? Well, she was a former crime technician who was married to a sheriff's deputy in a nearby county. Pretty confident, fun loving. She and Taylor had immediately hit it off.

[C]

Ashley's a married woman. She's married to Zach. Taylor starts doing some PI work with Zach and that's how Zach introduced Taylor to Ashley. They become friends in that way.

[A]

Ashley was also from a relatively wealthy family that owned a good amount of property in the Pensacola area.

[C]

Ashley had a business in here in Pensacola and they rented out pool tables and arcade games to various bars.

[D]

Taylor and Ashley had a lot in common from their backgrounds in law enforcement to Their love of horses. So. So they had become very close. So close that Ashley had been one of the people that Taylor had entrusted with the Cashier's check for $34,000 in her attempt to shield it from her ex husband.

[A]

So let's do a quick reset here. Taylor had about $100,000 that she'd gotten from a settlement. She withdrew that money in order to keep it from being split with her husband in a divorce. And rather than keeping it in her own bank account, she decided to split it up into cashier's checks and give those checks to. To her friend for safekeeping.

[D]

But then a judge found out about the missing money and ordered Taylor to return it, which she planned to do, that is, until she disappeared.

[A]

So, for a simple missing persons case, it's actually not that simple. There are really multiple people with multiple motives that could reasonably be suspected for being behind Taylor's disappearance, including her best friend, Ashley MacArthur.

[C]

She's the last person that saw her, according to Cassandra. You know, there's still Cassandra, who admittedly new relationship, admits that she and Taylor had issues in their relationship, but. But overcame it. Then you had Jeff. Well, there was a substantial amount of money. They were going through a separation. There's a child involved. There's finances involved. We need to figure out what's going on with that. Then there's Ashley's husband. He's prior law enforcement and don't really know how he played into things. But if there's money involved and there's Ashley involved and the husband, you know, there's a chance that he knows about what's going on.

[D]

And so investigators invited Ashley into the station for an interview, where she ran them through the events of the day that she'd last seen her friend.

[C]

So Ashley's timeline, again, pretty consistent throughout the interviews where they did agree to meet that day. They were going out to check on some properties that Taylor was investigating and then went out to East Milton, where Taylor rode a horse. And they came back to Ashley's house towards the end of the day.

[A]

What she did not mention was anything about any money, but neither did investigators. They were playing that card close to the vest.

[D]

Ashley went on to explain that once they had gotten back to her house, Taylor had said she wanted to grab a drink at a downtown bar. Ashley'd offered to give her a ride, but instead, Taylor had called an Uber and left by herself. According to Ashley, that was the last time she had seen her.

[A]

Ashley insinuated that Taylor's erratic behavior may have been the result of Some substance abuse. But in fact, it was Ashley's behavior that was raising suspicions.

[C]

She was very talkative. She thought that every interaction we had that she controlled the interview.

[D]

As usual, Ashley was casual, confident, and maybe even a little overly helpful. Those telltale signs that someone being interviewed believed that she is the smartest person in the room.

[C]

The other interesting thing about it is, you know, mind you, a week has passed, and Ashley was able to give us. I drove down this road, and I turned on that road. She gave us details that either she had an impeccable memory or she was lying.

[A]

So we have obviously seen this before, and in this case, it steps into the area of almost being just too cooperative. And that would give any investigators some pause. And here's why. She is attempting to corroborate her own story. Giving investigators, you know, so many details, assuming that, in fact, they may take it at face value, and she's potentially believing they may not check it out because she's so specific.

[D]

So she had given investigators a lot of information about her timeline. And luckily, in this day and age, police have a pretty simple way to corroborate some of those facts. By checking someone's cell phone. If she and Taylor were in the places that they had said they had been, there was a good chance that there would be texts, photos, and location data on that phone. Backing it up.

[C]

Early on, we interview Ashley. She provides us with her phone and gives us consent to search her phone. She unlocks it and hands me the phone, and all that's on camera in the interview room. I walk out of the interview room, and I take it to our guy, Detective Brown, at the time, who downloaded the phone. I hand it off to him. While I'm getting him the phone, I'm combing through the messages. You know, we have a consent to search, so we're good to go. We're covered. And just to kind of get a brief run through with these communications so I can step back in there and maybe use it in the interview. And I see in the. In the text messages between Ashley and Taylor where Ashley references needing to get the money from the wf. And we can only assume that that is Wells Fargo based on conversations with Cassandra.

[A]

And let's remember, Ashley had not mentioned anything about an errand to the bank to retrieve Taylor's money. It was all visits to a warehouse, a stop to get sodas, and then horse riding at her family farm.

[C]

So I go back in the interview, I leave the phone with Jeff Brown and go back into the interview and try to Use that and ask her about a Wells Fargo. Well, actually denied banking with Wells Fargo and denied there being a safety deposit box. So now we have conflicting information. Right? We have either Cassandra's being untruthful with us or Ashley's being untruthful with us. And there are text messages kind of corroborating what Cassandra's telling us.

[D]

But with the phone in the hands of their digital forensic tech, it was only a matter of time before they had the whole story, right. Well, not quite.

[C]

Now here's where the problem really started, is that the phone locked before the download could get started. So we're able to download a file as the extraction from the phone, but we weren't able to access that file. We go to access it and it says your password required. And so we hit Ashley back up. Well, now she's had time to think about her decisions, and so her response to us is, well, I don't recall my password. We can do a reset. You recall your itunes password, your icloud password. She doesn't recall any of it. And then we ask her, well, can we meet up with you and get you to just unlock your phone? Now she doesn't remember her four digit pin. So she wouldn't openly tell us. No, but she suddenly had amnesia and couldn't recall a damn thing.

[A]

But one thing police could try to verify was that Uber call Ashley claimed Taylor made from Ashley's house.

[C]

So we contacted Uber through for Taylor's account and they were great. They worked with us and quickly provided us that the account hadn't been used in, I forget how many months, but a long time. It was pretty quickly clear that Ashley was not being completely forthcoming with.

[D]

Nonetheless, investigators had recorded her version of events and locked her into a statement which could pay dividends down the road.

[A]

And lucky for them, even after Ashley is released, she just couldn't quite shake her habit of oversharing.

[C]

We let her call and talk about the case, and then, and you know, when we would get these calls or these contacts, I would insert a question or two in not to be confrontational, not to be too alarming, and I would downplay the importance of the case, and I'm busy and I got these other things going on, and this is an adult, she can disappear if she wants. And. And so she let her guard down and essentially fell into that and, and provided us entirely too much information.

[D]

And in those calls, Ashley kept hammering home this theory about Taylor's supposed drug habit, all the while fishing for updates on the investigation. Not really the behavior you would expect from a best friend.

[A]

But you have to think the question really is why? Was she trying to cover up a crime or was she helping Taylor get away with one?

[C]

We pretty well confirmed she's lying and now we have a couple of possibilities, right? One is that Ashley is involved in harming Taylor or she's involved in helping hide her in this money. Either way, culpable in some crime.

[D]

Because if Taylor had trusted Ashley with her money, maybe she had trusted her enough to help her disappear with it.

[C]

You know Ashley was giving that out. Hey, if there's anything going on where she's convinced you to help her an aid and a bed into these finances and keeping it from the judge like this has gone too far. A lot of resources are going have gone into this. Now's the time to come off of it.

[A]

The other possibility, Ashley never intended to give that money back in the first place. Did you know that your money could grow on its own? No, it's not magic, it's compounding. That's when your money makes more money and then that money makes even more money. Acorns makes it easy to give your money a chance to grow Acorns is the financial wellness app that helps you invest for the future. Acorns makes it easy to start doing more with your money and it's all in one easy to use app. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus. Investment join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $25 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.com anatomy or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to Positively promote Acorns Tier 2 compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important [e-mail] Anatomy what does the future hold for business? Ask nine experts and you'll get 10 answers. Bull market Bear market rates Bull market rise or fall. Could someone please invent a crystal ball? Until then, over 42,000 businesses have future proofed their business with Netsuite by Oracle. The number one cloud erp bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR into one fluid platform with real time insights and forecasting, you're peering into the future of with actionable data. Whether your company is earning millions or hundreds of millions, NetSuite helps you respond to immediate challenges and seize your biggest opportunities. Speaking of opportunity, download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine Learning at netsuite.com AOM the guide is free to you at netsuite.com Aom netsuite.com AM AOM.

[C]

There is just small chance that Ashley, in fact is lying to us, which was pretty apparent. But she's lying to us trying to cover for her friend and not, in fact, that she murdered her friend. That was a possibility.

[D]

Here's the thing. When it comes to a case of a missing person, especially an adult with some things swirling in their own life like here, unless you find some actual evidence of foul play, it's hard to jump to the conclusion that a crime has taken place.

[A]

Once a witness or your person of interest starts lying, that's a pretty good reason to believe that something nefarious is going on. But in lying to police, was Ashley trying to protect her friend or herself?

[C]

Chad with the experience said, look, we need to get these phone records back. They're going to tell us a lot. And so Chad gets those back. And between the phone records and the finances, they tell the story.

[D]

On October 3, about two weeks after Taylor disappeared, investigators secured the records from Ashley's cell phone. And they spoke volumes.

[A]

They zeroed in on cell phone activity from September 8, and by locating the specific cell towers that pinged Ashley's phone, they were able to to get a general idea of her movements on that day.

[D]

And in fact, for most of the day, it does match what Ashley told police right up until it didn't.

[C]

She tells the story of the timeline on the day of the disappearance that when I say she, Ashley, she and Taylor are out in East Milton, you know, 30 minutes away, 40 minutes away, riding horses, when in reality the phone records show that they're in North Escambia County. There's no way that the phone towers are confusing that. I mean, massive difference apart. And as detailed as she was with the roads, and I was on this road for this long and turned on this street, and you don't forget an entire portion of the county that you were at for what turned out to be hours. So she's intentionally leaving that out.

[A]

So why leave that part out? Was it where Ashley had stashed the money or stashed Taylor?

[C]

And then what's interesting is as the day goes on, Ashley's position is that she last saw her on that day on September 8th in the evening time, 5:30 or so when Taylor left. But the phone records show otherwise. The phone records show, I believe it was the next day, that in fact, Taylor's phone and Ashley's phone stays together.

[D]

So either they were together or Ashley had Taylor's phone.

[C]

And this is well after Ashley was supposed to have seen of Taylor. So this is a day or two later. You're still getting pings together. Your phones are together.

[A]

The remote location where the phones were pinging, it just happens to be where Ashley's family owned another property called Brit.

[D]

Farm, which was a fact that Ashley had gone out of her way to avoid telling police. When they had asked her about any other property her family owned, she told.

[C]

Us, you know, we have the house here on Raintree Drive. And my family has this house, this property up in the north end of the county. But I don't remember the road. It's my aunt's. I don't. I don't really know much about it. And then one of the other detectives helping out on the case, she got playing around on the clerk of court website and just typing in last names of Ashley. And sure enough, Brit Road pops up, which is Ashley's maiden name, and it's in the north end of the county. And then, of course, when the phone records come back, that's where the phones were. Essentially, Ashley's interview is that she can't recall the road, the name of the road that her family property's on, but it's her last name.

[A]

Safe to say there was something on that farm that Ashley didn't want police to find.

[C]

So now we plan to approach Ashley about all this and have her explain her way out of it.

[D]

And so investigators called Ashley back in for another interview, only this time, they had the receipts.

[C]

We go back over the timeline. She lays it all back out again. And we wanted to do that just so she couldn't, you know. Well, I forgot, you know, I can't really recall. We got her locked in that interview right before she was going to be presented with the conflicting evidence. And so she lays it out again, and little did she realize there were stacks of paper that was about to change her life for good.

[A]

First, they present her with the cell phone tower evidence, proving that they were not at Milton when she said they were, but rather in North Escambia county on her family's other farm.

[C]

As those conversations start going on, she starts giving us just ridiculous answers. Well, she does change her story now. She does say that she was, in fact, at the Brit Road property with Taylor and that she didn't tell us because Taylor had asked her not to tell us.

[D]

Then they confront Ashley with copies of several checks that had been deposited in Ashley's bank account, checks that had clearly been forged with Taylor's name.

[C]

And it gets into some of the bank records. And she now she comes off and says, yeah, you know, I loaned Taylor some money, and this was just repayment for that money, but this is the first time she'd ever brought any of that up. And it was her way of trying to explain her cashing a missing person's checks. Right. Depositing a missing person's money, and then, mind you, not, transferring it and holding in another account, Spending it, Spending nearly all of it within 24 hours.

[A]

It was also a pretty good indication that Taylor was not in on whatever scheme Ashley had cooked up. Taylor was a victim.

[C]

And when she got hit with those phone records and bank records and that that was the kind of the tipping point where she invoked.

[D]

Investigators were more and more certain that Taylor wright had met with foul play, Likely at the hands of her best friend, Ashley macarthur. But without locating her body, Proving it would be difficult.

[C]

A nobody homicide case is not easy. And we didn't have a gun either. We didn't have a weapon. We didn't have anything. We didn't have blood. We had nothing, in fact, saying that she was dead. So we have to cut her loose.

[A]

But richard knew it was only a matter of time because while Ashley was in the interview room, Crime scene techs were already searching Ashley's family farm for any signs of taylor.

[D]

In fact, Richard was on the phone leading the search, Desperately hoping for any clues Before Ashley was released and had a chance to hide, move, or destroy evidence.

[C]

And then while on the phone with him, I hear yelling in the background. He says, hold on. I think we have a body. This looks like it's going to be her.

[A]

The discovery was made in a wooded area on the edge of the property. And if it wasn't for a florida wildlife officer who was there assisting, it might have never happened.

[C]

At the brit road property, I believe on the northern border of the property line, Just over the property line, There's a bunch of pine trees. And the pine straw was thick. And one of the fwc guys was walking along and noticed a branch that did not match the pine tree stood out to him. So he walked over there and took.

[D]

A look at his feet. Under the branch was what looked like a patch of concrete Covered with loose potting soil. And peeking through the soil Was what looked like a human skull.

[A]

In the shallow, clandestine grave, Investigators discovered the decomposed remains of a woman they believed was Taylor wright.

[C]

Not immediately recognizable, however, she always wore this nice necklace with a bullet on it. That was how we were able to confirm initially.

[D]

Dental records also confirmed The ID and a bullet lodged in the back of the skull revealed the cause of death. Taylor Wright had been shot in the back of the head and died instantly. She likely never saw it coming.

[A]

The discovery of Taylor's body and the confirmation of her murder was met with mixed emotions by the investigators who had been holding out hope.

[C]

It's this weird feeling that we. You almost get to know your victim, right? And it's up until that point, there was this hope that there is a chance she's still alive, and there is this small chance that Ashley's just holding on to this lie to help her friend out.

[D]

But now the evidence was increasingly clear that Ashley MacArthur had lured Taylor to a remote farm, killed her, and buried her remains, all in an attempt to cover up her theft of approximately $34,000.

[C]

She got the money, she spent it, and then when Taylor came back looking for it, she had no way to recover those funds. Her family had cut her off. They weren't paying for anything. She had no way to get this money. When Taylor kept approaching her about the money, approaching her about the money and getting more and more firm with it and finally put her foot down, said, we are going to get this money today. Ashley had a decision to make, and it was, I stole your money and I spent it. Knowing that she would likely be charged for it or kill her.

[A]

An arrest warrant was issued for Ashley McArthur for the first degree murder of Taylor Wright.

[C]

A couple of our narcotics guys were doing the surveillance on her house and she came walking out in the yard and they got her arrested. She didn't put up a fight or anything.

[A]

Back in the station, Richard had an opportunity to look MacArthur in the eye one last time before charging her with homicide.

[C]

I just wanted her to know that you are going to be arrested and charged with first degree premeditated murder. Taylor Wright. And she just had no response, a blank stare. It was her best friend, by the way, that she cares so much about, and there's not a bit of emotion. And then she responds after a bit and says, well, I didn't do anything wrong.

[D]

At the trial in August 2019, prosecutors painted a picture of a woman desperate to cover up her own greed and lies, someone willing to kill her best friend over money and then go to great lengths to cover it up.

[A]

And they had some pretty damning evidence to prove it, which included video footage of MacArthur making some pretty interesting purchases the day after Taylor's disappearance.

[C]

But at the end of the day, we have her lying her at the location the body was found Weeks later, with a bullet hole in the back of her head, the body covered in concrete and potting soil. And then afterwards, the next day, following the disappearance, Ashley's at Home Depot, the nearest Home Depot, by the way, purchasing concrete and potting soil.

[D]

Prosecutors also presented testimony from three of MacArthur's friends from a nearby bar, including one who had said that MacArthur had actually talked about killing Taylor by spiking her beer with cocaine to make it look like an overdose.

[C]

Ashley kind of latched onto that as trying to make Taylor into a bad person. She admitted into having used, like, cocaine one time in her life. And then Ashley grabbed onto that as though Taylor was like this junkie when it. That's not, in fact, the case. None of the evidence supported that.

[A]

So without the murder weapon, an eyewitness, or forensic evidence that put MacArthur at the crime scene, the case against her was largely circumstantial.

[D]

But between the phone data, the forged checks, the video footage of her buying concrete, and the proof that she repeatedly lied to police, that circumstantial evidence was strong and painted a chilling picture of a remorseless killer.

[A]

A jury found Ashley McArthur guilty of first degree murder in April of 2019. The conviction came with a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison.

[C]

Any way that came out, there was going to be an unhappy group, and she didn't want any outbursts. She made that very clear. As the verdict was read, the only one that had a bit of an outburst was me. You know, I jumped out of my seat. I quickly caught myself. A couple of people looked over, and, you know, I was just ecstatic.

[A]

So my biggest takeaway isn't that people will do anything for money. It's that the deepest harm can hide in plain sight. This is clearly a betrayal beneath the guise of a friendship on full display when a former crime scene technician weaponizes her own forensic knowledge to bury a friend in concrete, it's an act that shatters any illusion that credentials equal character. Covering cases like this, we've seen every flavor of deceit carried out by every kind of friend. And the through line is brutal. Most lethal. Violence doesn't come from the shadows. It comes from the people that we know, where money and control live and become a motive for murder.

[D]

Taylor Wright was in turmoil, trying to navigate a recent divorce and then custody arrangements for her child. She leaned on friends for support, friends that she thought included MacArthur. She even trusted MacArthur enough to give her a lot of money, albeit trying to hide it from her ex. But then, when told to give it back to their joint accounts. Taylor planned to do just that, but she couldn't get it from MacArthur because she'd already spent it. But rather than admit the wrong and figure out some type of payback plan, she chose the most cruel and final decision of all. Murder. She murdered her friend and then took numerous steps to cover it up. Taylor's child lost a mom. Cassandra lost her partner. Her ex lost the mother of his child. Her family lost a daughter, a sister. The list goes on and on about those forever impacted. It is with them that we leave our thoughts today. Taylor's mom was interviewed after the verdict and talked about what their family had been through, but also how important for their family to see justice achieved in the courtroom. We will leave you with her words. We've been waiting for justice for almost two years now, and we finally have it. So maybe our family can start healing. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder.

[A]

Anatomy of Murder is an audio Chuck.

[D]

Original produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media.

[A]

Ashley Flowers is executive producer.

[D]

This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sierra and Phil Jean Grande. I think Chuck would approve.

[B]

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