Fawley Named Person Of Interest In Missing Student Case

Police in Richmond, Virginia have been working dilligently to locate missing 17-year-old Taylor Behl.  Taylor, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University, disappeared from her dorm on Monday, September 5, 2005.  She told her roommate she was going skatboarding and would be back in a few hours.  But Taylor never returned.

As police began interviewing Taylor's classmates and friends and name that kept surfacing was that of 38-year-old Benjamin Fawley.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, Fawley met Taylor this past February through his roommate at the time.  The roommate was a fewllow VCU student and a friend of Taylor's from her home town in Vienna, Virginia. 

Fawley later took some fully clothed pictures of Taylor and posted them on his website.  When Taylor returned to Richmond to attend school in late August her friends say she regularly parked her 1997 Ford Escort in front of Fawley's home on Hancock Street near campus.

Police Find Taylor's Car

On September 17 an off duty police officer while out walking his dog discovered Taylor's car parked on Noth Mulberry Street.  The car's Virginia tags had been switched to Ohio plates that had been stolen month's earlier. 

Police say they believe on September 5th, Taylor dined with an on again off again boyfriend at the Village Cafe, several blocks from her dorm and close to Fawley's apartment.  Fawley, a self proclaimed license plates collector, has admitted to having sex with Behl about 9:30 that night. 

Fawley describes himself on his website as "Goth/Skater from the 1980's" -- who got the nickname "Skulz" for the number of human skulls he has drawn, made and collected.  He went on to write in his profile: "Gotta have some fun before I start looking my age."

Associated Persons:

Taylor Behl
Missing Child
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Police Identify Remains As Taylor Behl's

Detectives investigating 17-year-old Taylor Behl's disappearance from Virginia Commonwealth University have discovered her remains in a shallow grave near a farmhouse in Mathews County, Virginia.  They used dental records to identify the body.

Though no charges have been filed yet police stated in a press conference that the scope of their investigation has been narrowed and that they expect to file charges very soon.

According to police, their investigation included several searches, and in one of those searches, some pictures were seized, including a picture of the general area where the human remains were found. Police said one of the witnesses they spoke to recognized the area in the photograph.

Behl's friends said they have been doing everything they could to find her, including an Internet search.

That search turned up a Web page entitled, "Deviant Art," which contains pictures from 38-year-old Benjamin Fawley. On the Web page are photos of a farmhouse that is approximately the same age and architectural style as the building on the property where the remains were found. According to reports one picture contains the caption, "I saw this on May 15 with someone special."

Fawley Taken Into Custody

On Friday, September 23, Virginia police arrested Benjamin Fawley.  Senior Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mike Jagels said Fawley was in possession of sexually explicit movies depicting young children with adults when police searched his home on September 16.

Jagels told Judge Kimberly O'Donnell that there may be as many as 30 movie files discovered on computers confiscated from Fawley's apartment, "some depicting acts with minors as young as 1 or 2 years old," and others featuring "individuals 10 to 14 years old."

The warrants filed against Fawley, the father of two children, make no specific mention of missing 17-year-old Taylor Behl. On Tuesday, Sept. 27 police said after interviewing Fawley they no longer consider him a person of interest in the Behl case.  But Jagels said additional charges could be pending against Fawley because of his alleged admission of "multiple acts of sexual intercourse" with the girl dating back to last spring.

Under questioning by O'Donnell, Fawley acknowledged that he has no job and lives off a monthly Social Security disability check. Lawyer Chris Collins last week said Fawley received the check for a "severe" bipolar condition.

Collins did not appear in court with Fawley and later issued a statement saying he will be stepping aside on the case.

O'Donnell appointed an attorney from the public defender's office to represent Fawley, whose next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 31, and ordered Fawley held without bond.

Fawley No Stranger To Law Enforcement

"If he knows anything about Taylor and where she is, maybe he'll share it," said Pelasara, speaking from her hotel in Richmond, where she has been put up by VCU since arriving in town Sept. 7 to help publicize the search for her daughter.

"That's what we're hoping for."

If convicted, Fawley faces up to five years in prison on each child-pornography count. He is also facing a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. At the conclusion of the hearing, he was escorted from the courtroom by a sheriff's deputy. As he left, Fawley glanced over his shoulder toward the packed room and shook his head.

"The Commonwealth takes the disappearance of Taylor Behl very seriously," Jagels told reporters outside the courtroom, explaining how her case and the pending charges against Fawley made the state consider Fawley a risk to flee.

Fawley is no stranger to law enforcement. Virginia court records indicate he has been arrested and convicted of misdemeanor assault and battery of a family member three times since 2003, with two of the cases involving women, Jagels said. He was also convicted of destruction of property in 2004.

Law-enforcement sources said Fawley was also arrested and convicted five times between 1986 and 1990 in his home town of Doylestown, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. The charges ranged from theft, receiving stolen property and petit larceny to aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment.

The sentences for Fawley's convictions could not be immediately determined.