True Crime with Kendall Rae - Pastor Leaves House Unlocked & His Pregnant Wife Gets Murdered: The Case of Amanda Blackburn

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Early one morning in 2015, Amanda Blackburn was at home with her husband Davey–a local pastor, and their toddler son. At 6 am, he had left the house, and subsequently left their doors unlocked, as was typical for the couple. Both he and his wife felt safe in their area. Unfortunately, some burglars working the neighborhood were watching the house, and upon seeing Davey leave, broke in and shot Amanda, killing both her and her unborn baby. Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign...  Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: SKIMS - after you place your order, select “podcast” in the survey and select True Crime with Kendall Rae to let them know I sent you! Huggies Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hello everyone and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you are new then welcome. I'm so happy to have you. Getting into today's case here, I've got to just say it is hard to even find the words to describe this one. It is so unbelievably unnecessary, so sad. It's one of those cases. And I feel like oftentimes I say no one saw this coming. And that does apply to so many of the cases I cover. But I think it's especially true with this one. The victim in this case,

Amanda Blackburn was someone who was incredibly kind, did things for other people without ever expecting anything in return. But what makes this case even more devastating is that Amanda was pregnant when she was murdered and therefore her unborn child lost their life as well. Amanda's murder was so out of left field, so unexpected, so unnecessary that it's just hard to wrap your mind around how this could happen

and how quickly something like this could happen. But before I get into the details of the case, as always, I wanna start by telling you more about Amanda because she deserves to be remembered for who she was, not just what happened to her. So Amanda Grace Byers was born July 31st, 1987, in Muskegon, Michigan to her parents Phil and Robin. And she also had one older brother named James and one older sister named Amber.

Her mom Robin once shared in a podcast that when she found out she was pregnant with Amanda, she was honestly very surprised and a little scared because she wasn't planning on having a third child. Amanda was a surprise baby and she just didn't know having a third child. Amanda was a surprise baby and she just didn't know she could handle it. But with the reassurance from her doctor and also thinking about her faith, she felt like God wasn't giving her anything

that she couldn't handle. And that's one thing you're gonna hear a lot in this case is faith and religion is very important to their family. Growing up, Robin says that Amanda was always very even-tempered and that she was someone who had a lot of joy. She's also described as a great listener, gave to others without asking for anything in return,

and was someone who had deep emotional connections with the people that she loved. Now, when it comes to her relationship with her sister, there's a funny anecdote that I learned that I think anyone with a sibling can definitely relate to and I just wanted to share it. So Amanda's sister Amber, who is a few years older than her, said that when they were younger, when Amanda was in middle school, the family was going on a vacation and they were gonna be driving

there and it was a seven-hour drive or something like that, a long car ride. And she said that she remembered feeling annoyed that she was going to have to spend this long car ride With her little sister and I totally get it, especially when you're younger It's it's hard to you know have things in common with your sibling or spend extended periods of time like that I mean me and my sister definitely would have fought in a seven-hour car ride So I totally get it but what's cool is that during this road trip, the two of them ended up talking nonstop and something just clicked.

They really connected. And Amber says that this was a real turning point in their relationship and really the start of them becoming incredibly close. Now, just for some geographical context, by this point, their family had actually moved from Michigan to Indianapolis, and then again to Elkhart, Indiana.

And Elkhart was where Amanda went to school and where her and her sister started getting really close. She graduated from Elkhart Christian Academy in 2006 and then went on to attend Pensacola Christian College, where she graduated from in 2008 with her associate's degree. And that was a big year for Amanda because not only did she graduate, but on August 1st, she also got married.

Now, Amanda was first introduced to her husband, Davey Blackburn, via a blind date through her sister who was dating Davey's best friend, and the two of them really just hit it off right away. Their first date was to go see a Christian band, Hawk Nelson, which I never grew up religious, but I was a Hawk Nelson fan growing up, and that date went so well that the two of them ended up spending the whole rest of the week together too. And I thought this was funny But I guess at the end of the week they had a milkshake drinking contest and some of Amanda's milkshake actually shot through her nose

From laughter and Davey said that he knew at that moment that he was going to marry her at the time though They weren't going to the same school So they had to do the whole long-distance thing But they made it work until they decided it was time to get married. And as I mentioned, her and her sister Amber were very, very close, so close that they decided to have a joint wedding, which I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing this,

and I actually think it's very unique and very special. Amber says that they both got engaged around the same time and planning their wedding together was just a really fun experience for the two of them. Of course, like anything, there were some sisterly disagreements, but in the end it was one of the most important days of both of their lives. However, when it came to the marriage itself, it definitely wasn't a walk in the park for Amanda and Davy. I mean,

at least not at first. Before getting married, they had only ever spent a few weeks together at a time because as a reminder, they were doing long distance for most of their relationship. So when they actually got married and moved in together full time and now they're spending tons of time together, most of their time together, it definitely posed some challenges. But they did end up going to counseling together and learned how to better communicate and it seemed to really help. And it actually was something that they were very open about when they went to church,

they shared their story with other people and I think it's pretty cool that they were open about the hardships that they faced. And speaking of church, if there's one thing that I can stress about Amanda and Davey, it's that they always without a doubt relied on their faith to get through whatever life sent their way. In fact, their faith was such an integral part of their lives that in 2012, they actually decided to make it their profession. That year, Davey and Amanda decided to move

from South Carolina, where they had been living, and where Davey was working as an assistant pastor to Indianapolis to create their own church, which they called Resonate Church. And they say that the story behind it is basically that God was calling upon them to create their own church And after denying his wish for months They eventually knew that they had to listen. Davy has said multiple times that starting this church was very difficult

And I can imagine that it would be quite challenging He said that it was like being placed in a parking lot and being asked to create a forest But they say that through their faith and I imagine also a lot of hard work, Resonate Church began and by 2015 it was really picking up steam in the community. We are officially heading into loungewear season, people. Not that I don't wear loungewear all year, but it really comes out on the daily when it gets colder. And I'm someone who doesn't really like to dress up much when I leave the house just to run errands or whatever. And so I have now found loungewear that I can actually wear out of the house. The Skims Soft

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I can wear them around the house, I can wear them out in public, I can wear them to bed. They just do it all. And what I also love about Skims is how well they hold up in the wash. They're just such high quality. I have some sets that I've had for over a year now and they haven't pilled. They still look just as good as when I first got them. And I love how many options they have when it comes to colors and styles. There's just really something for everybody. So shop the

Skims Soft Lounge Collection at skims.com now available in sizes XX small to 4X. And if you haven't yet, be sure to let them know that I sent you. After you place your order, select podcasts in the survey and select my podcast in the dropdown menu that follows. And if that weren't busy and exciting enough, during this time, Amanda also found out

that she was pregnant. And in 2014, they welcomed their son, Weston, into the world. And Amanda definitely seemed that she was pregnant. And in 2014, they welcomed their son Weston into the world. And Amanda definitely seemed like she was born to be a mother. Her calm composure and big heart are just two of many qualities about Amanda that made her a very good mother. And so for a little over a year,

this family of three was living a life devoted to their faith and walking through the world as they felt they were called to do. But on November 10th of 2015, everything changed. That morning at 822 a.m., Davey came home from the gym to find that his beautiful wife Amanda was laying face down in a pool of blood on their living room floor. Her shirt was pulled up over her head and her underwear had been removed, which suggested that maybe someone had attempted to assault her. And next to her body were her credit cards and her wallet, as well as a knocked over decorative ladder and lamp. I can't even imagine what it was like for Davey walking into the scene to see his wife

in that condition. And obviously one of the first things that popped into his head was, where's our son? Is he okay? So he runs upstairs and thankfully his baby was okay. And then as soon as he confirmed that, he immediately called 911 and reported what he had walked into. Then minutes later, emergency services arrived. And although Amanda managed to hold onto life

for the rest of that day, on November 11th at 7.55 a.m. she was sadly removed from life support after it was clear that she had no brain activity. In her autopsy, it was revealed that she had been shot three times. Once to the lower left arm, once to the upper left back,

and then finally the fatal shot, which was to the back of her head. Amanda also had some scratches on her left cheek, her lip was split, and then one of her lower teeth had been knocked out as well. And as I mentioned, she was found with her shirt pulled up over her head and with her underwear off. However, thankfully, when they did the autopsy, there was nothing that made them believe that she was sexually assaulted. But of course, as I also mentioned earlier,

this was more than just a single homicide because Amanda was pregnant. She was actually in her first trimester and their baby who she and Davy were planning to name Everett or Evie for short, also lost her life. What happened to the two of them just makes me so, so angry. And I know I haven't even explained what actually happened or why this happened, which truly there is no reason for this. This was an absolute meaningless, senseless act of violence really. And the fact that two of them lost their lives because of it is just, God, this life can be so unfair.

And when you hear the details of what happened, I think you guys are going to feel the the same way as me so let's get into talking about how all of this unfolded. So less than an hour after 911 was called a detective with the Indianapolis Metro Police Department or IMPD arrived at Methodist Hospital where Amanda was getting treatment and he began taking statements. The first of course being fromy. And here's what he said happened that morning. So he woke up at 4.30 and says that he read the Bible, and then he went to the gym at 6 a.m. And when he left the house, he left the front door unlocked.

Now, people have been very critical of this. I completely understand why. I'm sure it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest regret of his life. And I don't want to put any, you know, judgment or blame on him. Like I said, I'm sure it eats him alive that he did that. And I hope that it can be something that all of us can learn from that. It's always a good idea to lock the door, especially when someone is home.

I mean really at all times, but especially if someone is in the house. Now he says that he didn't lock the door for a few reasons. One of those reasons being that they only had one house key, I guess, and it was actually on Amanda's key chain. And the second reason was that he felt like they lived in a really safe neighborhood and they would often just leave the front door unlocked because they didn't feel like they had to lock it. But anyways, he goes to the gym around six and he stays there till about 7 10 and then he gets back in his car and starts driving home. And while he's in the car, he gets on the phone with a friend. And even though he got home by 7 30, he ended up staying in his car on the phone with his friend until 8.20, which as we know

is when he went inside and found Amanda. And as for why he didn't go inside sooner, he explained that he didn't wanna wake Amanda or Weston up by talking on the phone. So he just decided to sit in his car while they continued their conversation. I feel like this is something that many of us do. I know I personally will hang you know, hang back and

chat on the phone in the driveway before going in the house. Sometimes it's just a quieter place to have a phone call as well. So to me it's really nothing out of the ordinary. But then as we know, as soon as he gets off the phone, he walks into the house and has no idea what he's about to walk into. And he walked into just about the most upsetting scene that a person about to walk into. And he walked into just about the most upsetting scene that a person could possibly walk into. So while the detective is talking with Davy and getting his statement of what happened that day,

other detectives are back at the house starting to process the evidence at the scene. And as I already mentioned, Amanda was found with her credit cards lying next to her on the floor, but they also found a Swisher Suite cigar wrapper on the counter, which Davy later confirmed did not belong to either of them.

Also at the scene was a roll of duct tape, a pair of earphones, Amanda's purse and wallet, as well as her underwear. They also noted what appeared to be a bullet hole at the base of the stairwell, but no shell casings, which suggests that a revolver had been used. And then upstairs, detectives found Amanda's phone, which ended up providing some key information

because Chase Bank had called at 7.53 a.m. and left a voicemail stating that there was suspicious activity on her debit card. And given the timeline of events, they knew that Amanda couldn't have been the one to have used the debit card and given the timeline of events, they knew that Amanda couldn't have been the one to have used the debit card. So they then realized that that specific debit card was actually missing from the scene, which led them to think that this was a home invasion gone wrong. And that theory ended up being confirmed very quickly because it turns out that Amanda's home was one of three homes

in the area that had been broken into that morning. And thankfully several neighbors had witnessed suspicious activity in their neighborhood that morning and they were able to share that with detectives which definitely helped. For starters, one woman reported that between 640 and 645 a.m. she remembered hearing what sounded like two gunshots followed by the sound of a woman screaming and it is Really frustrating to think about that. I don't know why she didn't call 911 after hearing two gunshots and a woman screaming Considering it possibly could have saved her life. I mean, I don't really know that at the end of the day

I'm not a doctor, but obviously you want wanna get someone in that condition medical attention right away. So I don't understand why you wouldn't call 911 in that situation, but I guess I can't hold on to what ifs in this situation, but it just goes to show you to always make that call if you think you heard or saw something suspicious. Even if you end up being wrong, there is no harm in making that call.

But anyway, there was also another neighbor who told detectives that that morning he and his wife had actually seen a person dressed in all black with a hood over his head standing outside in front of their trash cans. And then a different neighbor confirmed that around 7.05 AM, someone matching that same description was on their street talking loudly on a cell phone and then another neighbor said that at 7 10am he saw a man with the same description walking on their street and this neighbor watched as the man was picked up by a Chrysler Sebring which sped away and this Chrysler Sebring ends up being very crucial which I will explain later but it ended up being found It was abandoned and they found it on November 11th.

So very quickly and it was crucial for a couple of reasons and it basically goes back to the other two burglaries that happened that morning, which I haven't even gotten into yet. So let me explain those on the same morning that Amanda was murdered. A 911 call was placed at 523 a.m. from a woman who said that her house had been broken into and she actually slept through all of it and she had woken up and realized that her cell phone wasn't next to her, which was odd. So she gets up and goes and checks to see if it was in the living room. And when she goes in the living room, she noticed that her sliding glass door was open

and she also saw that her plants had been knocked over and her Apple MacBook laptop, purse and car keys were all gone. Then she went into the parking lot and realized that her car, May 2007 Chrysler Sebring, had been stolen. After this report was made she and an officer went through the security footage from her Xfinity home alarm system and Luckily some of the burglary was captured on camera in this footage three men were captured on camera making their entry by cutting the porch screen and then somehow Unlocking the sliding glass door. However, at some point the footage just completely cuts out and that's because these men Realized that they were on camera and so they completely disabled the entire security system. Like I said there were

two home invasions before Amanda was murdered and the second one was very similar to the first. At 8 17 a.m which was just minutes before Davey had called 911, someone down the street had actually called and reported a burglary at their home. And this person also had home security footage which showed three men cutting the porch screen and then entering through a sliding glass door. And this time the men managed to steal four TVs, a MacBook Pro, a Tiffany Pearl necklace,

a pink woman's sweater, an AT&T U-verse remote. And then they also took, oddly enough, a bag of oranges and some bedsheets. And they had clearly taken their time at the scene. These guys were not too smart, and they decided to, I don't know, celebrate, relax while they're in the middle of this burglary, and they had left open beer bottles

and wine bottles as well on the counter, which this is just so bizarre. I'm sure this has happened in other cases. I don't know if I've covered a case where someone just decides to take a chill moment and have a drink. And obviously we love dumb criminals because dumb criminals get caught. But this was particularly stupid, I must say. This episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae is brought to you by Huggies Little Movers. Now, Huggies knows that babies come, of course, in all shapes and sizes.

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bring this full circle, when that Chrysler was found on November 11th, obviously detectives searched it and they found a receipt for a failed ATM transaction for $500 because these idiots were dumb enough to just leave it in there. And of course they noticed that the last four digits of the card that was used and printed onto the receipt matched Amanda's missing debit card. They also found a pink sweater, an AT&T remote, a men's XXL sweatshirt, a bed sheet, and that bag of oranges in the car. I don't know if that was just a snack for them.

Guess it was, I don't know. So obviously finding all of this evidence in this stolen vehicle meant that these three burglaries were connected to each other and making this connection was huge because detectives knew from surveillance footage that they were likely looking for three men and whoever those three men were,

were likely responsible for Amanda's murder. So obviously their next step here is to swap the vehicle for any potential DNA and then send those samples off to be run through CODIS. Detectives had obtained subpoena results with photographs from the ATM associated with the failed $500 transaction. And what did they see on this footage? At 6 36 a.m. a man with a pink sweater wrapped around his face wearing a white hoodie and a dark vest was attempting to withdraw $500 from Amanda's account.

And this same man was actually seen on a second ATM surveillance camera later that morning at 6.54am, and this time he was successful and withdrew $400. So obviously the million dollar question here is Who is this guy? Well, thankfully on November 17th There was a hit in the CODA system and they were able to make arrests very quickly The DNA that was taken off that pink sweater came up as a match for a guy named Jalen Watson Who was recently out on parole for what else? Burglary. And after looking him up, detectives saw that he was very closely associated with another man who was also out on parole for burglary named Deano

Gordon. So they looked up the cell phone numbers that each of these guys had given to the parole board and got search warrants for them and the hope was that you know they could track their cell data and see if they were in the locations of the burglaries and the murderer. And what do you know? Of course, they absolutely were. That's exactly what the data showed.

Both cell phones placed both men at all three homes, as well as the location of the ATM. But as we know, detectives were looking for three men. So who is this third guy? Well, cell phone data once again, basically served his ass up on a silver platter. It turns out that while Deano and Jalen's phones placed them at the ATM machines that morning,

five calls were being made to a third number, AKA a third person. So that third number was traced and data showed that the phone was at Amanda's house right around the time that they believed that she was murdered. So once again, the question now is who is this third guy? Well, detectives quickly learned

that it was a guy named Larry Joe Taylor Jr. And after tracing his phone's current location, detectives showed up to try and talk to him. Now to my understanding, not a whole lot happened in this conversation. Initially, all they were able to do was confirm that the phone number belonged to him and kind of put eyes on him.

So of course detectives did the same thing for the other two numbers. They traced their current location and it brought them to one apartment where a girl actually opened the door. And she confirmed that not only did she know all three of those men and who they were, but that all three were at her apartment on November 10th

and that they left that day together around 3.30 in the morning. Plus she was able to identify that vest, the one that was seen in the ATM footage. And she was actually able to show it to detectives. It was hanging in her closet. And she explained that it was her boyfriend's, but that Jaylen in the ATM footage. And she was actually able to show it to detectives. It was hanging in her closet. And she explained that it was her boyfriend's, but that Jalen would sometimes wear it.

And then lastly, she showed detectives a pistol that was under her bed. And she said that either Jalen or Deanna had put it there. So overall, she was very helpful. And so if detectives weren't already pretty confident that they had found their guys going into talking with her, everything that she showed them and told them really just solidified their beliefs. So on November 19th, Larry ended up being interviewed again. And surprisingly, he chose to waive his Miranda rights. He explained that he did leave those apartments with Deano and

Jaylen on the morning of the 10th, but was pretty inconsistent and dodgy about what they did. So then two days later, something else very helpful happened. A cooperating witness came forward and told them everything. Now this person has remained anonymous, so I'm going to be referring to them as CI or criminal informant. And here's what they had to say. Back on November 10th, Larry, Jaylen and Deano left that girl's apartment and Larry was carrying a snub nose

38 caliber revolver with him. And just a side note, it was believed by this point that Amanda had been murdered with a 38 caliber revolver. So that already matched up. And according to the CI, the intent of these burglaries was to obtain money and that there was no intent to commit murder whatsoever. So they went to that first apartment where Larry had climbed up the back railing and

gained access to the unit that way. And he was the one who let Deanna and Jalen in and they began to burglarize the unit. Now according to the CI, Larry was the one who decided to go into that woman's room while she was sleeping and steal her phone, which is so, so creepy to think about, but he was also the one to find her car keys and suggested that they steal her car. And like we know, at some point, they decided to disable the security camera.

And I bring that up because the CI said that there was more to that story. Apparently, after Larry realized they were being recorded, he suggested that they kill that woman. And obviously we've established that these guys are not the brightest bulbs, but this is incredibly stupid. I cannot follow the logic here at all

because killing her is not going to erase the footage and she literally was sleeping and didn't even see you. So this makes absolutely no sense. There's truly no logic behind it. And thankfully he didn't do it. And the reason he didn't do it, according to the CI, is that the other two guys talked him out of it. And I don't mean to give these other two guys praise.

Obviously they're bad people and they're guilty in a lot of ways. However, I am thankful that they were able to convince Larry not to murder this woman. Anyways though, after this, the men left together in the stolen car, but because they felt like they hadn't gotten enough, they decided to drive to a different subdivision and hit a house there. And there wasn't much more information from the CI given that I haven't already told you.

They go to the house, they take some stuff, they crack open some beers and have a glass of wine and left. And obviously that now brings me to Amanda and heartbreaking doesn't even begin to describe it. That morning after Davey left for the gym and didn't lock the door behind him, a car full of men approached the house and walked right through the front door.

Deano actually waited in the car and Larry and Jaylen went inside, which is when they began to look for anything they could steal. But according to the CI, Jaylen had left the house and went back to the car with Deano and when he got to the car, he told him something very shocking. He said that there was a woman in the house and went back to the car with Deano. And when he got to the car, he told him something very shocking.

He said that there was a woman in the house and that Larry had busted her mouth with his gun. And as we know, that is consistent with the injuries that she sustained. And I guess the two of them just talked about driving off and leaving Larry there, but then he came outside and he just tossed Amanda's debit card into the car. So from there, they decide to keep moving forward

with their plan and they take the debit card to two different ATMs. And the CI actually added a little bit more context to this part as well. Earlier, I mentioned that there were five calls to Larry's phone while Jaylen and Deanna were at the ATM. And the reason for that is because they were communicating about Amanda's PIN number.

So I know this is all a little bit confusing, but basically, Jalen and Deanna are at the ATM trying to you know, pull money out of Amanda's account. And meanwhile, Larry is back still at Amanda's house communicating with them. And the reason that the first transaction likely had failed was because they probably were given the wrong code. At least that's what detectives believe. And I guess Jalen and Deanna were thinking about not even going back to get Larry at all, but he threatened that he would kill Amanda if they didn't. And as we know from the CI and the first burglary

that they weren't intending to kill anybody, so they decided to go back for him, but he did not stay true to his word. According to the CI, Larry told Jaylen Deano and possibly two other people that he had killed the woman in the house. And this next bit of information is truly disturbing. I feel like that's putting it lightly. It's sickening. It's disgusting. It's hard to wrap your mind around how someone could actually be this evil, but he told them that he shot her

three times and then just stood over her and watched as she bled out. I have to say, you would think in all the years that I've covered true crime that I would be a little less shocked by things like this, but it truly never ceases to astonish me how fucked up some people can actually be. Like how can you watch someone die like that at your hands and just wait around to watch it happen? I'll never understand. But anyways, on November 22nd, 2015,

Larry Joe Taylor Jr. was arrested and charged with one count of murder, two counts of felony murder, burglary at a level one felony, two counts of burglary at a level four felony, three counts of theft, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal confinement, auto theft and carrying a handgun without a license. Breaking developments in the Amanda Blackburn murder overnight, police arrested and booked a teenager on preliminary murder charges. And now we are hearing from the Blackburn's husband and relatives, Pastor Davey Blackburn, saying, quote,

Today I am deciding to love, not hate. Today I am deciding to extend forgiveness, not bitterness. 18 year old Larry Joe Taylor is facing over a dozen different counts, including multiple murder charges for the brutal killing of Amanda Blackburn. Now detectives with IMPD's violent crimes and gang units made the arrest late last night around 1020 with federal help coming from the US Marshals. And then just a few days later, Amanda's dad talked about how for as absolutely horrible of a death that his daughter

had experienced, he was not holding onto feelings of anger. I have had a hard time with feelings of anger, to tell you the truth. Buyers opened up for the first time after his daughter's murder. There's no good thing down the road of anger. It causes bitterness and sometimes rage, and I don't want to live there in a place of hate versus love. I think that's what I would tell them. But that is not the only message he has for the man accused of killing Amanda. Shame on you. You've taken something very dear to us without cause. Police say it was a crime of opportunity. Now at every opportunity,

Amanda's family shares what keeps them going. What God wants from people is to repent of their sin and give their heart to Jesus. That's what I'm supposed to be telling everybody that lives in this world. I'm supposed to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Davey has also shared similar feelings about not holding on to anger and even that he has chosen to forgive the men responsible. But I have to wake up and I have to decide to forgive. And here's why I decided to decide to forgive is because bitterness and unforgiveness is going to be a cancer to no one else except for me. And it's going to eat me up inside if I hang on to that. And at the end of the day, like I said, the Lord said, revenge is mine. And so the fact that on this side of eternity, who knows what's going to happen. But on the other side of eternity, again, Jesus is going to restore and make all things

bad completely untrue, right? And so he's going to take care of vengeance. All I have to do is trust that he's got all of this in control. I'm certainly not an expert when it comes to religion, but I do know that forgiveness is a big element that is taught in Christianity and I think in a lot of other religions as well. And I have to say, I don't know if I would have the strength. I don't know if I could possibly forgive someone for taking my loved one's life in that way.

So I think that's very impressive that they were able to do that. And clearly in the wake of Amanda's murder, faith is what really has kept this family going and given them a lot of their strength. And I find it really comforting to know that this family has been able to lean on that to, you know, lessen the weight of all of this. Their family does feel that God was using Amanda's death for a greater purpose. And Robin, her mother, has said that following her daughter's murder, she began hearing stories, big and small, from people about how Amanda's death helped them grow

closer to God. And these stories have really helped her find strength throughout this horrible tragedy. Amanda's funeral was held a few days before Larry's arrest and four churches came together to celebrate her life and honor her memory. And more than 2,000 people showed up. And I'm just so glad that their family had so many other people to support them through this time. Amanda was only 28 years old when she was murdered and her baby didn't even get to

begin her life. And not to mention she also has a son who is now going to have to grow up without his mother. I mean heartbreaking, devastating, doesn't even begin to describe it. But luckily in the end, there was at least justice for Amanda and for her daughter. Like I said earlier, Larry was arrested on November 22nd, but he wasn't the only one. Jalen was also arrested in late November, followed by Deano, who was arrested in December. And in December, some more information came out that actually links Larry to other violent crimes. It turns out that the spree of burglaries that ended with Amanda's murder had been

going on for eight days, and she wasn't the only person that was killed. On November 3rd, Larry had broken into a woman's house where he raped her at gunpoint. And then the next day, he also robbed another man who ended up shooting in the head and just left his body lying there next to his car. Larry is just gut wrenchingly despicable. I mean, obviously, Jalen and Deano are also terrible, but Larry, whole different situation. So two years after Amanda's murder in 2017,

Jalen Watson ended up accepting a plea deal. And in this deal, they would drop several charges, including the charge of murder in exchange for his testimony against Larry. He would also still have to plead guilty on charges of robbery and burglary, but those obviously carried much smaller sentences. In 2018, Deano ended up accepting the same plea,

meaning both of Larry's co-conspirators would be testifying against him. And for as straightforward as he would expect his trial to be, there ended up being not one, but two mistrials. The first trial took place in December of 2021, and apparently Larry wasn't facing charges related to the unborn baby's death.

So the judge ruled that any mention of the baby or her pregnancy wasn't allowed. And in that first trial, several jurors revealed that they knew about the pregnancy. So it was declared a mistrial. And in the second trial, something similar happened. One of the jurors, a woman, for some reason, decided to tell the rest of the jurors about the previous mistrial and also some details about the case that they weren't aware of, even though she had told the court that she had never heard of the case and didn't know anything. And so because of her, for the second time, the trial was thrown out.

Thankfully though, the third time was the charm. And this time instead of a jury trial, he agreed to a bench trial, which just means that the evidence is presented to a judge instead of a jury. And finally, in September of 2022, Larry Joe Taylor Jr. was convicted and found guilty on almost every single count. Both Jalen and Deano testified against him, and I imagine that their testimony went a long way.

In the end, Jalen was sentenced to 86 years in prison, and considering he was about 25 years old at the time of his sentencing, he will be in prison for the rest of his miserable life. We feel very relieved. It's always a relief to know the truth and to be able to be as assured as we are after experiencing what we experienced this week.

It's been a long journey for our family. Now, as for Jalen and Deano, it's a bit of a different story. In March of 2021, Jalen was sentenced to 29 years in prison. However, that has since been reduced to 15 years with 10 of those years to be served in prison and the remaining five to be served on probation. Now as for Deano, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison with 25 to be served in an actual prison and the last five to be served on probation. At his sentencing hearing, he was given the opportunity to speak and he ended up apologizing

to Amanda's family. He said that he understands that nothing he could ever say or do will bring her back, but he wanted them to know that this wasn't who he was. And Amanda's husband, Davey, also spoke during his sentencing and although he said he did forgive him, he described his actions as selfish and demonic. He also said that he hopes that Deanna would redeem himself by becoming less like Larry and more like Amanda. And today to help honor Amanda, I wanted to make a contribution to my new foundation, Higher Hope. Being able to fund grants through our foundation is going to help other victims like Amanda seek justice.

Specifically through our Hope Grant, families like Amanda can apply for funding to help in their own fight for justice. Amanda deserved so much more from life than she got. She deserved such a longer life than she got in time with her family, with her children, and that was all taken away from her for no reason.

And of course, even though justice doesn't change what happened, I'm very grateful that those who did this to her are being held accountable. Now her husband, Davey, has gone on to start his own podcast and book titled Nothing Is Wasted, where he speaks about his journey with grief and healing through faith. And Weston continues to be raised by him with of course help from Amanda's loving family. But before I leave you guys today I did want to bring up one thing and if you have already looked into this case if you've already heard of it or watched listen to other coverage on it you probably know where I'm going with this.

I wanted to address something when it comes to Davey that has been the root of a lot of online speculation and rumors about him. There's a lot of discussion and I have chosen to leave that out for the most part. I want to explain why. There are a lot of people, and I mean a lot of people, that believe that he was involved in Amanda's murder. Basically, there are things that he's done and that he said over the years that have rubbed people the wrong way and led them to believe that maybe he could have been involved.

It's what I would call social evidence that people have gathered and point to as proof of his guilt. However, I have chosen not to speak about that because there is actually no legitimate physical evidence that exists that points to him being involved in any way, shape or form, at least to my knowledge and I looked into it a lot. He has never been named a suspect and he was investigated by law enforcement and they found

no connection between him and Amanda's killers. And I think it's also important to mention that the other three men who were involved in Amanda's murder have never pointed the finger at him. Honestly, I thought about not even bringing it up, but I just knew that since it's such a big conversation online that people were going to bring it up in the comments anyway. And, you know, I just wanted to make it clear

why I chose to leave it out. I feel like that type of speculation is just very irresponsible and not why I'm here covering these cases. But of course, people are free to have their own opinions and you are welcome to do your own research on this case and look into some of those things. I just am not comfortable speaking about it at this time. And I hope you guys understand and can respect my decision on that. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show

on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you wanna watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.