Randy Taylor is talking for the first time since his arrest last summer in connection with the disappearance and death of Nelson County teenager Alexis Murphy.
Last week, a jury convicted him on those charges. He says he didn’t do it.
"There’s just too many things that haven’t been told for me to be convicted of murder of Alexis Murphy,” he said. “I did not murder Alexis Murphy. I did not abduct Alexis Murphy.”
The body of Alexis Murphy was never found but investigators found DNA and other compelling evidence that led to the arrest and conviction of Randy Taylor. He didn’t talk during his trial but he’s talking now.
“Justice has not been done. There’s two families hurting now. Her family and my family. There’s still no justice. There’s still no closure. Until Alexis is found and returned to her family and I’m free of these charges, there’s no closure here,” Taylor says.
Taylor is awaiting sentencing at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.
During the trial, Taylor got caught up in his own lies, denying having her in his camper until investigators presented him with DNA evidence and a surveillance video from the Liberty gas station that also shows Taylor speaking to Alexis the night she disappeared.
“You can ask anybody that knows me, anybody in this jail or anybody around here. I’m not an outspoken person. I’m not a violent person. I haven’t been mean to nobody or disrespectful to anybody in here. It’s what the Commonwealth’s painted the story of me to be and I’m not that person,” Taylor says.
Taylor now admits to talking to Alexis on the night she disappeared last August but that’s all he admits to.
“I smoked marijuana before, and she had asked me about smoking marijuana before,” he said. “That’s all we were mainly talking about.”
The family released the following statement following the verdict:
“Just felt like justice has been served and wherever Alexis is, she can be at peace now.”
The jury recommended two life terms for Taylor but the judge will deliver the final decision this summer. Taylor says whatever sentence is handed down, he will appeal.
