Chief Requesting Gag Order In Taylor Behl Case

I'm unclear as to how that specific information would hurt any potential case.

He says too much information is getting out and that's hurting their progress. He tells CBS 6's Sandra Jones that he will ask that a gag order be imposed in the case so they can concentrate on gathering facts, not finding out how information is getting out. He could be referring to the information that Ben Fawley, the main suspect in the case, gassed up at a New Kent County Exxon Station just one day after Taylor Behl's disappearance.

Comments

[INDIANAREDNECK]

I think the Chief is mad about the information coming out that the coroners test did not determine a cause of death.

[absynth_minded]

Just a thought:

Maybe he is mad that news got out of Fawley CONFESSING?

[anon 2]

Chief who? I think I am Iroquis. Do I have to listen to this chief?

[anon 2]

Just out of curiosity. Oceanside, Ca, before it was CA. Minneapolis/St.Paul and S.C. what native blood would a frontier's person have? Chief Honeysuckle-Lane-I-feed-Great-Blue-Heron-by-hand-at-sundown (gee, Dad) Chief, who?

Wantum-knowum-chief-hoo-um

Got any pretty beads?

[k]

Anon-
I don't get it.

[bob]

I agree with absynth_minded on this as well, 100 percent correct. I'd be upset too, I'd like to know who leaked the "confession." DA maybe? To taint the jury pool? Or change of venue a strong possibility anyway?

I know this is off topic somewhat, I'm a little sceptical about the whole "rough sex" issue, can anyone direct me to a non-virus plagued web site that explains this? I'm as hetero as the next guy, and I don't get the attraction/stimulation of the whole violence thing. Is this like a snuff film, 8 MM type deal? I've read The Dark Side discussion on this, but one would think common sense tells you when someone else is losing it and to let off.

[abigail]

okay smarty britches---Monroe! Richmonds police chief!
I heard about the gag order before I heard about the so called "confession", but that does not mean shit.

B--Yeah, most people with a "healthy" mind would stop, but those people would probably not be into that "freaky" stuff in the first place. I mentioned earlier that she would most likely have tried to tell him to stop..unless for some reason she could not. Dunno..

[bob]

Abigail--thanks. My take: if I am to believe this possibility for her death i should try to understand the reason for this activity, is all. Do things get tighter (for lack of a better word-sorry!) the closer you take it to death? I would think the opposite to be true. Or are we just talking about someone getting off on someone's death?
See, this is why the police chief wants a gag order. to stop all this speculation. On this one, it's like being blindfolded throwing darts.
None of it adds up.

[bob]

Erotic Asphyxiation
(It May Leave You Breathless – Permanently!)

WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

Erotic Asphyxiation may be one of the most taboo of all paraphilias, and for good reasons. Erotic Asphyxiation is the obtaining of pleasure from the feeling of being suffocated, and the use of it within the context of sex play. Solo masturbation rituals involving restriction of oxygen (hypoxia) are termed autoerotic asphyxiation, while when multiple persons are involved it is termed breath control play. Some think that the latter is a safer form of play, but as will later be discussed, it is almost as dangerous. Other terms used by the bondage community include “scarfing”, “choke chicks”, and “gaspers”.

Autoerotic asphyxiation usually involves people hanging, or suspending themselves by the neck while masturbating. It is then not surprising, that often the persons discovered to have this paraphilia are discovered dead.

Breath control play between two individuals can take many forms, none of them truly being safe, despite what some sources say. Activities such as plastic bags being placed over the head, pressing down on the abdomen, and covering the mouth with a hand are the less brutal and less used methods. More commonly partners will really choke the bottomer (the person being subjected to the act), which can easily cause damage to the windpipe, even breaking it, or worse yet, strangle him/her. Strangulation here takes on a specific definition: the pressing down on the carotid arteries, the two that are on each side of the neck. People think this cutting off blood flow to the brain is a better method, as it avoids the possible crushing of the windpipe, but in fact this is worse. Number one, it’s impossible to tell when someone is about to go unconscious, and number two, as little as five seconds of strangulation has caused death, because a message is sent by the brain to the heart telling it to slow down. Occasionally it can slow to a zero rate, and quickly cause death.

There are so many ways to cause harm by asphyxiation. The biggest way is by cardiac arrest: failure of the ventricles of the heart to contract, with the consequential absence of the heart beat leading to oxygen lack and eventually to death. To sum up a complex medical explanation – hypoxia (lowered amount of oxygen in the body) causes the heart to produce these things called PVC’s, which in turn can make the heart change into ventricular fibrillation, a form of cardiac arrest (“The Med…”). Lowered oxygen in the body can cause the heart to stop. Period.

Also, the increase of CO2 and decrease of oxygen within the body caused by asphyxiation can raise the ph level of blood in the body. Human blood should be somewhere between a 7.35 and 7.45 ph, and if it’s otherwise, the human will die (“The Med…”).

If the person doesn’t die, there are plenty of other ill effects. Brain damage is likely one of the very worst of them. Sometimes, lack of breathing causes calcium (lactic acid) buildup in the brain, which can cause damage to many areas, namely the hippocampus, the very brain stem, and others parts. Two different teams that performed experiments on gerbils came up with this same conclusion about the calcium buildup caused by lack of breath (“Cumulative…”).

There isn’t much recorded history on erotic asphyxiation. The earliest documentation of it goes back to the 1700s (Joergensen). Apparently it was noted that some hanging victims died with erections, and so asphyxiation became one of the first “cures” for impotency. There were also references to it in DeSade’s Justine. In 1856 it got its first mention in medical text by French psychiatrist DeBoismont. In 1987 Hustler was sued by a boy’s family for an article it published describing how to use asphyxiation for pleasure, after the boy was found dead with the magazine (Jenkins).

Often it starts with childhood choking games, like the act of “passing each other out”. (What a dangerous activity for children to do!) Pleasure in hypoxia can also be discovered on accident, like in roughhouse play or holding breath under water. Erotic asphyxiation is also sometimes discovered through masochism, bondage, or just plain old word of mouth.

Once it is discovered, participants can enjoy it for many reasons, none of which are exclusive or definite. The feeling of giddiness produced by hypoxia can be pleasurable to some. Submissives may enjoy breath play for the feeling of having their very breathing controlled. Masochists may like it for the danger. It is often enjoyed simply as a death fantasy. This could be the most perilous source of enjoyment, because then the closer the ‘gaspers’ are to death, the more excited they become.

[abigail]

Bob,

Am I reading you correctly? Are you asking if her vagina tightend up trying to create a "near death" experience? Well, I don't know. Maybe out of fear she got tense, but why would she not state her feelings and tell him to stop if he went to far? I'm guessing if she eventually became unconsious for whatever reason then yes, no control over the body. Forgive my spelling problem.
The Chief wants a gag order because of other people leaking stuff--apparent "sources". I don't think it has anything to do with us trying to figure out what happened to a "baby", who could have been our own child. I think for most of us--well, I think that is why we are here. We have kids or live in or near Richmond, or we were just simply captivated by a beautiful young woman.

[absynth_minded]

Breath control play between two individuals can take many forms, none of them truly being safe, despite what some sources say. Activities such as PLASTIC BAGS being placed over the head, pressing down on the abdomen, and covering the mouth with a hand are the less brutal and less used methods.

[anon 2]

Practice tantric sex. It's good. Why do you think there are so many Indians?

It's less expensive. You don't have to pay for any leather goods.

Yani and Yoni. No one has to worry about size.

Me know. Me Chief Honeysuckle-I-feed-Great-Blue-Herons-by-hand-at-sundown's daungter a.k.a. anon (name too long to write here.)

[anon 2]

that's what my dad does, ok?

[bob]

Abigail--I was completely ignorant of the whole thing and was thinking outloud--my bad. Now I know what it is (see above post) and how dangerous. No one should attempt this. I don't get the attraction, but I understand it. The problem is, if one passes out, it may be too late. It's truly sad. Now, whether it applies with Taylor, we will never know...

[bob]

absynth_minded, could you clairify your post, why did you put PLASTIC BAG in caps. Do you believe this is what happened? That said, how will this be proven other than Ben's word? The remains were skeletal. If it was cardiac arrest, there will be no way of proving it...

[anon 2]

You know, that is the other cool thing about Richmond (I can't be-leeeeeeeeeeeeve I am writitng this cuz I like soooooooooooo hate it here. Oooooohhhhhhhhh, for CaliFORia again, but, like. . .) they have cats all over every where just like Catalonia, man.

Don't look for the cat model though, a cause, ya know, like, uh, that cat died. So, don't like enroll in every art class in town the find the cat, cuz the cat's dead, man.

Was I writing on this thread, man? You know. Riiight?

[absynth_minded]

Bob:

A couple people that are more into the behavioral science aspect of criminal investigations have pointed out that sociopaths often tell half-truths or truths with their lies.

Some of Ben's have been

- he HAD SEX with Taylor the night she vanished

- had a PLASTIC BAG pulled over his head (when he was abducted)

- dumped just off of a LONG DIRT ROAD in the middle of nowhere

- was picked up by a hispanic guy and driven back to VCU, during which time he paid for the guy's GAS.

* I also assume that the time line he gave accurately reflects Taylor's time of death.

[abigail]

Bob, I have no idea, and it's all good that you were "thinking out loud". I don't know as much as the next, as I think we are just all trying to make sense of the death of a child, who could have been anyone's child.
AM most likely posted the plactic bag thing in all caps because of Bens "abduction story" about a pb being put over his head.
Now I'm not following..anon2?
Bob, are you in Richmond?

[bob]

absynth_minded I think you are onto something. Brilliant!
I've read here the "whole" story will be in Sunday's editions (we shall see). But would not the element of NOT being collaborated by forensic evidence forever cast a shadow on the Taylor Behl investigation? What does VA consider the penalty for such a death, if indeed it is Erotic Asphyxiation? I read it varies from state to state.

[K]

Three things come to mind while reading here...
The way he tells lies mixed with the truth.

BF says his real father was Mexican...that would make himself the "Unknown Hispanic Man"

If the suffocation came from a plastic bag which it probably did...

Using certain chemicals the Forensics team might find a facial or partial facial impression on the plastic bag that supposedly was found with Taylor's remains

Finally, someone said that they saw Fawley in an Escort buying gas and that he appeared to be alone...did he continue away after gassing up by going East or West? That would say alot about whether it was before or after being with Taylor

Also, what time was that gas purchase?

[K]

Oh, and he did have his VW Beetle and the van in a photoghraph parked in a free standing garage...one similar to the many found in alleyways behind walk-up apartments in Richmond/the Fan.

So Taylor's car could have easily been hidden in that same garage or any other...while he determined what to do with it and while changing the plates.

[bob]

Abigail--I am not from Richmond, I have family in Alexandria and spent quite a bit of time in the Tysons Corner--Reston corridor along Rt 7. I am very familiar with Vienna and know where Taylor went to school. My sister is a teacher in Fairfax County and interviewed at Madison HS.
My home port is Pittsburgh PA. I have no idea what Anon 2 is talking about. Other comments he has made earlier are quite coherent. I suspect he's either had a few beers or just making jest of the dialog between us right now.
I've "spewed from the heart" as it were, earlier today in the
"Taylor Behl: Breaking News
h/t Pundita from a televised report:
Two reports aired on ABC-7, Wash, DC station WJLA during the 11:00 PM broadcast."
See towards the end. It's dated Sept. 13.
I wish I could provide a link. I have some pretty strong feelings about this matter and yes--I feel deeply for the Behl family. Ben's kids are also going through a tough time I'm sure. No one wants this to happen. But I stand by my earlier statements.

[absynth_minded]

Bob,

I don't know how on to anything I am, I just try to put myself in their shoes, and so far my track record is pretty good. (the fact that the autopsy was inconclusive made me believe this was suffocation, as opposed to strangulation; still not sold on accidental or whether others were involved.)

It could still be strangulation, but more likely ligature manual than with the hands. (weight and placement of hands will normally frature the hyoid bone, even with a girly-man like Fawley.)

[absynth_minded]

Good points, K, all very good points.

I especially like the bag and garage theories.

[bob]

K, another brilliant observation! A facial or partial facial impression on the plastic bag would seal up the case. I didn't know they could do such a thing. There's the forensic evidence...

[abigail]

Thought she was "wrapped" in plastic? So, if it was an "accident" how would her facial imprints be visible unless she was breathing and the bag was just "sucked" to her face? If that is the case, why could she not pull it off? Maybe he wanted to have this crazy sex thing and she did not? Don't know...just trying to understand a beautiful girls death like the rest of us. Just saw her poor momma watching the casket being removed from the service..Geez, don't know how someone deals with that. I don't wish that on anyone--having to do that, bury a child.

[withheld]

OK, you are all missing the big picture here.
Ben trolls online for girls at the same time he is in a relationship with Erin. He stumbles on Taylor's blogs in November 2004 and posts to her at a point in time when she is depressed and saying she is not going to post anymore because no one cares. She replies back to him in February 2005. They have various encounters from April to August 2005, all non-sexual.

During this same period the falling out with Erin occurs, Ben had been at the property where Taylor was found with Erin and had shot pics of Erin there for a porn site.

The night Taylor disappeared, she was going to do something highly illegal, that activity was going to the property with Ben to take pictures in the same poses as Erin, but clothed, the purpose being to help piss Erin off when she saw the pictures and the background and Taylor, or so Taylor thought.

Taylor's willingness to go with him led him to believe their was more interest in him than was actually there on Taylor's part.

When they got there, after taking some pictures Ben tried to get her to do more than she wanted, things escalated, Erin was raped, and obviously killed. She was strangled. I also think she fought back and hit him with the tripod.

She was strangled by his hands, he has a history of doing this in the past.

Being a loser with no cash, he was forced to use his gas card to fill the car. He parked the car in one of his haunts in Richmond and played the concerned friend. He then figured the car would be linked to him if found, probably due to pictures of the area where it was parked being on one of his web sites, so THEN he put the tags on it and parked it 2 blocks from his old house.

The scent the dogs picked up was not the guy they arrested for drugs, it was Ben's scent going towards his old residence a few blocks from the car and near this other guys house. From there Ben used some mode of transportation to his current resident about 2 miles away or less.

This was the exact same area where he was mugged the day after Taylor dissapeared. Lots of activity on this block, her car, his mugging, his previous residence, all comfortable surroundings but not near his current residence.
The car was probably hidden within blocks of here as well. Probably a warehouse or such.

The reason for his sudden info on hiding her body is two-fold, to avoid the death penalty, and to prevent the discovery of the one piece of evidence that will HANG HIM. The camera and the tripod.

Ben took pictures of what he did to her, and he may have been in the pictures as well.

The one thing in his statement that never made sense to some of us, I was mugged, they took my cash, my camera and my tripod. TRIPOD ? Why was he carrying a tripod at 5 am 2 miles from his current house in an alley 1 block from his previous house and in the same area where all these other coincidences occured ?

Answer, he wasn't, but he is really stupid and felt he had to explain why he no longer had his camera and tripod in case they were found where he hid them, remember, his story is he was set up and THEY took his camera and tripod, so THEY must have taken whatever pictures are found on the film because THEY are trying to frame him.

Problem is, THEY do not exist now that he is admitting to things, and that means HE took the pictures, so this is the other reason in his mind, stop the evidence gathering and discovery process with this new lie about rough sex before someone finds the camera he hid.

I knew all along he did this, he admitted to having sex with Taylor the night she disappeared to explain his DNA away, he knew hew was admitting to statutory rape in Virginia, but that was better than rape and murder. That was the first nail in his coffin.

Taylor NEVER had consensual sex with Ben and there is NO evidence to the contrary. The entire line in the blogs about crawling in the bed and about still being curious is completely innocent on Taylor's part and has to do with being curious about the new bed he made in July that had been outfitted with hardware to allow someone to be restrained on it. It was this bed that the BDSM photo shoot by another photographer was produced with Ben watching leeringly nearby.

We need to find the camera and tripod, they were his trophy, he did not destroy them, they are in a protective device like a trash bag and hidden somewhere on the route back from the crime scene to Richmond, I believe they will be found more than 3 miles from the crimes scene but well before the gas station he fueled up at.

I think the reason he had to hide the camera and tripod, instead of just taking out the film or memory card, is that the items ended up with DNA or blood on them and he did not want to take the chance of trying to clean them himself, anyone watching CSI knows you can never get it COMPLETELY clean, so the only safe thing to do was to hide it all.

If he had destroyed them by throwing them in a river or an incinerator, he would have had no reason to mention them in his mugging story, but since they are trophy items that he hid that have DNA on them, he had to claim they were stolen by those that murdered Taylor and are framing him.

[absynth_minded]

The only big picture we're seeing as that you are fishing without so much as bait on your hook.

[abigail]

When they got there, after taking some pictures Ben tried to get her to do more than she wanted, things escalated, Erin was raped, and obviously killed. She was strangled. I also think she fought back and hit him with the tripod.

Uhhh, I'm fairly sure Erin is alive and well.

[Rick]

Abigail; You're correct, Erin is alive and well though emotionally pummeled.

A-M. Correct, no bait on that hook. We know many of Taylors LJ entries have been removed. One assumes the very obvious and willing 1st time in Fawley's bed was one of them.

withheld: First day here?

[Rick]

Abigail; You're correct, Erin is alive and well though emotionally pummeled.

A-M. Correct, no bait on that hook. We know many of Taylors LJ entries have been removed. One assumes the very obvious and willing 1st time in Fawley's bed was one of them.

withheld: First day here?

[Daystarburn]

Gag is order is needed because some people in Richmond are furthering their careers by selling their soul to the media for a rung up on the ladder of sucksess.

[absynth_minded]

The sad thing is that it could compromise the investigation and undo all of the hard work LE has done thus far. (ESPECIALLY if BF didn't act ALONE.)

*the fact that BF has talked could start a serious outbreak of "rabbit fever."

The media's irresponsibily never ceases to amaze.

Sure, we all want to know what happened, but surely we could all wait another month if it insured justice for Taylor and her loved ones.

[Rick]

A-M: It's good to see that not everyone is willing to just hang Fawley and drop the case. There is still so much to learn and to prove conclusively. One thing I want to know is: If he was so cunning in setting his premeditated trap. Why did it fall apart (so quickly) in the cover up? Does not fit a serial killer profile. The camera, tripod and that stuff is too elementary. People are assuming he was using a still camera rather than a movie camera.....and you can buy lights other than flash that work on batteries. When he said his camera was stolen, did he mention whether it was in a bag?

[absynth_minded]

Rick:

There are so many inconsistancies with Ben's personality and action. Leads me to believe that he is indeed a "borderline" personality, as Steve Huff was also quick to suspect.

A little about BPD (borderline personality disorder)

http://www.borderlineresearch.org/about_disorder/index.html

I'm not willing to tag him as being "serial," just yet, but I do have my suspicions. It is possible that Ben's downward spiral has reached the ground level and he was no longer able to carry out his game of charades.

As for the video camera, the "snuff" film angle lurks in the conners of my mind and has since my initial profile.

"Snuff" is the ultimate taboo; an act almost too unspeakable to think of or mention...

Seems right up Fawley's alley.

[Rick]

"Snuff" is the ultimate taboo; an act almost too unspeakable to think of or mention..."

I'm having enough trouble with premeditation.Even though his "accident" version thus far is pretty weak...like him. This, snuff theory is too much. I really hope you're reading too much into it all.
BTW. Have you seen, in a reasonably credible source, whether the body was in a bag or wrapped in plastic?

[absynth_minded]

Rick:

I hope I'm reading into it too much, as well.

(be it a video camera or photo camera, something was fixed on top of that tripod that made him feel it necessary fabricate a story to explain the fact that it wasn't accounted for... after all, the idiot did share a full inventory list of his "toys.")

I was under the impression that her body was wrapped. Maybe in a plastic drop cloth or tarp (as artists/painters are known to have.)

[Rick]

I was just thinking that, outside of a bag for ES,sheets of plastic would be readily found around those nearby hay barns. There's much here that makes no sense no matter how many pieces we have managed to put together.
Who the heck drives seventy miles to screw at the beach? I can actually think of a couple suffocation scenarios, trying to get it on in an escort without playing games. Someone mentioned the possibilty of a snapped neck.......it works, but the autopsy was not conclusive.

[absynth_minded]

Nope, manual strangulation with hands didn't occur unless Ben Fawley was too weak to even snap the hyoid bone.

If it did occur in the car, perhaps a seatbelt was used as a ligature? (or even if Taylor had a plastic bag in her car, not by any means an uncommon item, especially at the begining of the semester.)

We can't make sense of this because we do not know all of the details. Even then, we will never be able to make sense of it.

* I really want to know about the blood stain on the box spring of his "bondage bed." That's an awful alot of blood, to seep all the way through a mattress to a box spring.

[anon 2]

On the Borderline Personality piece, not one article referenced there is less than 19 years old. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is a better source, I think.

BPD is an ingrained personality disorder. Learned in early childhood as all the personality disorders are. The percentages of Borderlines in this country are way off the mark. Furthermore, Borderline is on the rise in America more than any other personality disorder.

Fawley doesn't strike me as run of the mill Borderline. He seems to have strong anti-social strains too. His fascination with arson, for example, and early, serious run-ins with the law.

Borderlines aren't all hopeless freaks which is about what that article would make anyone who had no knowledge of the subject inclined to believe.

Not all Borderlines have judgement as bad as Fawley's here either. A lot of well-adjusted people are Borderlines. His life has been a life of terrible choices. There is something else wrong with him, I think.

Keep in mind it is all an artifical construct anyway.

Sadistic personality disorder strikes me as much worse in terms of destructiveness. (Or, even Anti-social personality disorder). Ben chose to get involved with Sadism. Sadistic traits are not specific to BPD.