Ep 41 | Tayelor Fitzpatrick Transcript

Ep 41 | Tayelor Fitzpatrick 

Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised.

If I could go back and change everything, I would. I kind of felt like they were outcast like I was. Did you think they were going to kill you? Yeah, I really did. Did you think about calling the police? I couldn't. Did you call the police? No. I wake up, tossing and turning, kicking, and it's just, I see blood and glints of metal and I hear screaming.

When you walked into that house, what did it feel like? It felt haunted.

You are now listening to the podcast. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You will see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

In this week's episode of Voices of a Killer, we bring you to a story of an ill fated friendship in the heart of Kansas City. Taylor Fitzpatrick, who talks to us today, found herself unwittingly entangled in a 2017 murder that took place in her home and that began with a click on an advert on Craigslist.

You might think of Craigslist as a place to pick up a used bike or thrift an antique chair, but in recent years, the website has become a hotspot for a thriving sex industry. It has also, as we'll hear about today, attracted a host of scammers. The unfortunate victim of this case, Michael Luckey, fell prey to one of these scams that lured him from his Osawatomie home to Kansas City and, tragically, ended the young man's life.

Today, Taylor gives us her inside perspective on this series of events. She'll take us exclusively beyond the actions of the killers on that fateful day. As her narrative unfolds, we'll uncover a cautionary tale about the dangers of trusting the wrong people and a look into the moral ambiguity of being a bystander during a violent crime.

For all of this and more, sit back and listen closely on this episode of Voices of a Killer. So Taylor, I understand you're in a prison in Missouri, but you're actually from Kansas, correct? And you grew up in Kansas all your life? What was it like growing up in Kansas? It was boring. Yeah. Did you have siblings?

I do. Yeah. Do you still have a relationship with your family on the outside? Some of them. Well, how would you describe your childhood? Was it rough or just, you know, besides boring? I was the middle child. I was pretty much ignored unless I got in trouble. Yeah. Did your parents work together when you were a kid?

No. Did you have a relationship with both of your parents as a child? Not really. No. Do you think that had an effect on how you grew up? Definitely. Yeah. Do you have a relationship with both of your parents now? I don't. My father actually passed away. Yeah. When did that happen? That happened in 2010. How did he feel about your crime?

Or he, actually your crime just happened after that, didn't it? My crime happened in 2017. Okay. And if I could go back and change everything, I would. Sure. After you, you know, grew up and stuff like that, you know, move out of the parents house, or if you, did you, what was your path? Was it work, school?

Working, high school. Yeah. What kind of work did you do? Usually food handling. Yeah. Did you ever get into drugs or drinking or anything? I smoked weed and I didn't start drinking until I was 20. Yeah. Did you do any other hard drugs? No. How about relationships or children? Did you ever get married or have kids?

No. I was pregnant when I got arrested, but I've never been married or Yeah. How old are you now, Taylor? 27. 27. And in 2017, you actually kind of got yourself wrapped up in a pretty serious crime where someone was actually, their life was taken. But you, according to what I understand is, you actually didn't kill the person, it just happened at your house.

So I'd like to know, just starting off a little bit of a time, at a time, where was your house at? Was it in Missouri? It was in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City. What were you doing living there? Well, I was trying to get a better life than I had in my hometown. Yeah? Yeah. And what made you think that was going to happen by being in Missouri?

Just more opportunities in a bigger city? Well, my older sister had a house where I was staying with her at first before I got out on my own. Yeah? Yeah, so that's why Kansas City, Missouri. What kind of stuff did you get into while you lived there? I started smoking weed when I was living at her house. And whenever I got into my own place, I started drinking.

Yeah. So this is about the time you 20. Did you drink outta control or anything? It was getting to that point, yeah. Did you do anything like illegal while you were drinking? I would drive, I would go to bars. Yeah. So, take me back to the day that your crime happened. You have two co defendants, correct, or is it three co defendants?

I have three co defendants. And how did you know those three? Well, my house had actually gotten broken into and robbed, and they knew who did it. So, I was hanging out with them, hoping to get that information. So, your house got broken into, the three co defendants that you currently have claim that they knew who broke into your house.

That's how you met them first? Yes. So you had never known them before and they actually approached you. Tell me back to how that happened. Well, what ended up happening was I came home on the 4th of July. And everything was gone out of my house and the girl, the other girl in my case, she lived across the street and was on the front porch.

So we approached her and asked her and she said she didn't know, but it was, we were pretty sure it was people she would, was hanging out with. So what was the plan whenever they told you, Hey, I think I know who broke into your house. What was the plan? What was your reaction? Well, I called the cops, and when the cops went to talk to them, well talk to the girl, she said she didn't know anything about it, but whenever I asked her personally, she's like, yeah, I've seen them walking off with the TV and stuff, but I don't know where they live.

So, when did it eventually happen with that? Nothing. I've never heard anything about it. Never thought about people. So now these guys that kind of helped, tried to help you, you know, figure out who broke into your house, now you start hanging out with them? Yeah. And what kind of people were these? How would you, I mean, if, you know, what kind of character did they have?

I kind of felt like they were outcasts like I was. Yeah. Did they do any kind of criminal activity that you knew of besides smoking weed, which is not really criminal?

You've probably heard a story like Taylor's before. A small town girl carves out a new life for herself in the big city, and Quintimo, Taylor's hometown, is just about as small as it gets. With 300 residents in a square mile radius, the town consists of a handful of houses, A school and a Baptist church.

Life is dull in a rural Osage County, and Taylor describes feeling forgotten in her childhood years. It was Kansas City, an hour northeast, where Taylor sought a clean break from her past. Fresh out of high school, Taylor moved into a house in the south, chasing a better life for herself. Yet, Kansas City, so full of promise and big dreams, would ironically untangle her in a horrific crime, the very reason why she is talking to us today at the other end of a prison phone.

At some point, Taylor got mixed up with three people. 16 year old Gabriela, her boyfriend Larry Wren, and a third friend, Micah Dozier. After meeting the trio when her house was robbed, Taylor began hanging out with them, often to smoke weed. She felt an affinity with the group, a shared sense of being outcasts in the world.

But, although she invited the three into her home regularly, Taylor admits that she knew relatively little about their lives, a fact that would soon return to haunt her.

Plan that they hatched. I knew that they were planning something, but what ended up happening was it what they told me they were planning on doing. So did they approach you about a plan that they had? What is that, how it worked? They just said, Hey, we, we are gonna do this, and, and ask what you thought Or were they more demanding, Hey, this is what's gonna happen whether you like it or not, or what?

They approached me. And how did, what did they say? Well, there's a little bit of a side thing that happened, which is why they approached me. I had lost my job, so I was planning on moving back to Kansas with my grandparents, and they wanted to take over my lease on my house. Your co defendants wanted to take over the lease?

Yeah, they wanted to talk to my landlord and take over the lease. Because it was a rent to own. Okay, and you were wanting to get out of it? Yeah. You're wanting to go back to Kansas? So what does that have to do with your story? The plan they approached me with was the girl was going to invite a John over to make some money so she could pay for the rent.

You say the girl, when I look at your, you know, the news and stuff like that on you, I see two co defendants who are just two guys and yourself, but who's the girl? Well, the girl, her name was Gabriella and the reason you can't see anything about her is because I found out after we were all arrested that she was a minor.

Okay. How old was she, a minor? 15, 16? Well, she told me she was 18. Right. And then I found out she was 16. Wow. And she was a prostitute at the time? Like a real prostitute or just scamming people? Well, she already had a back page and everything and she said she'd done it before. Wow. So she is, this minor is, along with the other two male co defendants, those three are the ones that approached you about the plan, or the two males did?

The girl did, and one of the males approached me, her boyfriend. Yeah. Larry Wren was her boyfriend's name. Yeah, Larry Wren III. Okay, who's, is it Mika or Mica? Mica. 18 years old, is that the second co defendant, the male, or a female? That's a male. Okay, so that's the two males, and then the, so they approach you to, and what, what was the discussion like?

Tell me, walk me through just them approaching you, what did they say? So, I had asked them to help me move my stuff, because my grandparents were coming with a trailer, but my grandparents didn't make it that weekend because it was raining. So is the apartment, is it empty or something? All of it's emptied out?

It was a house. Or a house, but I mean it's all, y'all are moving things out of it, is that what I'm hearing? That was the plan. Okay, so you'll learn the process or planning to move and then they approach you and then go ahead. So they asked me, because I was leaving, if they could talk to my, if I cared if they could talk to my landlord and see about taking over the lease.

Right. I told him, you know, I didn't care, I'd get him in touch, but he would probably want the month's payment for rent if they were planning on taking it over and that I couldn't afford it, that's why I was leaving. Yeah. And the girl was like, well, I know a way where I can get the money. I just need somewhere.

To be able to do it. Do you think it was her idea or his, or one of the male co defendants? I think it was her idea. Okay. Did they go into detail? Hey, this is what we're going to do, we're going to have this John come over, we're going to rob him? No, they, as far as I knew Or just do a legitimate, you know, sex exchange.

Is that basically it? Yeah. Okay, so basically she was just saying that she wanted to have the John over, make some money by having sex with him, and then that was it. Yeah. Okay, so did you agree to that? Told him I was fine with it. Yeah. Did you ever think whenever they said that, did it seem like maybe there was something else involved, you know?

Did you question, hey, you guys, y'all not going to rob this guy, or does that even a question at the time? Honestly, no. By 2017, Taylor was ready to bid Kansas City goodbye. She had recently lost her job and, unable to afford the cost of living in the city, was preparing to move back to rural Kansas. But, while emptying out her house, Gabriella and Larry approached Taylor with an offer.

They asked to take over the lease on Taylor's house. To make the first month's rent payment, Gabriela had arranged to have paid sex with a man who was coming from out of town. All she needed was a place to do it, and Taylor agreed to give the use of her house. What Taylor didn't know was that she'd only been told half of the plan.

It was true that Gabriela was going to bait somebody off Craigslist with the promise of sex. But, while the target was in a compromised position, Larry and Micah would then jump in and rob him. Taylor's house would make the perfect neutral place for the deed. The victim was 29 year old Michael Lucky, a dad of two young boys.

Responding to Gabriela's advert on Craigslist, Michael agreed to meet her for a sexual encounter on April 4th. He told his family he was meeting somebody in the city, then taking his mom's car, drove up north to Kansas City. And this guy that, the John that they called, is this a repeat customer to this girl or is this a brand new person they were just waiting for?

I honestly have no idea. Okay. So whenever you agreed to it, they went ahead and started setting it up or what? Yeah. And how long did that process take? It took a couple hours. And y'all are all at the house while this is being set up? Yeah. And after those few hours, I guess, a couple hours, she says, hey, he's, you know, on the way?

What was the plan whenever y'all actually saw that someone is headed to your house? What was the plan at that point? Well, she told her boyfriend to leave because she didn't really want him there whenever she was inviting people over to have sex with, and I was just gonna hang out in the living room at Kay's.

Anything was happening that wasn't supposed to. Okay. So she's making her boyfriend leave, which is one of the co defendants. What happened to the other co defendant? He showed up later. Okay. So he wasn't involved in all the planning right there? Not that I knew of. Okay. So did the boyfriend, uh, you know, agree to that and left?

The boyfriend walked out and I thought he was gone. He went out the front door. Were they lying to you and making it look like he left? I believe so. Okay. So he leaves. After the co defendant, her boyfriend, leaves, what are you talking about with the 16 year old prostitute? Are y'all having a discussion?

Are you saying, do you do this often, or is this going to be safe, what's the discussion like? She told me that, she told him to meet her up the street, and she was going to lead him to the house, that way he didn't have the address, which I thought was weird. And she was just getting ready, putting makeup on, getting dressed, lighting candles, cleaning up.

Yeah. Just. And what are you doing? Are you just watching it all go down? Is this, how do you feel about this at this point? I was a little uncomfortable and I was playing on my phone on Facebook and Snapchat and stuff. Gotcha, keep it occupied. So, at any time before all this, did you ever notice any of them having a gun or did they show that they had a weapon?

I had noticed they Dozier had a gun. Is that the boyfriend? That's the other guy, that's not the boyfriend. Did you ever worry that when he, you know that he had the weapon that something like this could happen? Honestly, I had never expected him to come back to my house after he came by the first time. So I didn't have a clue.

So now the couple hours went by and this minor prostitute goes and meets him up the road, is that what happens when you're still in the house? And do you wait for, do they walk back in the house together? Yes, they in the house together. Did the, uh, the John, uh, the victim, or the John, whichever one you want to call, I guess, did he notice you in the house?

Yeah, he knew I was there. Did he make him nervous seeing you there? No. Did you tell him hi and introduce yourself? What was it like? He didn't even speak to him. Did he tell you hello? I mean, we nodded at each other, and then I just went back to my phone, and they walked in. They went to the bedroom. And from the time that they went into the bedroom, where were you at right there at that time in the living room?

Yeah. And what happened next after they went in the bedroom? I heard like a loud banging noise coming from the back. Like banging like somebody knocking banging or banging like guns? Like a door getting slammed into a wall. Like really hard? Like one big slam or a bunch? Just one big slam. Was it a gunshot or was it something else?

It was my back door being kicked in. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, what did you do when you heard that loud bang? I ran into the kitchen to see what was going on, because my bedroom is, you have to access the bedroom through the kitchen. What is the first thing you saw, or the next thing you heard? I see two Men in black hoodies with bandanas wrapped around their faces, one holding a gun and one holding a knife.

What was your reaction to that? I bolted. I ran out through the garage. You ran out? Where did you run to? I went into the backyard. And did you turn around and look at the house? Yes. What did you see or hear after that? I seen lights flickering in the bedroom window, and I heard screams. Girl screams or guy screams?

Guy screams. Was it the victim? Yes. What kind of screams? Like he's getting hurt or pleading with him? A little both. He was getting stabbed? I'm not sure what happened at that point. I had a curtain up in the bedroom window, so I couldn't see into the bedroom. I could just see like shadows. After it's all said and done, I mean, you know about the case, was he stabbed?

Yes. So that screaming was you listening to someone being stabbed to death? Yes. How does that make you feel looking back on that now? Sick to my stomach. Taylor can't give us a full account of what happened to Michael Luckey in her Kansas City home, but as we piece together her perspective, it's clear that Whatever took place, the plan that her co defendants had devised had backfired horribly.

What was meant to be a simple robbery had now turned bloody. Moments after Gabriela led Michael into Taylor's bedroom, Larry and Micah returned to the house. Dressed in black hoodies, with their face covered, wielding a knife and gun, they kicked down the back door with a loud bang. The next moments of Taylor's narrative are a blur of her sheer panic and fear.

In a burst of adrenaline, she bolted out of the back door to the backyard as a scuffle broke out inside. From the bedroom window, lights flickered against piercing screams. Michael Luckey was being stabbed repeatedly. Let's pause to consider Taylor's role in all of this. Unwittingly, she had become a participant in the execution of a serious crime.

Her new friends had manipulated her into opening her home up for this scheme, casting a new light on them as killers. Calculated and cold, now Taylor was a bystander as she stood out in her yard, listening to a scene of horror unfolding inside of her home. I, I'm gonna be honest with you Taylor, I don't feel like you really did much wrong.

Obviously you had people that, I mean, everything that you've said is completely accurate. It sounds like you, wrong place, wrong time, wrong people, but we'll continue on. After you hear that screaming, do you stay standing in the backyard looking at the house? Yes. How long? I was back there for probably about 5 to 10 minutes.

How long did the screaming last? It stopped after about 6 or 7 minutes. He was yelling and screaming for that long? Yes. Did you think about calling the police? I couldn't. Did you call the police? And that's why you're in prison. Yes. Yep. Why didn't you call the police? Because when I heard the bang and I walked into the kitchen, I had left my phone on the couch.

I mean, somebody just came in your house with knives and guns and they're screaming. You didn't think maybe run to the neighbors? Well, my backyard was, had a six foot fence around it. So, and is that where you ended up walking back in is into the house or somewhere else? Yeah. And you, I guess you at about 15 minutes later is about the time you went back in?

Yep. Whenever you went to walk back in, did you think that you were probably going to walk in on somebody that's either hurt really bad or dead? Yeah. And what is the very first thing you saw or heard as you walked in the house? The other girl was coming for me. Coming to get me. In what kind of way? Uh, she was half dressed and she was carrying the guy's pants.

The John's. Half dressed, like she had no shirt on or no shorts or what? No pants, no underwear. And she was carrying the John's pants? Yes. Did it have blood on it? No. Why was she carrying his pants? She was going through his pockets. Oh. And then what's the next thing you saw after that? Uh, I seen her grabbing his wallet and pulling his cash out, and I walked into the living room after that.

What are the other two co defendants, the males? They were both in the living room. Did y'all exchange any words? Yeah. What did you say? What did they say? When I walked in, I said what, what happened, and they said that he had gotten a hold of a board and was hitting them with it. They were talking about the John.

Right. And at this point, the John is on his knees, naked, slumped over with a knife sticking out of the back of his head. He went in there and looked at the body? He was in the living room. Oh. So, describe what he looked like again. He was naked, on his knees, covered in blood, with a knife sticking out of the back of his head.

Wow. Yeah. How was he on his knees? Was he slumped over on a chair or a bed or something? He was slumped over on an ottoman. Was there stab marks in his back too? Yeah. What did you think when you saw that? I was in shock. I could see he was still alive. He was breathing and blood was bubbling. And at that moment right there, you didn't think to try to save somebody's life maybe?

At that moment right there, the second guy, Larry Wren, yanked a knife out of his head and stabbed him in the throat three times right in front of me. Wow. What did you think watching that? I don't know. I mean, that's basically something you're going to remember for the rest of your life, watching somebody getting finished off very personally with a knife, you know, right there in front of you.

And you, I'm sure you heard the knife entering in this guy's body. It's pretty, pretty intense. Yeah. I still have nightmares about it. That was my next question. Yeah. I What are those nightmares like? I wake up tossing and turning and kicking, and it's just, I see blood and glints of metal and I hear screaming.

So, after he, you know, finishes them off Where's the other co defendant and the girl when he stabs him like that? They're both, they're both standing in the living room. This 16 year old girl, what is her composure like at 16 watching this happen so gruesomely? She seems to be panicking a little, but she's more worried about counting the money she pulled from his wallet.

I mean that's, at 16 if I were to watch somebody get stabbed, that would have been really, I mean even at, you know, my age now, it's just, but That is a, I mean, stabbing is just so, so personal and this girl is 16 years old. What in the world? I mean, that's, that blows my mind. What's her deal now? Where's she at?

Is she in prison? She's out. She works at a Sonic in Kansas City and has a child now. Things turned from bad to worse after Taylor went back inside. In the living room, she was met with a gruesome scene. Gabriella was holding Michael's pants and rifling through his cash, and Michael, slumped over an ottoman, was on his knees naked, with a knife sticking out of one side of his head.

He clung to life, breathing heavily, until Larry picked up the knife and stabbed him in the throat three times. Larry, Gabriella, and Micah had thrust Taylor into a difficult situation. She had become a reluctant onlooker to a highly violent and traumatic crime. There were few options available to Taylor.

With luck, maybe she could find an opportunity to bolt out of the door and call the police. But after witnessing her friend brutally murder a man right in front of her, Taylor felt paralyzed. In the eyes of the others, Taylor was now a witness to the crime and her thoughts turned to what the trio would decide to do with her, and whether or not she would make it out alive.

After the break, more on the aftermath of the crime.

So who's the leader in the pack? Is it the one that stabbed? Is he the one telling everybody what to do? No. Okay, so who's doing that? It was Micah Dozier. 18 year old kid. Well, the other one's 18 too. Is Micah Dozier, is that the 16 year old girl's boyfriend? No. Okay, he's the other one. This Larry Wren, he's 18 as well.

What's his demeanor like watching all this go down? And is he kind of freaked out or does this seem kind of normal to him? He really didn't seem I mean, he's the one who stabbed the guy in the throat. So, 18 years old, it was just no big deal for him to stab that guy in the throat, huh? He acted like it didn't do anything.

After he stabbed him in the throat like that, he turned to look at you, and say anything, or anything like that? He started talking about, they were going to have to clean up the body. Was there blood all over the place? Yeah. Before this happened, had you ever watched true crime TV and stuff like that? You know, different kind of murder shows?

No. It's pretty hard to cover up blood. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's pretty hard to get away with something like that. So did you help them clean up? No. Did they have a talk with you about saying anything or anything like that? Yeah. When did that happen? They invited a Third woman over and they basically told me if I said anything they were gonna kill me.

So I want to go to the third woman here in just a second, but I want to back up. After he finished them off and then they said, Hey, we got to clean this up. Did you stay in the house while they cleaned it up? Yeah. Would have they, it was just so it was just the two 18 year old men and the prostitute that did all the cleaning up?

What did they do? They went to Walmart. They had me drive them at gunpoint. And they went in and they got a whole bunch of bleach and peroxide and carpet cleaner and had me swipe the credit card. His credit card? The dead guy's credit card, yes. Oh my gosh. When you're checking out With this guy's credit card that had just been killed, and bleach, and all this stuff, did anybody look too funny with all that?

No. And it was easy to just swipe his credit card? Didn't have to sign or what? You had to sign. Yeah. Okay. Had me drive back to my house, still at gunpoint this whole time. Yeah. Okay. So, they bring you back at gunpoint, uh, to the house. Are you having conversations with them, like, listen, don't shoot me, or, you know, are they having conversations, like, with you, like prepping you on what to say or not say?

Um, I'm having a conversation with the other girl trying to talk her into calling the cops. Are they hearing this, the guys? No. You, that, you're lucky you didn't get killed. I tried to kill myself, so I wasn't really worried about it. Okay, we'll get that here in just a second. So, y'all get back to the house.

What happens? They get a 10 gallon bucket and start filling it with the cleaning supplies and start scrubbing the carpet. And where did you go? I went into my bathroom. When y'all went to the, uh, to get to the grocery store, what did y'all do with the body? Did y'all leave it right there where y'all killed him?

No, they, one of the boys, Micah, took the guy's body in the guy's car and went and dropped it somewhere. Oh, they put him in the vehicle and dropped him off somewhere? Well, how far did they drive, you think? Turned on the news, it wasn't very far from where I lived. You waited there while they drove and did that?

They had the girl saying they're watching me. And that's whenever you were trying to talk her out of it? Yes. What was she saying whenever you were trying to talk her out of it, this 16 year old girl? She didn't want to call the cops. Did she say anything like, I didn't know this was going to happen, or we just, what was she saying besides not wanting to call?

She said that she had told them only to rob him. Did you think you ever had a chance to run out of there while she's watching you? No. So when they return, they start cleaning up the body and, or it's cleaning up the, where the body was and everything. How long did that take them? All night, basically.

Probably four or five hours. And then you said they invited another girl over? Was it daylight yet for the next day? No, this was in the midst of them cleaning everything up. Was she another prostitute? How old was she? She was an older woman, probably late 30s or early 40s. Well, that's certainly older compared to the rest of you guys.

for joining us on this episode of ThoughtWorks. I'm Chris Lloyd Jones. We'll see

you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Yeah, does she ever get prosecuted? No. So after they clean it up, what was the next step that happened? They started cutting up furniture, burning it. Where were they burning it at? I had a fire pit in my backyard. Do you have neighbors? No. You didn't have any neighbors. There was a neighbor across the street, but the two lots besides my house were empty.

So what were you thinking as all the cleaning and the burning, the furniture? Did you think this is, you know, we're gonna get caught? Or did you think I just can't wait till they're gone and everything will, you know, go away or what? The only thing that was going through my mind is, was I gonna be next?

Shortly after the murder, Taylor saw a chilling side to her, three young friends that she hadn't seen before. As Taylor tells it, Gabriella, Larry, and Micah took a disturbing level of composure after the fact, as if they were devoid of remorse and detached from the carnage they had just caused. Once Micah was dead, the trio began meticulously cleaning up the crime scene.

Micah wrapped Micah's half naked body in a tarp, then drove to a dump in the wooded area along Blue River Road. His car was also discarded a few miles nearby. Then, Taylor, at gunpoint, was forced to drive the group to Walmart. Using Michael's own credit card, they bought the bleach and peroxide they would use to cover up any evidence of his murder.

Back at the house, another older woman that arrived to coordinate the cleanup process, giving quick directions on tearing up the carpet and burning it in the fire pit outside. Taylor watched her friends work methodically to erase any trace that Michael Lucky had ever visited the house. Were they watching you really closely or were they just, you know, casually saying, you know, you know, how, how, how much were they thinking you were going to take off?

They were, had one standing by the door, the front door, so I couldn't leave. One of them took my phone and broke it, so I couldn't call anybody. Did you think they were going to kill you? Yeah, I really did. Were you begging with them? Were you saying, were you asking them if that's what they were going to do?

No, I put my fist through my wall and told them to kill me then just to do it. Oh, so this was a pretty emotional thing at this point? Yeah. What was their reaction whenever you started to kind of break down? One of them tried to calm me down, Larry Run did. Did it work? No. Then what? He told me just to listen to the lady and do everything she said, and don't say anything, and that they'd let me live.

So what was the next step? I ran into my bathroom and I tried to overdose. On what? I had a bunch of psych medication that was prescribed to a roommate I had at the beginning of the last year. And a bottle of vodka. You were able to get all that down? I ran back into the bedroom, locked myself in there, and just swallowed as much as I could until I couldn't swallow anything anymore.

Did it make you real sick? Yeah. Where were the other ones at this time? One of them was banging on the door, trying to get me to come out. I opened the door back up and said, it's too late. And then what? They went into the room to see what I did and they found The open filled bottles on my dresser. And then what?

One of them seemed more upset that I tried to kill myself than he seemed upset. He didn't really do anything, they just watched me. Did you end up having to call an ambulance? No. So what happened? Everything started to look very distorted to

my vision. I started getting really lightheaded and tired. And then what happened? I passed out and woke up in my bed. About what time was this the next day with daylight coming out or what? It was about 9 p. m. the next night. Were they still there? Yeah. How much longer did y'all stay there? I left for my grandparents house the next day.

You left for your grandparents house? Yes. In Kansas? Yes. How did they let you leave? They went with me. They went with you? All three of them? And the extra girl? The older one? No. She was gone when I woke up. It was just Larry, Wren, and the other girl. Just Larry and the other girl? They went with you to your grandparents?

What was that drive like? Very quiet. Yeah. For some reason, Larry had it in his head that being out in the country would make them, I think, better. Make everything better. Yeah. Whenever you saw your grandparents, did they greet you with a smile and everything was normal? Or what was that like? Yeah. They didn't know anything was wrong.

Were you, you were not giving any signs to them where they would say, you know, ask you anything, everything okay? No. How long did you guys stay out in the country with your grandparents? Just one night. And then where? I ended up going back up to Kansas City. Did you go to that same house? Yeah. When you walked into that house, what did it feel like?

It felt haunted. In the hours after the crime, as the feverish cleanup ensued, Taylor's panic grew. She had been traumatized by the shock of the unexpected violence, and she was still terrified of her own life. In a frantic suicide attempt, she locked herself in her bedroom and swallowed handfuls of psych pills.

Luckily, the pills did little more than knock her out, but that gave her co defendants more reason to keep a watchful eye on her. Larry and Gabriela even accompanied her on a bizarre trip outside of Kansas City to visit her grandparents. Haunted is the word Taylor used to describe the house she returned to.

After the crime, this was no longer a place she could call home. Its rooms were unsettling, tarnished by a lingering sense of the horror. As the next few days passed, Taylor would have to live with the guilt of Michael's killing that occupied the space. By this point, the authorities were already investigating Michael's violent death.

Early on April 5th, police had responded to reports of a car that was on fire and wrecked outside an abandoned house on Park Avenue. A plate check indicated that the car belonged to Michael Lucky's mother. Not long after this discovery, Michael Luckey's body was found, stabbed, and bloody, dumped elsewhere in the city.

It didn't take long for the police to trace Michael's credit card history and via surveillance camera footage, they identified three unknown people using Michael's credit card, clear suspects in the homicide. News reports at the time, like this one from KSHB, appealed to the public for any more information about what had happened to Michael.

The city family seeking answers and justice. Police found Michael Lucky's body near Swope Park last week. His death now being investigated as a homicide. 41 Action News reporter Tom Dempsey talked to the family about who could have done this. Tom. Investigators say they found the body of 29 year old Michael Lucky in this area just off Blue River Road.

You can still see some police tape here in the area. This evening, his family continues to ask many questions, hoping a suspect or suspects can be found. All we know is that he was coming up to meet someone. When 29 year old Michael Lucky disappeared last week, his family obviously became worried. When I called his dad at work and found out that he didn't show up for work and he hadn't called in, it was like, no, he hasn't missed a day of work in his life.

His mother Janelle anxiously waited for details when a strange update came from police. I got a call from the Sheriff's Department saying that they found my car. And it was on fire. Janelle says police found the car Lucky borrowed for the night destroyed. And in an area two miles away, another discovery, the body of the father of two young boys.

Now police investigate his death as a homicide. Makes me mad that whoever did this. Took his memories and took his dreams and took his goals. Family described Lucky as a hard working car enthusiast who stayed away from drinking and drugs. With his death possibly occurring the same night Lucky told family of a meeting he was heading to, they wonder who could do such a horrible crime.

I have never even heard him raise his voice. Never. Yeah, didn't like to fight. You don't like to argue with many questions continuing to be asked by the family. Above all else, they hope whoever knows what happened to Michael Lucky gets found. He had two boys that will grow up not knowing what happened to their father.

Now, police did not return a call or email from 41 Action News. The funeral for Michael Lucky is this Saturday, and the family says they may hire a private investigator for this case. In KCMO, I'm Tom Dempsey 41 Action News. How long before the police contacted you? 20 days. And what was those 20 days like?

I was always looking over my shoulder. Did you, did you spend any of it with the co-defendants? No. They finally broke away from you and trusted you. Yeah. Did you ever think about just going to the police? I did, but I thought it was too late. Did you ever tell anybody, any close friends or family? I told one person.

Yeah. What did they tell you to do? They thought I was joking. Really? Was this a friend or family member? A friend. They, the entire time, they never believed you until you got charged? Interesting. So, I guess on day 20, what happened? They come bust down your door? No, they caught me driving. They had set up a roadblock.

Whenever you saw that roadblock, did you think it was for you? No. Whenever you did hit that roadblock, did they pretty much rip you out of the car really quickly and cuff you? No. How did that work? They had a car pull me over basically. Okay. As if I was just getting a ticket. Right. And whenever I grabbed my ID and my insurance and everything.

I rolled down the window to give it to them, and that's when I noticed there was like seven other cars pulling up. Yeah. And then did you think that was it? Yeah. Did you start crying? I was in shock. I was numb. I didn't Yeah, whenever they took you out of the car and cuffed you, did they say what they were arresting you for?

No. They just said they wanted to talk to you or they said, what did they say? They had me open my car door from the outside, step out, walk backwards with my hands behind my head. Okay. Get on my knees and lay down on my face. Is that pretty scary for a 20 year old girl? Terrifying. I bet. Did you feel like your life was pretty much over right there?

I did. What was the next step? They put you in an interrogation room? Yeah. Were they your friend? Were they mean to you? What did they do? They told me they had already caught the other three people. Well, other They told me they caught Larry Renn. Larry Renn. Minor and that they, those two had already told them everything.

Yeah. Did you tell 'em everything like you just told me? Yeah. The first time, yeah. Did it feel good to be able to finally tell somebody I broke down crying? It felt like a relief. Ultimately, it was 16-year-old Gabriela who chose to turn herself in to the police. Brought in by her mother, Gabriela told the full story to the police, who promptly arrested Larry, Micah, and Taylor for their respective roles in the crime.

And though the arrest itself was a terrifying experience for Taylor, she describes it as a quote unquote relief to open up to the police. A weight lifted off her shoulders as she shared the events as she witnessed and unburdened her own guilt. Aside from Gabriela, who was a minor at the time, all three co defendants elected to take a plea deal and all faced the same four charges.

First degree murder, robbery, tampering with evidence, and armed criminal action. In just 20 days, Taylor's life had changed significantly. A 20 year old woman, just starting out in her life, had found herself swept up in a horrific crime. Taylor isn't a killer, but an unwilling participant and witness in the cover up of a murder.

Although opportunities to come clean presented themselves after the crime, Taylor failed to turn in The police and assist the course of justice. Like many in jail today, Taylor's story is complex. She is both a victim who was coerced by the wrong crowd, and she is partly responsible for failing to take decisive action.

As my conversation with Taylor came to an end, I wanted to hear her thoughts on her sentence. In light of her actions, does she find her criminal sentence appropriate? And as a young woman from a small town, how does she cope with life in prison? How big of a change is that being a, you know, a young free woman with, you know, relatively no troubles in your past to.

Being put in a jail and then prison, what's that experience like? It was really scary and I just didn't really know what to do. How do you get along in prison? I just take it day by day. I stay to myself. Did the victims come to your trial and all that stuff? Or the victim's family? They did, yeah. So the victim's family was there, what was that like?

I feel horrible. Did they say anything or look at you or have they written any letters to you? They threatened my family. Threatened your family. Was the victim from Kansas as well? Yeah. Have you ever gotten any hate mail from them? No. What do you think you deserve for your role in what happened? What do you think is fair?

I honestly don't know. Do you feel like you're guilty of anything or do you feel like you should be out? I feel like I cost a man his life because I didn't call the cops. What was your sentence? You took a plea deal, didn't you? I took plea deal for 14 years at 85%. 14 years is, it's really not that bad for being involved in someone, you know, a murder like that, especially as gruesome as it was.

Do you think that's fair? Yeah. Did you have to return state's evidence? I never had to. Testify or anything, we all ended up taking plea bills. Oh, the other ones took pleas too? Yeah. And the 16 year old prostitute is out, or, that's so young that I'm just blown away by that. When did you go to the parole board?

I don't go to the parole board until 27. 2027? Yep. Do you think the victim's family is going to be there? I do. Are you prepared for that? No. What do you think you're going to do when you get out? I don't know. Well, Taylor, it's been an interesting, uh, conversation with you, like, you know, I think out of all this, I'm just blown away that the, the 16 year old was, you know, counting money as some guys just got stabbed, you know, just very callous.

Obviously you're not a killer, but. You know, crucial decisions were needed to be made. I guess, you know, it sounds like you understood that you didn't make those decisions. You know what I mean? Yeah. But what's done is done. I appreciate you opening up to me this evening and let me, you know, ask you questions.

I hope that you find peace and whatever you need to do to be your time. Well, I hope the best. Well, I'm glad I got to do it! Have you ever told anybody the complete story? Just the officers? Tell me if it's true or not. I've been told that it's kind of therapeutic for someone to be able to tell their story.

Does it feel good to be able to open up and just say everything? See It's kind of like a relief. Yeah. I've been told that people want to kind of be asked questions and kind of, it's kind of a relief to be able to say what happened, even if it's bad. But well, Kayla, again, I appreciate you opening up to me.

Um, I'll talk to you some other time. If you ever need something, give me a call. Okay. Okay. All right. Have a good evening. You too. All right. Bye bye. Bye bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer. The murders that you think he may be responsible of, you would be the victim's family? That would be her granddaughter. He said, when the clock strikes midnight, if you're not down the stairs, I'm going to shoot you. I mean, he murdered two kids six months later.

What would the likelihood be of somebody else coming into my grandmother's farmhouse and shooting her with his gun? There's no way that he thinks that he's going to be saved or whatever, if he can't come clean on everything. And that's where I'm going to try to angle it. I think it's time that you tell us what happened.

I think you killed this person. And I always said, yes, it's possible. I don't see how I could fire a rifle three times Not had gun powder residue on my person. That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank Taylor for sharing her story with us today. Her ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special.

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Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.