Why Did Ashley McArthur Murder Her Friend?

Why Did Ashley McArthur Murder Her Friend?
  • Ashley McArthur is a former crime scene investigator and was convicted of the first-degree deliberate murder of Taylor Wright in 2019.
  • The charge carries a forced minimum sentence of life imprisonment, and the Florida First District Court of Appeal upheld the conviction and sentence.
  • Prosecutors claimed that the motive for the murder was financial, as Taylor was going through a divorce and had withdrawn $100,000 from a joint account between her and her then-husband.
  • McArthur has denied any involvement in Wright’s death.

Ashley MacArthur and Taylor were close friends, with Ashley working as a crime scene technician and Taylor being a private investigator and ex-cop. 

Tragically, Taylor, at the age of 33, was in the midst of a difficult divorce at the time of her death.

Taylor Wright, a 33-year-old private investigator from South Carolina, went missing on November 2nd after she was supposed to go to the bank. 

Investigators believe Taylor may have been kidnapped as you found her car at a gas station several miles away from her home. 

Just two days before she went missing, Taylor had lunch with a close friend who told investigators that he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary during their meeting. 

Though it’s still unknown what happened to Taylor, her family and friends are hoping for a positive outcome. Please get in touch with law enforcement if you have any information about Taylor’s whereabouts.

Get the details here about this incident;

Who is Ashley McArthur?

Who is Ashley McArthur

Ashley was great friends with the deceased and worked as a crime scene technician. Private investigator and ex-cop Taylor, age 33, was amidst a bitter divorce. 

From the account she and her ex-husband, Jeff Wright, had opened together, she withdrew a hundred grand. Then she entrusted McArthur with over $30,000 to protect on her behalf.

What happened to Taylor Wright?

Taylor Wright had just moved to Pensacola recently after getting a divorce from her husband, Jeff Wright. The two had been fighting over their son when she went missing. One day, Taylor was supposed to go to the bank, but she had yet to arrive. 

Jeff later found out that Taylor had planned on going on a normal trip to the bank and never showed up. The last person to see her was a close friend who testified that they had spoken just before Taylor disappeared. 

At the time of her disappearance, there were no signs of foul play, and no one has ever been able to find out what happened to Taylor Wright.

How is Ashly Mcarthur behaving with investigators?

An ex-crime-scene tech who murdered her buddy was ‘flirty and flirtatious’ with police when they questioned her about a missing lady.

Former police officer Taylor Wright, 33, was found shot in the back of his head, buried on the border of the property, and filled with concrete and potted soil on a farm in rural Florida.

The detectives were looking into several possible suspects, including Taylor’s ex-husband, from whom she had stolen $100,000; her new live-in lover, Casandra; and Taylor’s best friend, Ashley McArthur, who had last seen her alive.

Ashley, 41, was found guilty of murdering her friend Taylor at her parent’s property and given a life sentence two years after Taylor’s body was discovered. Ashley had stolen $34,000 from Taylor before killing her.

During the premiere episode of the new Crime+ Investigation series Murder Masterminds, we see prosecutor Bridgette Jenson describe how Ashley was “playful” when she lied to police about where her pals were.

Looking back to the initial interview, she came across as flirtatious and fun toward the police. Her demeanor had shifted by the second interview. She must have realized she was busted, right?

How everything happened in Ashley’s Word!

In her initial interview with the investigator, Ashley stated that she had picked up Wright early on the morning of September 8th, driven to many different sites, and ended the day at McArthur’s family property to ride horses.

After Wright left in an Uber to a bar, Ashley said they returned to her house.

I don’t feel Taylor’s been injured, I think Taylor is doing what Taylor does, but I don’t know, you know,” Ashley was overheard saying in the police interview.

She’s always given off an intimidating vibe. She always goes somewhere with a knife, gun, or lethal weapon. There’s no fooling her; she’s not a pushover.

Meanwhile, Ashley told the policeman, “Taylor asked me on time to have a threesome with her and some guy, and I was like, “No thank you.” when asked if Taylor had ever “come on to her.”

On the other hand, trial witnesses claimed Ashley boasted about her plans to kill Taylor to her friends and boyfriend.

Audrey Warne, an employee at a neighborhood pub and a purported friend of Ashley’s, said in court that Ashley had confided in her about her intention to snort cocaine at Taylor.

Audrey claimed, “She indicated she was going to put it [cocaine] in Taylor’s beer.” A quote: “She stated this world would be better if Taylor wasn’t here and she wasn’t a good person, said that she was too small to injure anybody so she’d just shoot them.”

Just before Taylor passed away, the private eye took $100,000 out of their joint bank account since Taylor and her husband were going through a divorce.

Taylor had no idea that her friend Ashley was having financial difficulties, so she gave her $32,000 to keep her safe.

Ashely used Taylor’s $32,000 to buy a boat for her lover, Brandon Beaty after she had an affair with him and spent a significant portion of her money on him.

On September 8th, 2017, Taylor and her girlfriend, Cassandra, arranged to meet so that Taylor could collect her money, and they texted back and forth until around 11:20 a.m.

Wright kept trying to reach her all day, but she would respond at 7:58 when she got a text from her phone saying she wanted some alone time to sort things out.

After obtaining McArthur’s financial records, phone records, and text message history, investigators discovered inconsistencies in her initial statement.

The duo arrived at the outlying Pensacola farm considerably later than Ashley had said, as evidenced by their mobile phones.

When questioned further about the error in her initial interview, she admitted that Taylor had wished to retrieve the lockbox holding the money she had given to her.

On August 16th, McArthur placed a cashier’s check in Wright’s name for $34,000 into his checking account, and by the following day, the money was gone, as evidenced by the bank records.

McArthur was found guilty of first-degree murder and given a life sentence.

Where is she now?

At long last, the suspect in Taylor’s murder, Ashley, was taken into custody by the police. A gunshot wound was discovered in Taylor’s skull, which led the authorities to conclude that she had been shot before she died. 

The court heard from many witnesses on both Ashley McArthur’s and the victim’s sides.

Zachary McArthur, Ashley McArthur’s husband, even testified on behalf of the prosecution in this case. At first, he claimed that he had no idea where Taylor was and had been looking everywhere. 

In addition, Ashley’s ex-boyfriend Brandon Beaty testified against her in court as part of the investigation into Ashley.

 The authorities have the bank check as proof, and Ashley has already put the money Taylor gave her into her account. In addition, on September 9th, 2017, Ashley purchased at a store of potting soil and concrete. 

It was caught on camera by the surveillance system. She went out and bought such items to bury Taylor’s body.

 After going through several trials, this murder investigation has reached its conclusion. Ashley was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the incident. 

She was already doing time in prison for committing some false work when she murdered Taylor. She must serve seven years in prison for crimes that are completely unrelated to one another.

Currently, Ashley may be found carrying out the remainder of her life sentence at the Lowell Correctional Institution. She is presently incarcerated in a facility for females in Ocala, Florida, located north of Orlando.