Brittanee M. Drexel Timothy Da'Shaun Taylor
https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2018/03/16/brittanee-drexel-disappearance-carolina-polygraph-fbi-alligator-pit-timothy-dashaun-taylor/431241002/
Federal prosecutors continue to think that a South Carolina man convicted of a robbery has information about the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, who went missing in 2009 while in South Carolina.
Timothy Da'shaun Taylor, who is awaiting sentencing for the robbery, has failed a polygraph in which he claimed to have never seen the Chili teen who went missing in April 2009.
"We believe Mr. Taylor has information that he could tell us and I have no opinions as to guilt, innocence, or participation (in the disappearance)," Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday Jr. said in a telephone interview from his South Carolina office Friday. "We just think he knows something and we're just drawing the line there."
Taylor last year failed a polygraph when asked questions about Drexel. WHEC-TV (Channel 10) first reported the failed polygraph last year, and court papers filed this week in federal court provide new insights and more specifics about the lie detector test.
Taylor grew upset and ended the examination when told the polygraph showed he was deceptive on questions about Drexel's disappearance, court records show.
Taylor and his attorney, Mark Peper, have consistently maintained that Taylor never saw Drexel and can't help in the investigation. Another South Carolina man who was awaiting sentencing for manslaughter, linked Taylor to the disappearance.
Taylor agreed to the polygraph "to help the federal government finally understand that Taylor was not involved in the Drexel case," Peper wrote in court papers.
Drexel was 17 when she traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in April 2009 without her parents' consent. She went missing then; the
FBI said last year that it suspects she was murdered.
No one has been charged with any crimes connected to her disappearance. The allegations of Taylor's connection to the disappearance arose in a completely separate criminal case.
Taylor was the getaway driver in a 2011 robbery, and he pleaded guilty to the crime in state court. Last year, federal prosecutors also decided to charge Taylor in federal court for the crime — an unusual decision but one authorities acknowledged was partly motivated by a belief that Taylor had information on Drexel's disappearance.
That belief originated with another jailed prisoner, Taquan Brown, who claimed Drexel was abducted and he saw her in a drug "stash house" in the area of McClellanville, South Carolina. He claimed he saw Taylor "sexually abusing" the teen.
He claimed Drexel was later pistol-whipped. Then, Brown told investigators, he heard shots — he assumed Drexel was fatally shot — and Drexel's body was wrapped up and dumped in an alligator-filled pit.
The FBI and South Carolina police have followed these leads and reported no new information supporting them. Taylor has maintained that Brown concocted the story. In court filings, Peper says that Brown's story is a lie and that two others he also connected to the disappearance were actually in prison when Drexel disappeared.
Court records show that Taylor was questioned by an FBI polygrapher last year. He was asked two questions: "Do you know for sure who was involved in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel?" and "Did you ever see Brittanee Drexel in person?"
Taylor answered "no" to both questions. After being told the polygraph showed him as being deceptive, he denied that he was withholding information and, angry, ended the interview, records show.
Court records show that at a separate defense-initiated polygraph interview Taylor was asked if he’d met Drexel, or ever been in her presence. He answered “no” to those questions and the polygrapher determined that the examination was “inconclusive.”
Holliday said Taylor's plea agreement provided two scenarios: If he passed the FBI-administered polygraph his sentence would be between zero and 10 years and, if he failed, the sentence would be between 10 and 20 years.
Federal prosecutors also permitted Taylor to provide anyone else who had information about the disappearance. That information also could be used to reduce his sentence, Holliday said.
Peper, Taylor's attorney, said in an email that Brown had a reason for creating a false story, since he was about to be sentenced to 25 years for manslaughter and may have been looking for a break.
Taylor's sentencing date has yet to be sent. Peper said he expects it in April.
GCRAIG@Gannett.com
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QUESTIONS ASKED BY FBI ..
Initially, according to the court documents, Taylor confirmed that he never saw Drexel in person and only saw pictures of her in the news media.
He did tell the FBI he overheard an argument between two people concerning a time when one of those people was accused of having Drexel’s cell phone. He told the FBI, according to court documents, that he thought the argument was suspicious.
During the polygraph test, Taylor was asked questions including, “Do you know for sure who was involved in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel?” and “Did you ever see Brittanee Drexel in person?”
Court documents show that Taylor answered “no” to both questions, but the FBI agent told him he was being “deceptive.”
The polygraph test results show “deception indicated” when asked about Drexel’s case, according to the lawsuit.
The documents state that Taylor was given the opportunity to meet with his lawyer, and the lawyer agreed that he failed the test, but allowed the FBI agent to continue.
At that time, according to the documents, Taylor became belligerent, which ended the discussion.
( IMAGINE - DA'SHAUN SHOWING HIS ASS
AFTER HE GOT CAUGHT LYING. HARD TO
BELIEVE A THUG GETTING MAD .. )
