PARIS, Tenn. – Henry County sheriff’s deputies were already on the lookout for Edward Taylor when they believe he shot and killed an elderly Paris couple who were decorating their Christmas tree.
Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew told The Paris Post-Intelligencer that Taylor confessed to the slayings after his arrest. According the account he gave authorities of the Friday events, the 31-year-old knocked on Reba Stewart’s door about 7:30 a.m.
Taylor had been staying with Stewart’s neighbor for two or three weeks, and he asked her if she would take him to his broken-down car and help him jump-start the engine.
She agreed, but once they were in the car Taylor pulled a .22-caliber revolver on her, according to the account he gave police. Stewart drove into the parking lot of a grocery store, gave Taylor her money and her cigarettes and told him to get out.
She then called 911 to report the kidnapping.
As deputies searched the area, Taylor walked across the highway to the home of Guy Kenneth Walker, 80, and Barbara Jean Walker, 76.
When Kenneth Walker answered the door, Taylor pulled his revolver and demanded money, forcing his way inside, according to the account.
“For an unknown reason, the situation became violent and Taylor forced the Walkers into the bedroom where he fatally shot them both,” Belew said. “This is a couple that had celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They had begun to decorate their Christmas tree that morning. It’s just a senseless crime.”
Taylor fled in the couple’s pickup truck, and Belew and three deputies came upon the house shortly thereafter.
The back door was ajar and the couple was in the bedroom, dead from gunshot wounds.
Belew said Taylor had never met Stewart or the Walkers before Friday. He showed no signs of mental instability in Belew’s dealings with him, and authorities do not believe drugs or alcohol were a factor.
He was a convicted felon but had no history of violent crimes.
Lt. Damon Lowe said, “We’re not sure even after the interview why he did this. I’m not sure he knows why. If he wanted our attention he got it around the clock until we caught him.”
On Sunday, Taylor pulled over at a fireworks stand in Jasper and called 911 to turn himself in, saying he was wanted on burglary and forgery charges out of Cannon and Montgomery counties.
When police ran the tags on his truck, they learned it belonged to the Walkers. Taylor was taken to Henry County and charged with first-degree murder, especially aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft over $1,000.
He is being held at the Henry County jail on a $1 million bond. Taylor was arraigned Tuesday in Henry County General Sessions Court and a preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 6. A message left for his public defender was not immediately returned.
The Walkers’ children issued a statement Monday thanking their many well-wishers.
“For those people who were never blessed by knowing our parents personally, we want you to know that they were loved and respected by everyone they met,” it reads. … “Working a full-time job for fun, riding their Goldwing motorcycle all over the country, teaching Sunday school, raising a garden, daily workouts, volunteering to help disaster victims everywhere was routine for them, but we could go on and on.”