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Death of Virginia teen, whose remains were ID’d years after killer’s conviction, to be explored in doc

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Alexis Murphy’s household is decided to maintain the late teen’s story alive in hopes it should save a life.

The 17-year-old was final seen at a fuel station in Lovingston, Virginia, and reported lacking Aug. 3, 2013. Her automobile was discovered a number of days later in an Albemarle County parking zone.

The kidnapping is being explored on Oxygen’s “Remaining Moments,” a true-crime docu-series that dives deep right into a sufferer’s final interactions, which assist regulation enforcement construct an intensive timeline, resulting in justice. Produced by Dick Wolf, the “Legislation & Order” creator, the present options interviews with investigators, family members and others intently linked to the instances being profiled.

Murphy’s nice aunt, Trina Murphy, informed Fox Information Digital she was compelled to talk out and describe how the crime has impacted her residence and the way such a disappearance might happen anyplace.

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PLAYBOY BUNNY ADRIENNE POLLACK’S 1973 DEATH STILL RAISES QUESTIONS, SISTER SAYS: ‘IT NEVER MADE SENSE TO US’

“My niece was stunning and humble,” Trina mentioned. “She was bodily very stunning, however she didn’t know that. She was only a child who spoke to everyone. She had mates in each social group. She cherished her household, particularly her brothers. She cherished doing hair and make-up. She was simply your typical teenager.”

And like many teenagers, Murphy had an lively social media presence, particularly on Twitter.

“I believe lots of people confused her social media along with her actual life,” Trina defined. “She was very totally different in actual life. She was shy. She didn’t essentially wish to be the focal point. However each time she was in entrance of the digicam, her alter ego took over, so to talk. She was humorous and charismatic. She had a fantastic following. I believe folks had been drawn to her spirit.

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“And to be sincere, I used to be positive with it,” Trina added about Murphy’s social media accounts. “I believe it’s regular for youngsters now. I do know my niece and the way she was raised. In fact, we must be cautious with social media. We must be conscious of all of the interactions our youngsters have, whether or not on-line or in particular person. However at first, everybody thought this was attributable to somebody on social media. It turned out to be somebody proper in our yard.”

CHRIS WATTS’ NEIGHBOR RECALLS CHILLING ENCOUNTER WITH ‘FAMILY ANNIHILATOR’ IN DOC: ‘IT WAS REALLY ODD’

Alexis Murphy had an active social media presence.

Alexis Murphy had an lively social media presence.
(Oxygen)

Trina mentioned she final noticed her niece on a Saturday, a day earlier than the disappearance. They exchanged heartfelt needs at a cookout.

“I informed her I cherished her and I might see her later,” mentioned Trina.

It was the final time Trina noticed her niece alive. On Sunday, she obtained a telephone name from a cherished one who revealed the teenager hadn’t returned residence from a purchasing journey.

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“I used to be instantly involved as a result of it was simply so utterly out of character,” mentioned Trina. “We had iPhones, and it had an app that mentioned ‘Discover My’ to find a telephone. I typed in her quantity, and it gave us the coordinates to the place we started our search on the time. I didn’t know that it was inside a seven-mile radius of the place the telephone final pinged to a tower. The place we started our search, it was precisely seven miles from her abductor’s residence.”

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Murphy, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen at a gas station in Lovingston and reported missing Aug. 3, 2013.

Murphy, who was 17 on the time of her disappearance, was final seen at a fuel station in Lovingston and reported lacking Aug. 3, 2013.
(Oxygen)

“The primary regulation enforcement officer who confirmed up on the scene urged that possibly Alexis had run away,” she shared. “I instantly shut him down. My niece had no purpose to run away.”

Investigators questioned if Murphy’s disappearance might have been related to the “Route 29 Stalker.” In accordance with Virginia State Police, Alicia Showalter Reynolds was driving from Baltimore to Charlottesville, Virginia, in a Mercury Tracer. She was final seen alive March 2, 1996, driving on a rural stretch of Route 29 exterior Culpeper, Virginia, which is about 90 minutes southwest of Washington, D.C.

A witness noticed the 25-year-old’s automobile parked on the shoulder. A white man with mild brown hair who was between the ages of 35 and 45 had pulled up in a darkish pickup. Her physique was discovered two months later. After that, a number of ladies reported a person stopping them or trying to cease them on Route 29. Reynolds’ homicide stays unsolved. 

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Alexis Murphy as a baby.

Alexis Murphy as a child.
(Oxygen)

Different high-profiled instances linked to the freeway embody the 2009 homicide of Virginia Tech scholar Morgan Harrington. The 20-year-old was killed by Jesse Matthew, Jr. He additionally murdered UVA scholar Hannah Graham, 18, in 2014. Matthew pleaded responsible to each killings and was sentenced to 4 life jail phrases with out the opportunity of parole. 

STATION NIGHTCLUB FIRE: 19 YEARS LATER, JIMMY GAHAN’S FATHER RECALLS RHODE ISLAND TRAGEDY THAT KILLED 100

Others suspected {that a} stalker had adopted Murphy’s social media and finally confronted her in particular person.

“Every little thing needed to be thought-about,” mentioned Trina. “And we thought loads of issues. Was she concerned in intercourse trafficking? Did she have a stalker on-line? Was it anyone she went to highschool with? Is it anyone that we all know? A human being simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. You’re going to suppose loads of issues and seize no matter chance is out there.”

The Virginia State Police and FBI’s investigation resulted within the arrest of Randy Taylor, who was charged with Murphy’s abduction. Taylor was captured on surveillance video holding the door for Murphy at a fuel station. He was convicted of murdering her and sentenced to 2 life phrases after proof, together with Murphy’s DNA on a bloody shirt and a fingernail, was linked to him.

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Randy Allen Taylor

Randy Allen Taylor
(Nelson County)

Trina mentioned she “wasn’t involved” about the opportunity of Taylor strolling as a result of he was being tried for homicide with Murphy nonetheless lacking.

NETFLIX’S ‘BAD VEGAN’ NAME-DROPS ALEC BALDWIN: A LOOK AT HOW THE ACTOR IS TIED TO THE STREAMER’S CRIME DOC

“I had the utmost confidence in regulation enforcement,” she mentioned. “They investigated this case extensively. I used to be very assured that they’d achieve success.”

In February 2021, seven years after Murphy went lacking, the Nelson County Sheriff’s Workplace, the FBI’s Richmond Division and the Virginia State Police Bureau of Felony Investigation’s Appomattox Subject Workplace introduced that they had recovered Murphy’s physique. Her stays had been situated in December 2020 on personal property alongside Route 29, close to the place she had stopped for fuel.

“A mess of issues ran by means of my thoughts,” Trina mirrored on Taylor’s sentencing. “I used to be partly relieved. There was anger, after all. I used to be grateful he was lastly going to be taken off the streets. Now he wouldn’t inflict this identical ache on anybody else. However the grieving course of began when Alexis was discovered. 

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“We knew that it was doubtless she wasn’t alive, however we didn’t have that affirmation. And once we did lastly get it, it felt like we misplaced her over again. It’s been tough to revisit this previous trauma, every thing we’ve endured in these final seven years. We’re making an attempt to heal the easiest way we will. However the ache by no means goes away.”

The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office said on social media that the remains of Alexis Murphy were located in December 2021 on private property along U.S. 29 in Lovingston. 

The Nelson County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned on social media that the stays of Alexis Murphy had been situated in December 2021 on personal property alongside U.S. 29 in Lovingston. 
(Oxygen)

Trina hopes her niece’s story will encourage each younger folks and their mother and father to be conscious of their environment, regardless of the place they stay.

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“This actually can occur to anybody at any time,” she mentioned. “It doesn’t discriminate. My niece was kidnapped from a small rural city in Virginia in the course of the day with daylight nonetheless exterior. I hope younger folks and their mother and father watching will likely be extra cautious and extra conscious of their environment. Pay shut consideration to your youngsters. You may by no means be too cautious.”

The episode of “Remaining Moments” titled “Dying of an Influencer” airs Sunday, April third at 8:00 p.m. on Oxygen. The Related Press contributed to this report.

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Southeast

Shark bites teenager's leg in attack at North Carolina beach

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A teen is recovering from injuries to his right leg after a shark attack at a North Carolina beach on Sunday afternoon. 

North Topsail Beach Police Chief William Younginer told Fox News Digital that he raced to the scene in Onslow County, where 14-year-old Blayne Brown had been bitten.

“I ran up to an emergency on the beach. The [police] officers [also] ran out,” he said. “There was a 14-year-old male that had been bitten by a shark.”

The attack occurred around 12:30 p.m. at North Topsail Beach, near Beach Access No. 4 in Onslow County. 

HAWAII LIFEGUARD KILLED IN SHARK ATTACK AFTER SURFING: ‘A TRAGIC LOSS’

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“We heard a lot of commotion and everybody yelling, ‘Get out of the water! Shark, shark!” witness Chasity Keeter told WRAL-TV. “It was really scary.”

Brown was reportedly visiting from West Virginia. 

Topsail Island, N.C., where a teen was bitten by a shark over the weekend.  (Logan Cyrus / AFP via Getty Images)

“I was in the water, like screaming for help,” Brown told WWAY-TV3. “People just looked at me, and thought I was just screaming to be screaming. Like, I didn’t even know there was a shark that bit me. It just scared me so bad.”

The shark bit Brown twice, once on the leg and again on the ankle.

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Fortunately, two police officers and an EMS officer were already present on the scene from a previous unrelated distress call.

GIRL SURVIVES FLORIDA SHARK ATTACK AFTER VACATIONING DOCTOR SAW BLOOD IN WATER AND REACTED

“Bystanders had pulled him out, and they were wrapping a towel around him and stopping the bleeding, which is the right thing to do,” Younginer said. “That’s [exactly] what they should have done.” 

Tiger Shark, Bahamas

A tiger shark swims in the Atlantic Ocean. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Two officers applied a tourniquet to Brown, and he was transported to nearby Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, where he is recovering from his injuries.

Younginer shared that shark attacks are extremely rare in the area.

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“We have some people that step on a stingray, things like that, but we haven’t had [a shark attack],” he said. “I’ve been here since 2018. We haven’t had a shark bite.”

Younginer said Brown is expected to be released from the hospital soon.

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Florida's top prosecutor bets on deck of cards to solve state's coldest cases

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Florida’s top prosecutor hopes a few hot hands can solve some of the state’s coldest cases.

State Attorney General Ashley Moody said she plans to distribute 5,000 decks of cards inside jails and prisons featuring photos and information about unsolved crimes – including homicides and missing-persons cases.

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In a statement announcing the initiative, Moody said she hopes the cards will jog some old memories that could spur fresh leads.

“I have seen so many stalled investigations get new life after someone came forward with groundbreaking information. Sometimes that new information comes from criminals or co-conspirators who have a change of conscience, or maybe they are motivated by a reward,” Moody said. 

HOW A POKER GAME IN JAIL COULD SOLVE A MISSING-PERSON CASE IN OHIO

Florida officials solved Ingrid Lugo’s murder case after an inmate identified Bryan Curry, left, as her killer from a deck of cold case playing cards. (Manatee County Sheriff’s/Florida Attorney General’s Office/Florida)

Dormant cases, she added, aren’t always revitalized by high-tech forensics.

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“We are giving cold case cards to inmates, but we are not playing games. This low-tech approach to generating tips may prove to be an ace up the sleeve as we continue to bring finality to seemingly unbreakable cases,” she said.

The decks will be given to prisoners at 60 county jails and 145 facilities managed by the state Corrections Department.

Moody said her office will collaborate with the Florida Association of Crime Stoppers, Florida Sheriffs Association, the state’s Corrections Department and also Season of Justice, a nonprofit group dedicated to keeping cold cases warm.

Florida cited the success of the strategy in other states.

CRIMINAL PROFILING: THE TECHNIQUES USED BY POLICE TO CATCH DANGEROUS OFFENDERS

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Three playing cards with homicide victims and a missing person featured on them.

Florida officials are giving out playing cards to inmates featuring information on cold cases and missing-persons cases to help solve stalled investigations. (Florida Association of Crime Stoppers)

Connecticut investigators, officials said, solved 20 cold cases through the initiative. South Carolina dealt the cards and cracked eight stalled investigations.

Florida will offer $9,500 jackpots for tips that result in arrests, and informants can maintain their anonymity.

Moody noted that a prior version of the program launched in 2007 helped to solve a Florida murder.

Construction workers found Ingrid Lugo, 34, dead in a retention pond in Bradenton, about 45 miles south of Tampa, in 2004.

The case had gone cold when she was featured in a deck of playing cards distributed in 2007.

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An inmate who came across the six of spades alerted officials that he served time with a man named Bryan Curry and believed he was involved in the slaying.

FBI IDENTIFIES CONVICTED SERIAL RAPIST AS SUSPECT IN COLD CASE NATIONAL PARK DOUBLE MURDER

Joe Winkler holds up a pair of playing cards featuring homicide victims.

Joe Winkler, assistant secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, announces a new initiative to distribute playing cards featuring cold cases and missing-persons cases to inmates. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)

After Lugo called off their engagement, Curry strangled her to death. He was arrested and ultimately convicted of murder after a 2008 trial. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In another example of the program’s success, an arrest was made in the 2004 murder of retiree James Foote after an inmate saw a seven of clubs that summarized the killing. Foote had been found in a Fort Myers parking lot with a gunshot wound to his chest.

The Lake City prison inmate told authorities that Derrick Hamilton had boasted to others about the crime.

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He was arrested in 2007, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Law enforcement agencies in Polk County, Florida, were the first to distribute cold case playing cards to inmates in 2005, which led to the resolution of four unsolved crimes.

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deck of playing cards featuring homicide victims and missing persons.

These playing cards feature information on homicide victims and missing persons. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)

According to the nonprofit Project Cold Case, the rate at which homicides are being solved in the U.S. has declined by more than 20% over the past five decades.

More than 72% of homicides were solved in 1980 compared to just 51% in 2021. To address this, Moody announced in February a new state cold case investigations unit.

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“This effort aims to address some of Florida’s most haunting cold case homicides,” Moody said in a statement. “By spotlighting these cases within correctional and detention facilities, the collective hope is to generate leads that will aid in solving them, offering much-needed closure to the families and loved ones of the victims.”

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Biden debate prep focused on ways to 'trigger' Trump as former president relies on campaigning: reports

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The vastly different approaches taken by President Biden and former President Trump in prepping for Thursday’s presidential debate have continued to diverge, with the former hoping he can “trigger” the latter in the heat of the moment, and the latter relying heavily on his campaign experience, multiple reports show.

Biden has spent the last five days at Camp David in rural Maryland huddling with at least 16 current and former aides, according to The New York Times, while Trump, who spoke with Fox News over the weekend, has held “policy discussions” with allies to prep for what is expected to be an epic clash on the debate stage in CNN’s Atlanta studios.

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An old movie theater and airplane hangar have been outfitted as a mock debate stage, where Biden, despite having varying hours and a non-rigid schedule, is preparing to go on the offensive against Trump on issues like immigration and abortion, as well as push back on claims — appearing to be supported by various videos — that he is confused and frail,” The Times reported.

HOW TO WATCH THE CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SIMULCAST ON THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL

Former President Trump and President Joe Biden. (FOX News)

Biden’s mock debates have included his personal attorney, Bob Bauer, playing the role of Trump, the report said, while the team helping prepare him is being led by former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, and includes National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, current White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, White House counselor Steve Richetti, as well as campaign officials Anita Dunn, Mike Donilon, Ben LaBolt, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Cedric Richmond, Julie Chavez Rodriquez, Quentin Fulks, Michael Tyler and Rob Flaherty.

Former White House official Brian Deese is also expected to assist, according to the report.

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Three sources familiar with the debate prep told NBC News that Biden advisors are studying the former president’s recent comments to see what topics might get under his skin most — all an effort to throw off what appears to be a more disciplined Trump as of late.

INSIDERS REVEAL HOW BIDEN, TRUMP ARE PREPPING FOR THE 1ST 2024 PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Ron Klain

Ron Klain, the former White House chief of staff (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

One source told the outlet the goal is to get “rally Trump” to come out, with another specifically pointing to Biden possibly attacking the former president’s 2020 election loss and subsequent actions that led to the Jan. 6 protest as a way to anger him by making him feel he’s being called a “loser.”

Those sources told NBC they believe attacking Trump’s post-2020 election actions could help boost Biden with independent voters who might be turned off by continued claims he actually won the election.

One Biden campaign official told the outlet the president has to walk a “fine line” because they want him to be seen as the “adult in the room.” The official also said Biden didn’t need to “goad” Trump into anything because the two men’s contrasting visions for the country would be clear enough without that.

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FAITH VOTERS WILL ‘DECIDE THIS ELECTION,’ ACCORDING TO PROMINENT GOP MEMBERS

Donald Trump

Former President Trump walks on stage to deliver the keynote address at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton on June 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Trump hit the campaign trail for a rally at Temple University in Philadelphia and the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. Fox spoke with him during his Philadelphia stop, where he described the “best strategy” as being around people who scream questions at him.

Trump jokingly asked the crowd during his rally what his approach should be on the debate stage.

“How should I handle him? Should I be tough and nasty, and just say, ‘you’re the worst president in history.’ Or should I be nice and calm and let him speak?” he asked.

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Trump later told Fox he isn’t worried about Biden’s debate preparations and feels confident in his own ability.

“Well, I think if he prepares, he’ll be fine. Then he will forget it within about an hour after preparing. So, we’ll see what happens. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said.

The Fox News Channel will be airing the CNN Presidential Debate Simulcast at 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 27.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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