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

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.

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.

“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 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.

“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.”

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

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. 

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.

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. 

“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 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.

BTK KILLER DENNIS RADER THINKS OF HIMSELF AS ‘MONSTER’ AND ‘A GOOD PERSON WHO DID SOME BAD THINGS’: DOC

“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.