Chilling crime scene photos revealed the alleged cocaine-laced drink former college football star Blaise Taylor is accused of using to fatally poison his girlfriend and their unborn baby.
The carousel of eerie images, shown to a jury Thursday during Taylor’s double-murder trial, captured the inside of Jade Benning’s Nashville, Tennessee, apartment – where the ex-Arkansas State player allegedly served her the deadly concoction on Feb. 25, 2023.
A crime scene investigator recalled discovering remnants of the drink while authorities searched the apartment on Feb. 27, 2023 – the same day Benning’s unborn daughter died at a local hospital.
Benning died days later on March 6, which would have been her 25th birthday.
“The items of interest that had been identified to me by the homicide unit were the two bottles – the Minute Maid and the V8 Splash bottle there in the middle,” the investigator told the court while pointing to a photo of the home’s kitchen island.
The image showed a nearly empty bottle of bright-red V8 Splash and a half-full container of pink lemonade sitting on the counter alongside two water glasses – one of which was completely empty, while the other was roughly a quarter-full of clear liquid.
Cops only took those four items into evidence during their search, the investigator said.
Other heart-wrenching crime scene snaps captured Benning’s pregnancy pillows strewn across the living room floor, her smiley-face-clad slippers tucked partially under a bed and a slew of new baby items awaiting the arrival of the couple’s daughter, who was reportedly going to be named Ivy.
Boxes of Pampers diapers, infant formula and an automatic baby bouncer packed one of the home’s walk-in closets, and cops also discovered infant clothes and other pregnancy-related items while at the home, the investigator told jurors.
More photos from inside the kitchen appear to show noodles packed in a to-go container and baked chocolate chip cookies sitting on a pan on top of the stove – remnants of Benning’s supposed last meal.
The 30-year-old Taylor, who prosecutors say killed Benning because he didn’t want the baby, called 911 as his girlfriend lost consciousness at the apartment at around 9:38 p.m., according to dispatch audio played for the jury Wednesday.
“I don’t know, I think she is having an allergic reaction. We were eating, cooking and hanging, and then she said she wasn’t feeling good,” an audibly breathless Taylor could be heard saying in the call.
“Everything was fine and then. … I don’t know what’s happening,” he continued, while the 911 operator repeatedly asked him for the apartment building address and what Benning was allergic to.
“I don’t think she’s allergic to anything – I don’t know,” he replied, according to the recording.
EMTs reportedly found an unresponsive Benning face down in her bed when they arrived about 20 minutes later.
Shortly before losing consciousness, Benning accused Taylor, then 27, of spiking her drink during a call made to her best friend, according to the friend and Nashville Assistant District Attorney Jan Norman.
“‘What did you put in my drink?’” Norman said in court Wednesday, recounting Benning’s alleged last words.
“I knew my drink tasted funny. You did this because you didn’t want the baby.’”
Taylor’s defense team has painted him as an excited father-to-be and claimed that Benning abused drugs and alcohol.
“There was only one person that night that called 911 … and that was Blaise,” attorney Letitia Quinones-Hollins told jurors.
The former Tennessee Titans scout – who has been required to wear a GPS monitor since posting the $2.5 million bond set by a judge in April 2024 – faces life in prison without parole if he’s convicted on the top murder charges.
He has pleaded not guilty.
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