Victim's Mother Says She Wants Fawley to "Feel...the Horror He Put Taylor Through."    Jan. 12, 2006

By  Seamus McGraw

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(Crime Library) 

MATHEWS COUNTY, Va. More than three months after the decomposing body of college co-ed Taylor Behl was found on a farm in rural eastern Virginia, the bipolar photographer and former lover who has allegedly admitted a role in her death may soon face murder charges.

A Mathews County grand jury is expected to convene Tuesday to consider a possible first-degree murder charge against 38-year-old Ben Fawley. Fawley, who has been held without bail for months on unrelated child pornography charges, has told authorities that the 17-year-old freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University accidentally choked during a sexual encounter in her car.

Ben Fawley

But among those slated to testify during what is expected to be a brief presentation by the Mathews County commonwealth attorney is Behl's mother, Janet Pelasara, who insists that Fawley intentionally killed her daughter after she ended their relationship.

Although a gag order has been in place for months in the case, barring prosecutors and defense attorneys from discussing it, sources familiar with the probe say it is likely that the state will seek first-degree murder charges against Fawley. But the case is expected to be complicated. If authorities have been able to determine a cause of death after examining the slain woman's skeletal remains, they have kept it to themselves. But even if prosecutors cannot determine precisely how Behl died, it is still possible to build a first-degree murder case against Fawley, legal observers have said.

Janet Pelasara

It is doubtful, however, that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. Instead, if convicted, Fawley could face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

And in an interview Wednesday with Crime Library, Pelasara said that would be just fine with her.  "I'm hoping that they go for first-degree murder," Pelasara said, adding, "I can tell you that I do not want the death penalty for him because I think that an injection is too good for him...it's too quick and not enough pain involved. I am hoping that he is convicted, sent to a state penitentiary and...I hope he is loved to death. Literally.

"I might be the meanest person in the world to say that," Pelasara said, "but I hope he feels fear and the...humiliation...the horror that he put Taylor through."

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