By  Seamus McGraw

August 3, 2006

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MATHEWS, Va. (Crime Library) — The autopsy report on Taylor Behl, the Virginia Commonwealth University freshman found dead last year, her decomposed body dumped in a ravine on a farm in rural Mathews County, could prove to be a challenge to both prosecutors and the defense when Ben Fawley, her accused killer, goes on trial for first-degree murder later this month.

Taylor Behl

More than nine months after the 17-year-old co-ed's remains were found, the state medical examiner last week released the findings of its autopsy, and in what could be a challenge for the defense, the report concludes that the young woman was the victim of "homicidal violence," according to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The medical examiner's report also confirms earlier published reports that along with the body, investigators recovered duct tape and plastic material, which the medical examiner concluded might have been used in an attempt to conceal the body.

Ben Fawley

But the report also poses critical challenges to the prosecutors hoping to convict Fawley, a 39-year-old amateur photographer and accused child pornographer, of first-degree murder. Most challenging to the prosecutors is the fact that the medical examiner has been unable to determine precisely how Behl died. "Due to the condition of the remains, the cause of death cannot be determined," the newspaper quoted the state's pathologist as writing. According to the newspaper, the medical examiner was unable to find signs of traumatic injury to the remains — which had largely been reduced to bones by the time Behl's body was found — nor have they been able to find proof that she was strangled.

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