Convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo told Tucson detectives that he and John Allen Muhammad targeted a Tucson man for death, stalking him for days and even talking to him at a supermarket before shooting him.
He also said Muhammad received $25,000 for killing Jerry R. Taylor, according to confession transcripts released Friday by the Tucson Police Department.
But police could produce no evidence to back up Malvo's claim that it was a hired killing, said Rick Unklesbay, chief trial counsel for the Pima County Attorney's Office.
"That was one of the issues where I had problems with Malvo's credibility — that some of his statements didn't stand up to the evidence," he said.
Malvo, 22, received immunity from prosecution in exchange for his confession in the Taylor case. He told Tucson police on Oct. 26 that under Muhammad's supervision he shot and killed Taylor, 60, at a Southeast Side golf course on March 19, 2002.
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The Pima County Attorney's Office decided not to prosecute Muhammad, who already faces a death sentence in connection with other sniper slayings, partly because of discrepancies in Malvo's confession.
"He's embellishing it to the point that we'd never be able to use his statements in court against another person," Unklesbay said.
Even so, Unklesbay said he has no doubt that Malvo, 22, committed the murder.
Investigators know Malvo and Muhammad were in the Tucson area at the time of Taylor's murder, said Capt. Bill Richards, commander of the Tucson Police Department's crimes against persons division.
Many details in Malvo's confession, such as his description of the crime scene, the location of the victim and the position he was in when he pulled the trigger, match the evidence, Richards said.
Richards, who was at the confession, said it appeared that Malvo believed what he was telling investigators. Malvo was only 17 and under the influence of Muhammad, he said.
Muhammad might have told the teenager he'd been hired to kill Taylor to justify killing an innocent man, he said.
The Police Department did investigate Malvo's allegation, Richards said.
"We did some follow-up on those facts, but we could not corroborate any of those statements," Richards said.
Malvo told detectives that Muhammad had a picture of Taylor and that they also had Taylor's home address. But Unklesbay said the picture described by Malvo didn't exist, according to Taylor's family.
Taylor's daughter, Cheryll Witz, sent Malvo a letter last June asking for his confession, and at a press conference after Tucson detectives talked with Malvo, Witz said she was ready to forgive him for her father's murder.
In a telephone interview Friday, Witz said listening to a taped recording of Malvo's confession changed her mind.
He spoke in a monotone and showed no remorse, she said. As for Muhammad's having been hired to commit the murder, she couldn't imagine anyone wanting to hurt her father, she said.
"My dad was a wonderful man, always happy, always smiling," she said. "He was the best father you could ever ask for."
Still, Malvo's confession did bring a sense of closure for her and she has no doubts that Malvo was responsible, she said.
"I know he killed my father," she said.
Tucson detectives wanted to talk to Malvo since learning he had bragged to a prison guard about killing a senator on a golf course in Tucson, according to Star archives, though Taylor was not a senator.
In his confession, Malvo said he and Muhammad stalked Taylor for two or three days before the shooting.
After Malvo told detectives Muhammad had a picture of Taylor, they asked him where the picture came from. Malvo said he didn't know. According to the confession transcript, Muhammad said to Malvo, "It's on a need-to-know basis."
After an inaudible period, Malvo said, "I know what he tells me, and I don't ask him."
Malvo said that in the days before the shooting he would hide in the bushes and watch as Taylor practiced hitting golf balls at Fred Enke Golf Course.
The night before Taylor's murder, Malvo said, he dropped about 12 golf balls in a certain area to keep Taylor from noticing him.
Malvo had learned that Taylor would use a ball retriever in a certain area to gather the golf balls he used while practicing.
According to his confession, he shot Taylor, then dragged his body into the bushes surrounding the golf course.
Malvo faces life in prison for killing six people during a three-week shooting spree in the Washington D.C., area in 2002.
He pleaded guilty and testified against Muhammad, which resulted in Muhammad's being convicted for those six murders.
Both men were convicted of two Virginia killings in 2003, and Muhammad was sentenced to death.
