CLAYTON, Mo. — Jurors on Friday recommended the death penalty for a suburban St. Louis man convicted of murdering his girlfriend and her three children.
The jury decided on the penalty a day after convicting Leonard Taylor of murder and armed criminal action in the 2004 shooting deaths of Angela Rowe, 28, Alexis Conley, 10, AcQreya Conley, 6, and Tyrese Conley, 5.
"I believe there's closure for this part," Angela's sister, LaJuanda Rowe, said after hearing the verdict. "Complete closure will come when he is no longer alive."
Sentencing was set for April 17.
On Dec. 3, 2004, a police officer found the bodies of the four killed in Rowe's home in Jennings. Taylor, 43, was arrested days later in Madisonville, Ky.
Taylor's sister-in-law, Elizabeth Williams, testified that she drove Taylor to the airport on Nov. 26 to fly to her sister's home in Southern California. She said she saw Taylor throw a revolver into a sewer before he got into the car, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
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"Leonard Taylor has led a life of manipulation and deceit and violence and left a trail of victims in his wake," said assistant prosecutor J.B. Lasater.
Defense attorney Bevy Beimdiek unsuccessfully argued that Taylor left for California before the victims were killed, citing an open payroll stub and cable bill as evidence.
In the penalty phase, Rowe called her sister, who worked in housekeeping for an area hospital, "one of the nicest persons you'd ever want to meet."
Tyrone Conley, father to the two older children who said he also treated Tyrese as his son, described the children as bright and playful. Tyrese was a "fine little man." AcQreya was an intelligent and "happy little lady," and Alexis a "honey girl, just as sweet as can be," he said.
"I think about them every day," Conley said.
