It's really scary. I don't know if I'm supposed to be back here.
I'm in Madison County, Arkansas, known locally by its nickname Booger County. When I was working on another case down here a while back, the Billie Jean Phillips murder, I asked a lot of people where this nickname came from, by the way, and heard a bunch of different explanations. Madison County, like a lot of the Ozarks, was very sparsely populated and had very few highways running through it
until the nineteen sixties. The original road, which was then called Highway four twelve to Kingston, was dirt until nineteen sixty one. My dad and some other people told me that people from Madison County were referred to as boogers because they were tough, like a crusty booger on the inside of your nose. Other people think it's because of the expression it was a booger to get around there or to live there, meaning that it was tough to navigate.
There are also some rumors the nickname has something to do with ghosts or spirits or an old moonshiner. The point is that everyone seems to know about the nickname, but no one really knows how it got started. It's just something that has always been that way, and they think it will always be that way in Madison County, which is the same thing a lot of people say about local law enforcement and about what they see is the relationship between people who have power and people who don't.
The Madison County Sheriff's office got a nine to one one call in the early morning hours of August fifth, twenty twenty four. The caller heard sounds she believed that they were coming from a woman who was being raped or tortured, but the police never came. Then a few weeks later, around September fifth, people were expressing concern about Taylor Barksdale, a thirty year old woman who had been
living in Huntsville and who had gone missing. When police finally went into the area of the nine to one one call to investigate, more than a month after the nine to one one call was made, on September ninth, they went out to a residence in Kingston. They found Taylor's remains. Side note, I've also been told that the rumor about Taylor's remains being found in a hay bale or not true. But I have another source who says they were present on the day the remains were found
and they said that it is true. The Madison County Sheriff's office is not saying one way or another, and I don't want to fuel rumors, so I should make clear. We don't know for sure whether Taylor's remains were found in Heybale's, but either way, we do know that her
remains were found on a property in Kingston. Taylor was a mother of two young children, someone who was loved by her friends and family, and someone who was vulnerable, someone who died screaming in a dark field, desperately waiting for help that never came.
I'm Catherine Townsend.
Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there is no such thing as a small town where murder never happened. I've received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families.
And their communities.
If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five. Or you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen Gonpod. This is Helen Gone Murder Line. I talked to Taylor's aunt in the last episode. Now that I'm in Madison County, I make a plan with her and Taylor's uncle to
meet up with them. My source, Jay Brown, and I meet beforehand, then we head to a local gas station to meet with them. Our plan is to go out and to get near the area where the caller heard the screams and to try to piece together what was going on with Taylor between July twentieth, when she was apparently reported missing by someone, and August fifth, the night she was heard screaming when we believe she was killed. Taylor's aunt tells us about her frustrations with the Madison
County Sheriff's office. Since Taylor's remains were found, a lot of people have been expressing their frustrations with the Sheriff's office and what they believe is a lack of information on social media pages chatting about Madison County. Taylor's aunt brings up the fact that in Facebook posts, the sheriff mentions he doesn't have enough officers and says that the county needs a new jail. And while this might be true, many people feel that this is a deflection from the
real issue. A woman was in distress, a deputy failed to respond to her and later lied about it, and yet this deputy was allowed to resign. She's asking, quite rightly, in my opinion, what does any of this have to do with a new jail. She says that even though she understands the sheriff wants a new jail, better facilities, and more manpower, she believes that his response to Taylor's family was unacceptable. She said that her husband is even offered to become a reserve deputy.
And donate one night a week. And we told him that you can be a reserve. Yeah, my dad did. I told me.
I said, he's offered to be a reserve. Yeah, and that would be an I'm not bragging. We're not reaching any means, but I would be willing to let him miss the day of our pay and that's big money to go reserve that night and stay up all night to reserve.
But he doesn't want it.
And we talk about our shared outrage that the deputy blake Castle admitted to Drew Scott, the officer on duty, that he did not respond to the nine to.
One one call.
He admitted that on August fifth, so Drew knew the next day that blake Castle had lied about taking that call. And even when Sheriff Ronnie Boyd did respond, which we'll go into in detail later in the episode, it seemed to me that a lot of the sheriff's response was focused on venting the frustrations that the police officers feel and not on what consequences, if any, this deputy was
going to face. It was just like, you know, how about the I mean, I don't know, from my perspective, it should have said something like, we're so sorry that we failed this victim, and you know, the deputy will be thinking about the for the rest of his life, the fact that he did not respond to that call and someone is dead as a result of his negligent, utter negligence.
I mean, instead of.
That, we can sare iff, why did he not follow up? Would Taylor still be dead or could have he gotten to her? She probably would have been. But if you would have gone on the fifth, if Drew Scott, who wrote the fifth it's it's on there. You signed it. You're just as guilty. Sorry, Why didn't you go check up on that nine one one call?
Yeah, he knew.
We did a foy A request and we got a statement back saying that blake Castle, the deputy who was the only one on duty in the early morning hours of August fifth when the nine to one one call came in, did not respond to the nine to one one call. Later that same day, when Drew Scott, the officer in charge, asked about it, blake Castle was given what they referred to in the statement as verbal counseling.
This means that the sheriff.
Presumably would have known about the deputy's failure to respond to the call on August fifth, and yet blake Castle was allowed to remain on duty until September eleventh, two days after Taylor's remains were found, he was allowed to resign. He wasn't fired. There was no mention of firing him or potential criminal charges. So what led Taylor to that field where she was on August fifth, alone at night, screaming with.
No one to help.
Taylor's aunt tells me that Taylor was one of five siblings, and that her mother passed away when Taylor was fifteen years old. Her father worked long hours to provide for the family. I've seen many posts talk about her kindness, how she was a great friend, and how much she
loved her children. At some point, Taylor became involved in drugs, and even though we have talked to people who say that she was focused on seeing her children and trying to find a job in the weeks before her death, she continued as so many people do, to struggle with addiction. Before the incident on August fifth, multiple sources say that Taylor was staying on and off with a man named Kenny. We talked to one of Kenny's neighbors, someone who lives
very close by. She said that Taylor and Kenny fought often and loudly. She said that she lived in a spot where she could hear everything coming from that residence. She heard them screaming at each other often. The neighbor also said that she would frequently see Taylor walking up and down the road.
She said she wanted.
To help Taylor, but she felt totally helpless to intervene because Taylor would refuse help. As someone who has had people close to me struggle with addiction. I totally relate to this, and judging from the calls and emails I've gotten a lot of our listeners do too. Then, sometime around July twentieth, twenty twenty four, Taylor and Kenny got into a big argument, one that apparently resulted in Taylor leaving the residence, either because Kenny kicked her out or
she left voluntarily. Again, we're not sure what happened here. That's part of what we're trying to figure out. We do know that apparently someone called nine to one one.
That's well, that's my question.
We seen, we saw, We have one calls where there was three. It was out there midnight nineteenth to the twentieth, and there was two. In the last one, there was a Taylor Borsdale name in the last call.
That on July twentieth.
Apparently one of Taylor's children was in this area, So Taylor may have been trying to see her child.
But that's really just a theory.
In reality, we don't know a lot about what she was doing during those days. Then, at some point, Taylor's clothing was found scattered in the Big Clifty area. That's about a forty five minute drive from Kingston, but we
don't know exactly when that happened either. The sheriff referred to the clothing on social media in one of the Madison County Sheriff's Offices press releases, we don't know why her clothes were scattered in that spot or exactly when it happened, but it was sometime on or around July twentieth. We also don't know how did she get from Big Clifty to Kingston, the area where she was seen by the nine one one caller. I talked to one of my sources, Jay Brown, about the fact that on July twentieth,
Taylor's picture was on a missing person's website. We're trying to figure out who put it there, since he worked in law enforcement. He explains the sequence of events.
So somebody, she's got a missing date of seven, twenty twenty four.
At some point a deputy had to tell a dispatcher to enter her into ACIC as a missing person.
Well, it seems kind of quincid. Old. There was a nine to one one call.
That a friend of Taylor's had gotten her from somewhere, and she went to this friend's house and slept.
For a long time, probably coming off of drugs. I don't. I mean, they know where I do.
But when she woke up after sleeping for a long time, she wanted to see her son. One of her sons lives on Kipper Street, Okay. So she called this dad and asked if she could come over, if she could bring Taylor over there, and he said yes, So Taylor went to his house. I don't know how long she did, how many days she stayed with him or what, but she stayed with him for a while, slipped up and came back high one time, and he kicked her out. You gotta go, So I believe that that is going
to be that timeframe that he kicked her out. But she still wanted to see her son. So she's on Cooper Street way around Okay.
Again, we aren't sure exactly what happened. We're not sure what the argument was about, but we do know that her drug use had Taylor in a dark place, which made her vulnerable. After the argument, Taylor was not seen by the neighbor at her ex boyfriend Kenny's residence again, and then somehow Taylor made her way from her ex boyfriend's house to the area where Taylor was hanging out in Kingston. Other than Kenny, Taylor was sometimes seen hanging
out with three mutual friends. They were three men and they knew Kenny and Taylor. We know these men's names. They're also posted on social media. But we're still talking to people and also trying to reach out to these mystery men to figure out exactly what happened and when they last saw Taylor. One of these men was staying in a camper near the nine one one callers property, the camper that, according to Taylor's aunt and uncle, was moved a few days after her body was found.
Said that her posessions auver belongings round in the field.
Then on September the six, someone let them get some information or gave them information that she was last seen in the Huntsville Kingston area.
Okay, Okay, so that's.
I guess when she's trying to make it click that.
The Kilston area that now I'm on home cancers.
Because he still didn't know her.
After calling nine one one and the lack of police response, the nine to one one caller went through social media pages to see if she could make a connection to figure out who Taylor was. She contacted Taylor's aunt to confirm her identity. The nine to one one caller blamed herself for not doing more, but Taylor's aunt told her it wasn't her fault, that it was the police's responsibility
to answer the call, not hers. After talking with Taylor's aunt and uncle, we head out to an area near where Taylor's body was found.
This is really scary.
I don't know if I'm.
Supposed to be back here.
We can't get all the way to the spot where Taylor's body was found, but we drive to an area nearby. It's very remote. We can see bales of hay everywhere. We can't figure out how Taylor's remains ended up out here. Thinking about the entire scenario is horrific. There are so many unanswered questions in this investigation. The county prosecutor, Matt Durrett told NWA online, quote, We're treating it as a homicide until it's determined it is or isn't. We're not
assuming anything end quote. Taylor's uncle talks about the lack of crime scene tape and this sounds weird, But honestly, I'm unsure about who has controlled the investigation because Sheriff Ronnie Boyd said in a press release that the Arkansas State Police were assisting with the case, but the Madison County Record called the ASP to confirm that, and the ASP apparently said they were not officially assisting. The sheriff later clarified that he had discussed the case with someone
in the ASP in a more unofficial manner. The release says something like the Arkansas State Police have been contacted to assist in the investigation, So the wording is a little ambiguous, but again, it seemed to Taylor's aunt and the rest of the family that law enforcement was not being forthcoming with them with information. Jay Brown talked about
what he had heard about irregularities and evidence collection. He claimed that sources told him the Sheriff's department collected evidence at the crime scene in a potato chip back.
That made me laugh. That actually made me laugh. Okay, here's the story behind that. There is a chat tooo too.
Okay, he owned property.
How about testing and see this human blood? I mean sorry, I mentioned the back of chips because I'm sorry.
I've done this job before and I have never in my life collected it.
Anyone who's ever watched law and order knows not to do that. You don't even have to be a cop. I mean, that's crazy.
I don't know if the chip bag rumor is true, but if it is, it would not totally shock me. In the Rebecca Gould case, the local police department had to go to Harp's grocery for evidence bags.
But in that case, the.
Izard County Sheriff's Department did the right thing in my opinion. They immediately realized that they needed help and they immediately turned the case over to the Arkansas State Police. And in this case, if the Madison County Sheriff's office is so understaffed and overwhelmed, I'm wondering why they don't just hand the whole case over to the Arkansas State Police.
Thank you for driving us around.
This is the kings to the squair and the camp is there if that's not yet, but it's right, gotcha.
So we can plan if you want to be in so you can see.
I'll give you an idea.
I look that I look on the maps the proximity between the nine WI one caller and this location.
I mean, what she was hearing was a viable call. Yeah, it was reasonable to call for help. Sure, they just chalked up to a bunch of junkies were not.
So said, there's a bunch of junkies were not even going out through the mission.
Oh no, But but this guy says, if it was people off their medicine and not in the.
Saw that, yeah, And he said we always something like what really like actually enraged me? Was and he said we always we try best to give help to people who actually want help.
Or it was something like.
That, And I was like, what you think someone getting murdered might want some help?
Because has said if he would have arrested her a long time ago and gotten her help, she could be clean, then go arrest him.
We are still reaching out to people. We are filling in the blanks of what was going on in Taylor's life. We have heard that during some of this time, the Taylor spent time in the library. Some people say she was applying for a job. Others say she would stop in to look for information or to use the Wi Fi. So, if anyone out there was in the library in the time period between mid July and August fifth, that critical
few weeks and saw Taylor Barksdale, please reach out. We've also been in touch with another person, someone who says that she has information about Taylor being at a residence on August fourth, right before Taylor disappeared, and this person claims that Taylor was there with one of the mutual friends, one of the men who Taylor had been hanging out
with recently. We need to find out if that's true, and if it is true whether Taylor and this guy left the residence for a few minutes and then came right back and basically stayed the night, which is one version that we've heard, or if as this woman apparently claims, the guy left with Taylor then did not come back until after daybreak, and when he came back, he returned alone.
While we're trying to figure out who these mystery men are, what their background is, and what Taylor's movements were on the night of August fifth, the Madison County Sheriff's Department posted a response on Facebook. Actually, I should say it was posted by Madison County Sheriff Ronnie Boyd on the Sheriff Ronnie Boyd page. It reads, in part quote, when I ran for sheriff, I knew that there were going to be a lot of challenges ahead of me if elected.
There have been a lot of issues from the past that still get brought up to this day. I knew that I would have some opposition or outright enemies from the outsid said, because I knew I wasn't the choice for some. But I hope that I've won some of those over by my actions of doing what's right and trying to improve the quality of law enforcement in our county.
I know that I've.
Also acquired some new enemies by not succumbing to requests of giving some people special consideration for running a foul of the law, and by actually holding people accountable some even in law enforcement. I have some very basic guidelines that I believe are easy to follow and hold my personnel to account.
Show up ready to.
Do your job, do your job to the best of your ability, do what's right, and treat all people with respect.
End quote.
He goes on to talk about the challenges of being understaffed. He says the police department would rather work shorthanded than to deal with those who aren't striving to meet his principles. He goes on to say, quote, I know the recent case of what happened to Taylor Barksdale has angered and dismayed a lot of people.
Many of those were already.
Looking for any reason to go after the sheriff's office or me personally. For those who are using this situation to further you're already existing personal agreements with a sheriff's office or me.
I find that despicable.
To say that the incident did not sit well with me either would be an understatement. My sympathies are with Taylor's family and friends. I wish that I could turn back time and create a different outcome, but I know I can't. To Taylor's family and friends, I want to say that I'm sorry our deputy on the morning of August fifth, twenty twenty four, failed Tailor and you, and could have potentially saved her life by just responding to the call. I have acknowledged his wrongdoing from the start
and not once tried to cover it up. I will not speak on the form of Deputy's behalf, but I know that the decision he made is something he will have to deal with for a long time, if not for the rest of his life.
End quote.
Then he goes on to say quote many of those who I see commenting negatively couldn't even pass the background check to become a law enforcement officer. They also don't have the physical ability, the mental tough nor the moral character, and are fueled by emotion, making them incapable of making reasoned decisions that are a necessity in law enforcement. Are we to count on you to protect and serve others in an improve capacity? What have you done to help others?
Like Taylor end quote. He talks about some of the good deeds the deputies have done, and I'm not denying there are some wonderful members of law enforcement out there and they are working hard to help people and make their communities better. I want to stress again this podcast is not anti law enforcement. I want to give the police officers who are out there doing the right thing their credit. I am sure that it is a hard job and that many of them are doing their best.
It goes on, but I'm going to stop there. In my opinion, this response is ridiculous. The deputy failed to respond to a nine to one one call someone died, and after that he lied about it. People are asking very legitimate questions. Why was he allowed to resign and not fired immediately? And why is he not facing any charges himself or disciplined in any way other than a
verbal counseling. The police are not the wronged party here, and if Sheriff Boyd is serious about cracking down on criminals, surely the same rules should apply to his own staff member, whose own deputy, who has broken the law. The wronged party in this is the woman who died and waited for help that never came. We're going to continue to ask those questions, and since the police are so understaffed, I'm going to put out here right now we are
trying to help them. I know that there are a lot of people out there who may be nervous about talking to law enforcement, So we're conducting interviews and we'll be turning everything helpful we find over to police. I'm trying to reach out to the woman who said she saw Taylor earlier on the night before the screams were heard. We're also going to fill in more of the gaps and try to figure out who Taylor was hanging out with and who could have wanted to hurt her and why.
Taylor's aunt said the failure of the deputy to respond to Taylor's screams is something she thinks about a lot.
Why did he not follow up? Would Taylor still be dead?
So once again I'm headed back into the woods.
Hot to see the woods. I always end up in the woods.
I hate him.
That is my fate.
I'm Catherine Townsend.
This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts and Miranda Hawkins. Special thanks to Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. Noah Kamer mixed and scored this episode. Our theme song is by Ben Solee, Executive producers of Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr, and Else Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad free by subscribing to the iHeart
True Crime Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. If you are interested in seeing documents and materials from the case, you can follow the show on Instagram at Helen Gonepod. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five