By Larry Altman Staff Writer
Posted: 11/08/2011 06:27:24 PM PST
Updated: 11/09/2011 06:34:01 AM PST
The pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy was shot to death in an ambush in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue. (Google Map)
Related
Nov 9:
Juarez takes Hawthorne mayoral race; Michelin, Valentine win council seats
Nov 2:
Still no ID on man killed by hit-run driver in Hawthorne last month
Oct 31:
Former Hawthorne councilwoman Ginny Lambert dies at 79
Oct 28:
Wanted ex-con arrested after 100 mph chase through South Bay
Oct 27:
Hawthorne chief offers thanks for help
Oct 25:
Police probe double Hawthorne shooting
Supervisors delay vote on Del Aire development on Wild Goose site
| POLICE NEWS | BLOG: SOUTH BAY CRIME, COURT NEWS | FACEBOOK
A Long Beach man has been charged with the execution-style killing of his pregnant girlfriend in Hawthorne more than 10 years ago, reportedly to get rid of his financial obligation for the child.
Derek Paul Smyer, 31, allegedly solicited Skyler Jefferson Moore, 30, to kill his girlfriend, Crystal Dejuanna Taylor on Sept. 25, 2001, a complaint filed at the Airport Courthouse alleges.
Sheriff's homicide detectives arrested Smyer on Thursday. Moore is in prison, already serving the rest of his life sentence for a gang-related murder in Carson less than two months before Taylor was killed.
Taylor, the pregnant mother of a 10-year-old boy, was shot to death in an ambush at 7:30 a.m. in the parking area of an apartment building in the 12700 block of Kornblum Avenue, deputies said at the time.
Detectives released little information about the crime when it happened, but recently developed information that resulted in charges filed Oct. 26.
"During the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Derek Smyer, 31, Taylor's boyfriend and father of her unborn child, was involved in the murders," the Sheriff's
Advertisement
Department said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint, Smyer allegedly solicited Moore to shoot Taylor. The charges allege Moore laid in wait for Taylor and shot her with a .38-caliber revolver.
The crime occurred on Moore's 20th birthday.
The complaint says Taylor had named her unborn son Jeremiah Johnson Taylor. She was five months pregnant, detectives said.
"The burden of the child was possibly the reason," sheriff's Lt. Wes Sutton said.
Prosecutors filed charges against both men that could possibly result in the death penalty.
Smyer is charged with murder, murder of a human fetus, conspiracy to commit a crime and solicitation of murder. The charges carry an allegation that the slayings were committed for financial gain, which was the baby.
Investigators believe there could be more victims of Smyer because he has a "history of manipulating and victimizing women."
Moore is charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit a crime.
A Compton jury convicted Moore in 2003 of the Aug. 4, 2001, gang-related slaying of 23-year-old Joseph Hernandez in Carson's Victoria Park, court records show.
Moore, a Victoria Park Crips gang member, argued with Hernandez, a Victoria Park Locos gang member, and shot him six times from 2 1/2 feet away, an appellate court ruling said.
Jurors, who heard a recording of Moore admitting to killing Hernandez during police questioning some time later, convicted him of first-degree murder with the allegation that the murder was committed for the benefit of the gang. Moore was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 25 years to life for using a gun.
According to the state appellate court record, Moore denied killing a woman in another homicide case under investigation by other detectives. It was unclear if the woman was Taylor.
The court upheld Moore's conviction.
Smyer is set to appear in court for arraignment Nov. 18 at the Airport Courthouse. He is being held in county jail without bail.
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
Follow Larry Altman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/larryaltman
No comments:
Post a Comment