Utah State staffer Blaise Taylor has been arrested in Utah and charged with two counts of murder.
The former Arkansas State star is being accused in the poisoning death of Jade Benning, who died in Mach of last year. ESPN reported.
Benning, who died at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center on March 6, 2023, was allegedly poisoned in Feb., prosecutors say. She died at 25 years of age on her birthday. She was also five months pregnant, and Taylor was believed to have been the child’s father.
Blaise Taylor speaks among the 2017 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class & Campbell Trophy Finalists during the press conference for the 60th NFF Annual Awards Ceremony at New York Hilton Midtown on December 5, 2017, in New York City. (Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
The baby was stillborn on Feb. 27, about a week before Benning also died.
Benning had been admitted to a hospital on Feb. 25 after Taylor called 911 and claimed that his girlfriend was having some sort of allergic reaction. Benning quickly lapsed into a coma and was never able to communicate with the police before she died the following month.
“Taylor, 27, was arrested by Deputy U.S. Marshals at the request of MNPD in Utah after a grand jury indictment,” according to WSMV-TV.
Officials in Utah are working to have Taylor extradited back to Nashville to face the charges.
Taylor has held multiple jobs in both college and pro football teams. He as a scout with the Tennessee Titans, was a senior defensive analyst at Utah State in 2023, and is the son of Trooper Taylor a Texas A&M running backs coach and associate head coach under head coach Mike Elko. The accused is also listed as a staffer at Texas A&M.
Defensive back Blaise Taylor #1 of the Arkansas State Red Wolves attempts to escape a tackle by wide receiver Cody Thompson #25 of the Toledo Rockets during the second quarter on January 4, 2015, at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. (Michael Chang/Getty Images)
He was also a four-year starter at Arkansas State, served as a captain, and earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors as a defensive back and punt returner. “He holds Arkansas State career records for punt return yards (1,151) and pass breakups (30) and left as the Sun Belt’s leader in passes defended (36),” ESPN added.
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