NVR Logo
‘He shot him in the third eye’
Jury sees police interview in Taylor murder trial
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Save and Share Share
Before any witness had testified that Alex Taylor confessed to killing a 62-year-old Napa man, his attorney point blank told the jury on Tuesday that his client admitted to detectives he fatally shot the victim in his north Napa home.

“Didn’t Alex Taylor tell you that George Davis was a devil worshiper? He said he shot him in the third eye,” defense attorney Jess Raphael asked Napa Police detective Don Winegar, who was on the witness stand.
Raphael was referring to a police interview between Winegar and Taylor the day Davis’ body was found.

“Yes,” Winegar replied.
During an interview with Winegar on April 24, 2007, Taylor, 26, told him that Davis was into witchcraft. He said Davis worshiped the devil and made reference to symbols, such as the third eye, which is associated with Lucifer.

Davis was shot at least three times in the head, with one of the bullets lodging in the bridge of his nose.
On Tuesday the jury was shown a video of the remainder of the three-hour interview between Winegar and Taylor, who at that time had not been arrested for Davis’ murder.

Taylor said he suffers from schizophrenia and hears voices. He said the voices produce rage, causing him to rant and rave.

During the interview, Taylor frequently twisted his arm to rub his back, touched his face, twitched, scratched and rubbed his face, ears and neck.

At one point when Winegar left the room, leaving Taylor alone, Taylor began talking as if he was addressing someone standing next to him.

“Man will you shut up? Stop doing that. Stop touching me,” he said.

Another time when Winegar was asking him questions, Taylor became very agitated and began stomping his foot, saying, “Get off my foot.”

Winegar asked him if he killed Davis.

“Why would I whack him in his own apartment? We used to go to Green Island Road and practice witchcraft. If I was going to whack him I could have done it there ... got rid of the body and the evidence,” Taylor said.

He also insisted he had no motive and did not own a working gun.

Winegar asked Taylor what his relationship was with Davis, probing to find out if he had some grudge to kill him. The two met when Taylor was 16.

“He helped me out when I was in high school. He helped me later, teaching me spells and magic,” Taylor said. “We cared for each other.”

Taylor told Winegar he was pretty sure he knew who killed Davis. He said some years ago, Davis had put a curse on a man, causing him to drive his car off a cliff. He said some time later, a man approached him and Davis at the Safeway in Napa.

Taylor said he believed the man was a relative of the person who drove off the cliff and was out for revenge. He said the man followed he and Davis back to Davis’ apartment.

Taylor told Winegar that Davis wanted to die and tried to commit suicide, but failed. He said Davis tried to overdose on aspirin, but survived because he only took eight pills.

“George did not enjoy life. He weighed 350 pounds. He couldn’t walk. His knees buckled. He had no social life,” Taylor said. “He said he wanted to die.”

“Did George ask you to kill him?” Winegar asked.

“Once. But I wouldn’t do it.”

Taylor said when the voices inside him would be yelling and harassing him, Davis would do black magic using a crystal ball attached to a chain. He said the anger and rage would transfer to the crystal ball.

After Davis was found, detectives searched his apartment on Redwood Road and found photos of men without their shirts on.

“Was George into young men?” Winegar asked.

“That’s news to me. I asked him if he ever had any sexual thoughts about me. He said ‘no.’ And I said ‘that’s OK.’”

During the final interview the day Davis’ body was found, Taylor told detectives where the (murder) weapon was, Winegar testified on Tuesday.

He led detectives to a shed on Bueno Court in west Napa, where the weapon was located, Winegar said.

Davis’ body was discovered on April 24, 2007, by an acquaintance. Investigators believe Davis had been dead a couple of days.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty. If found guilty Raphael will argue that his client is not guilty by reason of insanity.

If found guilty, Taylor is facing 25 year to life in state prison.
7 comment(s)

merri wrote on Apr 2, 2008 12:21 PM:

" What Napa no comments. this is better than the halloween slayings or any other crime in napa. Witchcraft, boys with their shirts offs. Man this is juicy I will have to call nancy grace! "

napavalfan wrote on Apr 2, 2008 1:21 PM:

" This isn't a movie, this should not be fulfilling your entertainment cravings...that's basically my opinion. "

merri wrote on Apr 2, 2008 1:34 PM:

" Well at least it will be a better movie of the week than the zodiac killers. why would they print all the details unless they want entertainment to sell the paper. PS. I respect you for allowing me to post my quote. Your quote is as valid as mine yet I do feel for this family but hey it makes good reading "

local_bree wrote on Apr 2, 2008 5:27 PM:

" I feel so sorry for those of you that think this is entertaining. Imagine being in the shoes of Alex, a mentally unstable young man, and a personal friend of mine, or the families of him or Mr. Davis. Would you all like people sitting here poking fun at you? I wouldn't.

I know things about this case that I am sure none of you do, as I am friends with the parties mentioned above. If you knew some of the things I do, I doubt you would be so quick to laugh.

Be entertained all you want, but maybe you should look into the case more. Maybe even go to the courthouse during the trial if you can... see what is going on. Watch Alex and see how unstable he is. Then press judgement. "

007WYNWM wrote on Apr 2, 2008 6:26 PM:

" I remember when I was just a kid and just about everyone and there great grandmother during the late 70s and early 80s was into Devil Worship of somekind or being a lying rapture ranter. The 70s and 80s brought (cool evil) into the home with Rock On! "

gemini wrote on Apr 2, 2008 10:10 PM:

" merri i wonder if this would be better than the halloween slayings if it involved someone you cared about. also where did you hear that there was more than one zodiac killer? "

merri wrote on Apr 3, 2008 2:55 PM:

" Wow pent up frustrations. I guess it's only funny if things happens to someone else. Hey I KNOW the family I know Alex and his mom and his problems. So many people never helped him, like family! So don't preach to me. At the most before you lampoon me read some of the comic's on the latest update. And lighten up a little. At least he will now the help he needs. It's all good "

Comment Guidelines
The goal of the story comments section at NapaValleyRegister.com is to have an open, thought-provoking, civil community forum for all issues.
What gets your comment posted?
• Staying on topic
• Keeping your comment to 300 words or less
• Avoiding name-calling
• Addressing your comments to the message rather than the messenger
What gets your comment deleted?
• Personal attacks
• Derogatory remarks
• Name-calling of any sort
• Going off-topic
• Hate speech
• Racially-insensitive comments
• Implying guilt of a subject in a crime story before there is a court verdict
• Posting e-mail addresses
• Posting comments of a commercial nature
• POSTING WITH ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
• Linking multiple comments together with "to be continued..." to get around the 300 word limit.
The fine print
- Comments are either approved or denied. We do not edit comments.
- You are welcome to modify and resubmit a denied comment.
- Comments may take several hours to be posted.
- Comments posted are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NapaValleyRegister.com, its employees or its parent company.
- Do you have information on a story? Please go to our virtual newsroom to send us a news tip.
- If you feel a posted comment has violated our guidelines, please contact online@napanews.com or add a comment indicating you have an issue and our moderators will review the comment in question.
Search:
Web Search Powered
By Yahoo! Search
Napa Valley Register on Facebook
Copyright © 2009 Napa Valley Publishing, a member of Lee Enterprises, Inc.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy