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By Phil Trexler
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 12:52 p.m. EDT, Oct 26, 2009
An Akron woman plotted for some time with her boyfriend and his buddy to have her mother killed in order to collect from an inheritance, police said today.
Within four hours of the stabbing death of Kristie Marks, the scheme collapsed with confessions to detectives from the daughter and her friends, police said.
Taylor Marks, 20; her boyfriend, Brian S. Smith, 20; and their friend, Troy Purdie, 19, are each accused of complicity to commit aggravated murder. They are being held in the Summit County Jail.
An autopsy is being performed today on Kristie Marks, 58, at the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The death unfolded Saturday night about 8 in the parking lot of a Springdale Street apartment complex in Akron where Taylor Marks and Smith lived together with his mother.
An emotional Taylor Marks called 911 after the stabbing.
''My mother has been stabbed in the parking lot,'' she says in a recorded call with a police dispatcher. '' . . . someone just ran up behind my mom and stabbed her . . . ''
Marks told the dispatcher that Smith and Purdie chased the assailant. Police found Kristie Marks on the ground and bleeding from multiple stabs wounds. She was pronounced dead at Akron City Hospital.
Taylor Marks, Smith and Purdie were taken to Akron police headquarters for interviews about the attack. They talked to authorities in separate rooms.
Detective James Pasheilich said inconsistencies between the three led them to question the veracity of the statements. Within four hours of the homicide, all three confessed to plotting the killing for at least two weeks, police said.
''They were talking about it for a while,''Pasheilich said. ''These three admit that they had spoken and talked numerous times about doing this.''
Taylor Marks, whose father died in 2002, stood to collect a significant inheritance with her mother's death, police said. Kristie Marks also operated a home health-care franchise business.
Taylor Marks offered Purdie $5,000 to kill her mother and he has confessed to the stabbing, police said.
''Marks admitted that she was upset with her mother [and] wanted her mother dead,'' Pasheilich said. ''[Taylor] mentioned that her mom has money and has a will and that she believes that her name's on the will because she saw it.
''More or less, it comes down to money.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
An Akron woman plotted for some time with her boyfriend and his buddy to have her mother killed in order to collect from an inheritance, police said today.
Within four hours of the stabbing death of Kristie Marks, the scheme collapsed with confessions to detectives from the daughter and her friends, police said.
Taylor Marks, 20; her boyfriend, Brian S. Smith, 20; and their friend, Troy Purdie, 19, are each accused of complicity to commit aggravated murder. They are being held in the Summit County Jail.
An autopsy is being performed today on Kristie Marks, 58, at the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office.
The death unfolded Saturday night about 8 in the parking lot of a Springdale Street apartment complex in Akron where Taylor Marks and Smith lived together with his mother.
An emotional Taylor Marks called 911 after the stabbing.
''My mother has been stabbed in the parking lot,'' she says in a recorded call with a police dispatcher. '' . . . someone just ran up behind my mom and stabbed her . . . ''
Marks told the dispatcher that Smith and Purdie chased the assailant. Police found Kristie Marks on the ground and bleeding from multiple stabs wounds. She was pronounced dead at Akron City Hospital.
Taylor Marks, Smith and Purdie were taken to Akron police headquarters for interviews about the attack. They talked to authorities in separate rooms.
Detective James Pasheilich said inconsistencies between the three led them to question the veracity of the statements. Within four hours of the homicide, all three confessed to plotting the killing for at least two weeks, police said.
''They were talking about it for a while,''Pasheilich said. ''These three admit that they had spoken and talked numerous times about doing this.''
Taylor Marks, whose father died in 2002, stood to collect a significant inheritance with her mother's death, police said. Kristie Marks also operated a home health-care franchise business.
Taylor Marks offered Purdie $5,000 to kill her mother and he has confessed to the stabbing, police said.
''Marks admitted that she was upset with her mother [and] wanted her mother dead,'' Pasheilich said. ''[Taylor] mentioned that her mom has money and has a will and that she believes that her name's on the will because she saw it.
''More or less, it comes down to money.''
Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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uniontown, oh
Posted 01:10 PM, 10/26/2009
Nice clearance Jim, but what made you think that these nice people would ever commit a crime? Kill your mother for money? No way......yes, way. Good Job, Good Luck.
Canal Fulton, Oh
Posted 01:12 PM, 10/26/2009
Well the way I look at it is this,,,3 more pos' off the street!
akron, oh
Posted 01:17 PM, 10/26/2009
such nice loking all-american children...NOT hang all 3--NOTE--I said hang--don't worry about lethel injections--takes too long. hang e'm from the nearest oak tree.
Paradise, Oh
Posted 01:20 PM, 10/26/2009
These are three charming looking folks. I might invite them over for Thanksgiving dinner.
Chardon, Oh
Posted 01:20 PM, 10/26/2009
She looks like she might be on drugs,but I could be wrong.HA HA HA!!!
akron, oh
Posted 01:20 PM, 10/26/2009
So when all is said and done, who is gonna be the fall guy here?? When will we learn....
Posted 01:27 PM, 10/26/2009
Way to go APD detectives. Keeps the batting avg. high
hiram, me
Posted 01:29 PM, 10/26/2009
AS I SEE IT, by Mainer Mike Brown
Just a bunch of classy people!
new york, ny
Posted 01:29 PM, 10/26/2009
Another story says Ohio can't find a doctor to help with lethal injections. Maybe they should just walk the streets of Akron. Seems like daily you have a capable alternative.
Kent, Oh
Posted 01:46 PM, 10/26/2009
This is why the education system is failing in Ohio.
They didnt do the math> $5000 for a murder. But in the event they got caught, the math says it's a bad equation. They lose their lives/ freedom.
Girl needs a whooping.
_________, OH
Posted 02:00 PM, 10/26/2009
Faces only a mother could love.... wait... mother is dead. Darn.
akron, oh
Posted 02:15 PM, 10/26/2009
this is rediculous. drugs are bad mmkayy
akron, oh
Posted 02:20 PM, 10/26/2009
WOW...KILL YOUR MOTHER FOR MONEY????
sounds a little cracked out to me, you
know drug addicts dont think realistic,
now mommas gone, your in prison and still
NO MONEY.....who you gonna call now!!!
Akron, OH
Posted 02:31 PM, 10/26/2009
Is the degenerate in the middle sporting a blouse or a bra?
Hoodies and white traish. Where no brains be better than three.
Akronicity, OH
Posted 02:43 PM, 10/26/2009
Put all 3 of them in a balloon and let it go...
akron, OH
Posted 02:49 PM, 10/26/2009
This is so sad. How could anyone want to kill their mom. I know it's takes a different kind of person to want to hurt a family member. especially "mother" I'm praying for all involved. I kinda hope she was an only child so other siblings won't have to suffer behind her stupid plans. Now who really wins?
Thoughts and prayers..
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:11 PM, 10/26/2009
Well.well. Lock them up for the rest of thier lives and throw away the keys. No death penalty the Gov. doesn't like that. POS, that is what they are
Akron, OH
Posted 03:23 PM, 10/26/2009
dirty filthy savages!!! kill these fools.......
Akron, OH
Posted 03:39 PM, 10/26/2009
Taylor is goin to regret wut she did you only get one mother and no amnt of money is worth losing her my prayers go out to the Marks family and even Taylor for she and the 2 other's will need it...
Palm Beach, FL
Posted 03:41 PM, 10/26/2009
Dont you just wanta hug and kiss them
Akron, OH
Posted 03:44 PM, 10/26/2009
This is crazy! I went to school with her. She had some issues but I never expected this of her. I feel sick to my stomach right now.
Fairlawn, OH
Posted 04:02 PM, 10/26/2009
I am shocked by this. Taylor was one of my best friends. I do not believe that she would do something like this. Her mother was like my second mother. I loved them both so much. It rips me apart to read this. I wish that I had kept in better contact with Taylor, and maybe she would not have done this.
Posted 04:29 PM, 10/26/2009
Obviously she was doing drugs and you were not, it is a real shame!
Posted 05:01 PM, 10/26/2009
Very sorry to family and friends.
They were so stupid it's pathetic. Did they really think they'd get away with this? I just cant fathom how dumb you'd have to be.
And cendel, Ohio ranks second to only Texas in executions under this governor.
barberton, oh
Posted 05:08 PM, 10/26/2009
Mary, Curley and Moe....nyuk, nyuk nyuk
Akron, Oh
Posted 05:08 PM, 10/26/2009
Guess this is what crack does to you..
what a crew..
akron, oh
Posted 05:10 PM, 10/26/2009
This case is why we have the death penalty.
WADSWORTH, OH
Posted 05:20 PM, 10/26/2009
All 3 will be mid 40 ish when they pull the plug on them,and boy will they be used and abused badly by then.
Akron, Oh
Posted 05:24 PM, 10/26/2009
=========================
Big Apples Guy
new york, ny
Posted 01:29 PM, 10/26/2009 Another story says Ohio can't find a doctor to help with lethal injections. Maybe they should just walk the streets of Akron. Seems like daily you have a capable alternative.
========================
I would think that New York City as a little bit more of a crime problem than little ole Akron.
akron, oh
Posted 05:42 PM, 10/26/2009
what is up with that chick's neck/shoulders?
Realityville, OH
Posted 05:50 PM, 10/26/2009
TruthPatrol
Akron, OH
Posted 02:31 PM, 10/26/2009
Is the degenerate in the middle sporting a blouse or a bra?
*Definitely a cross dresser caught in the middle of dressing*
North Royalton, OH
Posted 05:51 PM, 10/26/2009
A combined IQ of 64.
It's time to thin the herd. This'd be a great place to start.
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:02 PM, 10/26/2009
I worked for the mother several years ago. A very nice lady who basically let her child mouth off and walk all over her.
Still.....you never expect THIS. Ms. Marks would've given her daughter anything she needed.
Akron, OH
Posted 06:49 PM, 10/26/2009
Garbage, lower than the belly of a snake.....do this to your own kin.......maggots
Akron, OH
Posted 06:52 PM, 10/26/2009
Troy does have a bra on from the looks of the photo, I am 59, so I may be wrong, but jail time will focus on this more than I can see
Milwaukee, WI
Posted 07:22 PM, 10/26/2009
sassymom, you'd be surprised how many people who'd kill their mom just because some stupid deranged girl put them up to it. Sex sells, and this girl, attractive as she is, had no problem getting two sexually deprived men to jump right into it.
Clebus, RI
Posted 07:50 PM, 10/26/2009
Wow! Ya know, if abortion had been legal back in 1988 Kristie Marks might be alive today and we might not be reading this article. Abortion as crime prevention, hmmmmm... Think about it.
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 07:52 PM, 10/26/2009
It looks like the mom was a good person, but her daughter took a very wrong turn somewhere. The worst thing you can possibly do for a totally screwed-up adult child is to give them money, through an inheritance or otherwise. If the mom had written her daughter out of her will and instead willed the money to charity, then she would probably still be alive, and these three idiots would not be wards of the state prison system...at least not yet.
Clebus, RI
Posted 07:53 PM, 10/26/2009
Yeah, you're right. She is attractive. I've got a mud fence in my backyard that's only slightly better looking.
kent, oh
Posted 09:33 PM, 10/26/2009
Yeah, Mom coddled her baby her whole life.
When she decided to take a stand, it was too late.
Let this be a lesson to Moms out there.
akron, oh
Posted 10:11 PM, 10/26/2009
Send them to Afghanistan.....
Posted 12:05 AM, 10/27/2009
brutal, brutal killing. totally senseless. Hang the guilty
Akron, OH
Posted 06:27 AM, 10/27/2009
What gets me is teh fact that these degenerates "plotted for 2 weeks" and still had inconsistancies in their stories. Mary, Curley and Moe indeed!
CuyahogaFalls, oh
Posted 08:44 AM, 10/27/2009
Anybody watch Dexter? Send them to Miami and let him do his thing! Feed the fish in Miami!!
Fairlawn, OH
Posted 09:16 AM, 10/27/2009
Wow. What a lot of insensitive, inhumane, idiotic drivel people have posted here. As someone who actually knew Kristy and Taylor, I can tell you that most of you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not going to divulge details of the Marks' lives in a forum like this, but this is not as simple a case as many are making it. The tragedy of this situation is apparent to anyone who actually knows the family, and the hateful comments are disgusting.
akron, oh
Posted 10:15 AM, 10/27/2009
johnnyoutback that was silly, laughin my a** off, her neck is really big and wierd looking, like she was on steriods or somehting, thay all look a hot mess, and for those that are saying troy purdie has a bra on its not a bra its a wifebeater
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:46 AM, 10/27/2009
Hey Johnny.....OMG! To funny!
Posted 10:49 AM, 10/27/2009
@ lgb
It really doesn't matter if we know the lives of the Marks' or not. Fact is, she killed her mother and no matter what the circumstances were within the family, noone should kill their mother. No mother dererves to be killed by her degenerate daughter and her dead beat friends.
Posted 11:16 AM, 10/27/2009
Why are two of these idiots wearing tank tops? Isen't this late October in Ohio?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 12:06 PM, 10/27/2009
voltman:
Dexter is fiction. But your spelling is improving.
Fairlawn, OH
Posted 12:08 PM, 10/27/2009
@kelli: I'm not condoning or excusing what Taylor did, but if people knew the details, they would probably hope that Taylor gets some help rather than wanting to call her degenerate and slaughter her. Believe me, this is more likely a case of Taylor being manipulated by the boyfriend and friend rather than her being the one who came up with this plot. That doesn't mean she should not be held responsible for what she did, but there are several factors you all don't know that might cause you to have some mercy on the girl. If Taylor can get back to her normal self, I guarantee you that she will punish herself far more than anyone else could; the pain and guilt at what she did will be nigh unbearable. I know for a fact that Taylor, when she was normal mentally, loved her mother. And the people who are cracking jokes and laughing at this situation are also degenerates, finding humor in the slaughter of an innocent woman.
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 12:10 PM, 10/27/2009
Ok i see who the boyfriend is now. BUt why would they lure her to the projects?
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 12:11 PM, 10/27/2009
Thanks for the clarity, lgb.
akron , oh
Posted 12:20 PM, 10/27/2009
wow.
Posted 12:41 PM, 10/27/2009
People can only be manipulated and taken advantage of if they allow it. I'm sure they didn't put a gun to her head to make her do this. The 2 men obviously have problems, and Taylor who was supposedly "normal" before should have known better than to even get involved with people like that. Everyone knows right from wrong. I have no sympathy for any of them.
Akron, OH
Posted 03:55 PM, 10/27/2009
NO sympathy for all three, people know right from wrong. Regret or not that she may have, she and her friends KILLED her mom, not beat up or robbed, but KILLED. Pretty sick and to know they plotted for a couple weeks makes it even sicker....she had time to come to her "senses", but greed and sheepish mentality lead to her mothers death. I fell so sorry for the woman, may she rest in peace.
Posted 03:59 PM, 10/27/2009
People have choices in life. She chose to do what she did. No excuses. She will get a fair trial
and be off the street for a good while. That's a good thing.
Akron, OH
Posted 05:03 PM, 10/27/2009
@igb...hopefully she does punish herself. Save the government the money in supporting her for the rest of her life.
akron, oh
Posted 08:32 PM, 10/27/2009
Like someone who knows her said....they should dig a hole, throw her in it, pour gasoline on her, light a match.....and poof!!!!!Bye, Bye Taylor!!!!
How greedy can you be? Kristie took you in, adopted you, and this is how you show your appreciation to her!!!!!
Akron, Oh
Posted 10:57 PM, 10/27/2009
Now we can count on our great prosecuter to deal it down to probation and rehab for drugs , and on the streets in a few weeks
Akron, Oh
Posted 11:01 PM, 10/27/2009
lgb , If shes so innocent and was lead on by the boyfriend as well as his friend , WHY DIDNT YOU STOP HER ?
Posted 12:50 AM, 10/28/2009
I listened to the 911 recording and have to note that the operator did a fantastic job. Huge thanks to them.
akron, oh
Posted 09:13 AM, 10/28/2009
This is a crying shame. All three are crazy, and deserve the same sentence. How sad!!!!
Norton, OH
Posted 03:16 PM, 10/28/2009
Are these guys and gals using taxable or non-taxable drugs?
akron, oh
Posted 06:33 PM, 10/28/2009
Bigmouth claims Taylor was adopted. If this is so, lends new fuel to the "Nature vs Nurture" fire.
Posted 07:31 PM, 10/28/2009
Igb, my family also knows Taylor. . very well. She was a friend of my daughter's. For a bit. Until the day she sat there and laughed at her at a party as she sat on my daughter's boyfriend's lap and kissed him in front of her. Taylor loves one person, herself. She walked all over Kristie because it was Kristie would loved unconditionally, not Taylor. Taylor spent her HS years MANIPULATING and lying about other students. I am appalled at what happened, but not too surprised at this point. She has no parents left now and will have to pay the piper.
Posted 09:42 AM, 10/29/2009
I hope they get the old needle in the arm...soon
Stow, Oh
Posted 12:44 PM, 10/29/2009
So many people without a mother...and then this girl doesn't appreciate what she had. Very sad :(
Akron, Oh
Posted 06:58 AM, 10/30/2009
Katie18 - I am sure it is hard to accept the facts on this case, but the simple fact of the matter is - the girl admitted to killing her mom for money. Case closed - do not pass go, do not collect 100 dollars. Nothing you could have done would have stopped her - and if you had heard her talking about this, what would have stopped her from having you killed? Let it go!
AKRON, OH
Posted 09:46 AM, 11/02/2009
oh i love her hair in the picture too! I think criminals TRY to make themselves look as bad as possible.
