Mail Carrier’s Wife Reportedly Hid Petty Theft Charge From Husband

Liesbeth Taylor, who was shot and killed last Thursday by her husband who then killed two fellow postal carriers before taking his own life, pleaded guilty in January to a petty theft charge that she apparently shielded from her husband, according to the attorney who handled her case.

Escondido attorney Rick Mills said Wednesday that Taylor, 50, seemed so concerned that her husband would learn of the theft that his office staff recommended to the woman that she seek counseling.

Police Were Told About the Case

Mills said he relayed that information to Escondido police after last week’s shooting, thinking it might play a role in their investigation into the shootings that remain unexplained.

“When we learned about the shooting, I thought, ‘Oh boy, I wonder if what she told me is what caused all this to happen,’ ” Mills said Wednesday.

But police reported back to him that a search of the Taylor household showed no evidence of the court charge or any indication that John Taylor learned of the theft.

The incident dates from last October, when a security guard at the Fedco department store in Escondido stopped Liesbeth Taylor on suspicion of trying to steal two sweaters, valued at $71.

According to records at the Vista Municipal Court, Taylor pleaded guilty to petty theft in January, was fined $144 and placed on two years’ probation.

The woman could have successfully hidden that fact from her husband, Mills said.

Spouses Often Are Kept in the Dark

“We have had many, many of our clients on relatively small cases whose spouses never know about their cases,” Mills said. “That’s fairly common.”

Mills said he is no longer convinced, as he first was, that Liesbeth Taylor actually feared for her safety if her husband learned of the theft.

“At the time, we weren’t trying to evaluate whether the threat she felt was real or not, but we believed at the time that she thought they were real,” Mills said. “And we still felt strongly enough about it that, when she was killed, we all thought, ‘Gosh, I wonder if we could have helped her more.’ We don’t know if she got counseling or not.”

But, after the Times-Advocate in Escondido published a report Wednesday afternoon of Mills’ concerns, he said he received several telephone calls from persons who knew the woman and who said Mills was overstating the woman’s fear.

“They told me that I was wrong in what I thought,” Mills said. “And they said there was no indication that the husband ever found out.”

Liesbeth Taylor was buried Tuesday, five days after she was shot twice in the head and once in the arm by her husband while she was in bed, apparently asleep.

Father Shot to Death by a Sister

Taylor’s own father was shot to death by one of Taylor’s sisters in 1958 in the family home in Mokane, Mo. The sister, Jo Ann Taylor, fired three bullets into her father’s head in outrage over his drinking and abuse of her mother. At the time of that shooting, John Taylor had already joined the Marine Corps--an enlistment that was said to be his escape from the disruptive home life.

After killing his wife last Thursday morning, John Taylor--described as a model postal carrier, then went to the Orange Glen postal station, where he shot and killed two co-workers and wounded a third before putting the gun to his own head.

Escondido police have closed their investigation, saying the motives for Taylor’s outburst may never be known.

Funeral services for John Taylor were held Wednesday night.