Businessman’s Death Linked to Robbery Ring, Police Now Say

The Woodland Hills businessman who was robbed, kidnapped from his home and killed in February was the victim of a robbery ring suspected in a number of crimes, authorities said Thursday.

Convicted robber Kirell Francis Taylor, 24, of Pacoima, is one of two men who Los Angeles County prosecutors now say followed Christopher Rawlings home and eventually killed him when a high-speed police chase ended in a fiery crash.

Los Angeles Police Det. Rick Swanston, who heads the West Valley homicide unit, said Taylor is suspected in similar robberies across the county.

Prosecutors charged Taylor with five felonies Thursday, including special circumstance murder charges, which make him eligible for the death penalty. Taylor was already in custody for a parole violation.

Although authorities initially investigated the possibility that Rawlings’ slaying was connected to his business dealings--federal authorities were investigating him for fraud--they now say he was a random crime victim.

“He drove a Bentley. It was a follow-home robbery,” said Shellie Samuels, assistant head deputy for the district attorney’s office in Van Nuys. “It had nothing to do with his business.”

A second suspect has been identified but not named. Details are expected to be released at a news conference today, Det. Andrew Purdy said.

Rawlings, 30, was killed Feb. 8, after a trip to a grocery store in his $200,000 car to buy diapers and baby formula, among other items. Two men followed him to his neighborhood of half-million-dollar houses and attacked him in his garage, authorities said.

Wondering why he was taking so long to get in the house, his wife, Barbie Rawlings, opened the garage door and found two masked men beating her husband. She ran, taking her daughters to the roof of the house, and dialed 911.

Police arrived as the Bentley sped from the garage, with Rawlings in the trunk. The kidnappers led police onto the Ventura Freeway, then exited at Tampa Avenue and headed north.

It was there that Rawlings’ attackers collided with another car, then into a power pole. The impact ejected Rawlings from the car, causing fatal injuries.

Police said the attackers fled in different directions. One of them, who prosecutors now say was Taylor, carjacked a Mazda on Wilbur Avenue. That car was recovered on the Foothill Freeway near Maclay Avenue. Both suspects were at large for months.

Rawlings, co-owner of Gentleman’s Quarters clothing store in Woodland Hills, was transported to Northridge Medical Center, where he later died.

Taylor is accused of Rawlings’ murder, robbery and carjacking. He also is charged with evading police and carjacking the other victim as he made his getaway.

Taylor was arrested at his parole office on a violation on July 13 and has been in custody since, another prosecutor said.

In 1993, Taylor had been convicted in Van Nuys Superior Court of robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was on parole for that crime when authorities say he killed Rawlings.

Samuels said Taylor had been “identified as a suspect for some time,” but that police only recently uncovered enough evidence to warrant murder charges.

Physical evidence recovered at the crime scene has been matched to Taylor through DNA, and a recent search of various locations connected with the defendant uncovered property stolen during the robbery, according to Samuels and another source.

Purdy said of the second suspect: “We have somebody who we’re looking at that’s in custody for something else, but we haven’t confirmed that he’s involved.”