Tip Led Police to Suspect in Rawlings’ Death

Leads were literally melting away.

The stolen Bentley had slammed into a power pole, which toppled and blocked a police pursuit.

The suspects took off running, and one allegedly carjacked a woman to make his getaway. Then came the rain, washing away evidence. Then the crumpled Bentley began to burn, eliminating other evidence.

Lying near the car, police found the Bentley’s mortally wounded owner--Christopher Rawlings.

“We had nothing but bad luck for the first 72 hours,” said Det. Rick Swanston Friday, recounting the investigation that police believe has led, after many months, to the suspects in Rawlings’ slaying. “Everything was going the crooks’ way.”

Several witnesses described one of the gunmen, and a composite drawing was circulated. But for months, detectives worked on the case without a major break.

Then they got the clue they needed. An anonymous caller left a name and a street on the answering machine: “Kirell on Vaughn Street,” Swanston recalled the tipster saying.

Scouring old case files and police reports and other paper trails, police turned up what might be a likely match: Kirell Taylor, 24, Pacoima.

*

Taylor was charged Friday in the February murder of Rawlings, a young telemarketing businessman, who happened to be the target of a federal fraud probe. Police alleged that Taylor and at least one other man--both wearing ski masks--slipped into Rawlings’ garage in the 20700 block of Quedo Drive in Woodland Hills, attacked him and stuffed him in the trunk of his Bentley. Rawlings’ wife was home at the time and called police, who arrived just as the attackers fled in the car.

They crashed it in the 5800 block of Tampa Avenue and Taylor then allegedly carjacked a woman at Wilbur Avenue and Erwin Street.

Authorities say Taylor’s record shows a career criminal who started when he was 13.

By 16, records show he’d been arrested seven times for alleged crimes ranging from threatening a school officer to robbery.

He was on probation for forcibly taking a jacket from someone when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a car at gunpoint, according to a probation report. The report said that case was dismissed because of lack of witnesses.

When Taylor was next arrested in December 1992, in a brazen daylight robbery in a Topanga Canyon Boulevard department store parking lot, prosecutors successfully requested that he be tried as an adult.

According to court files, Taylor walked up to a 53-year-old woman, showed her his gun and said: “This is my job. Drop your purse and your keys.”

A witness flagged down a police officer, who arrested Taylor as he stepped out of the car. He had been unable to drive away because the car was equipped with a common steering wheel locking device, according to court records.

Taylor was referred to the California Youth Authority for a diagnostic report, but probation officers, police and the victim all requested a prison sentence.

“[Taylor] appeared to know exactly what he was doing and what he wanted,” the victim told a probation officer.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler sentenced Taylor to seven years in prison.

*

Department of Correction officials said Taylor served time in seven different prisons during his incarceration. He was released on parole in November 1996, but was incarcerated again after violating the terms of his release in 1997.

He was paroled again in September 1998, five months before Rawlings’ death.

Detectives learned that Hawthorne police considered Taylor a suspect in the March robbery of an automobile lot. He was arrested and while awaiting trial, LAPD detectives used DNA to link Taylor to physical evidence found in the Bentley, Swanston said. Police have also found a bracelet and earrings stolen from Rawlings during searches of Taylor’s home and several other sites, including Taylor’s girlfriend’s home, on Tuesday.

That was where police said they discovered a green Mustang allegedly seen in the area of the Bentley crash a day after the February attack. A witness told police she saw a man searching the bushes after the crash, and when detectives investigated later, they found Rawlings’ wallet stuffed with cash.

Swanston said he suspects Taylor was involved in a car-theft ring and said “three or four” of his associates may still be at large.