5 chilling details about Taylor Marks' heinous crime ahead of Snapped

Snapped spotlights the Taylor Marks case, a 2009 Akron murder-for-hire that ended with arrests, fast confessions, and guilty pleas. The victim was 58-year-old Kristie E. Marks, Taylor’s mother, who was stabbed in a parking lot after being lured to a meeting.

A re-air of Snapped S9.E15 Taylor Marks is listed on Oxygen for Sunday, September 21 at 11 pm ET. The episode traces the call that brought Kristie out that night, what investigators said happened next, and how the court cases concluded.

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Case background before Snapped re-air

Police received a call around 8:00 pm on October 24, 2009. First responders found Kristie with multiple stab wounds near an apartment building on Springdale Drive in Akron. She was taken to a hospital and died there.

Police respond around 8:00 pm after a 911 call reports a stabbing (Image via Pexels)

Detectives detained Taylor Marks, her boyfriend Brian Scott Smith, and her friend Troy A. Purdie II for separate interviews. Their initial stories did not match. Investigators said the trio had been together before the attack and that Taylor had contacted her mother to come pick her up. Early on, the working theory focused on a plan to profit from Kristie’s death.

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5 key details about the case on Snapped

1) The meeting was a lure, and a capital case took shape quickly

A Summit County grand jury indicted Taylor Marks, Brian Smith, and Troy Purdie on charges of aggravated murder. The filing alleged prior calculation and design and included a for-hire specification for Taylor Marks and Troy A. Purdie II. According to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office (November 5, 2009), that specification allowed the state to seek the death penalty.

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2) Confessions arrived within hours

After the three were separated for questioning, investigators said the case broke open quickly. Their accounts conflicted, then admissions followed, and police described the case as solved in less than four hours. That rapid shift was reported by cleveland.com (November 5, 2009).

Confessions are obtained within hours after conflicting accounts (Image via Pexels)

Also read: The true story behind Jamie Grachek's brutal crime against her husband ahead of Snapped

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3) A promised payment and a video became key points

From prison interviews and case recaps, Taylor later disputed being the mastermind, yet Purdie stated on tape that the plan promised him $5,000. The show also referenced surveillance video that captured the stabbing, which producers said undercut claims of a random attack.

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4) The boyfriend pleaded guilty to aggravated murder

Brian Scott Smith admitted his role in court proceedings tied to the murder plot that lured Kristie to the lot. CBS News reported his aggravated murder plea and noted that sentencing exposed him to life without parole (March 15, 2011).

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5) Life terms followed the pleas

Taylor Marks and Troy Purdie receive life sentences without parole following pleas (Image via Pexels)

Taylor Marks pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and received life in prison without the possibility of parole. That outcome was reported by The Columbus Dispatch (September 2010). In a separate proceeding, Troy A. Purdie II received life without parole after pleading guilty to aggravated murder, per the Akron Beacon Journal (August 24, 2010).

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Oxygen lists the re-air of Snapped S9.E15 Taylor Marks for Sunday, September 21 at 11:00 pm ET. The episode revisits the call, the stabbing, and the courtroom results.

The episode can also be streamed on Peacock Premium and Premium Plus, fuboTV, NBC, Oxygen, YouTube TV, and Hulu. It is available to buy on Apple TV, Amazon Video, and Fandango at Home, and select Snapped episodes stream free on Spectrum On Demand.

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Also read: 5 chilling details about Jamie Grachek's brutal crime

Edited by Preethika Vijayakumar