NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – A week-and-a-half-long trial has found Blaise Taylor guilty in the 2023 murders of his girlfriend and their unborn daughter.
On Wednesday, a Nashville jury returned a guilty verdict and recommended a life sentence for Taylor in the murders of Jade Benning and their unborn child. She was nearly 24 weeks pregnant when Taylor put cocaine in her drink without her knowledge.
Benning was clinically dead before an ambulance was able to get her to a hospital. Her unborn daughter died within two days, and Benning was taken off life support a week after the incident, on what would have been her 25th birthday.
But who exactly is Taylor? Here’s what we know.
Blaise Taylor’s football career
Taylor, who is originally from Waco, Texas, was a defensive back at Arkansas State University and is the son of an Arkansas State cornerback coach Trooper Taylor. He attended the school from 2014 to 2018, earning several accolades throughout his collegiate career.
According to his player profile, he was the only current Football Bowl Subdivision player in the nation at the time to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees before he started his true senior season. He gained several other recognitions throughout his time with the team.
The New York Times reports that after graduating, he worked as a scout for the Tennessee Titans until 2023. He had left the Titans to be a senior defensive analyst with Utah State University, and after a year there, he transferred Texas A&M to be a defensive analyst. However, he was arrested less than a week after he was hired, the Times said.
Blaise Taylor’s murder trial
Taylor was arrested in March 2024 in Logan, Utah. A press release from Metro Nashville Police at the time said that the arrest came after “months of investigation” into the deaths of Benning and the child, with detectives believing he had poisoned Benning without her knowledge on Feb. 25, 2023.
“Taylor moved to Utah after the deaths,” the MNPD said.
Taylor’s trial began on June 22 and ended Wednesday. During that time, the 911 call he made the night of Benning’s poisoning was played in the courtroom. The audio of that call revealed that Taylor told 911 dispatchers he believed Benning was having an allergic reaction to food. When asked by the dispatcher if she was experiencing any typical symptoms of a severe allergic reaction — including swelling, rash, hives or redness — he said she wasn’t, but that Benning was not responding and appeared to be vomiting.
Testimony revealed that earlier in the night, the on-and-off-again couple had been painting canvases for their unborn child’s room. She was going to be named Ivy. While Benning painted a colorful canvas with words of inspiration, Taylor painted a canvas depicting what he described as a “black hole.”
A close friend of Benning’s had been at their apartment earlier in the night. Right after the couple had painted the canvases and taken photos together showing off the artwork, that friend — who had known Benning since she was 6 years old — received a phone call from her lifelong friend.
During that call, she heard Benning yelling at Taylor.
“She was like, ‘I know you put something in my drink because I can’t even walk straight.’ She was just saying that she couldn’t feel her legs,” Nijaiha Jackson testified. “…You did this so something would happen to the baby.”
Blaise Taylor’s conviction
On Wednesday, after two hours of deliberation, the jury found Taylor guilty on four charges — two counts of felony murder, one count of second-degree murder in the death of Jade Benning and one count of first-degree premeditated murder in the death of Ivy, the unborn child.
Jurors later recommended that Taylor receive life in prison.
His sentencing is scheduled for September 9.
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