Crystal Dejuanna Taylor was tragically shot to death inside her Kornblum Avenue apartment complex on the morning of September 25, 2001. After all, as profiled in NBC's 'Dateline: One Moment,' the 27-year-old woman was also eventually discovered that her ex-boyfriend had orchestrated her homicide. Now, if you wish to know more about Derek Paul Smyer, click here.
Derek Smyer, who is he?
Derek first saw Crystal at Anderson Park in the late spring of 2001, only for it to lead to an unexpected conversation and then a fling; after that, the couple had already separated for good, by which point the youngster had already given birth to his baby.
Crystal and her unborn son Jeremiah Johnson Taylor were brutally shot and died almost five months later by Derek. Yet he also alleges his ex was unfaithful in the short time they were together, but to no avail owing to other essential evidence.
Derek's house and car were discovered to be empty, but it was undeniable that he resembled the ludicrous guy several witnesses had seen fleeing the scene of his incidents. More shockingly, Traci Williamson revealed that he had committed similar brutal assaults on her two prior relationships while they were younger. Both she and her two children both survived.
Derek remained a free man due to a lack of substantial evidence linking him to any of these things, until late 2011, when Skyler Moore confessed to hiring him to take Crystal out. The two men had apparently met by chance at Anderson Park's basketball courts, where the latter eagerly accepted the responsibility for himself, leading to Derek's arrest on November 3, 2011.
Derek Smyer: Where is he now?
Derek was apprehended in connection with his ex-girlfriend's as well as their unborn sons' murders for a decade, yet he was found guilty as charged on October 21, 2017 by a jury of six men plus six women following a few weeks of detailed testimony.
Derek wanted Crystal dead in order to ensure the child would not be left to die, which in turn sparked the special circumstances in his first-degree murder conviction, which resulted in his being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hence, today, at the age of 42, he is treated at the medium-high security California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran, Kings County, where he is expected to remain for a long time.
