News

Accused killers still on the run

Hollified and Walker

By , Published: December 22, 2015

The suspects in the murder of a 28-year-old Fletcher man remain at large three weeks after they sped away from the spot on Ninth Avenue where their victim was thrown from a Jeep.

Deque Deangelo Taylor was found dead on the sidewalk at 3:07 p.m. on Dec. 3 in the 700 block of a city street swarming with after-school traffic. Taylor was identified by an unusual tattoo on his chest of a large locomotive. His mother called Hendersonville police and identified him.
Witnesses told police that they saw the victim, who was in back seat, “either trying to get out or struggling to stay in the vehicle” as it drove on Haywood Road, Asheville Highway, Fleming Street and Ninth Avenue. A school bus driver “saw the vehicle swerve left and right quickly as if to throw Taylor off the car,” city police Detective Bruce Darrah said in a search warrant application. “Taylor fell off with his legs underneath the car and was run over by the rear tire,” the bus driver said. Taylor died of heavy trauma to his skull. The Jeep driver sped up and left the scene.
Detectives recovered a seat belt buckle with a part number that matched a red 2015 Jeep Compass rented earlier that day by Shawn Chris Hollifield, 23, of Old Kanuga Road. Detectives soon learned from a witness that Hollifield and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Savannah Rose Walker, were with Taylor in the Jeep. The detectives obtained video surveillance from an Exxon station at 5411 Asheville Highway next to Taylor’s residence, showing he got in the Jeep with the couple at 2:30 p.m.

Taylor planned to ‘rip off’ Walker

Taylor’s cousin, Kristina Harper, told police that she and Taylor hatched a plan to steal from Walker. He was to take $50 from her and tell her he would buy pills. Taylor gave the money to Harper, who drove away. “Taylor was to pretend that he got ripped off and the money was gone, while later he would meet Harper and split the $50 with her,” Det. Darrah wrote. Asheville police spotted the Jeep backed up into some bushes behind a church in Asheville. After obtaining the search warrant and transporting the vehicle to the city evidence yard, detectives recovered cigarette butts, Mountain Dew bottles, a cigarette lighter, Jack in the Box containers and the seatbelt spool that matched the buckle found next to Taylor’s body. They lifted fingerprints from the driver’s side doorpost. The detectives also received a search warrant to obtain records of cell phone calls and text messages to and from an 806 area code phone number belonging to one of the suspects.
On Dec. 9, the detectives obtained first-degree murder warrants for Hollifield and Walker. They remain on the run.
Lt. Chris LeRoy said detectives had received numerous tips about the couple’s possible whereabouts but so far none had panned out.

Criminal records

Hollifield and Walker both have extensive criminal records in Henderson County.
Hollifield served 19 months in prison after being convicted in August 2012 of possessing stolen goods, communicating threats, felony breaking and entering and failure to appear in court. He also has convictions on charges of assault on a child and possession of narcotics and has been arrested on charges of burning personal property, trespassing, receiving stolen property and breaking and entering.
Walker received a seven-day sentence after a conviction on charges of marijuana possession. She was convicted on Jan 28 on charges for possessing drug paraphernalia. She was due in court on last week on charges of resisting arrest and failure to appear in court.
Hollifield is a native of the area, Lt. LeRoy said, while Walker has family in South Carolina and Florida.
Detectives asked anyone with any information regarding the investigation or the whereabouts of either Hollifield or Walker to call city police at 828-697-3025 or Henderson County Crime stoppers at 828-697-STOP.