Search for Missing Teen Alexis Murphy's Uncovers Key Pieces of Evidence

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
by Jeanne Sager 3 hours ago

It has officially been one month since Shipman, Virginia teenager Alexis Murphy disappeared, and despite having a suspect in custody -- a man named Randy Allen Taylor was arrested on August 11 -- no one has had any clue where the missing girl might be. At least until now.

Police have made two startling discoveries in recent days -- new evidence that points to something bad having happened to the young girl who left her home to go shopping and never came back.

Over the weekend, a red sweater thought to belong to the teenager was found in the Rockfish River. Now the FBI is confirming searchers found the Nelson County teenager's cellphone -- near Taylor's house.

It's a second piece of damning evidence for Taylor. Cops placed him under arrest after allegedly finding Murphy's hair in his home, but he has maintained his innocence. Taylor claims he met Murphy at a gas station and drank and did drugs with her, but that she left his home with a drug dealer he can't identify.

Not only does Murphy's family say the story makes no sense -- Alexis neither drank nor did drugs -- she's the second teenager he's been linked to. Cops allege he was also somehow involved in the disappearance of a girl named Samantha Clarke back in 2010, but Taylor denies that as well, and there hasn't been enough evidence to convict him. 

Finding Alexis' cellphone isn't nearly as good as finding Alexis herself, alive, but as they say, something is better than nothing. The more the cops have to go on, the better chance they have of pressuring the person who took her to explain what happened to her -- to give her family answers they need, and hopefully get this girl from justice.

Do you find Taylor's story fishy? What do you make of the discovery of her cellphone?

Image via National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jeanne Sager

writes articles for The Stir by day, slays closet monsters and bounds through bedtime stories with her elementary schooler by night. The Phineas and Ferb soundtrack reverberates through her brain.

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