Charlotte triple-homicide suspect fled to notorious off-the-grid ‘city,’ CA cops say
The fugitive accused of killing a Charlotte mom and her two children was camping in a notorious off-the-grid desert community when captured near the Mexico border, according to an incident report.
Imperial County deputies closed in on Benjamin Joseph Taylor, 35, as he sat in a tent in Slab City, California, officials say.
The arrest was made March 16, the same day Charlotte-Mecklenburg police named Taylor a suspect in the killings of 22-year-old Markayla Johnson, 4-year-old Miracle Johnson and 7-month-old Messiah Johnson.
Their bodies were found March 15 as police conducted a search warrant at a home in the 400 block of Orchard Trace Lane in northeast Charlotte, CMPD reports. The family had been reported missing March 3, officials say.
Imperial County investigators say they were led to Taylor by “a suspicious call” made from Slab City’s “Church of Enlightenment,” which referenced a male wanted for murder.
Deputies tracked Taylor to a sparsely populated spot near the intersection of Coachella Canal Road and Beal Road in Slab City, officials say.
“At about (7:45 p.m.), Imperial County Sheriff’s Office personnel and FBI agents moved to where Taylor was camping,” the report states. “Taylor was located inside a blue tent and arrested.”
He did not put up a fight, the report indicates.
Why Taylor fled to Slab City has not been revealed, but the unincorporated community of squatters is notorious for having “no connection to the main power grid, no trash or water services, and a general lack of basic amenities,” Roadtrippers.com reports.
“The isolated desert community was created by transient, freedom-seeking people like these, all living off the grid in trailers, tents, lean-tos, and broken-down school buses in a remote patch of the Sonoran Desert,” the Roadtrippers says.
“Streets are made of hardened dirt, most structures are built from salvaged materials, and packs of dogs roam.”
Slab City covers about 640 acres and is located about 50 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, which may have been Taylor’s intended destination.
Investigators have not said where he was going or why he was in Slab City.
Taylor is charged with three counts murder and one count concealment of death, CMPD says.
Investigators have yet to report a motive in the killings.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 6:50 AM with the headline "Charlotte triple-homicide suspect fled to notorious off-the-grid ‘city,’ CA cops say."