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Custody Battle the Cause of Teacher's Stabbing?
The LA Times is reporting that the stabbing death of teacher Kellye Taylor on Friday afternoon could have been sparked by her role in a custody dispute involving her grandchildren.
Steven Brown was arrested a few blocks away from Orizaba Park in Long Beach where Taylor was stabbed in the neck. It turns out that Taylor and Brown were in the middle of a custody dispute.
Brown is the biological father of three of the five children in Taylor's custody. According to the LA Times Brown repeatedly referred to Taylor as the "informant" in court papers after he claimed she told social workers that he was an unfit parent and her daughter that she'd be better off without him.
Since May 2006, social workers had received a number of calls alleging that Brown and Tia Taylor had neglected and physically abused the children in a rat-infested home, court papers said. In 2010, Long Beach police described the home as debris-strewn and devoid of food except for two cans of SpaghettiOs.
Nearly a hundred people showed up to the park Saturday afternoon to remember Taylor according to the Press Telegram.
A small group of teens in the park stopped playing and walked over to the crowd and respectfully listened to family members recount stories about Taylor and her life. “I heard about it, and man, that was just cold-blooded and unnecessary,” said one teen who did not want to be identified. “I heard this was over custody. Well, he sure ain’t going to get custody now.”
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