Orlando Teneile Taylor, 35, is now charged with murder, rape and burglary in the home invasion
Prosecutors in Kansas City, Kansas have added a homicide charge against a man they have in custody, alleging his actions led to her death in a traffic crash.
Already indicted for rape and burglary, Orlando Teneile Taylor, 35, is now facing an additional murder charge in the August 18 home invasion that ended with 39-year-old Shannon Eileen Keithley dead in a single-car crash in Kansas City, Kansas.
Kansas law includes in the definition of first-degree murder the killing of a human being ‘in the commission of, attempt to commit, or flight from an inherently dangerous felony’.
‘She was panicking, that’s for sure’ when the crash occurred, father Richard Keithley told the Kansas City Star.
Shannon Keithley, who repaired musical instruments for a living, was home alone in the early hours of August 18 when someone kicked in the back door to her grandmother’s house, where she had been living.
Shannon Eileen Keithley died in a single-car crash on August 18, just minutes after calling 911 saying she had escaped from a brutal home invasion and rape. She was 39
Keithley had been living alone in her grandmother’s house (pictured). The back door was found kicked in, and Taylor was discovered crouched in hiding under the back deck by police
What happened in the home and how long it lasted remains unclear, with much of the evidence against Taylor under seal for now.
But around 5am, Keithley escaped from the house. A kitchen knife was later found in her driveway, suggesting she fought for her freedom.
Keithley made it to her car and called 911 as she sped away.
Less than a mile away at 5.09am, her SUV collided head-on with the concrete pillar of an interstate overpass, killing her.
She was not wearing a seatbelt, something friends said was highly out of the ordinary.
Keithley died when her SUV collided with these concrete pillars as she desperately fled after calling 911. Prosecutors have thus far declined to press murder charges in the case
Officers responding to her 911 call found the suspect Taylor crouched in hiding under a wooden deck behind her house.
Before Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree made the decision Thursday, Keithley’s family and friends had been vocal about their desire to see Taylor charged with murder.
‘Shannon was stolen from us,’ Angelia Savorelli, the victim’s sister, told the Kansas City Star newspaper. ‘Stolen and murdered. She was such a gracious, giving and vivacious person.’
The DA office contacted Keithley’s family on Thursday evening and informed them of their decision.
Word quickly spread to Eileen Keithley’s close friends, including Gail Henry, who had crusaded for the additional murder charge from the beginning.
‘I felt like she was pushing me to do something,’ Henry said. ‘I think she knew someone would fight for her.’
‘I cried when I got the text,’ Henry continued. ‘She was such a simplistic, loving girl. She deserved this. She deserved justice.’