Tune into a new true crime podcast, Offender True Crime, beginning a deep dive into the Amanda Blackburn 2015 murder case in Indianapolis. I have been following this case from the beginning and have written several blog posts about it. In the first episode, I joined the hosts Mic Marlowe and Crystal McKenzie to discuss Amanda’s husband Davey Blackburn and the ongoing questions we have surrounding her murder. Listen below or here.
Ahead of the podcast launch, I went back through Larry Taylor’s court records. In 2018, Taylor requested access to Davey Blackburn’s book manuscript for review and for use of the law library for an hour daily. Taylor is appealing his September 2022 conviction. Taylor was found guilty by a judge in a bench trial after 7 years of delays. The additional defendants, Jalen Watson and Diano Gordon, accepted plea deals on lesser charges in exchange for their testimony against Larry Taylor. No DNA belonging to Taylor was found in the Blackburn home, despite the scene and crime being very violent with both physical assault and gunshot wounds to Amanda. The only defendant DNA recovered from the crime scene is that of Jalen Watson.
.
There are many questions surrounding this case that need attention. There is a Facebook page dedicated to the Amanda Blackburn Case that has contributed to the growing and sustained interest in this case. None of the three defendants have ever confessed to the murder of Amanda Blackburn. Larry Taylor is appealing his bench trial conviction.
Update 5/25/23: Larry Taylor filed his appeal on 5/22/23. The statement of the facts section is based on the trial testimony by the two other defendants, Jalen Watson and Diano Gordon, who took lesser pleas in exchange for their testimony against Taylor.
Two days before Amanda’s murder, her husband, then pastor, Davey Blackburn, used a gun to illustrate shooting someone on stage in his message about battling worry. He posted the video message to his church website on November 19, 2015, four days after her funeral.
.
.
Davey live tweeted his newly branded hashtag #nothingiswasted during Amanda’s funeral on November 15, 2015. He put this brand Nothing is Wasted on her headstone. In February 2016, just a few months after Amanda’s murder, Davey registered his business Nothing is Wasted Serendipity with the state of Indiana.
