Former Manatee Sheriff's Deputy Charged With Killing Wife

A former Manatee County Sheriff's Office deputy has been arrested in Missouri and charged with killing his wife in Bradenton in 2008.

Robert Taylor, 55, served as a Manatee corrections deputy from 1994-2007. He was arrested Tuesday at his home in Gravois Mills, Mo., and charged with second-degree murder, according to a sheriff's office report. Two detectives from Manatee County flew up to Missouri assist Morgan County deputies in the arrest.

"We knew he was up there," sheriff's office spokesman Dave Bristow said. "We've been steadily building a case against him."

Taylor was scheduled to fly out of St. Louis on Friday and be accompanied by Manatee deputies on his way back to the area, according to the Morgan County Sheriff's Office.

Morgan County Sheriff James Petty said his office was contacted Monday by the Missouri State Highway Patrol about the pending arrest. Petty said Taylor, who had been living with a fiancee he met on the Internet, was arrested without incident.

Taylor's wife, Pamela, was found dead on Sept. 11, 2008, at her home in the 7300 block of Caladesia Drive in southern Manatee County after sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a drowning. Taylor told them he woke up that morning and found his wife dead in the swimming pool.

An autopsy showed Pamela Taylor suffered several injuries caused by blunt force trauma.  The Medical Examiner’s Office initially ruled the cause of death as drowning and the manner of death as undetermined, but after further investigation it was ruled a homicide in November.

"Detectives believe Pamela Taylor was the victim of repeated domestic violence which ultimately resulted in her death at the hands of Robert Taylor," the release states.

Detectives interviewed Taylor several times after the incident, and each time there were notable inconsistencies in his statements, the sheriff's office said. Taylor told detectives there were no life insurance policies on his wife, but it was learned that Taylor had two policies, with one of them being applied for two weeks before her death.