‘Sadistic’ Killer Gets Life In Beloved Marietta Man's Murder

MARIETTA, GA — A homeless man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty in the death of Richard Bell of Marietta. On Friday, Rickey Earl Taylor Jr., 31, admitted that in July 2016, he murdered Richard Bell inside Bell’s apartment on Windcliff Drive. Police discovered Bell’s body on July 8, 2016, while conducting a welfare check. Bell’s wrists and ankles were bound behind his body, and he had sustained blunt-force trauma to the head. His wallet, cell phone and computer were missing. Cobb's medical examiner estimated Bell, 59, had been killed as early as July 2.

Cell phone records led police to identify Taylor as a suspect, as he and Bell had exchanged about 50 calls and texts on the date Bell was killed. GBI analysis on the bindings also established a DNA profile that matched Taylor through the Combined DNA Index System.

A relative of Bell’s had requested the welfare check. On Friday, Bell’s cousin told the court how the Rich’s Department Store retiree and antiques dealer was always the life of the party, especially his 50th birthday party, which he threw at an Atlanta hotel.

“Friends flew into Atlanta from states far and wide,” Donna Bryan said. “He held forth from the podium with funny stories about each of his guests, from the times he had spent with them, dating back to his childhood. By the end of the evening we all had tears streaming down our faces and sat holding our sides from all the laughter Richard had brought to the occasion.”

Before Taylor was identified in Bell’s murder, he was arrested and charged with several home invasions and a double homicide in Gwinnett County.

“Taylor is one of the most sadistic criminals I’ve prosecuted during my career, having demonstrated a level of torture and depravity that is virtually unspeakable,” Deputy Chief ADA Jesse Evans said.

After accepting Taylor’s plea of guilty but mentally ill to murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault and robbery by force, Cobb Superior Court Judge A. Gregory Poole sentenced Taylor to the maximum sentence, life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He is scheduled to face trial next month in the double homicide in Gwinnett County, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if he is convicted.