Our Story: The Monster Under The Bed

We live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had always thought it was a great place to raise a family (considering I was born and partially raised in Sin City, Las Vegas.) Eventually, I grew up in the South where you didn't need to be blood to be family, the Southern Hospitality way. I really envied my Husband, Daniel. He is the youngest of his family.. He grew up in a religious community as well as a small town within the big city of Salt Lake. Even now as adults, all of the siblings live within a 15 minute drive. Utah culture of community is a very different structure than Southern Hospitality, yet so similar.

My husband and I had bought his childhood home. Beautiful 5 bedroom rambler style. Everything seemed like a fairytale for our family. Daniel and I both have 3 children together and I have one from a previous marriage. We both take pride in working hard for our little family. We also like to give when and where we can.

Daniel had a friend he was childhood friends with since they were in Kindergarten. This kid lived in the neighborhood and they soon formed a posse of the 4 boys that always hung out. Daniel had known this group of boys for so long, that as he became and adult and we formed a family, they have become "Uncles" to our children. He had known this Monster (Known as Derek Taylor) all his life and never once had any reason to not have trust for him. Daniel and I both trusted Derek Taylor blindly, as if we trust our blood siblings and family. I mean, that was the Southern way. Family ain't always blood.

Derek Taylor and his fiancé had broken up one day. Derek was needing a place to crash for about 6 months until he could get back on his feet. We had the room, he was family. Derek stayed in an extra room. I wasn't always fond of Derek because there were times where I found him to be lazy and not productive. He was a self claimed Buddhist with his belief systems. He was the rough exterior kid with nerdy tattoos, the country boy beard, the punk rock mohawk and the perfect manipulative personality of laughs, jokes and good times.

(Pictured: Amanda and Daniel Earl's Engagement Pictures 2014)

Let's fast forward to now it being the current year of 2021. Daniel and I are expecting our 3rd child together. Daniel works in a high volume factory warehouse type work with cylinders and gasses. He has a night job as a CNA. I have two serving jobs myself, and we were quickly approaching the due date of February 28th (10 days to go!) On the morning of February 18th,2021 there was a knock on my door. There were two Agents who identified themselves. My first thought was Daniel had an accident at work. They asked if I knew Derek Taylor. He had moved out a little over 2 years ago at this point but Daniel had still kept in touch with his best friend. They insisted I needed to sit down as they started with the agency they worked for was for was Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.. They had arrested Derek just 2 days ago and had the following pending charges:

(3) Counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, 11 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, and 1 count of lewdness. He was detained at Salt Lake County Jail without bail. The Task Force and local police were afraid if he were to get bail, he would try to flee the State or Country and hurt more children.

(See Below the article published on Derek Taylors arrest and original charges)

The Agents has asked me if I could identify some pictures. I decided as a Mother, I needed to be brave and be the Mama Lion my children needed. I was able to identify the pictures of my child. I even was able to retrieve a nightgown that was shown in the picture, they obtained it as evidence. This had made so much sense as to why bed wetting, wanting to co-sleep, the night terrors and even speech delay was there. Daniel and I had assumed at the time it was because we had hit a rocky point in our marriage and contemplated divorce, we also had a new family member. We thought it was natural regression due to life changing events. We felt so blindsided and betrayed. The helplessness washed over. Instead of playing the guilt game, we knew we had to buckle up for this long ride for justice.

Many months have gone by where I am closely working with a local District Attorney and Victim's Advocate. My experience has been great, but playing the waiting game has been emotionally exhausting. Derek had tried to plea insanity, and kept postponing or rescheduling his hearings for pre-trial and sentencing. He knew he was screwed and tried all he could to escape with whatever excuse he could.

Yesterday on October 5th,2021 Derek Taylor was pleading guilty to (2) First Degree Felony charges. His felony charges carry 15- Life penalties. He gets minimum 15 years. My heart sank. I Why was he being held with no bail then if he was going to do 15, maybe 8 if he gets Parole. I was reassured that I would know all his court information, and he would be registered as a little red dot on my computer. They dropped the other charges because he is a first time offender, even though he openly admitted being sexually attracted to children and had been abusing children for years before he got caught.

We have court for his sentencing on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 at 1 p.m. and I will be able to read my victim impact statement to the Judge in hopes he can recommend a harsher (but unlikely) sentence. My heart is full, even now while sharing our story. The child porn he downloaded was child torture, bestiality and much more horrific things. These children didn't have a parent to protect them. I feel like I failed my child. Now, I am passionately researching and reaching out. I have discovered many things like how the State does not fund anything for victim healing, have leniency pedophile laws and sex registration laws as well as charging penalties like in this case.

Below is a link to sign a petition that will be sent to the Utah State Senate and Legislative branch in hopes it grabs their attention and they will reform their laws regarding cases and criminal charges like these. I am trying to build this website and will hopefully be able to post events like a silent protest, march to the Capital, petitions, and many more ways we can support children without voices. So please Contact US or explore this page to see where you would like to be involved. Lets Save Our Children.

#SaveTheChildren #BlusCluesSaveTheChildren