Police Stop Calling Ben Fawley ‘Person of Interest’ in Behl Case. Really? Or Did They?

In a situation that sounds all too familiar, the AP is reporting that Richmond Police no longer consider a 38-year-old Richmond man a person of interest in the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Behl.

Richmond police spokeswoman Cynthia Price says police initially called Ben Fawley a person of interest in Behl’s case because they wanted to interview him. But they’ve done that, and NO longer classify him as such.

Last week, police said they had several persons of interest in the case. Price says that now they have none.

Fawley was arraigned Monday on 16 counts of possession of child pornography and ordered held without bond. Police raided Fawley’s apartment last week and took several computers and C-s, according to a search warrant.

As also reported by NBC4 it could be a matter of semantics rather than anything else. No really really believes that Ben Fawley really isn’t a suspect in the disappearance of Taylor Behl do they?

However police spokeswoman Kirsten Nelson said it’s a matter of semantics. She said Fawley is still someone police are interested in and that he’s “still a part of this case.”

Police said Fawley was initially called a person of interest because they wanted to interview him.

However, unlike the comparable case of missing teen Natalee Holloway, Benjamin “Skulz” Fawley, is held in jail without bond on other charges. The noticeable difference from the well publicized Aruba case is that authorities have held “Skulz” on other charges while most are sure they will be questioning him on the disappearance of Taylor Behl. Maybe Aruban authorities could have done the same with other charges as well?

Bond denied for man who knows Behl. He is held on child-pornography charges; search for student goes on.

Benjamin “Skulz” Fawley, 38 — a “person of interest” in the Richmond Police Department’s criminal investigation into Behl’s disappearance — was denied bond after appearing in Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court on 16 counts of possession of child pornography.

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Jagels said Fawley was in possession of sexually explicit movies depicting young children with adults when police search his home on Sept. 16.

Jagels told Judge Kimberly O’Donnell that there may be as many as 30 movie files discovered on computers confiscated from Fawley’s apartment, “some depicting acts with minors as young as 1 or 2 years old,” and others featuring “individuals 10 to 14 years old.”

However, The Richmond Times Dispatch does seem to continue to be referring to Ben Fawley as a “person of interest”.

The search for Taylor Marie Behl enters its fourth week today with a “person of interest” in the investigation into her disappearance in jail on unrelated charges and teams of police and family members growing increasingly concerned for her safety.

Related Posts: VCU Police Still Looking for Taylor Behl