Crime & Safety
Man, 75, Charged With Murder Of Ex-Wife: Fairfield PD (Updated)
The accused forced his way into the home with a gun and fired at the victim, police said. He is being held on a $2 million bond.
FAIRFIELD, CT — A 75-year-old Fairfield man is accused of shooting his ex-wife to death in a home on Catamount Road on Sunday night. Police responded to a 911 call from a home on Catamount Road at about 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 3 and found a serious domestic assault took place inside the home and quickly took the suspect, James C. Taylor, into custody, according to Capt. Robert Kalamaras. Catherine Taylor, 70, of Redding Road in Fairfield, was found dead at the scene when police arrived.
James Taylor, of Redding Road in Fairfield, was charged with murder, attempted murder, home invasion, first-degree burglary, third-degree assault and illegal discharge of a firearm. A Superior Court judge set his bond at $2 million at his arraignment on Monday and continued the case until Feb. 19.
News12 Connecticut reports Taylor and the victim had been divorced for 20 years but had recently been seeing each other. The couple recently had a dispute in which the victim accused Taylor of stealing her car, according to the Hartford Courant.
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Police found the car at a mutual friend’s house and didn’t make an arrest, saying there appeared to be a disagreement about who the car belonged to, the Courant reports. As a result of the argument, Catherine Taylor moved into her son’s home, which was nearby, according to the Connecticut Post.
The Post reports that while she was at her son’s home on Catamount Road, Catherine used an app on her iPad to track her ex-husband’s movements and it showed that he was walking around the building at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday. She asked her son to police and moments later he heard glass breaking, screaming, and a gunshot and found James Taylor holding a rifle and standing over his mother’s motionless body, according to the Post.
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The stepson then fought with Taylor and struck him several times in self-defense while calling 911.
Read more at the Connecticut Post here.
Pictured: James C. Taylor, 75, of Fairfield / via the Fairfield Police Department
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