Dateline: The Necklace - Who was Taylor Wright and what happened to her? Disturbing details of the 2017 incident, revealed 

In 2017, a chilling murder case shocked the community when the remains of missing private investigator Taylor Wright were discovered on the family property of Ashley McArthur, a former crime scene technician. Dateline: The Necklace aired the episode on April 23, 2021 describing the entire case.

What made this case even more disturbing was that McArthur had spent $34,000 of Wright’s money before her death.

Taylor Wright, a 33-year-old private investigator and former police officer, was reported missing on September 7, 2017. A week later, on September 14, her girlfriend, Casandra Waller officially reported her missing, saying she hadn’t heard from Taylor since September 8.

Law enforcement secured a search warrant for a farm on October 9, 2017. Within two hours, they uncovered the remains of Taylor Wright. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was wrapped in a hammock, and had been buried under gardening soil and concrete.

Before disappearing, Wright had confided in her girlfriend that she had given a large sum of money to Ashley McArthur, a close friend, for safekeeping in a safe deposit box. Wright was in the middle of a divorce and needed the money for legal proceedings. However, she had trouble getting it back from McArthur.

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Dateline: The Necklace - The last day Taylor Wright was seen

On the morning of September 8, 2017, Wright and McArthur met so Wright could retrieve her money. She was last seen texting her girlfriend until 11:20 a.m.. After that, her phone went silent.

Worried, the girlfriend called McArthur, who claimed that Taylor couldn’t answer because she was riding a horse. Later that evening, Waller received a text from Wright’s phone saying she needed time to clear her mind. However, this was the last message ever sent from Wright’s phone.

On September 18, McArthur spoke to Pensacola police, claiming she and Wright had driven around town before heading to her family property in East Milton to ride horses. McArthur said they were there for about an hour before heading back home, and when she came back outside, Wright was gone.

However, phone records told a different story. They showed that McArthur was actually in a completely different area, Beulah, during the time she claimed they were at the family property.

A month later, on October 19, police searched McArthur’s family property on Britt Road. There, they made a gruesome discovery, a shallow grave covered in concrete. Inside, they found human remains along with a necklace that belonged to Wright.

Investigators also learned that McArthur’s cousin had been contacted by her on September 8, the same day Wright disappeared. McArthur had asked if he would be home that day. The cousin told her he would be away at a funeral, meaning the property was empty at the time.

As detectives dug deeper into McArthur’s life, they uncovered shocking details about her past. She and her family owned a business that rented jukeboxes and pool tables to bars, splitting profits with bar owners. However, she had been secretly stealing money from the business and cheating bar owners.

To hide her fraud, McArthur allegedly set fire to the business to destroy financial records.

But that wasn’t all.

Investigators found that Wright had withdrawn $100,000 from a joint account with her ex-husband as part of their divorce battle. Out of that amount, she entrusted $34,000 to McArthur. However, instead of keeping the money safe, McArthur spent it lavishly on expensive gifts for a man she was having an affair with.

When Wright demanded her money back, McArthur panicked, since she had already spent it. Authorities believe this is when McArthur decided to kill Taylor Wright to cover up her crime.

Prosecutors presented all the evidence to the jury, proving that McArthur had both motive and opportunity to commit the crime.

In the end, McArthur was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, with 25 years before parole eligibility.

The tragic case of Taylor Wright is a haunting reminder of how greed and betrayal can lead to devastating consequences. A woman she trusted as a friend ultimately became her murderer. Wright’s life was cut short over money, leaving her loved ones heartbroken and searching for justice.