At 4 p.m. Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a press release stating William Claybourne Taylor, 67, had been arrested in Greensboro, N.C. Taylor was wanted for first degree murder and aggravated battery for the January 8, 1977 murder of 64-year-old Archer resident Walter H. Scott and the shooting of then-Williston Mayor Eugene Bailey.
Advertisement
A man wanted for his involvement in a scheme to murder a Florida mayor was captured by the FBI Thursday, almost 40 years after the crime in Redisville. His return to Marion County to face his 1977 murder charges is now being arranged. The newspaper report says the victims’ vehicle veered into pine trees after the driver was shot. A masked man approached the auto and he pointed a gun at passengers in the vehicle. The auto crashed and then Eugene Bailey survived being shot once in the face, chest and stomach area, according to the Ocala Star Banner. He was hit in the face, chest and stomach area.
Two other men in the auto escaped unharmed, the newspaper reported.
The group had been on their way back from dining out in Ocala.
Ray Taylor had moved to Tennessee and become a successful prosecutor, according to the paper, but was convicted in 1980 as chief planner in the plot.
Two years after Scott’s murder, the struggling attorney moved to Tennessee, where his luck changed and he became a successful prosecutor. Official said Taylor shot and killed the official during an attempt to kill the former mayor.
Media reports say the third man, believed to be the driver of the auto from which the shots were fired, testified against Ray Taylor in exchange for a manslaughter conviction and was sentenced to 15 years of probation.
Taylor never appeared in Ocala to surrender. Taylor was arrested five days later in Chattanooga, Tenn., but released on a $20,000 bond.
Advertisement
Through the years, federal authorities continued to search for him, pursuing numerous tips. He was arrested Thursday in Reidsville, NC.
