Man accused of using fentanyl to murder girlfriend and her two children

After a North Carolina woman and her two young children were found dead from fentanyl poisoning in March at a Charlotte apartment complex, her boyfriend has been charged in their triple homicide.

Benjamin Joseph Taylor, 34, has been charged with first-degree murder and failure to report death in the killings of Markayla Johnson, 22, her daughter Miracle, 4, and baby Messiah, 7 months.

After Johnson’s family began receiving “strange text messages that they didn’t believe were from her,” investigators said, they reported her and her children missing on March 3.

Following an investigation by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) homicide unit, Johnson and her two children were found in bags with diapers and blankets over their faces, Law and Crime reported.

When authorities went to find Taylor a few days later, they learned he had left the state on a bus through surveillance footage, according to a probable cause statement.

Officers then obtained a search warrant for Taylor’s apartment on March 15, where they discovered Johnson’s body in a plastic trash can and the bodies of her two children in bags in the trunk of Taylor’s car, Law and Crime reported.

According to the autopsy report, Johnson and her children all had fentanyl in their systems, along with other drugs.

Taylor was later located and arrested in Imperial County, California, by CMPD and the FBI on March 16, according to a CMPD news release.

After his arrest on April 5, Taylor was extradited to North Carolina, where he was placed in the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.

At a press conference on March 16, CMPD Police Chief Johnny Jennings said, “It’s difficult for me as a police chief, when you look at the homicides that are happening in our city, nothing is worse than the homicides of young children and family members that we’re seeing and talking about today.”

He added: “We will do everything we can to ensure that we can bring closure to the family and justice to the person responsible for these murders.”

According to the autopsy, Johnson and her children moved in with Taylor from their South Carolina residence last year, Law and Crime reported.

Following his arrest, Taylor was denied bail on April 8, according to QC News.

Johnson’s mother, Markeysha Johnson, told WSOC-TV: “I just want to say I miss my baby. I miss my grandchildren. She was a good person and everybody knows Kayla would do anything for you. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve this. She was such a loving person. Everybody knew that.”

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