$400 car debt at heart of Bibb County murder trial

On the night he was killed, Walter Henley had been sitting on the back porch of his Lizella home.

His wife had died several years before, leaving him with three daughters still at home to raise.

Latoya, 14, was in her older sister Janet’s room that night, dancing to music on the radio. Janet, 16, was at a friend’s house. The youngest, 12-year-old Geneva, was watching TV in the living room.

She answered a knock at the door and told the man outside that her father was on the porch. She went back to watching TV.

After hearing arguing and seeing her dad come inside briefly to retrieve his phone, Geneva heard what she thought was light bulbs breaking.

Geneva, now 15, testified Wednesday that she now knows the sound was gunshots.

She went to the back porch and saw Henley with multiple wounds. She told her sister to get towels and call 911. The rising seventh-grader tried to stop the bleeding.

Her father never regained consciousness, but Geneva said she spoke to him before he died.

Asked what she told him, she said, “I loved him.”

Testimony began Wednesday in the trial of 32-year-old Nathan Taylor, one of two brothers charged with murder in Henley’s Aug. 18, 2012, slaying at his home on Fulton Mill Road.

In her opening statement to jurors, prosecutor Sandra Matson said the 59-year-old Henley was killed over $400.

A mechanic, he’d sold two cars to a friend who, in turn, sold the 1963 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1964 Chevrolet Impala for scrap, she said.

The cars, it turned out, belonged to Taylor and his brother, 37-year-old Nicholas Taylor.

Matson told jurors that phone records showed Nathan Taylor called Henley and his friend numerous times in the days leading up to Henley’s death, demanding money for his car.

Henley’s friend became concerned and met Nathan Taylor at a gas station on Aug. 17 -- the day before the killing -- to give him some money.

Matson said just before he was killed, Henley called 911 to report people were at his home, and he wanted them to leave. Jurors listened to the call Wednesday.

Nathan Taylor later confessed to the killing, telling police details about the crime that only someone involved would know, she said.

His lawyer, Jonathan Waters, said Taylor only confessed after having a meeting with two of his brothers and his father.

He thought all three brothers were going to jail unless someone said something.

“Nathan Taylor didn’t do it,” Waters said.

Waters told jurors that Taylor was at his grandmother’s funeral until 11:30 p.m., well after Henley was killed.

Charges still are pending against Nicholas Taylor. Although charges initially were filed against a third brother, they were dismissed later.

Testimony in the case is set to continue Thursday.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 6:03 PM.