NFL Scout Poisons Pregnant Girlfriend - Jade Benning & Blaise Taylor

A 24-year-old pregnant woman suddenly dies during a date night with the father of her unborn child. Her death was originally thought to be an accident until it was revealed that she made a frantic final phone call moments before police arrived, pointing the finger at her killer. This is a very recent case. The trial just concluded it has also been quite a controversial case. It seems like people just cannot agree if Blaise Taylor is guilty of murder. This is the death of Jade Benning and her daughter Ivy. My name is Brianna, and I'm hot on the case. Before Blaise Taylor was at the center of a heavily publicized murder trial, he was a star football player from a big football family. Blaise is the son of Trooper Taylor, a very well-known college football coach for Arkansas State. Blaise and his sister Star were born in Wico, Texas, but moved around a lot due to their father's football career. The brother and sister duo were extremely ambitious. They would even start their own non-profit together while in their early-to-mid-20s. And the children were definitely raised to know that football in this family was life. And Blaise would certainly follow in his father's footsteps. After being the star player on his high school team, Blaise got a full scholarship to play at his father's team at Arkansas State, where Blaise would be the team captain all four years. Blaise wasn't just impressive on the field, he was an amazing student. Blaise would actually make history as the first FBS player in the entire country to earn his bachelor's and his master's degree in less than four years. He's that rare combination of both. It's just humbling and it's an honor just to know that I was the first to do something with so many great people I've came before me and kind of paved the way for me to do what I do. After graduating college, Blaise was definitely still in the football world. He would actually coach at Duke University before becoming an NFL scout for the Tennessee Titans. For this job, Blaise would move to Nashville, Tennessee. And by all accounts in his entire life, Blaise Taylor was a lady's man. He did not have any trouble with girls and some would even say that Blaise was known to date around and would sometimes date more than one girl at a time. Blaise was also on dating apps at this time, like most guys in his 20s and it was actually in January of 2022 that Blaise would match on hinge with the woman named Jade Benning. Jade Benning was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was a cheerleader growing up and she always had this big smile that would just light up any room that she walked into. It was this beautiful, contagious smile. Everyone that knew Jade would boast about how charismatic, kind, bubbly, and sweet she was and how she could walk into any room and make a friend and she never knew a stranger. Jade would go to culinary school and she graduated in 2020 before moving to Nashville and working as the head chef at the Ernest Bar and Hideaway. And being a head chef definitely kept Jade extremely busy but she still somehow found the time to start her own very successful catering company called J.T.B. Eatery. Jade was friends with all of her co-workers, she was friends with all of her clients, she really just made friends everywhere she went and of course she was always feeding them because she was this amazing chef. She was also extremely close with her family even if they were back in Arkansas. She would speak to her mom who was in Little Rock nearly every single day on the phone and she was also always in contact with her best friend who also lived in Nashville. She had been best friends with her since she was six years old, Najaya Jackson. After matching with Blaze on Hinge in January 2022, the two would message back and forth for quite a few months before losing contact but then reconnecting and finally meeting in person in August of 2022. According to sources Blaze and Jade were just casually dating at this point, they really liked each other but there wasn't any labels on anything and it wasn't serious but it was about to get very serious very very soon. In early November 2022, Jade found out that she was pregnant. She would get confirmation at the doctors on November 3rd and then she would tell her friends and family and according to them, she was extremely excited about the pregnancy. The only thing that she was really worried about was telling Blaze that she was pregnant because they weren't in an actual serious committed relationship. They had only been seeing each other pretty casually for less than three months so she was kind of nervous about how Blaze would react to the news that she was pregnant and he was about to be a father. And when Jade told Blaze that he was going to be a father, he allegedly did not react well to this at all and he actually tried to convince Jade to terminate the pregnancy. But Jade was adamant from the moment that she found out that she was pregnant, that she wanted to keep this baby and she was going to raise her baby. So she told Blaze that she hopes that he will come around and will want to be in their child's life but she was certain that she was going to have this baby and she would do it alone if she had to. Allegedly, Blaze told Jade that if she wasn't willing to have an abortion, then he didn't want to have any involvement with her and he said that she would be a single mom if she chose to have this baby and he did not want her child to ever know him. Less than one week after finding out she was pregnant, Jade would send a text to Blaze and in this text message, she said that she thought it would be best if they cut contact and they cut ties at this point. She knows that he wants zero part of their child's life and she will let it just be that. She will not involve him at any point and will love their child unconditionally with or without him. And in my opinion, I think that Jade is being extremely mature about all of this. She tells Blaze that she is pregnant and she would love nothing more than for them to be able to co-parent together. But if he doesn't want to be in his child's life and have any involvement in their child's life, then that's fine. She's giving him an out. She said, "I'll do it by myself and I won't ask anything from you." She does let him know that at any point, if he ever decides that he changes his mind, that she will not hold any grudges and she will welcome him into her and their child's life with open arms. And if he wanted to come with her to any of her doctor's appointments throughout this pregnancy, then she would love that and she even lets him know some of the upcoming appointments that she has. But over the next few months, Blaze does cut ties with Jade. He doesn't contact her, he doesn't ask her anything about the pregnancy or the baby and he does not go to a single doctor's appointment. Jade, though, never missed a doctor's appointment. She loved being pregnant. She was so excited to be a mother and meet her daughter. She was going to be having a little girl that she actually planned to name Ivy. She took pictures with her ultrasounds. She did a many 20-week photo shoot to celebrate that she was halfway through her pregnancy. She would send all of these photos to her friends and her family and her coworkers. She moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Nashville on Lebanon Pike for her and her daughter Ivy. And Jade was also excitedly planning two baby showers on and around her upcoming 25th birthday. One in Nashville to celebrate with her friends and one in Little Rock to celebrate with her family. Like I've mentioned, Jade could not be more excited about this pregnancy and becoming a mother and she was coming to terms with the fact that she was going to be a single mom to her daughter Ivy. But then around the holidays, it seems like something changed. It was right after the new year, so now it's 2023. Blaze seems to have had a change of heart and he reaches back out to Jade to see if they can maybe make something work. It is pretty difficult to understand what their relationship status was at this point and over the next almost two months. A lot of people are very adamant that Blaze and Jade are not boyfriend and girlfriend and we're never boyfriend and girlfriend. But later in this case, in Bodycam footage, Blaze does refer to Jade as his girlfriend. Despite that though, it does seem like Blaze still wasn't 100% on board with everything involving the pregnancy. He did not want to announce to his family friends or his inner circle that he was about to become a father and he actually asked Jade if they could have a fraternity test done after Ivy was born. And that brings us to February 25th, 2023. Jade Benning is nearly six months pregnant. That day after work, she planned a special date night for her her emblaze at her new apartment. They were going to have dinner that she was going to cook and then they were going to paint Jade had gone out and she got two canvases and a bunch of painting supplies so her emblaze could paint some artwork to hang up in Ivy's nursery. It was such a cute idea and the night was going to be so special. Jade was actually planning to make a signature dish of hers which was chicken alfredo and it was apparently so well known that Jade made this dish extremely well that after telling her best friend nijaya jackson about her date night plans and the fact that she was going to make this special pasta her best friend nijaya actually asked if she could stop by and kind of crash Jade emblazes date night so she could come and pick up some of this pasta take home so at 6.48 pm nijaya and one of her friends from college named kionte actually come by Jade's apartment to pick up the food and blaze is already there they sat and they chatted for a little bit they talked about the paintings that Jade and blaze were planning to make for their daughter's nursery Jade says that she's planning to make this really colorful piece with different inspirational words on it and blaze says that he's painting or planning to paint a dark black hole what did you do when you got there we said hi and Jade started like packing up the food and she like put the foil on it put it in the bag and kind of set it off to the side and I moved a secture chatting about what they were going to paint Jade had a glass of like a pink drink and blaze wasn't drinking anything there was no cup in front of blaze what was Mr. Taylor doing where was he at the press um he was sitting beside Jade at the island and he was engaging with some of the conversations and he was just shuffling uno cards the whole time was anybody playing with no no um but he was shuffling cars and during that time did you did anything seem a nice to you nothing too alarming except the comment he made about his artwork that he was going to make because the whole basis of this project was to make something for the babies right here say okay I don't think she's got there yet but you are asked about what yes he said that he made a comment about the painting he was going to do what was his comment um I had asked like what they were going to paint and Jade was like I'm gonna make something for the babies room she didn't know what yet but she knew that's what she was going to paint something to hang in i dream and when I asked glaze what he was going to paint he told me he was going to paint a black hole and I was like a black hole and he was like yeah I'm gonna call it midnight the further you look the deeper you'll go I was like okay you know but I was like well why don't we just add like a little bit of white to the you know canvas to make it look a little lively lively and that was kind of that but it was a very dark demeanor about this painting after Jade said that she was going to make something for the babies room. Nigea and Keonte left the apartment around 730 to give the couple some alone time on their date night but that would not be the last time that Nigea heard from Jade that night. Jade emblazed sat down and had dinner together Jade also baked some chocolate chip cookies and then they sat down and did their paintings together and then after painting their paintings with her cell phone Jade would take some pictures of their paintings she also took some really sweet romantic pictures of her emblazed together but less than one minute after the last photo of Jade emblazed was taken something would happen to Jade and a few minutes after that Blaze would call 911 to report that Jade was unresponsive and throwing up and this was likely caused by some sudden severe allergic reaction. I don't know what you are going to talk to. With the 911 operator and the first responders that were now rushing over to Jade's apartment did not know at this point was that this was not the only phone call that was made this night. Less than one minute after she took those final photos with Blaze, Jade called her best friend, Najaya Jackson. When Najaya answered Jade's call, she says, you know, the typical things, hello, what's up Jade? But Jade would never speak directly to her best friend on this phone call. She never said hello, she never said her name, nothing directly to her best friend. But Najaya could hear Jade speaking. Jade was actually yelling and she was yelling at Blaze on this phone call. Words that would break this case wide open. What did you put in my drink? I knew my drink tasted funny. You're scaring me. I can't walk. I can't feel my legs. You put something in my drink to do something to the baby. The longer that this phone call went on, the more that Najaya could hear her best friend, Jade, her speech was slurring more and more and she was sounding more and more wavy, Najaya would say. And then after six minutes, the phone call disconnected for whatever reason, could you imagine how terrifying that would be to get a phone call from your best friend and that is the phone call. Did you stop anywhere where you got home? Yes. And where did you stop? A gas station. And what if anything happened while you were there? I was pumping gas. And as I was walking back to my car, I ate a phone call from Jade and I answered it and I was like, hello, just normal. And she immediately started saying, what did you do? Then I heard her say, blaze you're staring me and he was like, you're staring me. And she was like, I know you put something in my drink. She'd say, I knew my drink tasted funny. And she was asking you to empty his pockets and she was like, let me see what's in your pocket. Let me see. And she was like, I don't have anything. So this whole time, I'm like, Jade, Jade, like trying to get a response from her. So because I didn't get a response from her, I texted her and I was like, are you talking to me? What's going on? And then she was like, I know you put something in my drink because I can't even walk straight. She was saying that she couldn't feel her legs. And then she said it again and she was like, you put something in my drink. You did this so something. Sorry, you were just kidding me like maybe clean that just that I won't turn around. to be a feeling number one, but then let you call down your neck. - And you repeat the last thing that you heard James say. - She said that you did this so something could happen to the baby. - And she say anything else? - She was saying like, I'm about to pass out and then towards the end of the conversation. She was like, is key and then nothing else. - She was like saying it was very wavy and she was like, is I heard is and I heard with and I heard key. - And so I then merged key out and say on the phone because I'm like, I don't know what's wrong with Jay. - Like something sounds wrong, like listen to her and he's like, Jay, like I'm here and at that point you just really couldn't understand. - She was saying anymore. - And Jackson, I want to kind of go back at the beginning of the call when you could understand Jay. - And you described based off of your experience, how did she sound? - She sounded like very scared. She did not sound like herself. She sounded like she needed it. - Did she say she sounded like she needed help? - Yes. - Nijaya tries calling Jay back over and over and over again. And then finally someone does pick up Jay's phone. But it's not Jay. It's Blaze. Blaze is saying that he doesn't know what happened. Jay is, she's sick, she's unresponsive. He's about to call 911, he thinks it was some kind of allergic reaction. He's asking if Jay has nippy pen anywhere. Nijaya is frantic, she is so concerned. So she tells Blaze that she's already on her way over to Jay's apartment. Blaze and Nijaya get off the phone together. Nijaya is on her way over and Blaze makes that 911 call that you heard at the beginning or a little bit earlier in this episode. But Blaze, Taylor's 911 call, is strange for a few reasons in my opinion. He refers to Jay as his friend. But later that same night when speaking with police and hospital staff, he refers to Jay as his girlfriend. And that is strange. He's saying on this 911 call that his friend collapsed and he's at his buddies place. Something else very strange that people have pointed out is that he immediately jumps the fact that she's having some kind of allergic reaction. Even though Jay doesn't have any allergies, so it's a pretty like strange thing to immediately just jump that this is what's happening. If someone is getting sick or collapses, there is plenty of different reasons why that would might be happening. And I always think that in a 911 call, when someone immediately has a theory about what's happening without any real evidence for that, I usually do think that is pretty suspicious. But in this 911 call, while he's assuming that there's an allergic reaction going on, a severe sudden allergic reaction with Jay, he repeatedly says that there must have been something in the food. He keeps pointing fingers at the food. The food that Jay made herself. This is extremely significant to me and a lot of other people because we know that Jay was just accusing him of putting something in her drink. So it's interesting. He never mentions the drink, but he's pointing fingers at the food. It's like he's trying to already make this story up so he can kind of lead the investigation, the way that he wants it to go. But probably the strangest thing of all in this 911 call is at no point in this entire 911 call, does Blaze ever mention that Jay's bending is pregnant? Not that she's pregnant at all, not that she's pregnant with his child. And I feel like if a pregnant woman collapses, that would be the first thing that you would say on the 911 call. No, because first responders did not believe that they were walking into a crime scene. Unfortunately, that means that they did not treat Jay's apartment as a crime scene, and they did not close off the apartment as a crime scene. Unfortunately, that means that people would be coming in and out of the apartment, possibly contaminating the scene and disrupting or destroying possible evidence. And when first responders did arrive at the scene, the 24-year-old nearly six month pregnant Jay's bending did not have a pulse. Despite 911 operators asking Blaze to turn Jay's on her side in case she's owing up having an allergic reaction, when first responders arrived at the scene, Jay's bending was found lying face down on her bed. A pink foam was coming out of her mouth, and pink vomit had stained the comforter on her bed. And although her boyfriend would claim that she was having some severe sudden allergic reaction, no signs that you typically see in an allergic reaction were visible in Jay's bending. She didn't have a rash, and her throat and her tongue were not swollen in any way. Jay was given a dose of epinephrine in case she was having an allergic reaction. She was also given a dose of Narcan in case she was having an opioid overdose, but she did not have a reaction to either of these medications. After getting this disturbing phone call from her best friend in Nijia Jackson, like I said, rushed over to Jay's apartment, both her and Blaze would follow the ambulance to the hospital. And it was at the hospital that Blaze was interviewed for the first time by the police, and he stuck to the story that he had no idea what happened, but he assumed that she was having some sort of allergic reaction. So, I don't know. What happened there? So my girlfriend, she's obviously the worst, who are the worst. Yeah, oh my god, that's good. I was the last one to keep all the drugs together, kind of make noise, but before we're in, where or out of town in her place, her place is in there. Um, um, let's talk a little bit about Blaze. It's a new deal. She just moved there. Debye. Do you want to talk over there? So, she asked me if I wanted to date now, so she can tell exactly what the situation was. She asked me what the situation was, and she asked me if I wanted to date her. So, she asked me if I wanted to date her, and I asked her if I wanted to date her. I don't know, in the time of my club, you're already paying my own for that. And then, um, she started from the city. Um, I called my dad over there, so we said, "You know what we're saying to do?" And then he told me, "Come on, I'm going." I called him on the line, and then, um, literally got to the emesky pool or parents' room. I talked to him, and he said, "Okay, you know, the best times I've always thought of doing this kind of stuff." Yeah, she said everything to you, "I'll let you pass now." So, this really feels like she's singing, she feels good stuff. I was singing out there, and then, I panicked, you know, and I was like that. And then, he was like, "I haven't made a car, I don't want an emesky, that's why I didn't have such a date." It was like, really common. That's pretty common for everybody. Jade's family, immediately after getting the news, made the six-hour drive from Little Rock to Nashville to be by her side, while Jade not only fought for her life, but also fought for the life of her unborn daughter Ivy. But unfortunately, like I've mentioned, because first responders did not believe that they were walking into a crime scene when they got blaze tailors, not one call. The apartment was not properly sealed off. So the following day, concerned and confused family and friends of Jade's went into our apartment to try and figure out what happened the night before. And I truly do believe that they were doing this with the best intentions, but this did, unfortunately, compromise the scene and the evidence at the scene. They moved around, important possible evidence, even collected some items that they thought were important, so they could hand them over directly to the police. And this was definitely a huge blunder on the Nashville Police Department, and this was also a huge worry for the prosecution, going into a trial that the evidence I was collected at the scene was potentially all compromised. Because there was a pink foam that was coming out of Jade's mouth, it is believed that that night she was drinking a pink lemonade that was found in her fridge. They tested the bottle, and there was nothing. of the ordinary and there was no drugs or poison in this pink lemonade that was in the full bottle in the fridge. And when police did go to Jade's apartment they could not find the drinking glass that Jade was drinking out of that night and to this day it has never been recovered. It's almost like it just got up and walked out of the apartment. At the hospital Jade was put on life support. She unfortunately had irreversible brain damage from a lack of oxygen and sadly two days later her daughter Ivy would pass away and Jade would tragically also pass away a few days later on March 6th 2023 on what would have been Jade's 25th birthday and also the day that she was planning to have her baby shower. A severe allergic reaction was ruled out as Jade and Ivy's cause of death and even Jade's best friend and her mom would both confirm that Jade did not have any allergies of any kind. So as more tests were being done to determine what caused this young pregnant woman and her unborn child to suddenly die, Blaze Taylor seemingly completely moved on with his life. Shortly after Jade and Ivy's passing, Blaze left Tennessee and he moved across the country to Utah. There he took a position as a senior defensive analyst for the Utah State University football team. And for the next year or so he was just living it up in Utah. He had this new job. He was making new friends. He was dating new girls. And the medical examiner would eventually rule Jade Benning's cause of death as a cocaine overdose. And would actually note the astronomically large amount of cocaine that was found in Jade's system. It was actually the most amount of cocaine that this ME had ever seen in someone's system in their entire career. And it's not like this was the ME for some small rural town with a small population. This was the ME that worked for a major city Nashville. So the fact that this was the largest amount of cocaine they'd ever found in someone's system is insane. I cannot stress enough how much cocaine was in this young pregnant woman's system at the time of her death. I'm also not sure how they were able to determine this but it is believed that the cocaine was consumed orally which is also extremely bizarre because I've personally never heard of anyone doing this substance that way or consuming a astronomically large amount of this substance in that way. It was also noted that the amount of this substance I was in Jade's system does not line up with recreational use. People do not use this much of this substance in one time. It's just not what people see even in cocaine overdoses. So that is already extremely suspicious but you pair that with Nijaya Jackson claiming that Jade called her and she could hear Jade screaming at Blaze accusing him of putting something in her drink to try and hurt the baby. And these are Jade's final words. So the ME rules Jade's cause of death as a cocaine overdose and also because of this lack of oxygen to her brain. But the ME does not rule Jade Benning's manner of death as an accident or even a homicide. Jade Benning's manner of death was and has still been ruled undetermined. In March of 2024, a year after Jade's death after believing they had enough evidence, the evidence was brought to a grand jury that indicted Blaze Taylor on murder charges. And on March 14th, 2024, Blaze was out driving around with the girl in Utah when he was pulled over and arrested for murder and brought back to Tennessee. Can I ask your name? Blaze. Blaze, I need you to step out of the car for me, okay. What's your last name? Taylor. You're gonna find your back for me, okay? What's wrong? You gotta warrant out of Tennessee for homicide. Blaze would enter a plea of not guilty and his murder trial actually began very, very recently in June of 2026. The prosecution's theory that they presented at the trial was that Blaze Taylor never wanted this baby. He made it very clear when Jade told him that she was pregnant. He wanted her to terminate the pregnancy and when she chose not to, he cut her off and then only reached back out to her because he had this motive of trying to get rid of Jade's baby. So during that date night that Jade had planned when Jade was either in the bathroom or of the room for some other reason without her knowledge Blaze dissolved a large amount of cocaine into her pink lemonade with the hopes of forcing a miscarriage. He then spent the rest of the night acting like nothing was wrong even posing in romantic photos with Jade and some of these photos are even holding up the paintings that they just made for their daughter's nursery fully knowing that his daughter would never be born. And he continues to pose in these very romantic photos with Jade knowing that the poison that would eventually kill her was in her system already during these photos. And then less than one minute after these final photos were taken, Jade will call her best friend. It's such a sudden switch from Jade's kissing up on Blaze in these photos. They're romantic, they're sweet, they're lovey-dovey, unless then one minute later she's calling up her best friend and screaming at him, accusing him of putting something in her drink to hurt her baby. And it would be Jade's own words that were really at the center of the prosecution's case. On that phone call Jade would say that Blaze put something in her drink that she knew it tasted funny and that he wanted to do something to the baby. The prosecution believes that it was not his plan to call 911 right away. He wanted more time to maybe clean the scene or figure something out, but he did not plan for Jade to call up her best friend. And that completely ruins his plan because now there's someone that would be able to testify that Jade knew that Blaze put something in her drink, which is honestly if she did not do that, I don't think this would have ever been solved, I have to be so, so honest. But now there was also someone else that knew that there was something wrong with Jade. So now Blaze was forced to call 911 before he was maybe ready to do so before he had planned to do so. One of the first responders I was at the scene when Jade was being loaded into the ambulance to be taken to the hospital would testify that at this point, Njaya, Jade's best friend, and Blaze, Jade's boyfriend were both there. Take a listen to this first responders account on the differences between Jade's boyfriend and Jade's best friend's behavior while Jade was in critical condition about to be taken to the hospital. And once you've got misbending in the truck, do you recall seeing anyone else? On scene, yes, once we got on the truck, we saw female. Can you describe to the jury with that female demeanor? It was like, yeah, she was very upset, very scared. It's very concerned about my spending, asking if she's going to be okay, asking what was wrong with her. She eventually started getting in the truck too, but we told her we can't have her in there. And so yeah, she was very, very concerned. And the female that showed up in Mr. Taylor's demeanor, can you describe the jury if they were similar or if they were different and also? They were very different. The female seemed, like I said, very concerned for the patient, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. And the male just felt like he was just more anxious and just trying to, like I said, be very handsy, like not wanting us to do anything, not wanting us to touch her, and he wanted to try to take over from us. At any point, did you see Mr. Taylor crying? Never. At any point, Mr. Taylor asked you if Ms. Ben English would be okay. Never. The defends would argue that there was nothing that could link blaze definitively to Jade's death. And the Emmy still hadn't even ruled. Jade's death, a homicide, her death was still ruled undetermined, but here they are at a murder trial. They would argue that place Taylor was in sports his entire life and he had been drug tested his entire life. And as far as we know, blaze has never done any drugs in his entire life. They would also argue that blaze had no criminal history at all, but he had no idea how to get coke. And there was no evidence of him ever buying cocaine. There's no text messages of him telling people that he was playing to do this or speaking with any dealers. There was no suspicious money withdraws before Jade's death. Most people nowadays don't carry around a large amount of cash out of time. And if we're to believe that blaze bought this huge amount of cocaine, everyone keeps saying it's this huge amount of cocaine that was found in her system. From my research, cocaine is an expensive substance, even just for a little bit. So it would seem to me that he would have to have a large amount of cash, but they looked at his bank statements and he did not make any large withdraws before her death. The defense would actually try and convince the jury that it was Jade that was a big partier and a big drug user and it was actually heard that purchased and did this cocaine herself, even while she was six months pregnant. And they would actually argue this theory because Jade, who was 24 years old before finding out she was pregnant, would occasionally like to go out drinking with her friends in Nashville where she lived on the weekends, and also potentially experimented with weed, out of all and mushrooms before finding out that she was pregnant. You know here that she was involved with mushrooms, that she would take mushrooms, and you will hear that she also trained a lot until she was dropped off the canvas. I cannot, won't use a hammock, and the reason she's telling you she cannot, won't use a hammock, is because of a sample of things surrounding this thing. I would argue that these things are very different and that a majority of people in their early 20s have likely experimented with weed and out of all, and that that is extremely different than taking more cocaine than a medical examiner in a major city like Nashville has ever seen in their entire careers while six months pregnant with a baby that she wanted. I don't get how you can compare that to using weed and out of all potentially while in college, but still, the defense would try to argue that Jade was just this huge drug user. It's important to note that in the home there were no drugs of any kind, and specifically there was not a single trace of cocaine found in Jade's entire apartment when police finally did enter her apartment. The prosecution and Jade's loved ones would both deny this claim that the defense tried to make saying that Jade was the secret drug addict and would have done this large amount of cocaine herself leading to her and her unborn daughter's death. The prosecution would say that everyone that knew Jade knew how much she loved being pregnant, how much she loved her daughter Ivy already before ever even meeting her, how she was so excited when she found out she was pregnant, she was planning baby showers, she was taking maternity photos on her Pinterest account, she already had an inspiration board on how she was going to decorate her daughter's nursery and all she ever wanted to talk about was her daughter. Jade never missed a single doctor's appointment and even on the day of her death, she was painting this colorful, beautiful photo to hang up in her daughter's nursery while the man she accused of murdering her was painting a black hole. There's also absolutely zero evidence that Jade ever did any drugs or ever drank alcohol after fighting out that she was pregnant and there's also zero evidence that Jade ever did cocaine in her entire life, either pregnant or not pregnant. Blaze Taylor's defense would argue that you never know if someone in your life is an addict that addicts are really good at hiding the fact that they are addicts. They would also argue that it wasn't just cocaine that was found in Jade's system. There was also a chemical compound called coca-ethlene which is the combination of cocaine and alcohol being consumed at the same time and this pokes holes in the prosecution's theory potentially because this would now suggest if the theory that the prosecution gave was correct that not only did Blaze secretly spike Jade's drink with a large amount of cocaine but also alcohol which is a little confusing especially if he's trying to get her to consume this entire drink if his plan is for her to drink this drink so it does do something to the baby if he wants her to drink this entire drink so that the effect that he wanted which was forcing a miscarriage why would he also dose her drink with alcohol because Jade would definitely taste alcohol in her pink lemonade. There's a very strong flavor to alcohol and she was also a chef meaning she had a more refined palate than the average person already so this fact definitely lines up more with the defense's theory that Jade was doing drugs and drinking while pregnant and this was just a tragic accident and overdose. The prosecution would counter this again not only stating that Jade did think that her drink tasted funny tasted weird but they also argue that Coca-F-lene could have been in her system from a mix of the cocaine but also the vanilla extract that was in the cookies that she baked that night for her date night with Blaze. I'm not sure how accurate that is if vanilla extract would give the same effect as alcohol and the defense definitely thought that this vanilla extract theory was a wild theory that made no sense. This fact that there seems to be evidence of alcohol in Jade's system at the time of her death is something that honestly doesn't make sense to me personally with either theory the prosecution or the defense's theory because I personally don't think it makes sense that Jade would be drinking while she was pregnant but I also don't think it makes sense that if Blaze wanted Jade to drink this drink to force a miscarriage that he would have also put alcohol in her drink as well because I feel like one sip she would immediately think that there was something wrong with the drink. The defense would also make the claim that when Nijaya and Kiyante were over at Jade's apartment picking up that chicken Alfredo that Blaze actually asked the two of them if they wanted to stay for the rest of the night and actually play like cards and games with him and Jade and if he's planning to put cocaine in Jade's drink why would he invite two more witnesses over if he's planning to do that because now there's three people he needs to make sure is out of the room of this small apartment for him to secretly dissolve a large amount of cocaine in someone's drink that doesn't really make sense when Nijaya Jackson took the stand it was an extremely emotional testimony she had been best friends with Jade since she was six years old and she heard her best friend's final words and those words were filled with so much betrayal and fear and this was the most compelling testimony that a jury could ever possibly hear someone under oath testifying to Jade's final moments and Jade trying to catch her own killer Nijaya believes that her best friend Jade did not call her on accident she does not believe that this was an accidental but dial she believes that her best friend wanted her to know what Blaze was doing to her and her baby so that he would not get away with it for me personally probably one of the most shocking parts of this entire trial was when an ex-girlfriend of Blaze's tailors took the stand this was a woman named apple denny and her testimony would suggest that what happened to Jade Benning was not an isolated incident but was a part of a disturbing pattern of Blaze tailors apple and Blaze met and started dating in 2016 as college students and in January of 2017 at 19 years old apple found out that she was pregnant with Blaze's child Blaze did not believe that he was ready to be a father but apple also did not believe that she was ready to be a mother so apple would terminate her pregnancy Blaze and apple would then later break up and that same year Blaze would start a new relationship with another young woman named Xavier Winford and then in the summer of 2017 the same year that Blaze got apple pregnant Blaze comes to his ex-girlfriend apple and tells her that he also got Xavier pregnant and he was absolutely panicking Blaze is telling his ex-girlfriend apple who was just pregnant with his baby earlier that year that he's gotten this new woman pregnant and he wants her to terminate the pregnancy but Xavier was considering keeping the baby and this really upset Blaze Blaze would ask apple details about her abortion asking if she got the surgery or if she took the pills and actually asked her if she would be able to get him abortion pills so he could secretly put them in Xavier's drink without her knowledge to force her to lose her baby and this is a conversation that Blaze Taylor is allegedly having over five years before Jade Benning dies before Jade Benning dies after accusing him of putting something in her drink without her knowledge to do something to her baby apple claims that she told Blaze she would not get him these pills it would actually not even be possible for her to get him these pills for him to put in another woman's drink she then claims that Blaze started using his phone to google different ways to force a miscarriage and looking at different things that he could put in Xavier's drink to force her to lose her baby apple then claims that Blaze asked her to call an abortion clinic pretending to be Xavier and book an appointment for Xavier to get an appointment without Xavier's knowledge and then he would spend the time before the appointment trying to convince Xavier to get an abortion, and then when she would agree, they would already have this appointment lined up so there wouldn't be time for Xavier to change her mind. And Apple did agree to make this appointment pretending to be Xavier, and as far as Apple's aware, Xavier did end up going to this appointment and terminating her pregnancy because Blastaylor wanted her to. Very erratic, he was upset, didn't want to have a baby with her, so he was telling me this was something that he couldn't do with that in different reactions than he had when you told him you were pregnant, but you did not want to keep the baby. Yes, it was like flipped, like how I was like, "Can't act the first time around," and he was freaking out when I was her, asked me if I could get the abortion pills and you could make her take them or put it in a drink. Did you do that? Did I get the bill? No. Was that even, not saying that you would agree to do that, but is that even possible? No. And did you explain that to him? Yes. And you said that it went over a couple of days, did he talk about anything else that he might be able to get to a normal drink? Yes. And the things that he was mentioning, how did he get the information? He said he was looking stuff on his phone. I couldn't see what he was looking at, but he had got his phone in his hand. And this would not be the last time that Xavier Winford was brought up during this trial. After getting a hold of Blaise Taylor's phone records, turns out the day before Jade and Blaise had this date night planned and the day before whatever happened to Jade happened that would lead to her and her daughter's death, Blaise was actually texting Xavier Winford. These texts were Blaise telling Xavier not to doubt him or the relationship that everything was going to work out that he loved her and he just wants them to be happy together. And remember, the very next day is whatever happens to Jade that leads to her death. And later that same day, Blaise refers to Jade as his girlfriend, but the day before he's telling another woman how much he loves her, not to doubt their relationship that everything's going to be okay. What does he mean by that? To me, it seems like this adds another possible layer of motive for Blaise Taylor to want Jade and Jade's baby out of the picture. And then after Jade's and Ivy's deaths, Blaise would continue to date Xavier and she is actually the woman that is allegedly in the car with Blaise when he's arrested in Utah. It would take a jury only two and a half hours to come back with their verdict in this case, which is not a lot of time, especially in a case like this, that in my opinion isn't 100% cut and dry. And the jury would come back that Blaise Taylor was guilty of all charges, which included the second degree murder of Jade Benning and the first degree murder of her unborn daughter, Ivy. And the conviction for these charges does hold a life sentence, but whether or not Blaise will receive a life with or without her role will be determined at his sentencing hearing on September 9th, 2026. But even if Blaise does receive life with the possibility of parole, he will not be eligible for parole for 51 years, meaning he'll be 81 years old at the time that he is released on probation if he gets it. I have seen so many different opinions on this case and on Blaise Taylor's conviction, there is a lot of people that believe that he is 100% guilty. There's also a lot of people that believe that he is guilty, but that there wasn't enough evidence to prove his guilt. And there's also a lot of people that believe that Blaise Taylor was 100% innocent. The difficult part of this case is that there's actually no real, solid evidence of Blaise Taylor's guilt. There's no DNA evidence for forensic evidence, physical evidence, there's no real witnesses, there's no digital evidence. There's not a single thing, but still he was found guilty of two counts of murder. The most damning evidence in this case is definitely that phone call with Jade's best friend and also the testimony from Blaise's ex-girlfriend. But these are two testimonies that cannot be 100% confirmed. There's no recording of this phone call. There's no text messages between Blaise and ex-girlfriend discussing how he wants to also put something in the drink of another pregnant woman five years earlier. That being said, I personally believe 100% Nijia Jackson and Apple Denny's testimony. But I can also understand people that have a hard time sentencing a man to life in prison when I was the only evidence against him. In my opinion, I believe that Blaise Taylor is guilty. I really do believe that he is guilty because I believe Apple and Nijia's testimony 100%. But do I believe that the prosecution proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt? That I'm not 100% sure on. I personally believe based on Nijia and Apple's testimonies that if those are both 100% true which I believe they are, that that is enough evidence for me personally to believe that Blaise is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But I understand, like I said, why that would not be enough for maybe somebody else. But it was enough for the jury in this case. But I know for so many people out there that if there's not any DNA or physical evidence or digital evidence, that is extremely hard for those people to believe that someone is guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. So I would be so extremely interested to hear all of your thoughts and opinions on this case and on this verdict. Jade Benning really did seem like an amazing person and such a wonderful family member daughter friend and it's a tragedy that she will not be here and that her daughter will not be here. So please always just remember to be respectful in the comments. While in the comments, I would love to hear all of your thoughts and opinions on this case and verdict. I would also love to see what case you want to see me cover next. I'm always grabbing case suggestions for my future episodes directly from your comments. Thank you to everyone that suggested that we cover this case for an episode of Haunt in the Case. I do know that place Taylor is planning an appeal process so I will keep you guys all updated if something like that occurs. But that is all I have for this week's episode of Haunt in the Case and I will see you guys on next Friday when we are Haunt in the Case once again.