L.A. Now Live: Teacher’s killing possibly rooted in court battle
Discuss the slaying of Long Beach elementary school teacher Kellye Taylor and what court records revealed about her alleged attacker’s possible motive at 9 a.m. with Times reporter Richard Winton.
Police arrested Steven Brown, 50, on suspicion of murder in the killing Friday. He is the boyfriend of Taylor’s daughter Tia.
According to court records, Brown claimed that Taylor was an “informant†who told social workers he abused his children. The county confirmed the abuse and in March gave Taylor custody of five children — ages 2 to 17 — who had been living with Brown and Tia Taylor.
Long Beach police, trying to sort out a motive for the attack, are looking at the custody dispute between Taylor and Brown.
Brown is the biological father of three of the five children Taylor had in her custody. He was furious about having the children taken away, according to a lawsuit he filed in July against Long Beach police, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and several social workers.
He placed much of the blame on Taylor.
In court papers, he referred to her repeatedly as an “informant,†even writing the word in the margins of documents he filed with the court. He claimed she told social workers that he was an unfit parent and advised her daughter that she would be “better off without Steven Brown.†His suit sought financial compensation from the government agencies and the return of the children.
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