Prosecutor: Man wrapped woman's face in duct tape because she was keeping him awake

Tammy Wiley was found dead by family members on July 4, 2016, face down on her bedroom floor.

The 54-year-old woman’s face had been completely wrapped in duct tape, “from her chin to her eyes,” prosecutors said.

Her arms were behind her back, as if someone had pinned her down with her arms behind her, according to testimony.

She died from asphyxiation, prosecutors said, from choking on her own vomit because her mouth was completely covered with the tape.

Prosecutors say it was Wiley's neighbor, Kayle Taylor, who had wrapped Wiley’s face in duct tape. He lived upstairs from her in the building on Section Road in Roselawn.

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“She was making noise,” Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Jackie Stachowiak said during opening statements Tuesday in Kayle Taylor’s murder trial. “She was keeping him awake.”

Taylor, 29, according to Stachowiak, worked midnight to noon shifts as a security guard and slept during the day.

He is charged with aggravated murder and aggravated burglary. The trial began Monday with jury selection in Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Steven Martin’s courtroom.

One of Taylor’s attorneys, John Kennedy, said cellphone records show Taylor was at work during the time Wiley died.

Her death, Kennedy told jurors, was caused by her drug use. He said Wiley had a lethal dose of fentanyl in her system as well as a drug that increases the effects of fentanyl.

“Tammy Wiley wasn’t murdered,” he said. “This was a drug overdose.”

It was also revealed during opening statements that Wiley had Stage 4 cancer and was taking medications, including the powerful pain drugs oxycodone and fentanyl.

But she was known to chew on fentanyl patches and also used crack cocaine, her sister, Victoria Walker, testified.

Wiley had cancer in her jaw, neck, face and ear, and experienced continuous pain, Walker said. Wiley was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

"She complained about a lot of pain," she said.

Wiley had lost her hair and weighed about 100 pounds.

According to testimony, a man known as "Tennessee" who shared the apartment with Wiley found her body. He had known Wiley about 20 years, Walker said.

Kennedy pointed blame at that man, noting that he didn’t try to help her or even call police. Instead, Kennedy said, “he left and then contacted her family about it.”

Walker and her son found Wiley's body the early morning of July 4, 2016. She had been dead at least 24 hours, according to Kennedy.

Stachowiak said Taylor's shoe print was found inside her home. A roll of duct tape that she said matched the tape used to wrap Wiley's face was found in Taylor's unit.