A Bend man charged with killing three people is about to face the first of two trials, bringing to the courtroom — and public scrutiny — one of the region’s most stunning criminal cases.

The trial of Randall Kilby, 38, is scheduled to begin in the Deschutes County Circuit Court on Tuesday. He is charged with first- and- second-degree murder in the deaths of brothers-in-law Jeffrey “Jeff” Taylor, 66, and Benjamin “Benny” Taylor, 69. He faces life in prison.

“It’s a very important case for our office and the community,” Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels said Tuesday. He declined to comment further.

Bend Police found the bodies of the Taylors on March 21, 2021, in the home they shared with Kilby on 60971 Granite Drive. Prosecutors have alleged they were killed with a hatchet.

The killings occurred just over two months after Kilby was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Daphne Banks, 43. Police found her on Dec. 25, 2020, unconscious in a detached garage in the same house on Granite Drive, where she’d been living. She was hospitalized with a serious head injury and later died when her family pulled her off life support.

Kilby was arrested and then released as authorities continued to investigate Banks’ death.

Kilby told police that Banks fell and hit her head. Prosecutors allege he attacked Banks and have charged him with second-degree murder.

Kilby has pleaded not guilty in each case.

Family braces for trial

“We’re not happy that it’s taken so long and that we’re now having to dredge up all this pain and trauma,” said Chantel Taylor, Jeffrey Taylor’s daughter and Benjamin Taylor’s niece.

In an interview Tuesday, Taylor and her fiancé, Matthew Rasmussen, criticized the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office for its decision to release Kilby after Banks was hospitalized. They noted Kilby had a lengthy criminal history that often found him a free man.

“He kept getting released repeatedly, and it allowed him to walk the street and hurt these people,” said Rasmussen.

Former Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel previously defended his office’s decision to release Kilby. He said that doing so was necessary to ensure a conviction as the investigation unfolded.

Murder suspect brought fear to neighborhood long before slayings

Murder suspect brought fear to neighborhood long before slayings

The couple said they hope Kilby is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“If he had the opportunity to be paroled at some point, I’d be terrified if he was walking the streets, said Chantel Taylor, 43, of Redmond.

They described Jeffrey and Benjamin Taylor as caring people who helped neighbors and their community, Kilby among them.

Chantel Taylor said he was living with her father after being released from jail on suspicion of crimes before Banks’ death. He was trying to help Kilby “get his life back on track” because he “believed in second chances,” she wrote on a gofundme page.

“My dad loved helping people and that’s exactly how he got into the position where Randall was living at his home,” Taylor told The Bulletin.

Thomas Spear, Kilby’s defense attorney, declined to comment.

Facts of the case

The Taylors lived with Kilby and his mother, Darlene Allen, in the home in the Romaine Village subdivision on Bend’s south end, authorities have said.

Allen was walking with Kilby on March 21, 2021, when she mouthed the words “help me” to another person, who called 911, prosecutors have said. Then, she ran to a neighbor and explained someone had been killed in the house and her son was involved.

Suspect in Bend double homicide also charged in previous death

Suspect in Bend double homicide also charged in previous death

Allen indicated to authorities that her son had held her captive, forcing her into his car and driving around before they went home, prosecutors have said.

Allen allowed authorities inside the house, where they found the two bodies, prosecutors have said. She told police she’d witnessed the death of Jeffrey Taylor the day before, prosecutors have said. Police found him walking nearby and arrested him.

Later that day, according to court records, Kilby spoke with authorities while in custody. Authorities previously said Kilby took responsibility for the deaths of the Taylors.

In an interview with Bend Police Sgt. Whitney M. Dickson, Kilby made “statements about what happened to the Taylors,” according to court records. Judge Annette C. Hillman, the presiding judge in Crook and Jefferson counties, recently ruled that Kilby’s statements to police about the Taylors could be presented before a jury.

Judge excludes Bend man’s statements from trial in slaying of woman

Judge excludes Bend man’s statements from trial in slaying of woman

In that interview, Kilby also reportedly told police that he hit Banks in the head before her death. Hillman has since ruled that those statements cannot be heard by a jury because he should have had an attorney present at the time of the interview.

The case involving the Taylors will be prosecuted by Aaron Brenneman and Kyle Pearson of the Deschutes County District Attorney’s office.

Gunnels said that opening statements could begin as early as Tuesday afternoon. The trial is scheduled to go through Dec. 15.

Chantel Taylor said she hasn’t decided whether or not she will attend the trial. She’s concerned about seeing what happened to her family.

Kilby’s trial in the death of Banks is scheduled to begin on Jan. 9.