Deschutes County prosecutors have said the mother of accused murderer Randall Kilby was the only witness on the day her son used a hatchet to kill a roommate at their home on Granite Drive in Bend.

But during her testimony in Deschutes County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Darlene Allen said she remembered little about the homicide or what she told police on March 21, 2021, the day they found the bodies of Jeffrey “Jeff” Taylor, 66, and Benjamin “Benny” Taylor, 69, in her home. Each died from hatchet blows, prosecutors say.

She, like the others, was using methamphetamine at the time of the killing, she explained in court. She often answered questions Wednesday by saying: “I don’t recall.”

Jurors heard opening statements and witness testimony on Wednesday in the trial of Kilby, who is charged with first- and- second-degree murder for each of the Taylors in one of the region’s most heinous alleged crime sprees.

Kyle Pearson, a Deschutes County deputy district attorney, told jurors that the state will prove Allen’s statements that day, using forensic evidence as well as testimony from people who spoke with her and surveillance footage from businesses that capture Kilby taking his mother on a long drive around town.

Pearson said that after Kilby was arrested that day, he told authorities he didn’t know what happened, that he hadn’t been in the house and he hadn’t seen his mother in hours. Then Kilby said more, Pearson told the court.

“He did admit to accidentally hitting the neck of Benjamin Taylor a few times,” Pearson said. “He did admit to accidentally hitting Jeffrey Taylor in the head a few times.”

Kilby’s defense attorney, Thomas Spear, argued in opening statements that the state’s case is built largely from “inconclusive” evidence as well as “sporadic” and “disjointed” statements from Allen.

“The state will not meet their burden beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Kilby intended to do those acts,” Spear said of the two homicides.

Prosecutors said neighbors saw Allen leave her home with Kilby on March 21, mouthing to one of them “help me.” At that point, her son approached and said, “It’s fine. It’s fine. She’s just had too much heat exposure,” Pearson told the court. Allen then ran from her son and toward another nearby neighbor, Eve Dreher, who testified that Allen was begging for help and saying her son had murdered two people.

“Darlene, did you witness this?” Dreher asked Allen while on the phone with 911, which was played in court. “You did. I’m sorry.”

Then, she said Allen climbed into her tree to hide.

Prosecutors also called Aaron Alexander, a Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office deputy who was working for Bend Police when he was called to the house. By the time he showed up at Dreher’s house, he said Allen was shaking and scared, but told him two people had been killed in her house and that he could go inside.

He did, alongside additional Bend Police officers. They found Jeffrey Taylor’s body beneath a blanket in one bedroom and Benjamin Taylor’s body curled up in a ball, sandwiched between his night stand and his bed.

Alexander testified that he then went and spoke with Allen, who told him that after she witnessed one of the killings, Kilby turned to her and spoke.

“You better shut your f****g mouth, or you’re next,” Allen said her son said.

Allen told Alexander that she had heard a beeping noise, which was Benjamin Taylor’s heart monitor going off, signaling he was dying. Allen said Kilby then drove her around in Jeffrey Taylor’s Chevy Tahoe for 12 hours before they returned to the house.

Pearson said the two remained in the garage until the following afternoon, when Allen convinced Kilby to let her out for fresh air and a walk.

Bend Police arrested Kilby after his mother ran away and asked neighbors to call 911.

The killings occurred just over two months after Kilby was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Daphne Banks, 43, on Christmas Day in the same home on Granite Drive where the Taylors were killed. She was hospitalized with a serious head injury and later died when her family took her off life support. Kilby has been charged with murder in her death and faces another trial, scheduled for Jan. 9.

Bend home where 3 people allegedly murdered burns overnight