Richard Taylor told police murder victim caused fatal fire

Richard Taylor has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his mother Carla, and stepfather Alan Rutherford. They both died as a result of a 2018 fire at their Dundas home, which fire investigators at the time said was arson.

The jury was shown a police video where the accused suggested the killings may have been carried out by his stepfather, who was one of the victims.

The interview was conducted in January 2019, about six months after Taylor’s mother Carla Rutherford and her husband Al died.

Taylor denied having anything to do with the fire and pointed the police to Al Rutherford himself. Taylor suggested Al Rutherford could have benefitted financially from Carla’s death.

Carla Rutherford died in the fire but her husband Al was able to get out of the house and run for help, although he died a short time later.

Al Rutherford told neighbors, “don’t call Rich, he’s the one that did this.”