Exactly what did Tiffany Taylor tell police about the nightmare she says caused her to accidentally knife her mother to death?
In Taylor's trial for first degree murder yesterday, TBI Agent Larry O'Rear played for the jury a tape recording of the statement the girl gave on Nov. 27, the day after the killing. In a very soft voice that sounds almost like that of a child, Taylor tells Agent O'Rear and Detective David Andrews about that night, beginning with someone tapping on her window and her fear that her mother would wake up and "somebody will get in trouble."
She first went to make sure her mother was asleep and then locked her own door before opening the window, planning to tell the person there (she denies knowing who it was) to leave, she says on the tape.
But her mother woke up and confronted her in her room.
From a transcript of the tape, here is the girl's account of what happened after that:
"She was really mad and was screaming at me about everything. I don't remember exactly what she said. She said a lot of "How dare you put my life in danger and your life in danger by asking people to come to our house in the middle of the night." And I was trying to tell her that I was asleep and didn't know anybody was coming or anything. I didn't ask anybody. She wouldn't listen to me.
"And she was holding on to both of my arms. Standing in front of me and shaking me and saying, "How dare you, I can't believe you would do this. I'm going to buy a gun and if anyone comes near here again, I'm going to kill them."
The two argued for a while then, and the mother made her come to bed with her in the other end of the trailer, Taylor told the law officers.
Here is the girl's account of what happened after the two were in bed:
"I would almost get to sleep or I would be asleep and she would just suddenly start screaming at me. Just over, like again, the same thing she said, "How dare you. I can't believe you would do this." Just start screaming at me, and I would scream back at her.
"It wasn't my fault he came and everything. I didn't plan anything or do anything. I was lying with my back facing her. And when she would do it, she would be like, "How dare you." And she would push me and I was getting annoyed that she would just keep doing that and then she would stop for a while.
"She would say, "Well, I don't want to hear what you have to say. I've heard enough." And she would be quiet for a while and I would almost get back to sleep again and she would do it again. And every time I would look at the clock, it would be maybe thirty minutes or an hour later and she was complaining about how she wasn't getting any sleep because of me and everything.
A little later in the night, her mother screamed out in a bad dream, and the girl woke and asked her (not saying it "very nice," she admits) what was wrong, and Teresa Parramoure said, "I was just having a bad dream. Leave me alone.
Continuing her story to the law officers, Tiffany Taylor said, "And I went back to sleep. I remember dreaming about somebody following me. I just remember having this dream about somebody who said they were going to kill me. And it was a bad dream. It was scaring me and everything.
"And about that time, and then she started saying it again, and when she grabbed me by the shoulders, I was still--I thought it was whoever. I still thought I was dreaming or whatever and there was a knife underneath the bed on my side because that is the side she usually slept on, and she was always afraid that someone would come in and break in because of how far back we lived.
"And since I thought it was the person in my dream, I thought I was dreaming. I grabbed the knife and I just, I like, I thought I was stabbing them, and I heard my mom screaming. I was just kind of sad. I was like, "Why is my mom screaming, you know, why is my mom screaming?"
"And then I heard her say my name and that is when I woke up and realized what I had done. I was like, "Oh my God." I was scared. I just sat there right beside her and she just--I was like, "Mom, Mom, I'm sorry. You know, Mom, are you going to be okay?"
"Because I was, you know, I was scared. I didn't want her to die. I didn't mean for, I didn't mean to kill my mom and she was, she was screaming. I remember the last thing she ever said. She said, "Jesus." And then she said, "Don't let my daughter go to hell."
"And I had her head, like in, I was holding her head up. She was--and then her head, you know, went limp, and she kind of rolled over and she stopped moving. And I sat there, you know, thinking she was just going to get back up. I was still totally blank. You know, I didn't believe that what happened really happened. I really thought it was a dream or something and I was going to wake up."
The girl goes on to tell of how scared she was and how she discovered her own leg bleeding and of leaving her mother's bedroom and then having to go back to that room when the phone rang.
And she tells of sitting and looking at her mother's body and wishing her mother was not dead.
"I sat there for a few minutes just looking at her (and) saying, "I love you, Mom. I didn't mean to do this. Oh my God, I'm so sorry." I was saying, "God please, please take care of her because I didn't mean to do this and she was a good person.
"I was just screaming, "Please, just give me another chance. Bring her back, and I'll never have an argument with her again. We'll never fight again. I'll tell her I love her all the time. I'll do everything I can, you know, to make my mom happy."