Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And the story I have for

you today is about a truly horrific death that you probably haven't even heard of. And

that's because our victim was experiencing homelessness. And for some reason, our society

has decided that we shouldn't give these stories national attention. We shouldn't become

obsessed with the outcomes of those cases. But we crime junkies don't buy into that.

This is absolutely a case you'll be obsessed with and furious over. This is the story

of Aaron Taylor.

It's Christmas Day 2007, a Tuesday. And despite the holiday, there is this strip mall in

Paradise Valley Village, which is a neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona. And it has no shortage

of customers thanks to a circle K convenience store on one end of the plaza. And that

thing's open 24 7. One of those customers is this guy named Nimoy. He's with a woman

headed to the circle K from his nearby apartment. And this is like 6.50 pm. And suddenly, the

both of them hear screaming coming from an open air breezeway, which is basically like

a walkway that separates some of the buildings. And it sounds like a man screaming, but they

can't really see what's going on until they come around the side of the subway sandwich

shop to a courtyard that has these concrete picnic tables and like benches. And something

is on one of those benches right next to the subway. And whatever it is is on fire. And

at first, they don't know what they're looking at, but they quickly realize that it is a

person engulfed in flames. Oh my god. Nimoy and the woman rush over to the circle K to

get help. There's actually a customer who's leaving the store and they like tell them,

listen, someone is on fire. We need your cell phone to call 911. Now, listen, the customer

had seen something burning when he drove into the parking lot, but he figured it was

...