Ex-college football star Blaise Taylor allegedly pressured girlfriend to get abortion before cocaine poisoning

Former college football star Blaise Taylor allegedly pressured his pregnant girlfriend to get an abortion – before poisoning her and their unborn baby to death, jurors heard during his double-murder trial this week. The 30-year-old ex-Arkansas State player faces four counts of murder after prosecutors say he intentionally gave Jade Benning a fatal dose of cocaine inside her Tennessee apartment on Feb.25, 2023 – killing her and the couple’s unborn daughter. Benning, who was five months pregnant when she died, had previously sent a chilling text message to a close female friend that appeared to reference Taylor’s alleged push for her to end the pregnancy.“I’m going to tell him today that I’m not having the abortion…so he can just get it out of his head,” the message stated, according to an investigator who read it aloud from the witness stand Thursday. Benning referenced Taylor’s alleged concerns with becoming a father in a second text message heard by jurors. “You said how you felt and stated that moving forward you want no part, so I will let it be that,” reads a message she sent Taylor three months before her death, local news outlet WSMV 4 reported. “I will not involve you at any point.

I will love this child unconditionally with or without you,” her text continued. Taylor’s defense team told the court that he reached back out to Benning, saying he wanted to work on their relationship, roughly two months after she sent that message. Prosecutors argue that Taylor’s unwillingness to become a father was what drove him to allegedly serve Benning the deadly drink at her Nashville home – then falsely tell 911 operators she was suffering from an allergic reaction as she lost consciousness. EMTs reportedly found an unresponsive Benning face down in her bed when they arrived about 20 minutes after that call. The unborn baby, who was reportedly going to be named Ivy, died in the hospital on Feb.27, 2023. Benning died days later ...