Mark Waugh case: What happened in DC apartment?

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biomed grad student Raul Gupta shares a tiny studio apartment on the 16th floor of this upscale high-rise with girlfriend Taylor Gould a physics researcher for the US Food and Drug Administration the young couple and roles good friend Georgetown Law student mark wall are out on the town in Washington DC's trendy Dupont Circle it started as a happy occasion I was a birthday celebration for Rahul Gupta another friend Josh White joins the group at a local bar to celebrate the occasion it's a night of hearty laughs and heavy liquid consumption rolls topped off the booze with some earlier hits from the bomb there's a lot of drinking going on bye-bye all of the parties involved it was considerable especially you know in this cold case just before 2 a.m. Josh heads home while this security video shows mark Raul and Taylor returning to the couple's Silver Spring apartment you see them come in together and you know they're there like any three young people who've been out they've been at the bars then they're acting a little intoxicated but there doesn't appear to be the kind of tension that's gonna erupt but something goes terribly wrong once they're inside the apartment Taylor makes a call to 911 one could hardly call it frantic any police fire or medical in fact Taylor is disturbingly vague my friend is I just he's here tonight I need emergency right now okay what is going on that you need the police what is happened I don't know why did you call 9-1-1 what's going on nothing you're not answering my question but I need to talk to somebody who will work or you want one who want you to answer for I need you to tell me why you called so I can make sure I'm sending the correct help there'd be long pauses on the 911 where she just wouldn't answer at all or she would just give the same answer over and over again the way that you've been answering questions something's not right you need to tell me what's happening I don't know I just need someone here there's one what do you mean there's blood everywhere what's what happened I don't know who is bleeding I don't know I just want them in here what does the 9-1-1 call tell you it was very disturbing it was 9 to 10 minutes long I think that was as long as anything that happened in the apartment was her 9-1-1 call even more perplexing the dispatcher can hear an angry voice in the background yeah I'm here okay I need you to talk to me because I don't know what the helling on and all I hear is people saying to get off of me you hear Taylor giving very bizarre unresponsive answers she puts the phone down several times she moves away from the phone having no idea what to expect police raced to the apartment and discover a scene your camps there was blood all over the apartment they had miss gold answered the door with blood on her they observed mr. Gupta lying next to mr. wall and then they quickly realized that mr. Gupta was still alive but mark wall would suffer a different fate lying in a bloody pool his body riddled with stab wounds we are talking about a person who is bathed in blood there were defensive wounds there were jugular injuries he died savagely Taylor Gold's body blood-stained her mind distressed Taylor's boyfriend Rahul Gupta is just plain aggravated they're each being interrogated at the Montgomery County Police Department right for you you can lose your roles high school buddy mark wall an Eagle Scout champion debater and Georgetown Law student is dead savagely knifed to death in the cumple studio apartment in Silver Spring Maryland there were 11 stab wounds there were five or six that were the important or fatal woes the other five or six were characterized as defensive forms a night of heavy partying and utter inebriation turned deadly inside the 500 square foot efficiency murder occurred in a very very small room when the individuals were in this apartment they would have been in relatively close proximity but somehow neither owl nor Taylor knew what happened or so they say during this police interrogation your veteran homicide detective Paula Hamill knows how to play the mental chess game that comes with interrogating witnesses even when those witnesses are brilliant scholars were they truly memory impaired blackout drunk covering for each other lying or some sort of twisted combination detective Hamill hadn't yet pinned it down that had to be frustrating I really had a difficult time with her and with mr. Gupta because I think they were both so deceitful throughout the entire interview process that it made it very frustrating to try to grasp on to any little bit of truth detectives are going in circles trying to figure out who killed mark wall this is when they try something very unique they decide to put Taylor and her boyfriend Raul into the same interrogation room to see what would be revealed we wanted to see if it caused any type of spontaneous statement or utterance from either one of them with regards to what really might have happened inside the apartment I don't know I don't know I'm freaking out okay I don't know go out there and tell them that I want my lawyer if I don't get a lawyer and then I'm going to go out there and tell them that what did you learn by doing that we don't learn anything I don't think we were any further ahead when we finished having them together than before we put them together it's back to square one but in time detective Hamill notices cracks in the armor what are the last time you checked if Hamill asks rolled that question for a reason she's discovered that lovebirds raul and taylor had it exactly been cooing over each other in recent months there was a lot of tension there was some information we later gathered about the fact that mr. Gupta and her relationship was not a completely satisfying relationship on a sexual level investigators wonder if that unhappy relationship may have played a part in Mark's murder what were some of the issues in their relationship the issues stemmed mostly from her flirtatiousness with other men and I believe they're drinking a couple of Raoul's friends had had experiences where they believed that roles girlfriend Taylor had been hitting on them flirting with them to the degree that they were uncomfortable remember Rose bar-hopping birthday gathering in Dupont Circle the night before and the other friend Josh white who had joined the group for a while listen to what Josh told detectives about Taylor [Music] in fact josh says he felt Taylor was shooting some flirty vibes his way that night he says he felt uncomfortable and unsure what to do well nobody wants to say hey the girlfriend your parent leave arey close with is hitting on your friends but Taylor insists it was Josh who was making the moves on her so she turned to Marc for advice like what do I do Ramos friend I don't know what to do so Taylor claims she was so uncomfortable with Josh's alleged advances and the tension brewing with Raul she just wanted to go home there's some confusion about exactly who was flirting with who and this resulted in a disagreement do you think that was a pivotal point in the evening and that's why they all decided to part ways I do think that it broke the evening up Josh splits from the group Taylor and Raul leave the bar and head home with Marc tagging along Taylor tells police Marc wanted to comfort and advise her about the flirtation issue he wanted to a talk me through the whole Josh thing was really freaking out but some find it curious that Marc would come back to the couple's apartment just to counsel Taylor about Josh first of all if there had been an issue with Josh he was now removed from the situation and certainly there were a lot of opportunities for people to talk about this later so why was Marc there and how did he end up dead a young man who is a good friend of yours died a violent death inside your very small efficiency apartment I find it very hard to believe that you didn't hear it see it in there what happened there attractive brilliant successful 20-somethings but could they possibly be millennial murderers Raoul Gupta's close friend mark wall had been knifed to death in the apartment Raoul shared with his girlfriend Taylor gold mark hua is a wonderful young man this is an Eagle Scout kid who's been accomplished at everything he's ever done the Georgetown Law student had been partying with Raoul and Taylor in DC's popular Dupont Circle but that evening came to an abrupt halt when Taylor accused another friend Josh white up hitting on her at the bar causing tension with Raoul according to police Taylor told Raul she wanted to go home and she wanted mark to come with them Taylor wanted to bring mark back to the apartment because she believed he could advocate on her behalf - Rahul that she wasn't flirting with this other guy who was with them security cameras capture the three returning to the couple's apartment what does that surveillance tell you in the elevator mark is kind of making funny faces and nobody appears to be angry nobody appears to be fighting but behind closed doors a disturbing drama is unfolding Taylor calls 9-1-1 but it's a mysterious exchange full of critical omissions okay why did you call 9-1-1 okay I'm trying to understand what's going on there's clearly another voice yelling in the background it's raoul gupta still Taylor tries to convince the dispatcher she's by herself who else is in the house with you right now it's just me no there's nails in the house too who are they my hold on you have a friend dying in front of you blood all over the place obviously this person has been stabbed if you mentioned nothing about that on the 911 call correct she mentioned nothing about that and you could hear mr. Gupta in the background yelling obviously heard mr. Gupta we're having some kind of an argument when police arrived mark is dead at first the couple puts up a united front of ignorance mark is dead what yes okay oh my god what happened so that's what Clues cops can't get from Raoh and Taylor they find from the grave mark cellphone reveals troubling tension in the apartment before he's killed he texts a friend to a 1:00 a.m. quote my night is becoming historically awkward to 19 a.m. quote I'm about to gnaw my hand off so I can leave in the ambulance finally at 2:55 a.m. awake I need help he was in their bathroom at the time yes he made the statement about being a awkward situation that makes me wonder if maybe miss Gould was making some type of on him were you in bed with mark at all during the night no sex with Mark anything happen at mark during the night detective Hamill is a little harder but now she's armed with an interesting police photograph the police got your help like you weren't wearing this you had like a white t-shirt on and like pink I'm kind of surprised I wore that Inferno police discover another outfit tailors red dress and bra that she wore out that night they found that red dress there but it's got blood stains all over it you just can't explain like clearly I you know interacted with the body because I had blood on me right I just don't know when it happened police discover strands of hair on the murder weapon in mark's hand and stuck to the bloody wall how is that explained or was it ever linked back to her as my understanding it was a long blonde hair and the only person had long blonde hair was Taylor's and another curious discovery under Mark's body when he was rolled over still stuck to the back of his jeans on that little square of leather was a perfectly stuck unharmed soft contact lens that was Taylor's prescription still charged with nothing tailors recollection of events or lack thereof we've serious red flags the flirtation the unanswered questions about her hair and her contact lens her bizarre behavior on the 9-1-1 call and the fact that she changed clothes she had a pair of shoes and she had her car keys on top of the blood and all of the pictures taken by the police support that these items had to have been put after the bloodletting what do you think she was doing it appears she was trying to leave the apartment for what purpose I can't hazard a guess at this point there's only one thing detective Hamill believes for certain I believe that she knows everything I believe that she knows what happened and I believe that she knows why it happened and I believe that she saw it happen and why she chose not to tell us I can't explain Raul Gupta is trapped in a police interrogation room I can't keep you here yes I can in a holding cell when do I get to go like when do I get to and here he is he's being told by detectives that there's your friend from childhood is dead mr. Gupta expresses no sadness at all his response is he's tired he's hungry he wants to go home he wants to take a shower perhaps roll was expecting the Ritz but there's no room service here in the Stark steel and concrete confines of the Montgomery County Police Department Raul Gupta and his girlfriend Taylor gold were the only other people in their postage stamp-sized apartment when Mark wall was hacked to death with a kitchen knife mark was stabbed 11 times he died a very violent death and he didn't die right away he did die a very violent death yes Raul's live-in girlfriend Taylor insists her alcohol saturated memory has failed her she didn't really definitively say she didn't do it she in fact said that she didn't know what had happened that she was blacking out during the incident and she even said that she didn't want Gupta to be accused if she had done it or if there was evidence that she had done it Taylor's booze induced memory loss was her boyfriends gain raul seized the opportunity to weave a story rich with veiled accusations his girlfriend the intended target but as soon as I found out that Mark had even sort of punctured here I tried to stop the bleeding I tried to give him CPR I kept telling tell you to call the police and he is explaining he is minimizing he is shifting blame and he is very intelligent so I wasn't surprised that he made that decision then Raul becomes even bolder with his version of events something happened between Tamar and then mark was bleeding out it appears Taylor is being thrown under the proverbial bus when we all three of us got back to the apartment okay like did it be clear because and did you see them kissing or touching no no they just just the way they acted yeah the body language and I and I could just look the other way and at some point mark then Raoul goes in for the kill listen closely it was a stunning accusation Raoul Gupta riding out his own girlfriend putting the knife in her hand he felt like something was going on with you guys what you screamed you start screaming and that he turned around and that mark was on the ground bleeding I mean what reason would you have to hurt mark you didn't wake up to like him crying what are cops to do they've got Taylor's blank memory Raul's adamant denials they're both in an alcohol fog and there's no proof that either are lying blood and hair evidence is useless because both Taylor and Raul live in the apartment I think the most interesting part about this case is that there was no significant material evidence that pointed to either Taylor or Rahul being the killer investigators comb through every detail of the case and become intrigued by one of the 11 stab wounds this was a stab wound from the back that went 7 inches into the body of mr. hua it actually chipped a bone as it entered his body it was strike one for Raul miss Gould at 5 foot 100 pounds worth physically incapable of having been the person delivering that blow then a critical revelation investigators believed Gupta had the psychological wiring that could lead to murder I know an ex-girlfriend that said that he became a different person when he was drinking I know that that girlfriend had roommates who wouldn't allow him to their shared house any longer because they didn't feel safe a motive for Mark's murder now seemed easy for cops to nail what do you think the motive was jealousy jealousy jealousy then came a bombshell and a recorded jailhouse conversation between Raoul and his father the phone call is a golden nugget for police and prosecutors Raoul admits to a fight with mark and he appears to say he got the knife then the Fort Knox of motive in the form of a telling accusation Gupta is charged with murder and during the trial not open two cameras he continues with his fantasy explanations the story that he gave was so unbelievable I mean it was just absolutely incredible that he had bumped his head he had fallen down and that somehow during the time that he was laying on the floor an unprompted murder was committed by his inebriated girlfriend while Raoul continues to blame Taylor she testifies for two days and does not back down from her claims of memory impairment but Taylor never blames Raoul then the jury hears what is potentially a nail in the coffin for Raoul according to court documents Raoul told cops when they arrived at the scene of the murder quote I walked in on them cheating and I killed my buddy and I think that that was probably the most honest statement that he made that entire night but Raoul quickly recanted his confession after sobering up claiming he was only trying to take the fall for his girlfriend the wheels in his head are turning and he's coming up with a way to try and get out from under the criminal liability that he knows is coming but even the handsome young intellect couldn't outsmart the jury it took less than five hours to convict Raoul Gupta a first-degree murder the man with the gold plated future he was on his way to being a superstar in life he was a brilliant bright kid is now a falling star what is his sentence he received life what motivated this killing was his own petty jealousies about his own inadequacies and the fact that she was looking possibly for someone else to satisfy her sexually Raoul's defense argues the jury's decision is unwarranted do you believe Taylor is the person who killed Marc I don't know I believe that the evidence in the apartment about her behavior that night should have made the jury find regardless of what they found her involvement to be there were just too many questions about what Raul's involvement was and he should have been found not guilty raul Gupta has exhausted all state appeals his life sentence stands Taylor has never been charged crime watch Daly tracked down the woman at the center of a tragic murder hoping to hear her story in her own words Taylor could you talk to us for just a moment I'm Michele Sedona from crime watch daily we were doing a story on the Gupta case and wanted to hear your side but the secret will remain locked up forever just like the man Taylor once loved Taylor Taylor the fact that she wasn't charged with anything doesn't mean that I personally don't believe that she has some culpability and what happened I just believe that her culpability doesn't rise to a level of a criminal nature but I think it is a hard memory for her to live with for the rest of her life here to break down the legal aspects of this hazy case is attorney and crime watch daily legal contributor Jesse Weber thanks as always Jesse for being here thanks brother man a lot of the evidence here is circumstantial we see a lot of convictions where there's strong circumstantial evidence the problem in this case is you have two suspects one victim in the suspects apartment their DNA their clothing is already all gonna be all over the apartment regardless and then you have two people that know what happened no other witnesses so it's gonna be he said she said who do you believe the problem for a rule is those 11 stab wounds particularly the stab wound in the back the one that went seven inches into marks back who are you gonna believe did this roll was a pretty strong guy or petite tailor it's gonna look like rule let's talk about Taylor story here or the lack thereof her story was bizarre her answers were bizarre she provided a terrible performance to the police when they told her that mark was dead Meryl Streep would be very upset at her from looking at this happen but even despite all that I could see why Raul was found guilty and was not acquitted and the reason was because he didn't keep his mouth shut why do you think Taylor was not charged in this case those evidence was so much more strong against rule that he did the actual stabbing I'm not surprised she wasn't charged for murder I am a little surprised that she wasn't charged at least there's an accomplice because as I said her story was bizarre her answers didn't add up she lied to the police initially about being alone in that apartment so you could see maybe she was somehow aiding and abetting then again it is about that mental state did she voluntarily and knowingly contribute to this crime did she a DIN this crime or was she blacked out I really think it should have been brought to a jury she should have been charged them to such an effect absolutely Jesse Weber as always thank you for your insight into this case

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Channel: True Crime Daily

Views: 441,695

Rating: 4.6927443 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Waugh, Rahul Gupta, Taylor Gould, True Crime Daily, Crime Watch Daily

Id: u7BKjp3EfXQ

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Length: 28min 45sec (1725 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2019

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