Richard Taylor was financially motivated when he set his childhood home on fire to kill his mother and her husband, allege homicide detectives.Taylor, 42, was arrested Wednesday not far from Hess Street School where he is a teacher. Police stopped his vehicle on Barton Street, 15 minutes after the school let out.“We knew the route that he would take,” said Det. Sgt. Steve Bereziuk, the homicide investigator in charge of the case.Taylor has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the July 9, 2018, deaths of Carla and Alan Rutherford in Dundas. Police allege the murders were planned and deliberate.The couple was sleeping in their bed at 8 Greening Crt., a quiet, leafy cul-de-sac, when a fast-moving fire engulfed their bedroom around 3:45 a.m.Carla died in her bed. But Alan, despite burns to most of his body, managed enough strength to knock on a neighbour’s door trying to find help for his wife. He collapsed and died in hospital.“This fire was set with one purpose — to kill Alan and Carla Rutherford,” Bereziuk said in a news conference Thursday afternoon. Richard Taylor is the oldest of Carla’s children, and grew up in the Greening Court rancher with his parents and younger brother. Property records show Carla and her first husband, whom her son Richard was named after, bought the home in 1981.Taylor is a teacher, listed as the library, physical education and health teacher at Hess school. Last year he was listed as teaching Grades 2/3.His profile on the Ontario College of Teachers shows he was in good standing, and earned a bachelor of arts from McMaster University in 1998 before getting a Bachelor of Science in education from Medaille College in New York.Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board spokesperson Shawn McKillop said Taylor has been “reassigned effective immediately.” Any other questions were referred to Hamilton police.A letter that went home to Hess school parents Thursday said pol ...
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