Brutal murder case goes to jury

A jury today began deliberating the fate of Rodrick Taylor, accused of murdering a 19-year-old former Milton cheerleader during a violent struggle, stuffing her body in a closet for several days, then dragging her body to Franklin Park, dousing it with gasoline and setting it on fire.

Prosecutors charge Taylor, staying in Dominique Samuels's Roxbury apartment as a guest of a roommate in April, 2006, turned on her radio to make it sound like she was home after he'd killed her and before he decided what to do with her body.

Deliberations come after six weeks of testimony in the case in Suffolk Superior Court - where another jury is also considering the case of Terry Gray, charged with killing his stepfather and his aunt's boyfriend in Jamaica Plain, several years after he was released from jail for stabbing a teenager to death.