Columbus woman found guilty of aggravated murder in death of 5-year-old Darnell Taylor
Photo: Greenscapes (file photo)A Franklin County jury found Pammy Maye guilty on Tuesday of aggravated murder in the death of 5-year-old Darnell Taylor, a boy who was in the foster custody of Maye and her husband when he was suffocated in their Columbus home in February 2024.
Maye, 51, was found guilty of aggravated murder, three counts of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. The jury deliberated for several hours on Tuesday before returning its verdict on all counts. Maye will be sentenced at a later date.
Her defense attorney, Sam Shamansky, did not dispute during the two-day trial that Maye killed Taylor on Feb. 14, 2024, by placing a garbage bag over his head and tying it closed in her Columbus home, then walking away for 10 minutes while he suffocated. He argued instead that she was not guilty because of a mental disorder.
"If I was in charge of the system, they wouldn't have such a verdict because it really doesn't fit," Shamansky said. "It should be guilty, but insane."
In closing arguments, Franklin County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Katherine Wolfe told jurors the killing was planned. "This was premeditated," Wolfe said. "She looked specifically for a black trash bag, slowly putting it over his head so he didn't know what was happening. She told detectives multiple times [that] she planned it."
Wolfe said Maye killed the boy because he had snuck snacks into his bed to eat the night before, and that she waited until her husband left for work the next morning. After he died, Wolfe said, Maye pulled the trash bag over his body and hid it in a closet, then washed the sheets. Later that evening she covered the license plate of her vehicle, hid Darnell's body in a storm sewer and told her husband what she had done. Wolfe said Maye then tried to stop her husband from telling police, covering his mouth as he spoke with a 911 dispatcher, before she fled the home.
Brooklyn, Ohio, police arrested Maye on Feb. 15, and she gave a detailed confession to Columbus police detectives in a Brooklyn hospital room, according to prosecutors. An Amber Alert had been issued for Darnell on Feb. 14, and his body was found in the storm sewer two days later.
The case took more than two years to reach trial. Maye was found not competent to stand trial last year and was sent to a psychiatric facility for treatment before being restored to competency. In July, she declined a plea deal that would have required her to plead guilty to aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse, with a potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or with the option of parole after 20, 25 or 30 years.
Dr. Daniel Davis, who performed a forensic psychological evaluation of Maye and testified during the trial, said she had a history of depression and bipolar disorder. Prosecutors highlighted that Davis also said Maye overreported symptoms during the evaluation and that there was evidence she was intentionally fabricating symptoms.
Shamansky argued that Maye may have understood her actions were wrong after the fact but did not when she killed Darnell. "Everybody agrees that Pammy is severely mentally ill," he said. "The question is: Did that mental illness deprive her of the ability to understand, at the time the act was committed, that it was wrong?"
The jury of four women and 11 men heard opening statements on Monday. Maye and her husband had been given legal custody of Darnell in May 2023.
Sources: The Columbus Dispatch, "Pammy Maye found guilty in killing of 5-year-old Darnell Taylor" (Nov. 10, 2026, full text verified); WSYX/ABC 6 Columbus, trial coverage and live verdict stream (Nov. 9–10, 2026); The Columbus Dispatch, "Opening statements begin in Pammy Maye murder trial" (Nov. 9, 2026). Event date verified: November 10, 2026 (jury verdict).
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