Woman convicted on murder charge for crash that caused trucker to ‘burn alive’

This week, a North Carolina woman was convicted and sentenced for a 2018 crash that killed a semi truck driver.

On October 31, Jill Taylor was convicted on a Second Degree Murder charge and sentenced to 10 to 13 years in prison by Judge James Gregory Bell.

Taylor was charged in connection to a crash that occurred on February 18, 2018, in Columbus County, North Carolina.

According to a press release from Columbus County District Attorney Jon David’s office, Taylor was driving a sedan on U.S. 74 at an extremely low rate of speed and then stopped in an active lane of traffic at night without hazard lights on. The speed limit on that part of U.S. 74 is 70 m.p.h.

“A loaded 18-wheeler driven by Ricky Crocker attempted to change lanes to avoid Taylor and collided with the back left corner of her vehicle. Crocker’s 18-wheeler went off the road after the collision and came to rest in the trees and immediately caught fire. Crocker burned alive, unable to get out of the cab of his 18-wheeler,” the news release stated.

Crocker was 49 at the time of his death.

Officials say that Taylor was impaired behind the wheel from prescription medication and from huffing a product called Dust-Off.

From the news release:

“Earlier that day, Taylor had fled from Wilmington Police Department officers after being passed out behind the wheel of her vehicle from huffing Dust-Off. At the time of Crocker’s death, Taylor had four pending Driving While Impaired charges in Columbus, Brunswick, and New Hanover counties.”