Police arrest Bob’s Carpet and Flooring heir, others in death of 22-year-old woman found in alley

Police have arrested several people who they say were involved in the death of a 22-year-old St. Petersburg woman whose body was discovered in an alley last year.

The arrests include that of 52-year-old Robert Butler III, the son of the late founder of Bob’s Carpet and Flooring, a well-known flooring store chain that has more than 10 stores along the West Florida coast, including in Bradenton.

Taylor McAllister was last seen alive at Butler’s Palm Harbor home before she was found dead in an alley near 63rd Ave South around 8 a.m. the morning of Dec. 22, 2016.

The nature of her death, police say, led investigators to label it a homicide. However, because the ongoing investigation includes McAllister’s cause of death, police have not yet released exactly how she died, according to St. Petersburg police public information officer Yolanda Fernandez.

After a yearlong investigation, St. Petersburg police detectives issued a search warrant Tuesday for Butler’s home, which led them to charge him with failure to report a death, felony possession of marijuana and felon in possession of ammunition.

During the investigation, police found two other suspects, Deonte Baker, 35, and Quran Archer, 25, who told police that on Dec. 22, 2016, they picked up a “barely conscious” McAllister from Butler’s home and that she died shortly after.

They then left her body in the alley where she was found in the morning.

In the course of the investigation, detectives also arrested Kadijah Hunt, 24, and Miriam Humphrey, 31, on money laundering charges, police said.

Both Baker and Archer were charged with failure to report a death, and Baker was also charged with money laundering. Archer was not taken into custody as the charge was referred to the state attorney’s office, police said

The investigation is ongoing and other arrests are pending, police said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 1:20 PM with the headline "Police arrest Bob’s Carpet and Flooring heir, others in death of 22-year-old woman found in alley."