Inset: Taylor Roediger (Maricopa County Sheriff's Office). Background: An intersection near where Roediger allegedly shot her ex-roommate in Mesa, Ariz. (Google Maps).
An Arizona woman is behind bars after shooting and killing her former roommate in a bizarre love triangle with a convoluted narrative and shifting allegiances, police in the Grand Canyon State say.
Taylor Renee Roediger, 40, stands accused of one count of murder in the second degree, according to the Mesa Police Department.
Law enforcement has yet to release the victim's name.
The underlying incident occurred on March 30, at a residence near the intersection of Sossaman Road and Southern Avenue in Mesa, the country's largest suburban city located some 18 miles east of Phoenix.
The victim herself is said to have traveled to the defendant's home late on the night in question, according to court documents obtained by Mesa-based NBC affiliate KAZT, local Fox affiliate KSAZ, and Phoenix-based TV station KTVK and local CBS affiliate KPHO, which collectively broadcast as "Arizona's Family."
Between 12:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., the victim was apparently drunk and trying to get back together with her ex-boyfriend, who was the defendant's current boyfriend at the time, authorities said.
As the victim was talking to her ex-boyfriend, trying to "rekindle" their romance, however, Roediger spotted the other woman outside the house on her bedroom security monitor, according to police.
In response to the unwanted visitor, the defendant confronted her former roommate at the front door and asked her to leave, police said.
Then, the women got into a verbal altercation, prompting Roediger to leave the residence and go on a walk, hoping her boyfriend would be able to get the other woman to leave the house by the time she got back home, according to law enforcement. That did not happen.
Upon her return, the defendant found the other woman naked in her kitchen with her boyfriend. Then, the victim allegedly asked Roediger if she could have sex with either her boyfriend or the couple, according to the court documents.
Next, a physical fight ensued, police said. The victim then allegedly made comments about the couple's relationship and tried to strike Roediger, who is said to have dodged and gone for her purse.
Again, Roediger left the house, police said.
This time, the defendant allegedly said she waited until it sounded like her former roommate and her boyfriend went into the bedroom together. Then, when she got back home, the argument continued. This time, however, the other woman and the boyfriend allegedly threatened to "beat" Roediger, according to the court documents.
That's when the defendant grabbed the gun, police said.
After the defendant allegedly removed the weapon from behind the headboard of the bed, the ex-roommate went into the bathroom. Then, the seemingly drunk woman said she would, in fact, shoot herself if Roediger and her boyfriend did not leave her alone, police said.
Here, the narrative becomes even less clear. The boyfriend allegedly said something about the woman's location — doubting her being in the bathroom, according to the court documents. The defendant continued to yell at the other woman to leave, police said. Then, the victim allegedly yelled at Roediger: "Just shoot me."
Based on the sound of the woman's scream, the defendant allegedly estimated that her onetime roommate was near the washer and dryer. She then squeezed the trigger and fired a lone round toward the wall shared with the bathroom and bedroom, police said.
The bullet found its mark; the victim was struck in her upper body. She eventually collapsed near the front door and died.
To hear the defendant tell it, she only intended to shoot so as to scare the victim and her boyfriend so that they would leave her alone.
In the chaos that followed, Roediger allegedly left her house with the gun in tow, buried the weapon in a neighbor's planter box, and then hid herself in a different neighbor's RV, police said.
The defendant was arrested a short while later inside the RV, just down the street from her residence, law enforcement said.
Roediger is currently detained in the Maricopa County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
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