American rapper Tay-K landed himself in a host of legal trouble and eventually jail under charges of murder and robbery from a young age.
Taymor Travon McIntyre, aka Tay-K, is a 23-year-old American rapper who was born in Long Beach, California on June 16, 2000.
At the time of writing, Tay-K holds almost four million monthly listeners on Spotify with hit tracks such as "The Race" which sparked his stardom as he rapped about being on the run from the police ahead of his trial and arrival in prison for capital murder.
Who Is Tay-K?
Tay-K grew up surrounded by crime as his father, Kevin Beverly, spent plenty of his son's childhood in prison. Upon his eventual release, the family moved to Arlington, Texas for a fresh start after spending some time in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The rapper-to-be started his musical career from as young as 14 around the time he dropped out of school when he was only in the ninth grade.
McIntyre landed himself in trouble on January 1, 2016 when a fellow member of his Daytona Boyz rap group, Eric "Santana Sage" Johnson, shot and killed University of North Texas student Sara Mutschlechner while he was in the car.
Tay-K was not charged in the case, but Johnson was sentenced to 44 years in prison despite his not-guilty plea.
Why Is Tay-K in Prison?
Tay-K was among a group of seven who were arrested on capital murder charges in July 2016 for their involvement in a botched home invasion that led to the death of Ethan Walker in Mansfield, Texas (via NJ).
Megan Holt (19) and Ariana Bharrat (20) planned to seduce 17-year-old Zachary Beloate to let Tay-K and several friends into his home to steal drugs and money. During the armed robbery, Beloate's friend Walker was shot and killed.
Tay-K pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery in the Mansfield case in July 2019 (via NBCDFW) and was ultimately found guilty by a jury of murder and one further robbery charge, as reported by Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Fort Worth-Star Telegram later confirmed that on July 23, 2019 McIntyre was sentenced to 55 years for murder, 30 years for one count of aggravated robbery, and 26 years for two further counts of aggravated robbery.
In the lead-up to his trial, Tay-K was involved in further criminal activity, cutting off his ankle monitor and going on the run while under house arrest in March 2017. NJ reported that on June 30, 2017 McIntyre was finally caught in New Jersey.
As reported by My San Antonio, during his time on the run in April 2017, Tay-K allegedly shot and killed 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar during a robbery outside a Chick-fil-A in Texas. According to Bexar County, McIntyre was eventually indicted for the killing in November 2019 under the capital murder charges.
The following month in May 2017, McIntyre allegedly attacked and robbed 65-year-old Owney "Skip" Pepe in Arlington, Texas, holding a gun to his head before knocking him unconscious where he was found by a runner.
Is Tay-K Still in Prison in 2024?
Tay-K was sentenced to 55 years in jail at age 19 for his murder charge with a further 30 years for aggravated robbery and two more 13-year sentences under further aggravated robbery charges.
As these sentences are being served concurrently, he will become eligible for parole after 27.5 years, which will be reached on January 23, 2047.
Tay-K wrote a letter to his fans from prison which was published on Instagram where he spoke about his time behind bars and the supposed injustice of his trial.
In the letter (via American Songwriter) he told his fans he "[loves] and [misses]" them all and noted the strangeness of having "never had a chance to live outside as an adult" as he was sentenced at such a young age:
“I’m sitting here thinking about all my fans. I love and miss y’all,” he wrote. “I know there’s a lot that I haven’t directly spoke on and there R many things my fans know but I’m not sure everybody else does. I’ve been here for 5 ½ years now and I feel indebted to y’all for going so crazy behind me. It’s still crazy to me that I never had a chance to live outside as an adult. I’ve been locked up and in and out of the ‘justice’ and CPS system 4 my whole life.”
He went on to claim he "wasn't even the shooter" in the killing that led to his 55-year prison sentence before defending himself by saying he was "young and didn’t have no positive figures around:"
“Not sure if y’all know but I got sentenced as an adult to 55 years in prison for a crime where I wasn’t even the shooter. I wasn’t even alleged to have a gun. I was never even suspected to have pulled a trigger or hurt anyone. I was young and didn’t have no positive figures around.”
