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Inset, left to right: Jamon Peter Fritsch (Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office) and Kara Taylor (Oregon City Police). Background: The home where Fritsch killed and dismembered Taylor (KATU).
A 48-year-old man in Oregon will spend the remainder of his days behind bars after admitting to killing his 49-year-old roommate, dismembering her with a table saw, and dumping her remains across several different landfills. Clackamas County Circuit Judge Michael C. Wetzel on Wednesday ordered Jamon Peter Fritsch to serve a life sentence in a state correctional facility for the 2023 slaying of Kara Taylor, authorities announced.
Fritsch reached a deal with prosecutors last week and pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree abuse of a corpse in Taylor’s death.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Fritsch and Taylor were both respiratory therapists and knew each other through work.
The sentencing hearing
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Kara Taylor’s family members addressed the court, with some speaking directly to Fritsch.
Dennis Taylor, the victim’s husband, had some particularly harsh words for his wife’s killer.
“You are a narcissistic bastard who has destroyed so many lives,” he said, according to a courtroom report from Portland, Oregon ABC affiliate KATU. “You are the epitome of evil. For that, I know you will spend eternity in hell, and deservedly so. But before that, you have one more stop, and that is in the Oregon Department of Corrections.”
In the weeks before her murder, Kara Taylor and her disabled adult daughter moved in with Fritsch because of marital issues.
“What I wouldn’t give for one more day with Kara, one more chance to hold her, one more chance to tell her I love her,” Dennis Taylor reportedly continued. “To Kara, I would say: Godspeed my love. My mind still talks to you, and my heart still looks for you.”
Kara Taylor’s brother, Marcus Sanders, read a statement while holding the urn containing his sister’s ashes, Portland Fox affiliate KPTV reported.
“Jamon, you probably stole close to 40 years of Cara’s life,” Sanders reportedly said. “That’s approximately 331 million breaths. Not only are you a killer but you’re also a thief.”
The murder and cover-up
Kara Taylor left Fritsch’s home in Oregon City around 11 p.m. on July 25, 2023, and never returned. Two days later, Fritsch reported her missing but was quickly identified as a person of interest in her disappearance.
Her disappearance was considered suspicious and a search warrant executed at the home they shared revealed the presence of blood in a bathroom, bathtub, walls and on a table saw, according to Oregon City police. Investigators said they later determined that before Fritsch filed the police report, he made several trips to Home Depot where he purchased zip ties, a saw blade, a black tote, and contractor bags.
Fritsch was arrested on Aug. 8, 2023, and charged with murder. Shortly after he was taken into custody, Fritsch admitted to killing Taylor, then dismembering her body and disposing of the remains in multiple locations to prevent police from finding the evidence.
On Aug. 11, 2023, investigators began searching the Coffin Butte Landfill in Corvallis, about 70 miles from where Taylor was reported missing. After several days, most of Taylor’s remains were recovered, though her arms and legs were never located.
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