Dateline: The Necklace — A complete timeline of the Taylor Wright murder case, revisited

Dateline on NBC dives into a disturbing mystery in the episode titled The Necklace, where trust slowly turns into betrayal and friendship ends in cold murder.

The following timeline takes you through every moment that eventually led to the end of a missing private investigator named Taylor Wright.

So, what really happened to the former police officer turned private investigator? The NBC true crime show answers all questions through a story that includes stolen money, failing relationships, and a deadly final ride.

Dateline: The Necklace — A complete timeline of the Taylor Wright murder case, revisited

Taylor's life before everything changed

Before she went missing, Taylor Wright had lived a life of hardship but had also seen progress. Raised in the foster system, she eventually found stability in life thanks to a woman named Nancy Murchison, who took her in as a teenager.

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Taylor later married Marine Jeff Wright, had a son, and became a police officer before switching to private investigations. Her best friend Barbara Evanson said on Dateline;

"Taylor was one of those people that she wanted to be friends with everybody."

Regardless of her personality as described by her friend, Taylor's life started to come undone after a messy divorce and a new relationship.

Trouble builds: Custody fights and missing money

After her marriage ended, Taylor moved to Pensacola and soon started dating Cassandra Waller. At the same time, she and her ex-husband were involved in a messy legal battle over custody and money.

Taylor Wright on Dateline (Image via YouTube/Dateline NBC)

When a judge froze her assets, Taylor took out $100,000 from their joint account and hid $34,000 with a friend, Ashley McArthur. However, when they had to return the money to the court, McArthur kept stalling time and time again.

The pressure on Taylor was increasing with court deadlines, emotional disturbance, and starting over with Waller were all colliding to create one big mess.

The last day: When Taylor vanished

On September 8, 2017, Taylor left home to meet McArthur, supposedly to collect her money. According to Waller, the plan changed suddenly. McArthur called her and said they would go horseback riding instead.

Ashley McArthur on Dateline (Image via YouTube/Dateline NBC)

That evening, Waller got a strange text from Taylor's phone:

"I'll call you later. I'm not angry with you and I should have called, but I just need to think."

McArthur also received a similar text later that night. However, things didn't add up. There were no Uber records, besides McArthur's story about their whereabouts did not match her phone location.

Suspicion grows: Digging into McArthur's lies

When police started asking questions, McArthur claimed Taylor left her house around 4:30 pm to head downtown. However, evidence showed otherwise. Her phone was pinged miles away from where she claimed to be — near her family's remote farm in Cantonment.

It didn't help that McArthur had been forging checks and possibly tampering with financial records. When officers searched the property weeks later with K-9 units, they made a horrifying discovery: A body buried under potting soil and concrete.

It was Taylor. Her signature bullet necklace was found with her remains, and she had been shot in the back of the head.

Trial and the twisted motive

McArthur was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors laid out a case built on CCTV videos footage, phone data, financial records.

A still from the trailer of Dateline: The Necklace (Image via. YouTube/Dateline NBC)

A friend of McArthur's even testified she had talked about spiking Taylor's drink with drugs. Another said McArthur told her Taylor spit the beer out, forcing her to use a gun.

Although there was no DNA proof, the circumstantial evidence was strong. The jury convicted McArthur, and she was sentenced to life in prison. Assistant State Attorney Bridgette Myers Jensen had worried about the lack of direct evidence, but the jury saw through the lies.

The Necklace on Dateline brings Taylor Wright's case back to light, laying out how a trusted friend turned deadly over money.

From a complicated divorce to the final betrayal, every step led to a shocking end. The incident is a reminder that even the closest bonds can hold dangerous secrets.

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