Man charged in fatal downtown Spokane stabbing last spring; court documents detail alleged crime spree before and after attack

A 30-year-old man who has been incarcerated on other charges is now accused of stabbing and killing 45-year-old Jimmie Bailey last spring in downtown Spokane.

Taylor Rogers made his initial appearance Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court on suspicion of second-degree murder, according to court documents.

“Jimmie was a man that did not like violence yet we lost him to the violence of Spokane Washington,” reads the obituary for Bailey, whose family wrote that he had “a trusting heart, which also made him a target to be taken advantage of.”

Within an hour of the June 11 stabbing, Rogers headbutted his mother at her Spokane Valley home, drunkenly crashed his girlfriend’s SUV, punched a stranger in the face and fled before deputies arrested him, witnesses say.

The incident started when police were dispatched to Pacific Avenue and State Street around 8:30 p.m., according to documents.

A witness told police a man walked up to Bailey asking for “Ricco.” Bailey told the man he didn’t know Ricco, the witness said. Rogers then pulled about a 12-inch knife out and stabbed Bailey before running to an SUV. Police found no evidence that Rogers and Bailey knew each other.

The witness said Bailey jumped on the SUV, the car backed up and Bailey fell off. The vehicle fled north.

Several days later, another witness told police he saw a man that night jumping on the hood of a black SUV and the man said, “He stabbed me, he stabbed me,” motioning toward the driver.

A Spokane firefighter told police his fire engine was in the area for a different medical call and that he saw Bailey trying to hit a dark green minivan. The minivan possibly took off south. The firefighter said he saw Bailey grabbing at his side, with blood coming from Bailey’s abdomen.

Security footage showed Bailey walk to a dark SUV parked in front of a business at 130 S. Division St., court records say. The person in the vehicle and Bailey appeared to speak to one another.

The driver then got out and walked to Bailey, who was still standing near the vehicle. The two appeared to speak for a while before what appeared to be brief physical contact between them. The driver of the vehicle then walked back and got into the driver’s seat. Bailey walked directly in front of the vehicle and appeared to try to prevent the driver from leaving by almost crawling on top of the hood. Bailey can be heard on the video asking for help.

The vehicle backed up a few feet, and at the same time, a Spokane fire truck drove east on Pacific Avenue, security footage showed. Fire personnel appeared to recognize something was wrong and pulled in front of the vehicle to block it from leaving. The vehicle was able to flee north on Division Street. Bailey chased after the car before collapsing in the road on Division.

Bailey was taken to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, where he died nine days later.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Bailey died from “complications of sharp force injuries of the torso” from being stabbed, documents say. It classified the death as a homicide.

Rogers’ mother told authorities Rogers came over around 9 p.m., or less than 30 minutes after the stabbing. She said Rogers was intoxicated and upset because he wanted to see his son, who was not there.

She said Rogers, who had blood on his hands, told her he stabbed a girl in the neck and that stabbing her sexually aroused him.

She said Rogers started swinging one of her kitchen knives at her and later head-butted her in the face. He eventually drove away from the home on the 7800 block of East Glass Avenue, and she called 911 immediately to report the incident.

Minutes later, a woman said she heard a loud crash on East Mission Avenue in Spokane Valley and saw the Dodge driving away from a damaged light pole, only to crash again into a fence a few houses away, according to documents.

Another witness said he saw Rogers get out of the vehicle and walk away. The witness said he walked toward Rogers to check on him, and Rogers punched him in the face.

Rogers then ran away before being caught and arrested on suspicion of DUI and other charges unrelated to Bailey’s death, court records say. Rogers exhibited several signs of intoxication, according to deputies. Rogers was charged with suspicion of first-degree burglary and two counts of violating a no-contact order stemming from the incident with his mother.

Rogers ended up in the Pend Oreille County Jail later that month awaiting a Department of Corrections hearing and transport to a DOC facility, according to documents. It’s unclear why he was in that jail. Rogers was eventually transferred to a prison facility in Shelton, Washington.

Rogers told police during an interview at the jail that he was not in downtown Spokane the day of the stabbing and asked to have an attorney present for questioning.

Still, detectives were building potential a case against him.

Police determined the tattoos of a man seen on surveillance footage at the nearby 7-Eleven before the stabbing matched Taylor’s tattoos listed from previous arrests and social media postings.

Police also searched the Dodge Rogers was driving June 11 and observed blood inside the driver and center console areas.

Meanwhile, GPS coordinates from Rogers’ phone showed him in the area of the stabbing at the same time. The data showed Rogers’ phone leaving the area of the stabbing, going to the vicinity of his mother’s home and then to the scene of the crash.

Rogers is listed in the Spokane County Jail with a $1 million bond. He is scheduled for an arraignment April 11 in Spokane County Superior Court.

Spokane police said in a news release Thursday that Rogers was booked into the Spokane County Jail for the murder charge after he served time in prison. Rogers has 10 prior felony convictions.