posted on May 10, 2003 09:03:42 AM new
Man claims his wife tried to kill him with perfume
By JILL TAYLOR Copyright 2003 Palm Beach Post
STUART, Fla. -- David Taylor says his wife wasn't trying to be romantic when she doused herself with perfume and huddled close. He says she was trying to kill him.
Lynda Taylor, 36, was arrested Thursday on a charge of aggravated battery for alleging wearing perfume, spraying Lysol and bug killer, burning scented candles and loading the house with lavender-scented sachets in an effort to make her chemically sensitive husband seriously ill.
Taylor is disabled by allergies and other medical problems that his doctors say resulted from exposure to toxic mold and hazardous chemicals as a construction worker. That exposure netted him a recent $150,000 worker's compensation settlement.
David Taylor told investigators that he and his wife were having problems and talking about a separation after almost three years of marriage. She became "enraged" when he refused to give her half of his worker's compensation award, he said.
"Lynda came in the kitchen wearing perfume and applied some to (her daughter). Then went around the house spraying Lysol and even sprayed some in my face," Taylor wrote in his complaint.
Attorney Karen Steger, representing Lynda Taylor, said the charge was a major misuse of the criminal justice system.
"The guy's a faker," she said Friday. "He just wants to gain an advantage in the divorce case."
Taylor, 46, worked for Martin County and ran an unsuccessful campaign for property appraiser in 2000. He is now classified as fully disabled because of allergies and problems that his doctors said resulted from exposure to Martin County's "sick" courthouse and constitutional office complex when he worked there.
Toxic mold was so severe that it caused health problems and prompted an evacuation and reconstruction of the complex more than 10 years ago.
Dr. Albert Robbins gave investigators a letter and reports confirming that Taylor suffers from extreme chemical sensitivity and that his wife is aware of it.
"This involves avoidance of all fragrances, air fresheners and other volatile chemicals," Robbins wrote in a letter dated April 8, four days after the perfume incident in which Taylor called 911.
A deputy who answered the call told the couple there was nothing illegal about wearing perfume or using Lysol and told them to work it out in civil court.
Taylor claims as soon as the deputy left, his wife bought a variety of candles, plug-in air fresheners and other fragrances that she distributed throughout the house, saying, "They said it's not against the law to wear perfume. Now you're really going to get it," according to arrest records.
"This exposure made me very ill with severe brain fog, headache, numbness and trembling and pain throughout my body so severe I could barely move. In observing this, Lynda stated that she hopes I die, but in any event, the money will be hers."
The courthouse and office complex opened in 1989 and were extensively refurbished after being evacuated in 1992. The county sued the company that supervised the construction project and won more than $20 million.
None of the employees who claimed they became sick from the buildings were able to collect on any lawsuits against the builders, but Taylor was one of a few to win worker's compensation settlements.
He told investigators the settlement came just a few weeks ago and that was when his wife's attitude began to change.
David and Lynda Taylor could not be reached for comment Friday and his lawyer, Cynthia Grooms Marvin, said she could not talk about the case.
Steger hopes to persuade prosecutors to drop the whole thing before it goes any further.
"They're using the state attorney's office to get what they couldn't get in civil court."
