AP: 5dc4928f-06c8-4583-9d35-a9dfdb4cea58
The house where the bodies of an elderly couple were found Saturday, March 9, 2013, is shown Monday, March 11, 2013, in Renton, Wash. Washington state authorities are looking for Michael "Chad" Boysen, accused of killing the couple, who are his grandparents, in Renton, Wash., just hours after he was released from prison. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Grandparents of murder suspect loved him 'more than life'

BY Brandi Kruse  on March 14, 2013 @ 8:01 pm (Updated: 6:02 am - 3/15/13 )

The mother of the man suspected of killing his grandparents at their home in Renton last week issued a statement Thursday through a spokesperson for the King County Sheriff's Office.

Melanie Taylor spoke at length with Sgt. Cindi West about her son, 26-year-old Michael "Chadd" Boysen and her late parents, Bob and Norma Taylor. Sgt. West relayed their conversation to the media in a press release and provided an exclusive interview to KIRO Radio.

"The family has asked the media and public to respect their privacy during this difficult time but said there were some things she wanted to say about her son, her parents and the detectives involved in the investigation," Sgt. West said.

Through Sgt. West, Melanie Taylor painted a poignant picture of the life her family lived before the murders.

Taylor adopted Chadd when he was a baby, and said she "loved him from the minute he was put in my arms." Because the adoption was closed, the family knew little about the boy's background.

"But she said it wouldn't have mattered; she loved him no matter what," Sgt. West said.

As a young child, Chadd was full of affection. He hugged and kissed his mother as she dropped him off at school and didn't mind being "embarrassed" like the other kids.

Chadd and his grandparents had a very special bond, his mother told Sgt. West.

"They were like second parents" to Chadd, she said.

When he was young his grandparents picked him up from daycare. He spent the afternoons with Bob and Norma until his mother came to bring him home.

His grandparents loved him "more than life."

Despite the fact that she lost her hearing before Chadd was adopted, Norma went to all of his school programs.

"Couldn't hear a thing but she would sit there and she smiled," Sgt. West said. "It was one of the best things that she loved doing was hanging out with her grandkids."

According to his mother, Chadd was an exceptional student who fell in with the wrong crowd as a teenager. As he grew up, "his addictive behavior came out," she said.

He started using drugs and telling lies, "but he never threatened the family and the family never felt threatened by him."

But when Chadd was 18 years old, his mother found prescription bottles in her house. She turned him in for a series of robberies that landed him behind bars for five years.

"In spite of the fact that she loved him and he was her son, she turned him in," Sgt. West said. "She said it was very difficult, it's not like it made her happy, but it was the right thing to do."

Still, Chadd's mother and grandparents came to visit him every other week. They sent letters of support and care packages to help him pass the time.

Not long after Chadd was released a back injury reintroduced him to prescription pills. He robbed the home of an elderly couple and was back behind bars within a year.

To show him "tough love," his mother refused to visit him in prison the second time around. His grandparents, however, continued their visits and picked him up upon his release on March 8.

That night Bob and Norma Taylor threw their grandson a welcome home dinner and fixed up a room in their home where he could stay while he got back on his feet.

"Chadd was upbeat and talked about the wonderful day he had with his grandparents," Melanie Taylor told Sgt. West. He never showed any signs of aggression that night.

The next day, Taylor found her parents strangled to death at their home.

Several days later, Michael "Chadd" Boysen was arrested at a hotel room in Oregon and awaits extradition to Washington State where he'll be charged with the murders.

Detectives have yet to release a motive.

Melanie Taylor told Sgt. West that her parents "were warrior spirits fighting for a cause and that cause was Chadd."

"They still love him and I do too," she said.

Brandi Kruse, KIRO Radio Reporter
Brandi Kruse is a reporter for KIRO Radio who is as spontaneous and adventurous in her free time as she is on the job. Brandi arrived at KIRO Radio in March 2011 and has already collected three regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her reporting.
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Comments (6)


  • Add A Comment

  • Tyrone DeVille wrote...
    So, They Were Enablers?
    January 1, 2002 11:05 am
    People seem to be unable to understand that when you a a kid who is a piece of garbage, they they will remain a piece of garbage.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sammieboi wrote...
    enablers?
    March 15, 2013 11:50 am
    @tyrone deville - really? what did you expect the grandparents and the mom to do? She turned him in even though it was her own son and continued to show support even afterwards.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • itiswhatitis wrote...
    A sad situation
    March 15, 2013 12:27 pm
    There is a difference between enabling and loving someone. These grandparents loved this kid and something went south that we don't know about yet. He will now not have to worry about that, as he'll be in prison the rest of his life. The mom now has to live with all this burden. I pray for her.
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  • Newton wrote...
    Silence. In Prayer
    March 15, 2013 12:31 pm
    I've read many story's about tough love that did not work. 2cents.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Tyrone DeVille wrote...
    SO ?
    March 15, 2013 2:46 pm
    is the family going to address the FACT that DOC knew about his threats,. and failed to notify the familyand police, and then released him into the community?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • PassionatePhD wrote...
    This is a true tragedy
    March 15, 2013 10:31 pm
    What a story this is, of a mother and grandparents who loved this young man, who dealt correctly with him, who gave him a stable home life amidst all the structures of the LDS Church of which they were members, and yet, he turned to criminal behavior and eventually murdered those who loved him most. My first impulse was to think that he, an adopted child, had Attachment Disorder, and that may be the case. In my experience, in some cases when the young person gets older, at that time when normal adolescent self-differentiation occurs, these people turn hostile agains their adoptive parents. I know a couple for whom this was so . . . loving, fantastic parents, with two adopted sons, one of whom had to be emancipated early because he had become a threat to the life and well-being of his adoptive mother. Let us mourn and grieve for the young man's mother, for the grandparents he killed, and for the life he has now irretrievably destroyed--his own. Truly, a tragedy.
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