Rowland Stuart Taylor, a 56-year-old white man, was murdered on February 3, 1978, in Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina. He was one of six victims later linked to Velma Barfield, who confessed to Taylor’s killing after her arrest in May 1978. Barfield had a pattern of killing people in her care by poisoning; Taylor was her boyfriend and a relative of one of her earlier victims, Dollie Edwards.

Barfield’s history in the area included several suspicious deaths: her husband Thomas Burke in a 1969 house fire, Jennings Barfield in 1971, her mother Lillian Bullard in 1974 after severe gastrointestinal symptoms, and the elderly couple Montgomery and Dollie Edwards in 1977, all of whom exhibited symptoms later associated with Barfield’s crimes. Barfield was convicted of first-degree murder in Taylor’s death and sentenced to death.