Oxford Eagle, March 22, 1998 Bloody Evidence Found UM student flees questioning in double murder of skating stars Loretta Winston STAFF WRITER The prime suspect in the murder of Oxford's brother-and-sister ice skating duo eluded arrest Saturday. Christian Chambers fled just before a pre-dawn search of his condo and car yielded new evidence. Bloodstains and other items uncovered may link him with the deaths of his famous friends, Crystal and Dale Taylor. The Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department has issued an all-points bulletin for the arrest of Chambers, 20, a University of Mississippi junior. Chambers is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs about 170 pounds and has short sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, said Elizabeth Jones, Information Officer for the Sheriff's Department. "Anyone who can provide information about Mr. Chambers' whereabouts at this time is urged to come forward. We can provide complete confidentiality through our Yoknapatawpha County Crime Stoppers hot line at 234-3935," Jones said. "This is a suspect in a violent stabbing death and a shooting. Citizens should make no attempt to apprehend or approach this man. Instead, they should contact the local authorities immediately." Chambers, an Ole Miss computer science major and an Oxford-area studio musician, is the son of Oxford furniture magnate Robert "Big Bobby" Chambers and Louise Chambers. At a Saturday press conference, his parents issued a plea for Christian to surrender. "Whatever happened, we can help you," Robert Chambers said. University of Mississippi spokesman Edgar Martin, executive assistant to the chancellor, said the university will not comment on a student's potential criminal case. However, he also urges Christian Chambers to turn himself in for questioning. A neighbor is the last person who reports seeing Chambers in Oxford. "I can't believe that nice boy is wanted as a suspect in a murder," said neighbor Margaret Howard. "I'm shocked. I just saw him last night when I come home from the grocery store and waved to him. I surely do hope he'll come back and explain all this. I hate to think of that boy out there on his own, Lord knows what might happen to him." Saturday's search turned up more than one kind of clue. Jones refused to confirm or deny unofficial reports that Dale Taylor's gold necklace was found tucked under Chambers' bed pillow. "Physical evidence, including blood, has been found in his condo and car," she said. The search came in the wake of an Internet sting operation early Saturday. In the intimacy of an online chat-room conversation, Christian implicated himself in the Taylor murders. Jones said Chambers may have realized his mistake and fled before officers arrived at his home around 3 a.m. Saturday. He left both of his vehicles behind. Jim and Sandy Taylor, parents of the murder victims, are offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the conviction of their children's killer or killers. They declined to guess about Chamber's guilt or innocence. Olympic hopefuls Dale and Crystal Taylor were reported missing on February 5th. Their bodies were found on February 19th buried in the soft earth above a new grave at St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford. Friends of both the murder victims and the prime suspect say they cannot make sense of the slayings. Chambers and Dale Taylor were buddies since their early school days, said Oxford Elementary principal Margaret M. Weederford. "They were just inseparable when I knew them," she said. "It's hard to believe that Christian might have killed his friend." She reminisced about a time Christian gave Dale first aid when they were both third-graders. Dale had a bloody nose from a swing-set accident, and by the time a teacher got there Christian was already holding his own handkerchief to Dale's nose and soothing his buddy. "How would they get from something like that to a murder?" Weederford said. "I just don't believe it. I hope he will turn himself in soon so this can be cleared up."