Plea agreement taken in 1991 killing

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 9 a.m.

A former Las Vegas man escaped a possible death sentence Monday by pleading the equivalent of no contest to second-degree murder and robbery in connection with the 10-year-old slaying of his girlfriend.

As a result of the plea agreement, Danny Kaye Taylor, 41, will receive a five-year to life sentence in the death of Cheryl DeSantis. He also will serve a subsequent one to 15-year sentence for stealing her jewelry.

Taylor had been scheduled to go to trial Oct. 29 on a charge of first-degree murder, but during an evidentiary hearing before District Judge Mark Gibbons Monday morning, Taylor opted to take the deal. In the plea, Taylor agreed that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict him.

According to police, DeSantis had been living with Taylor in Laughlin when she disappeared in April 1991. Months later her skeletal remains were found in San Bernardino County, Calif.

Taylor moved to Oklahoma shortly after DeSantis disappeared. Authorities claim he told acquaintances that he "knocked someone off in Las Vegas and buried the body."

That alleged statement led to Taylor's indictment last year.