By MEGHAN GLOVA
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
From the beginning, the family of Daphne Killian-Banks suspected Randall Kilby of their mother’s Christmas Day assault – an assault that led to her death.
Three months later, Kilby has been charged with second-degree murder for the death of Killian-Banks following a double homicide that occurred in the same house she was assaulted in.
Kilby was also charged with second-degree murder for the deaths of 66-year-old Jeffrey Taylor and 69-year-old Benjamin Taylor.
Rio Killian, one of Killian-Banks’ daughters, says she’s lived in Bend her entire life and has never felt more unsafe in her community.
“He could’ve came here at any time and he wasn’t in jail,” she said. “We lost our mom, I feel like they brushed her death just aside. I don’t feel like they took it very seriously.”
Their most recent tragedy was learning of Sunday’s double homicide, and that the man charged with the two murders was also charged with killing their mother.
DA: Double homicide suspect used hatchet; also charged for 2020 fatal assault
“Things haven’t changed at all since my mom passed,” said daughter Laci Killian. “I mean I feel like we’re just living in this nightmare, not getting any answers. No closure, and maybe it’s coming now, but it’s been how long? And it took two more lives to get justice for one person. It didn’t need all that, you know?”
The family puts much of the blame on Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel.
They say by not arresting Kilby, Hummel has done a poor job at keeping the community safe.
“He is failing at his job,” Laci said. “He failed somebody else’s family.
Hummel says if he gave the Killian sisters “what they wanted” in January, the jury would not be able to give them what they want down the road.
“Homicide is not a game. Nobody takes this crime more seriously than me and the team in my office,” Hummel said. “If he was charged when he was acquitted, people rightfully would say Hummel why were you so quick out of the gate? We don’t want to go too quickly and we don’t want to go too slowly. We want to go immediately when we have sufficient evidence to prove someone’s guilt.”
The Killians want to know the situation and details surrounding their mother’s death.
However, they say the DA’s office won’t provide them with specifics until the case it brought to a grand jury.
“What if that was me and my sister that were killed?” Rio said. “Because he’s out walking around me and my children?”
In a news conference Monday, Hummel said he did not have the evidence to charge Kilby with the murder until Sunday.
Laci says she confronted Kilby with her boyfriend over two weeks ago, requesting he take a lie detector test.
While with Kilby, Laci says she met Jeffrey Taylor – who Kilby referred to as “dad.”
According to Hummel, Kilby’s mother lived with Jeffrey and Benjamin Taylor and witnessed Sunday’s murder.
In a situation where the family has been piecing facts together, all they want now is answers.
“I mean even though we have a piece of paper that’s saying he’s being charged with murder, that’s not closure,” Rio said. “We don’t know what happened, we don’t know why it happened.”
Kilby is due to appear in court on March 29th.
