On the night of June 13, 1975 at 7:45 p.m., Vincent Taylor staggered through the oak grove, disoriented and nauseated from a head injury inflicted by Danny Taylor during a fight inside the family home. Vincent tried to outrun the images of finding Poppy Taylor bleeding and motionless on her bed and confronting Danny in a rage fueled by Danny’s abuse of Lydia and Poppy. During the fight, Danny slammed Vincent’s head into a wall, causing Vincent to black out.

When Vincent regained consciousness, he was beside Danny, who was on his back, clutching a slashed throat and gurgling as he bled out. The knife lay between them. Acting on panic, Vincent grabbed the knife and fled the house toward the oak grove, terrified that the knife now held his fingerprints and both siblings’ blood. He feared the town would assume he had killed them both, especially given his reputation as the angry middle brother.

Vincent’s goal was to reach Lydia, confirm she was safe, and decide what to do next. He found Lydia waiting with blood on her arms, shirt, and forehead. As Vincent approached, he dropped the knife and broke down. Lydia embraced him, whispering that she thought Danny had killed him too, revealing she believed Vincent had been in mortal danger.

In that moment, Vincent and Lydia silently recognized what had happened and what it meant: Lydia had killed Danny, and the truth about both deaths could never be revealed without incriminating them. The unspoken agreement formed then became a secret Vincent kept for fifty years, binding their fates and shaping all subsequent lies and alibis.