West Philly woman ordered to trial in murder of messy roommate

A West Philadelphia woman who had told police she became enraged arguing about her roommate's personal hygiene and housekeeping was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on a murder charge in the beating death of 62-year-old Saundra Barley.

Denise Taylor, 57, first told police Barley had been killed by three masked men who broke into their apartment on 53d Street just north of Market Street about 3 a.m. last Nov. 14.

But under questioning by homicide detectives, Taylor described a daylong argument - it began during breakfast and continued well past midnight - that turned physical and ended with Barley's death.

"I didn't do this out of malice," Taylor said, according to the statement read at a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge David C. Shuter. "I didn't plan it, no. I didn't even start it or realize I did it. This is so messed up."

Assistant District Attorney Richard Sax and Detective Frank Graf said that the women were not in a sexual relationship and that there was no dramatic backstory to what began on Nov. 13 and continued until early next morning.

Indeed, Taylor's statement seems to describe the mismatched personalities from an episode of The Odd Couple taken to extremes.

According to Taylor, the argument began after she told Barley, her roommate of about a year, that "she needed to take a shower because she smelled like a herd of buffalo."

"She got mad, I guess, because she was offended, and so she started snapping on me," Taylor said.

After Barley got out of the shower, the fight resumed. Taylor accused Barley of showering without using soap, then complained about the state of the bathroom after she left.

Later, the statement continues, Taylor objected because Barley put away a half-clean frying pan, saying: "Because she does things like this, we have roaches."

It was then, Taylor told detectives, that Barley pushed her and hit her in the forehead with the frying pan.

After leaving to walk off her anger, Taylor said she went to sleep only to be awakened by Barley, naked, standing by her bed.

"I told her, 'Saundra, I'm not gay. I keep telling you that,' " Taylor's statement continued. "Saundra didn't say a word and just punched me."

What followed was a brawl in which each woman fought for control of an electrical cord. Taylor won and started whipping the older woman.

"I'm not going to lie to you. I hit her quite a few times," Taylor told detectives. "I kept hitting her and hitting her."

After another break, during which Taylor again went outside to cool off, the brawl resumed. It ended, Taylor said, when she threw Barley headfirst against a door, and the older women slid to the floor.

According to the statement, Taylor went to bed but at some point woke up and realized her roommate was not snoring: "She always snores."

Taylor said she found Barley in the same position. She was not breathing.

"I was hoping she was just unconscious, but I realized that Saundra might be dead," Taylor said. "I went out on to the back porch and was panicking and crying."