West Jordan bride-to-be killed on eve of wedding

WEST JORDAN — Kristen Kay Taylor was excited to get married.

"She was. Absolutely," according to neighbors.

The last posting by Taylor on her Facebook page was a message expressing some of that excitement. "Wow! I can't believe that my wedding is only 4 weeks from today!!!" she wrote on Feb. 11.

On Thursday, the families of Taylor and her fiance, Greg Bennin, who all live outside of Utah, were expected to fly into Las Vegas to meet the young couple and watch them get married.

Instead, Thursday was a day of mourning.

Taylor was killed Wednesday in a traffic accident on I-15 near St. George as she and Bennin were headed to Las Vegas to be married. Bennin was flown by medical helicopter to University Hospital, where a spokeswoman said he was in fair condition Thursday.

Neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, visited Bennin in the hospital Thursday and said he was "devastated." Investigators initially said he suffered severe injuries to arms and that it may have to be amputated. The neighbors, however, declined to talk about his physical condition Thursday.

Taylor and Bennin had lived in a house near 7100 South and 3400 West for nearly three years, neighbors said. Just before Thanksgiving, they got engaged. Neighbors say Taylor and Bennin were "always together."

On Taylor's Facebook page, messages of joy in anticipation of her upcoming marriage were left hauntingly on her wall for whoever searched her name to read, adding to the heartbreak of the tragedy.

The last message left by Beth Taylor, Kristen's mother, in reply to her daughter's post about being married in four weeks, was, "I know Baby Girl!!!! That's all I could think and talk about yesterday at work!!!!! i can't wait!!!!!!!! I love and miss u soooo very much and can't wait to see you again!!! :)"

Kristen's death appears to be the second recent tragedy for the Taylor family. Just before Christmas in 2009, Kristen and her mother wrote about sadness from the loss of Kristen's brother.

On Dec. 19, Beth Taylor wrote on Kristen's Facebook page, "I know what u mean about the depressing holiday and how badly it hurts and u r right it will never be the same again but somehow WE WILL SOMEHOW MAKE IT HAPPY ONCE AGAIN!!!!"

Kristen Taylor's Facebook profile said she was pursing a degree in education and was working in the banking industry until she could get a teaching job.

"I also have a huge passion for international volunteer work. I hope to spend prolonged periods of time serving in 3rd world countries as well as bringing awareness to American citizens of the hardships faced in these nations," she wrote.