HERRIMAN — Cellphone footage of Utah mother and influencer Taylor Frankie Paul was not initially launched through a public file request, in keeping with paperwork obtained by the KSL Investigators.
The video, captured by Paul’s ex-boyfriend, Dakota Mortensen, was included as proof in a 2023 domestic violence case by which Paul later entered right into a plea in abeyance settlement.
ABC scrapped the most recent season of “The Bachelorette,” starring Paul, after TMZ revealed the footage on March 19.
Speculation has swirled on-line about how the video was obtained by the media outlet.
The KSL Investigators filed a public file request below Utah’s Government Records Access and Management Act, generally known as GRAMA, with the investigating company, the Herriman Police Department, asking for copies of all public file requests acquired by the company associated to the 2023 case and Paul, in addition to the company’s responses to these requests.
The records offered to KSL Wednesday reveal the company did not publicly launch the cellphone video till after it was already revealed by TMZ.
A TMZ consultant filed a request for the footage on March 17, asking the division to “please expedite the footage if possible,” however the police division did not reply to that request till March 23, days after TMZ had already revealed the video.
The KSL Investigators additionally confirmed with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, and the Utah Court System that neither entity launched the footage.
