Friday, August 17, 2012

After 34 years, custodial dad finally charged in rape and murder of 15-year-old daughter (Biloxi, Mississippi)

Notice that NOTHING is said about how or why this young girl "moved in" with her rapist/killer father. Was it by court order as part of the parents' divorce? Did the mother agree with this decision? Did Daddy have "a history" of domestic violence or general criminality before this incident that was ignored by the authorities? Utter silence. Even after 34 years. Who are we still protecting here?

Daddy Dearest is identified as WILLIAM ANDREW TAYLOR.

http://www.fox40tv.com/mostpopular/story/Cold-Case-Father-Charged/o7Prv8IoEkq8dh1GdMyHGw.cspx

Cold Case - Father Charged

Published: 8/16 12:36 pm Share Updated: 8/16 12:40 pm

Biloxi, Miss. (AP) - A 78-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting his 15-year-old daughter, who was killed at a mobile home in Biloxi 34 years ago. \

Authorities tell the Sun Herald that there wasn't enough evidence to charge William Andrew Taylor with the death of his daughter, Sherri Taylor.

District Attorney Joel Smith says Taylor sat in a wheelchair in court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her twice before her death.

Circuit Judge Roger Clark gave Taylor five years for each count, the maximum penalty for the crime under state law in effect in 1978.

Biloxi police investigators reopened the case in February and said DNA evidence collected from the crime scene matched recent samples taken from Taylor.

Sherri Taylor, 15, was found dead at her father's mobile home at the Sea Sand Trailer Park. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the eyes, throat and chest. Her father told police at the time that he found her body after coming home from work.

Biloxi Police Sgt. Chris De Back has said police had long suspected that Sherri Taylor knew her attacker. The DNA technology that police said connected William Taylor to the sexual assault was not available when the crime happened, but the evidence had been preserved.

Sherri had attended Bayou View Junior High in Gulfport and moved in with her father after her parents' divorce. She was working as a change-maker at the nearby Bossier's Arcade on property just west of what is now Treasure Bay Casino.

The FBI Crime Lab had performed tests on evidence collected from the crime scene, but the technology wasn't available then to match a DNA sample from an unknown donor to a known donor. Police said a private crime lab confirmed the match last fall.

Taylor was living in Gulfport when police arrested him Oct. 24.

The Sun Herald newspaper interviewed William Taylor for a story in 1990 in which he said he didn't know why his daughter was killed.

"It's still a big question mark for me," William Taylor told the paper. "But in the long run, the Lord will take care of it. I don't have to see anybody croak. I don't have to see anybody fry. The Lord has taken care of it."