TX - Veronica Taylor, 13, Lubbock, 27 March 1987

[Jacqu777]

Details - Unsolved Homicide

Texas Rangers Cold Case Investigation Details:​

Veronica Taylor

---

REFERENCE NUMBER: 49 - Unsolved
COMPANY: C
RACE: Black
SEX: Female
CITY: Lubbock
COUNTY: Lubbock
RELATED YEAR: 1987

DETAILS:

On the morning of Thursday, 03-26-1987, the body of 13 year old Veronica Taylor was discovered in a snow covered field adjacent to F.M. 1729, located in eastern Lubbock County, Texas. Veronica had suffered blunt force trauma. Veronica was last seen departing a relative's apartment the previous evening. Veronica was a 6th Grade student at Murfee Elementary in Lubbock, Texas.


Texas Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $3,000 to any person who provides informationthat leads to the arrest of the person/persons responsible forthis crime. To be eligible for the cash rewards, tipsters MUST call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477). All tips are anonymous. Tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.

Information on this case may also be submitted in the following manner:

• Submit a Tip Online thru the Texas Rangers’ Cold Case website
• Contact us by telephone at 1-800-346-3243. Your information will be forwarded to the Texas Rangerassigned to this case.

 

[Jacqu777]

Veronica Ann Taylor​

BIRTH20 Dec 1973
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, USA
DEATH26 Mar 1987 (aged 13)
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, USA
BURIAL
City of Lubbock Cemetery
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas, USAPLOTBlock 29MEMORIAL ID8196424 · View Source

Photos of Veronica Ann Taylor - Find a Grave...

Veronica was a 6th Grade student at Murfee Elementary in Lubbock, Texas. She liked attending school and singing in the church choir. Veronica was murdered on March 26, 1987. Her killer has never been found and her homicide remains a cold case. If you have any information about the death of...

www.findagrave.com

 

[dotr]

Chad Hasty February 7, 2024

REFERENCE NUMBER: 49 - Unsolved
COMPANY: C
RACE: Black
SEX: Female
CITY: Lubbock
COUNTY: Lubbock
RELATED YEAR: 1987

"On the morning of Thursday, 03-26-1987, the body of 13 year old Veronica Taylor was discovered in a snow covered field adjacent to F.M. 1729, located in eastern Lubbock County, Texas. Veronica had suffered blunt force trauma. Veronica was last seen departing a relative's apartment the previous evening. Veronica was a 6th Grade student at Murfee Elementary in Lubbock, Texas."

Read More: Who Did It? The Top Texas Cold Case Files | Who Did It? The Top Texas Cold Case Files

 

[Megsc]

Lubbock family thinks they know who killed 13-year-old Veronica Taylor

Lubbock family thinks they know who killed 13-year-old Veronica Taylor​

35 years after 13-year-old Veronica Taylor was brutally assaulted, strangled and murdered in Lubbock County, her family said on Friday they think they know who killed her and are desperate for the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office to act.

“My sister used to date a guy that we thought did it and he had told her- because she left him and got with some other guy- that she would pay for that. He was in the pen for 25 years. They went there several, several times to talk with him,” said Lorene Taylor, Veronica’s aunt.

Family still seeking justice for 13-year-old Veronica Taylor 34 years after brutal murder

That man, who will not be named at this time as he has not been charged in connection with the case, has a history of child molestation, the family shared, adding that Veronica was sexually assaulted prior to her untimely and vicious death.

Lorene Taylor walked KLBK News through the East Lubbock apartment complex, formerly known as Phoenix Apartments, where Veronica was last seen alive. She said her mother, Veronica’s grandmother, was the last person to speak with Veronica.

‘They’ve taken our baby from us:’ Family of Veronica Taylor still asking for answers, 34 years after the teen’s brutal murder

Around 10:30 p.m. on March 25, Veronica walked her baby sister Taneka from their home over to her Aunt Celestine’s house, less than a football field’s length away, where her mother and relatives were playing cards together.

When the two arrived, Veronica asked her mom Joyce if she could stay with her aunt Darlene that night, to which Joyce agreed.

Veronica excitedly walked over to her grandmother’s house to tell her she was going to spend the night with Darlene.
She then walked a few feet back to her mother’s apartment where she got her backpack for school the next day. However, she never made it to the other side of the complex where her aunt Darlene lived.

Less than eight or so hours later, her body was found several miles away, just yards from where the suspected killer once lived.

The family said they believe he knew the area well.

“This house is here for a reason. All the other houses is not here. This house is broke down, but it’s standing,” Lorene shared.

Her family also said they spoke with someone who saw the suspected killer in Phoenix Apartments on the day she was abducted.

 

[Megsc]

It says in the article I posted above that she was sexually assaulted but I'm not sure if they mean by the killer or like in weeks/months prior ?
Was she previously sexually assaulted by the man that the family is referring to in the article ?

ETA : answer in next posts

 

[Megsc]

(I wasn't expecting to find that many articles,what a great surprise!! Thought I would share with you guys)

‘They’ve taken our baby from us:’ Family of Veronica Taylor still asking for answers, 34 years after the teen’s brutal murder

“I do believe in my heart [the killer] is somebody that knew her because she would not go to a stranger,” Celestine (aunt) said.

(..)
The grisly crime happened before modern-day DNA technology, so evidence at the scene was largely contaminated.

And a few months after Veronica died, her mother died in a car crash, never knowing who killed her daughter.

 

[Megsc]

Lubbock family thinks they know who killed 13-year-old Veronica Taylor

(...)

“My sister used to date a guy that we thought did it. He told her, because she left him and got with some other guy, that she would pay for that,” Lorene Taylor said. “[He] told her he was going to do something real bad to hurt her for leaving him.”

The incident between Veronica’s aunt and her “violent” ex-boyfriend happened within the same year that Veronica was killed.

Her body was found along FM 1729 in eastern Lubbock County – on the route that Veronica’s aunt and ex-boyfriend often took to get to home.

According to her family, the ex-boyfriend later spent 25 years in prison on charges related to child molestation, which they said could be relevant as Veronica was raped just before or around the time she was killed on that cold March day in 1987.

Investigators found Veronica with her underclothes around her neck and pants below her body.

(..)

“They went there several, several times to talk with him, interview him and different things. They always let us know when they did go down and try to get information from him,” Lorene Taylor explained. “He would never commit to any kind of DNA samples.”

Even if LCSO had the suspect’s DNA, investigators wouldn’t have been able to test the evidence for comparison. At the time, law enforcement agencies didn’t have the technology to test DNA.

“He was the suspect, but they just don’t have the evidence,” Lorene Taylor explained.

Veronica’s family said it’s possible that advancements to modern DNA technology could make a difference.

“There’s no way that there’s nothing there that they can’t [use to] solve this case… that’s 35 years old,” King told KLBK News.

However, the family said they’ve been running into a problem: They said law enforcement tampered with and/or mishandled the evidence, which has impeded their ability to draw any significant conclusions.

Veronica’s aunt said investigators found her coat and backpack, which had candy in it.

In video footage taken at the crime scene, an investigator appears to pick up Veronica’s coat with his bare hands and dig through the pockets, a practice that probably wouldn’t happen today.

(..)
The medical examiner and police ruled Veronica’s death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the back of her head, but investigators haven’t been able to identify the “heavy” object, Lorene Taylor explained.

To counteract this phenomenon seen in homicide cases today, forensic analysts are able to look at blood and wound patterns to help identify those objects.

Lorene Taylor said she doesn’t know if there were signs of a struggle, but LCSO did find blood at the crime scene. She and her family assumed it belonged to Veronica.

“She’s not the type of person that would have went up to a stranger’s car- we know that. It was somebody she knew… if she did go up to the car, if they did abduct her and take her

(...)

The distance between the two houses, Lorene Taylor guessed, was approximately 100 yards; about the length of a football field.

Her family said she may have been abducted or killed between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m., as she was last seen shortly before that.

 

[Megsc]

It's so frustrating because I feel like her previous rape and death might be linked but there's no info on who did that to her.
I'm not even sure if she knew the person who raped her. I mean, her family stated that she had been raped, so she probably told them what happened, but the family also seems to think that it's the aunt's ex boyfriend who did it. Now my question is: if it was him, and Veronica knew that man as her aunt's ex bf, she would have been able to say he was the one to rape her right ?
All of this is very unlcear and frustating.
I hope her family will eventually learn the truth at some point, but it seems hard since the cops handled so bad the crime scene, making all of DNA evidences unexploitable...

 

[Fede]

here is another article with more info: Who killed 13-year-old Veronica Taylor? More can be done to find out, family says

It seems that the rape was before and also in the moment of the murder because it says
"According to her family, the ex-boyfriend later spent 25 years in prison on charges related to child molestation, which they said could be relevant as Veronica was raped just before or around the time she was killed on that cold March day in 1987."

and also:
"Investigators found Veronica with her underclothes around her neck and pants below her body."

A good thing: there is DNA.
A bad thing: it says police mishandled the evidence