Nearly 18 years after Shamari Taylor disappeared in Philadelphia, five people are charged in connection with his murder, prosecutors said Thursday.
Kevin Holloway, 45, Mark Scott, 48, Linton Mathis, 50, Atiba Wicker, 47, and Kenneth Tuck, 51, were all arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and aiding and abetting, said the US Attorney's Office.
Thirty-eight-year-old Taylor and his girlfriend were kidnapped in West Philadelphia by men posing as police officers on August 26, 2006, officials said in a release.
His girlfriend was eventually released but Taylor was missing until August 2018, when police discovered his remains in a shallow grave in North Philadelphia.
Investigators eventually learned Taylor was abducted in a plot to steal his cash and cocaine, prosecutors said. Authorities believe he was taken to a warehouse where his kidnappers tortured and interrogated him to learn the location of his stash.
He was suffocated to death and his remains were ditched in Fairmount Park before being moved to the North Philly lot where they were found in 2018, according to the US Attorney's Office.
The day after his abduction, two armed men ransacked Taylor's family's West Philly home, shooting his mother and sister in the head. Both women survived the attack.
Just a month later, suspect Kenneth Tuck was charged in a Philadelphia court in connection with the kidnapping, but was acquitted in 2008 after two trials, prosecutors said. No one else was ever charged.
Federal authorities now believe that Tuck's family member bribed a witness who testified at his state trial in 2007. That witness and others gave false testimony supporting Tuck's alibi, which led to his acquittal, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say Tuck was recruited to be one of the fake cops who carried out the kidnapping, while Kevin Holloway, Mark Scott, and Linton Mathis assisted and then carried out Taylor's warehouse murder.
Taylor's friend Atiba Wicker and an acquaintance helped plan the crime and also lured him to the kidnapping site, according to authorities.
“Anyone who commits a heinous crime and is still walking free years later might just assume they’ve gotten away with it,” said US Attorney Jacqueline Romero.
“Well, they should think again. We and our law enforcement partners will doggedly pursue justice for victims of violence and accountability for the perpetrators — no matter how long it may take.”
If convicted, the five suspects face the possibility of a mandatory life sentence.
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