Kevin Taylor

Case record: Kevin Taylor

Background

Kevin Taylor was 27 years old when Chicago police arrested him on the South Side in connection with raping and strangling four drug-addicted prostitutes over a two-month period. The arrest followed investigators questioning him about slayings they believed were similar.

A Cook County judge later sentenced Kevin Taylor. Circuit Judge Fred G. Suria Jr. spared Taylor from the 60-year maximum sentence. The sentencing judge read a report by Taylor’s defence lawyers describing Taylor’s childhood in foster homes because Taylor had a drug-addicted mother and a convict for a father. At the time of sentencing, Taylor was 32.

The offence

Police said that Kevin Taylor left a fifth woman for dead after arguing with her over the price for sex.

Chief Detective Philip Cline said that Taylor “would meet with the victims, make an arrangement for an act of prostitution, take them to a secluded area, and in these particular cases, he got into arguments with the victims and he strangled them.”

The victims identified in the case were:

• Bernadine Blunt, 39, whose body was found August 18 in an abandoned building in the South Side.
• Ola Mae Wallace, 39, whose body was found in an alley on June 25.
• Diane Jordan, 42, whose body was found in an alley on July 10.
• Cynthia Halk, 38, whose body was found in a city garbage can in an alley. Police also described an attempted murder of a 38-year-old woman who survived a July 27 attack. She was able to identify Taylor in a lineup after his arrest.

In January, a jury convicted Taylor of first-degree murder in the July 27, 2001, strangling of Cynthia Halk, 38. Taylor was awaiting trial for the killings of three other women in 2001.

Investigation

Police in Chicago’s South Side issued an alert to Chicago’s street women in early August, warning them about recent murders of several suspected prostitutes.

Over the past two years, 18 prostitutes had been slain in the city.

Investigators found a time card with Taylor’s name under the body of one of the victims. Police arrested Taylor at work.

Similarities between Blunt’s death and three other slayings led detectives to question Taylor about those cases.

Chief Detective Philip Cline said Taylor confessed to the four murders and the attempted murder of a 38-year-old woman who survived a July 27 attack.

Arrest

Police arrested Kevin Taylor after investigators found a time card with his name under the body of one of the victims, while Taylor was working. Taylor was described as a cook at The Cheesecake Factory restaurant.

Chief Detective Philip Cline said that police arrested Taylor in connection with raping and strangling four drug-addicted prostitutes over a two-month period.

The surviving woman identified Taylor in a lineup after his arrest.

Trial

Sentencing

A Cook County judge sentenced Kevin Taylor to 50 years in prison for the 2001 killing of a woman whose partially clothed body was found in a garbage can on the North Side.

Circuit Judge Fred G. Suria Jr. read a report by Taylor’s defence lawyers about Taylor’s childhood in foster homes due to a drug-addicted mother and a convict for a father. Suria spared Taylor from the 60-year maximum sentence after reading the report.

Suria’s remarks included:

“It goes without saying that this crime should never have happened, it also goes without saying that the life you led I would not impose on our worst enemy ... [but] in no way does it justify what occurred in this case,” said Suria. “Cynthia Halk was an unfortunate person. Fifty years ... is the only sentence I can impose that would protect the public.”

Assistant State’s Atty. Carmen Aguilar read a victim impact statement prepared by Halk’s daughter, Aisha, about Halk’s epilepsy and treatment.

Aisha Halk’s statement included:

“I still have a hard time believing that my mother was found naked and dead in a garbage can. She had no dignity in death, but she did have dignity in life,” Aisha Halk’s statement said.
“This time, they [the hospital] did not call. My mother wound up on the North Side in a garbage can three days later. My children loved their grandmother and miss her very much. We all do. Our lives will never be the same without her,” Halk wrote.

Assistant State’s Atty. Angela Petrone asked for the 60-year maximum sentence. She said Taylor, in a videotaped statement, told police he ran into Halk while looking for a prostitute after his shift as a cook at the Cheesecake Factory on Michigan Avenue. Petrone said Halk agreed to have sex with Taylor for $10. Petrone said Halk tried to get up to leave while the two were having sex and Taylor strangled her.

Petrone also described the location and sequence of events, stating:

“We do know that Cynthia Halk desperately wanted to go home and at one point she got up and said she wanted to leave, but Kevin Taylor wasn't ready. While she was having an epileptic seizure, Kevin Taylor was squeezing the life out of her,” Petrone said.
“When she died, he picked up the $10 bill and tossed her in the garbage like she was a piece of trash.”

Suria set a June 27 court date in the case.

Appeals

No appeal outcome was provided.

Outcome

Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the 2001 killing of Cynthia Halk, 38, after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder in the July 27, 2001, strangling of Halk.

Prosecutors planned to try Taylor on other 2001 killings, including the 2001 killing of Ola Mae Wallace, 39. Prosecutors sought the death penalty in that case. Taylor also faced trial for the 2001 killings of Diane Jordan, 42, whose body was found in an alley in the 1400 block of North Mohawk Street, and Bernadine Blunt of the 200 block of East 115th Street, whose body was found in an abandoned building.

The sentencing also left Taylor awaiting trial for those remaining killings.

Timeline

• August 20, 2001 — Police arrested a man and charged him with raping and strangling four drug-addicted prostitutes over a two-month period.
• August 18, 2001 — Bernadine Blunt, 39, was found in an abandoned building in the South Side.
• June 25, 2001 — Ola Mae Wallace, 39, was found in an alley.
• July 10, 2001 — Diane Jordan, 42, was found in an alley.
• July 27, 2001 — Cynthia Halk, 38, was strangled; a jury later convicted Taylor of first-degree murder in connection with this killing.
• June 15, 2006 — A Cook County judge sentenced Kevin Taylor to 50 years in prison for the 2001 killing of Cynthia Halk, and Suria set a June 27 court date.

Other details

• Kevin Taylor lived at the 10700 block of South Eberhart Avenue.
• Prosecutors said Halk’s body was found in an alley near Clark and Division Streets.
• Prosecutors said Wallace’s body was found in an alley in the 5200 block of North Broadway.
• The sentencing remarks were made by Circuit Judge Fred G. Suria Jr.
• Assistant State’s Atty. Carmen Aguilar read the victim impact statement prepared by Aisha.
• Assistant State’s Atty.
• Taylor was identified by a surviving 38-year-old woman in a lineup after his arrest.
• Investigators questioned Taylor because of similarities between Blunt’s death and three other slayings.