ERIN TAYLOR

MARQUETTE — Eighteen years ago, on Aug. 20, a sheriff’s deputy discovered 24-year-old Erin Rebecca Taylor’s body in a secluded wooded area off of Marquette County Road 492 in Negaunee Township.

An autopsy confirmed that Taylor, who had been missing for nine days, had been murdered — and despite years of investigation, the case remains unsolved, with no arrests made to date.

“This case is very much open, in our opinion, and we continue to pay close attention to it,” Marquette City Police Captain of Detectives Mike Kohler said.

Taylor’s memory remains alive in hearts and minds of many, including investigators who worked the case and Bonnie Dowd, a close friend of Taylor’s who has sought justice and remembrance for Taylor over the past 18 years.

“She doesn’t have a voice anymore and I know she’d do it for me,” Dowd said. “And we need to get justice for her.”

Dowd created a memorial at the site where Taylor’s body was found and pays annual visits to the site — she also helped create a website dedicated to seeking justice for Taylor and worked with Michigan Back Country Search and Rescue to offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Taylor’s killer.

“I know somebody knows something,” Dowd said.

This year, Dowd said she couldn’t make the journey to visit Taylor’s memorial — but wanted to make sure Taylor wasn’t forgotten.

“I think of her every day,” she said.

Police who worked on the case have never forgotten Taylor, nor the investigation.

“It initially started off as a missing person’s report, but after a short amount of time we realized that something terrible had happened to Erin and we started the investigation right away, believing that this wasn’t just a missing person’s report, something bad had happened,” said Forsyth Township Chief of Police Gordon Warchock, who was a detective sergeant investigating the incident with the Marquette City Police Department at the time. “Myself, and the Marquette (City) Police, the Michigan State Police, the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office, hit the ground aggressively trying to locate Erin and figure out where she was.”

Police received a promising tip early on in the investigation of Taylor’s disappearance, before her body was discovered.

“There was a tip that came in right away, probably the first day she was reported missing,” said retired Marquette City Police Chief Sal Sarvello, who was chief of the Marquette City Police at the time of Taylor’s murder. “She was supposed to meet somebody.”

Warchock interviewed the person Taylor was supposed to meet — a Canadian man whom Taylor had arranged to meet in Munising the weekend she disappeared.

However, after the man passed a polygraph and additional evidence was reviewed, the man was cleared as a person of interest in the case — Taylor had never arrived for their meeting, police said.

“She had planned to have an encounter with this guy. Through our investigation we learned that encounter never occurred and that person was cleared of any suspicion of wrong-doing,” said Marquette City Manager Mike Angeli, who worked in the Marquette City Police’s Detective Bureau on the case at the time.

Shortly thereafter, Taylor’s badly decomposed body was discovered in the remote, wooded location, investigators said.

Police suspected “it was her and that it was likely a homicide,” Angeli said.

Investigators mobilized quickly to confirm this by autopsy, he said.

The autopsy confirmed Taylor’s identify through use of dental records. It also confirmed that she been murdered by strangulation, as ligature remained in place around her neck, police said.

According to previous Mining Journal articles, investigators believe the strangulation occurred in Taylor’s Wright Street home.

Police pursued many avenues in their investigation, they said.

“A lot of things were looked into, a lot of people were interviewed, a lot of resources were tapped,” Kohler said.

Numerous people connected with Taylor were interviewed and cleared of suspicion, leading police to focus on a person of interest.

“We proceeded with the investigation and were interviewing people who had contact with Erin though her church, through work, just acquaintances,” Warchock said. “And through that process, we developed a person of interest in the investigation.”

However, despite the efforts of investigators, “the evidence just wasn’t there” to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person of interest was definitively responsible, Sarvello said.

“We worked diligently for quite some time. Unfortunately, we were never able to have enough evidence to submit a case to the prosecutor’s office for review of charges,” Warchock said.

Investigators continue to look for the information they need to close the case once and for all.

“We’re still working on that piece of information that tips it over the edge,” Warchock said.

Police remain hopeful the missing piece could still be brought forward.

“As investigators, we’re always hopeful that something comes to light, a new piece of evidence is found, a witness comes forward that tips that scale and gives us the piece of information or the piece of evidence we need that we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” Warchock said.

To this day, police said, information is still being brought forward regarding the case.

“Believe it or not, we still get tips,” Kohler said. “It’s interesting how some people maybe have seen something or heard something, and maybe they heard or saw this a long time ago, but for some reason, have just built up the gumption to come in and talk to us or call us.”

Any piece of information — no matter how seemingly insignificant — could make a difference, Warchock said, encouraging the public to come forward with anything they may know about the case, noting it “might be that missing piece of the puzzle that we need.”

While many of the investigators who worked on the case initially are now retired from the Marquette City Police Department, the torch has been passed to a new generation — and police said they remain ready to act on new tips and leads regarding the case.

“I have assigned this case to one of my younger but seasoned detectives because after I retire, somebody has to have an intimate working knowledge of the facts of this case,” Kohler said.

Investigators understand the significance of solving the 18-year-old case — and remain hopeful that they will reach a resolution.

“I wish we had a different outcome and I’m hopeful in the future that we will,” Warchock said.

Angeli echoed Warchock’s sentiment, saying: “It’s important, it’s important especially in these kinds of cases, that there’s closure for family, friends and it’s always disappointing as an investigator to not be able to do that.”

But there’s “always that little bit of hope,” Angeli said.

Anyone with information pertaining to the case is asked to contact the Marquette City Police at 906-228-0400 or email JusticeForErinTaylor@gmail.com

For more information on the case, go to Justice ForErinTaylor.com.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at cbrown@miningjournal.net.