Federal prosecutors this week indicted five men accused of posing as Philadelphia police officers in the 2006 kidnapping and murder of a 38-year-old man.
The indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania alleges that the men — while posing as police officers using fake badges, police lights and guns — kidnapped Shamari Taylor and his then-21-year-old girlfriend from West Philadelphia to rob him of cocaine and drug money.
Kevin Holloway, 45; Mark Scott, 48; Linton Mathis, 50; Atiba Osier, 47 years old; and Kenneth Tuck, 51, were charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death and aiding and abetting.
The couple was sitting in a car in Philadelphia’s Overbrook neighborhood on Aug. 26, 2006, when they were kidnapped and taken to a warehouse, CBS News Philadelphia reported. The kidnappers released the girlfriend a few hours later, but Taylor, the son of a former state representative, remained missing. A day after Taylor disappeared, someone broke into the family’s West Philadelphia home and shot her sister and mother in the heads. They both survived.
Authorities found Taylor’s remains nearly 12 years later, on Aug. 21, 2018, in a shallow grave in North Philadelphia, according to a Justice Department press release. Federal prosecutors said his the kidnappers suffocated him. Taylor was identified through his dental records, CBS News Philadelphia reported.
Philadelphia County arrested and charged Kenneth Tuck in connection with Taylor’s kidnapping in September 2006, but after two trials he was acquitted of all charges.
Law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Pennsylvania State Parole, continued the investigation until charges were filed this week .
“Anyone who commits a heinous crime and is still at large years later might just assume they got away with it,” said U.S. Attorney Romero. “Well, they should think again. We and our law enforcement partners will doggedly pursue justice for victims of violence and hold perpetrators accountable, no matter how long it may take.”
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