Tashaun Jackson, a 31-year-old African American mother of four from Cocoa, Florida, was reported missing after she was last seen running a quick errand on February 9, 2019. She had left her purse at home and was seen near a 7-Eleven on Dixon Boulevard and a nearby McDonald’s. Jackson’s body was found six days later in a remote area of Osceola County.

Investigators say Jackson was kidnapped, forced into a car, and shot to death by Joshua Taylor, a 30-year-old man who had known her since childhood. Taylor, who had recently completed a 12-year prison term for an unrelated carjacking, was suspected of targeting Jackson because she had been a witness in an attempted sexual battery case from September 2018. He was arrested nearly three weeks after her disappearance and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; he was held without bond.

Family members held vigils and pleaded for information while Jackson’s relatives have said they will care for her four children.