Marshanda Taylor was 21 when she was killed in Baton Rouge on August 21, 2020. Officers responded about 2:30 a.m. to a shooting at a residence in the 2040 block of Goudchaux Street and found Taylor had been struck multiple times by gunfire that had been fired into the house; she died at the scene. Family and neighbors remembered her as a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

The Baton Rouge Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit opened an investigation and worked for months on the case. On May 21, 2021, authorities arrested 21-year-old Taylor Nelson and charged her with principal to second-degree murder; Nelson was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison as legal proceedings began.

If anyone has information about the shooting that morning or knew Marshanda, please come forward to help the investigation.