Johnnie Taylor, listed also as Johnnie C. Taylor and Johnny Taylor, was 49 when he disappeared from the barges on the Mississippi River in Waggaman, Louisiana. On the morning of December 13, 2003, he was last seen near a work shed in the 9600 block of River Road putting on a yellow rain suit, dark rubber boots and a blue hard hat. His blue hard hat was later found floating in the river; no witnesses reported seeing him fall and no other trace was recovered immediately after.

Taylor is described as a Black male with black hair, brown eyes, a mustache and goatee, and an unusual identifying feature of ten to fifteen circular black marks on his tongue that resemble freckles. A separate unidentified male found in the river in St. John the Baptist Parish in September 2004 was once considered for comparison, but no confirmation tying that person to Taylor has been released.

Does anyone have information about Taylor’s work on the river, the 9600 block of River Road, or recollections from December 2003 that could help clarify what happened?