The site where Jessica Taylor was found
Crime Scene Location in Manorville, New York
This is the site where Jessica Taylor was found.
It is located on Halsey Manor Road in Manorville, New York.
Taylor is believed to be a victim of the Long Island serial killer (LISK).
On July 26th, 2003, a dog walker discovered the 20-year-old's naked torso at the end of this paved access road. By that stage, she had been dead for approximately 2–3 days.
Her decomposing remains were found lying on a sheet of plastic that had been placed on top of a pile of tree branches and scrap wood. It is believed that the sheet in question may have been a shower curtain.
The killer made no effort to conceal the body, as he placed it out in the open, just yards away from the treeline.
This access road is half a mile away from the wooded area where LISK dumped the torso of Valerie Mack in 2000.
Taylor was reported missing by her pimp, Khalil White, and a fellow sex worker named "Crystal" in July 2003. At the time, she frequently traveled between Washington, D.C., and Manhattan. She had also spent time in Atlantic City, North Carolina, Long Island City, Cheverly in Maryland, and the East Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Taylor left Khalil in the early hours of July 15th, 2003, after the pair had a fight. When her car broke down at a gas station, a group of people her age picked her up and brought her back to Bushwick in Brooklyn.
She stayed with her new acquaintances in Bushwick in the days leading up to her disappearance. During this period, she reportedly cut her hair short and dyed it, possibly red.
When her acquaintances last saw her, she was leaving their apartment with a cellphone, red-heeled sandals, and a purse containing a bible.
The police stated that Taylor was last seen working the streets near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan between July 18th and July 21st, 2003.
This means that she was most likely picked up by LISK on the 21st or 22nd.
Taylor's killer removed her head and hands in an attempt to hinder her identification. He also mutilated a tattoo that was on her lower back.
The tattoo consisted of a red heart with angel wings, which had the words "Remy's angel" written across them.
Although LISK damaged the tattoo with a sharp object, he was not thorough enough. As a result, the medical examiner's office was able to piece the tattoo back together and release a photograph of it.
Shortly afterwards, a detective in Washington, D.C., saw the image and realized that the tattoo might belong to Taylor, whom he had previously arrested.
At that stage, the authorities tracked down members of Taylor's family and confirmed her identity using DNA testing.
Initially, her relatives suspected that she may have been murdered by her pimp. However, that belief was shattered in 2011.
In December 2010, the bodies of four missing sex workers were uncovered at a roadside near Gilgo Beach. This discovery led to a broader search of the bushes along Ocean Parkway.
On March 29th, 2011, investigators found a skull and two hands at a site that was just one mile east of the location where the other women had been dumped.
Subsequent DNA tests confirmed that the skull belonged to Taylor.
This was a crucial discovery, as it proved that the Long Island serial killer had been operating in both Manorville and Gilgo Beach.
In September 2023, Taylor's cousin, Jasmine Robinson, released a statement in which she revealed that a call was made from Taylor's phone at some point between July 22nd and July 26th, 2003. Because this call occurred in the days following her disappearance, it is unknown whether she made it herself or if someone else accessed her phone.
Jessica Taylor: Crime scene location
The address and the GPS coordinates for this location are as follows:
Address
Halsey Manor Road, Manorville, New York, NY 11949, USA
GPS coordinates
The latitude and longitude coordinates for the site are:
40.878734, -72.782170
Directions
The entrance to the paved access road is just 300 feet north of where Halsey Manor Road crosses over the Long Island Expressway.
Details about the general area
Manorville is a hamlet on the western edge of the Long Island Central Pine Barrens.
Photos
Photos of the site and other related images.
Taylor was found on a secluded access road
Although this site in Manorville is just a stone's throw away from the Long Island Expressway, accessing it from the highway requires a two-mile drive.
To reach it from the eastbound lane, you must take Exit 70, drive east on Eastport Manor, and then head north on Halsey Manor. Accessing it from the westbound lane requires a similar detour through wooded residential roads.
The photograph of Taylor on the left was taken just days before her disappearance.
The 20-year-old Poughkeepsie native was petite, standing at just 5 ft. 3 inches tall. Her family and friends often called her "Lala".
LISK dumped Taylor and Mack in the same area of Manorville
In 2000, LISK dumped Mack's torso at a site near the Peconic River in Manorville. Roughly three years later, he left Taylor's remains at the end of this access road near the Long Island Expressway.
His decision to reuse this part of Manorville as a dump site indicates that he is somewhat familiar with the area.
A dog walker discovered the body
Image source: Newsday: July 27th, 2003
Because Taylor was last seen between July 18th and July 21st, it is possible that her torso had been lying out in the open for a number of days.
Dump site
The Google Street View image above was taken in July 2012.
The red arrow is pointing towards the general area where a dog walker made the discovery.
Access road
Image source: The Bad Place (The Hunt For The Long Island Serial Killer)
The road provides access to a sump on Halsey Manor Road.
Taylor's remains were dumped in two different locations
This aerial image shows the two locations where Taylor's remains were found.
It seems as though LISK quickly arrived at the conclusion that Gilgo Beach on Jones Beach Island was a safer place to dump identifying body parts such as skulls and hands.
By the time 2003 rolled around, he had already hidden the identifying remains of four victims among the thick bushes and brambles beside Ocean Parkway.
As time wore on and the body parts at Gilgo Beach remained undiscovered, it is likely that his confidence in the area continued to grow.
Aerial photo from 2001
The killer's decision to leave Taylor's body in the open is quite telling.
We know that he wasn't under time constraints, as he dismembered her remains and then dumped the body parts in two separate areas that were 45 miles apart. Therefore, it stands to reason that he could have easily devoted a few more seconds to concealing her torso.
This part of Manorville is very secluded and quiet, especially at night. There is also a wooded area right beside the access road.
Despite all of this, he still chose to leave the torso in plain sight.
It is possible that he wanted someone to find it, as sadists in particular are narcissistic creatures who enjoy spreading fear. Witnessing the impact of their crimes gives them a sense of power and provides them with the means to relive the murder.
Seeing TV reports and newspaper articles about the crime would have given him psychological gratification. There is also a good chance that he initiated conversations about it.
However, this "public posing" ultimately backfired on him when the authorities were able to piece Taylor's tattoo together and identify her using DNA.
Picking up a newspaper and seeing her face staring back at him would have filled him with worry.
This was the first time that one of his victims had been identified.
Now that Taylor's identity was known, there was an increased possibility that investigators would be able to track her last known movements and connect him to the crime.
In the weeks and months that followed, it is likely that many "what-ifs" were circling around in his head.
Following Taylor's murder, the Long Island serial killer stopped dumping his victims out in the open. This change in modus operandi was most likely driven by her identification and the realization that DNA technology was becoming an increasingly powerful tool for investigators.
In other words, it was a wake-up call that "playing games" was far too risky.
At the same time, it may have also been starting to dawn on him that all of his dump sites at Gilgo Beach remained undiscovered.
Crime scene
Image source: News 12
These images of the crime scene at Halsey Manor Road were taken from a News 12 report. The photo on the left shows police standing at the entrance to the access road.
During a press conference about the murder, a police spokesperson said:
"It doesn't really seem like they were concerned that the body would have been found. It certainly would not be a place to put a body if you were looking to hide it."
The Long Island serial killer made no attempt to hide the body
Image source: The Bad Place (The Hunt For The Long Island Serial Killer)
The road sits between a low-lying water sump (top) and a wooded area (bottom).
Despite having a number of options, the Long Island serial killer made no attempt to hide Taylor's body.
Halsey Manor Road
Halsey Manor Road is eerily quiet, even during the day.
If he dumped the remains at night, then he would have had a lot of time and space.
Gilgo Beach
On March 29th, 2011, a search team uncovered Taylor's skull, hands, and forearm at this section of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.
By that point, her remains had been lying in the thicket for nearly eight years.
This discovery confirmed that the killer had been operating in both Gilgo and Manorville.
Manorville
Image source: The Killing Season
LISK placed her torso at the end of this access road in Manorville.
In September 2023, Taylor's cousin, Jasmine Robinson, said that the plastic sheet was believed to be a shower curtain. If this is true, then it suggests that she was murdered at a private residence, not a secondary kill site.
Tire tracks
Tire tracks were found on the access road.
Khalil White
Image source: The Killing Season
Taylor had a tattoo with the words "Remy's Angel" written on it. Remy was the nickname of her pimp and boyfriend, Khalil White, who was a Brooklyn-based gang leader from Harlem.
White isolated Taylor from her family and manipulated her into working in the sex trade.
Taylor worked alongside a sex worker named Crystal. In October 2017, Crystal said that White was a violent man who regularly abused them.
When the Gilgo Beach case broke in 2011, White told the police that he didn't believe she went missing from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Instead, he believed that the killer may have picked her up near Queens Plaza.
White said that the police were uninterested in this theory.
The authorities have remained very tight-lipped about the Port Authority sighting. They have also reportedly rejected FOIL requests relating to it.
This, coupled with their reluctance to entertain alternative theories, suggests that the information they received was solid.
Taylor disappeared in July 2003, which was long before LISK started targeting sex workers on Craigslist. At the time, she was working on the streets. Unlike his later victims, he couldn't contact her anonymously and then arrange to pick her up in a strategic spot.
Instead, he would have had to approach her in public.
Taylor was last seen near the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Taylor was last seen working the streets near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan between July 18th and July 21st, 2003.
At the time, the area around 8th Avenue and 42nd Street was a popular spot among sex workers. Locals called it "the Forty-deuce" or simply "the Deuce".
Taylor ran away from her pimp a few weeks before she went missing. This means that she was most likely working the streets by herself.
Those who spoke to her during this period said that she had grown tired of the lifestyle and was intending on returning home to Poughkeepsie.
Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Melissa Barthelemy were all apparently picked up in Manhattan. The family of Valerie Mack said that she was going to New York. Karen Vergata was living on West 45th Street when she disappeared.
All of this indicates that the Long Island serial killer was familiar with this section of New York City.
This isn't surprising, as the authorities believe that he was a regular "john" who only killed when the circumstances were right.
It is likely that LISK had been picking up sex workers in Manhattan for quite some time before he eventually crossed paths with Taylor. He may have realized his opportunity when he noticed that she was by herself, with no pimp or fellow working girls.
Taylor was alone, and the pickup occurred in a busy city that was miles away from Long Island. Despite this, he still had to approach her in public, in plain view of potential witnesses. By 2003, public security cameras in Manhattan were also more widespread.
For this reason, it is likely that her identification came as an unwelcome shock. This would explain why he stopped dismembering his victims and leaving their torsos out in the open.
Engaging in this behavior seemed like a good idea until he started envisioning police cars pulling up outside his house.
Coordinates: 40.757224, -73.989749
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This location belongs to the following categories:
Crime ScenesSerial KillersLong Island Serial Killer LocationsUnsolved CasesClosest Locations
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