Ja’Quarius Taylor — a 17-year-old high school senior known as JD — was found dead on January 12 by a lake near his Varnado, Louisiana home, about an hour after his mother reported him missing.
Taylor attended nearby Varnado High School and played drums in the school marching band. His mother says that he would have been the first member of his family to attend college.
An autopsy commissioned by the family concluded that Taylor was shot three times in the head with two different caliber guns, according to the New Orleans Advocate. The Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office, who currently has no suspects in the investigation, has ruled his death a homicide.
The victim’s family, however, believes that Taylor’s death was the result of a hate crime based on his race and sexuality. They are now urging federal officials to get involved, claiming that the Sheriff’s Office may have “conflicts of interest” in conducting a proper investigation.
Taylor’s family made a formal statement through their attorney on January 22. “The family has a legal team to help ensure a full, fair, and just investigation is happening,” their attorney told local news station WWL-TV. “We hope the FBI will get involved because of the perceived conflicts of interest and family relations the local sheriff may have. We’re looking at this as a hate crime based on the race and sexual orientation of Ja’Quarius Taylor.”
Other family members and neighbors were perplexed to hear that Taylor was being described as gay. Taylor’s aunt, Uratha Bonner, told the New Orleans Advocate that she was surprised that her nephew was linked to the LGBTQ+ community after his death. “I’m like, ‘Where the hell did y’all get this information from?’” she said. “If he was gay, we didn’t know about it.”
Mike Haley, chief deputy at the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office, also said that Taylor’s sexuality is not yet confirmed. “Everything points to the fact that he was homosexual — people who knew him and who knew his lifestyle,” Haley said. “Do we know that for a fact? No.”
In response to Taylor’s family, the Sheriff’s Office denied the claims of bias and conflicts of interest and said that they are “devoting all resources” into the investigation, according to WWL-TV. Their last reported update arrived on January 21, when police said that the Sheriff’s Office discovered “significant evidence” at the bottom of the pond, near where Taylor was found. (Bonner says that it was her nephew’s cell phone, the New Orleans Advocate reports.) They are offering a $5,000 reward in partnership with Crimestoppers to anyone with further information about the murder.
