In the late summer of 1994, 42-year-old Deborah Taylor, a divorced mother of three, was looking for a fresh start. Having grown tired of her long-term boyfriend's inability to leave his wife, she had recently moved from her native New York to Virginia Beach, Virginia, with her young granddaughter. Her boyfriend, Richard Ablamsky, a 39-year-old married engineer and father of two, had been carrying on an affair with Taylor for roughly nine years, financially supporting her and taking her on
vacations. Despite the move, Ablamsky continued to visit her every weekend. In early September, he arrived with news that seemed to be the breakthrough Taylor had been waiting for: he claimed he was finally getting a divorce and that his company was transferring him to the Washington D.C. area. On September 3, 1994, the couple left Virginia Beach, heading towards Fairfax, Virginia, ostensibly to start their new life together.
The promise of a new beginning quickly took a dark turn. On September 9, the couple checked into a Marriott Residence Inn in Tysons Corner. Ablamsky then purchased a gun, and the two were reportedly seen practicing at a firing range. The following day, September 10, Taylor had her last known communication, a phone call to her mother in which she mentioned their time at the firing range. After this call, she was never heard from again. The narrative of what happened next comes from Ablamsky's increasingly erratic behavior. He later called Taylor's mother, claiming that Deborah had abruptly left him, taking a taxi from the hotel. He checked out of the hotel alone, telling the staff his 'wife' would be staying on. On September 12, he contacted the babysitter for Taylor's granddaughter, repeated the story of her leaving him, and instructed the sitter to take the child to Taylor's mother's home in Brooklyn.
The grim reality of the situation began to unfold when authorities were finally able to enter the hotel room on September 17. They discovered a horrific scene: the walls and mattress were covered in blood, and the bedclothes were missing. Further investigation revealed blood in the interior and trunk of Ablamsky's car. By this time, however, Ablamsky had returned to New Jersey, appearing disheveled to those who saw him. On September 16, his actions escalated dramatically. He contacted friends of Taylor, speaking of her in the past tense and threatening to take his own life. That same day, he broke into his former boss's home, set it on fire, and died by suicide. He left a note with wild accusations of corporate espionage, which were later investigated and found to be baseless. Investigators strongly suspect that Richard Ablamsky was responsible for Deborah Taylor's death. Despite the significant amount of blood evidence found, her body has never been recovered, leaving her case an unsolved disappearance with foul play suspected.Last Seen: Sep 11, 1994
