On January 11, 2018, deputies with the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of a shooting on Houston Road, just outside Saint Robert, Missouri. Upon arrival, law enforcement discovered a grisly scene involving a single vehicle containing four gunshot victims. Among them was 24-year-old male Johnathan Graham-Dosal, who had sustained fatal injuries. He was pronounced dead alongside another victim, 53-year-old Sherry Gann.
Two other individuals in the vehicle survived the attack but were left wounded and required transport to area hospitals for treatment.
Investigators quickly turned their attention to identifying those responsible for the double homicide, which detectives believed was primarily motivated by drug-related activity. Authorities identified Richard R. Taylor, a 44-year-old resident of Devil’s Elbow, as the primary suspect. Taylor was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, and four counts of armed criminal action. Background checks revealed that Taylor had a history of violent crime, including a prior murder conviction in 1990 out of Cook County, Illinois, and was on federal probation for drug trafficking at the time of the Saint Robert shooting.
In addition to Taylor, police sought Jamel L. Holt, a 34-year-old man known to move between Pulaski County and the St. Louis area, as a person of interest in the case. The Major Case Squad of the Lake of the Ozarks, along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and local police departments, assisted in the investigation. Taylor later appealed his case to the Missouri Court of Appeals, challenging witness identification and other legal aspects, but the judicial process continued to move forward based on the serious charges filed against him.
