In a tragic turn of events that cut a young life short, 17-year-old JaQuarius D. Taylor was found deceased on January 12, 2020. A senior at Varnado High School, the young Black man's body was discovered in a wooded area near a pond off Wilbur Dillon Road in his hometown of Angie, Louisiana. An investigation by the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office soon revealed the harrowing details of his final moments: Taylor had been shot multiple times in the head.
The discovery came just an hour after his mother had reported him missing.
The investigation into the homicide brought to light a familial connection that made the loss even more profound. Detectives determined that the last person to have contact with Taylor was his second-cousin, Jo'Andre Lecasso Dawson. A search of Dawson's residence uncovered shell casings that were a ballistic match to those found at the scene of the crime. Initially, Dawson claimed his pistol had been stolen after he had discharged it on his property. However, upon a second interview following the ballistics match, Dawson confessed to the killing. He recounted picking Taylor up and driving to the secluded area where an altercation between the two escalated, leading him to shoot Taylor multiple times. In an attempt to cover his tracks, Dawson admitted to throwing Taylor's cell phone into a nearby pond and disposing of the firearm in the Pearl River. A dive team was later able to recover the cellphone.
The brutal nature of the crime and the fact that Taylor was openly gay led his family and civil rights organizations to voice concerns that his murder may have been a hate crime. This prompted the involvement of the FBI to investigate any potential civil rights violations. A social media movement under the hashtag #JusticeForJD was started by family and community members to bring more attention to the case.
The legal proceedings came to a close on January 8, 2024, when Jo'Andre Lecasso Dawson, at the age of 24, pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and obstruction of justice by tampering with evidence. He was subsequently sentenced by District Judge Ellen Creel to 40 years in prison for his role in the death of his cousin, JaQuarius Taylor.
