Wednesday, March 3, 2004
Page 4
Five Years After Commissioner’s Murder, Investigation Called ‘Stagnant’
By J’AMY PACHECO, Staff Writer
San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department officials are calling the investigation into the San Bernardino County murder of a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner and his wife nearly five years ago “essentially stagnant,” the San Bernardino Bulletin will report in tomorrow’s edition.
“There has been no movement in that case,” Sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson said. “We have no suspects that have been identified, we have no significant leads to follow at this time.”
Commissioner H. George Taylor was gunned down on March 18, 1999, as he returned to his Rancho Cucamonga home following a legal community dinner honoring retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Egly. Taylor was shot as he pulled into his driveway at approximately 9:30 p.m., and crashed his vehicle into the garage.
Taylor’s wife, Lynda, was at home when her husband was shot. She was killed in the garage, and police speculated she entered the garage to investigate the crash. Police said both were killed by shotgun blasts at close range.
Taylor was a family law jurist assigned to the Norwalk courthouse, and investigators combed through his case files hoping to find a motive for the double homicide. Investigators said they also considered Lynda Taylor’s work as an occupational therapist.
In April 1999, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the Taylors’ killer or killers. We-Tip added $1,000 to the reward.
The rewards are still posted on a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Website, and are listed has having been “extended indefinitely.” The Los Angeles Superior Court also offered a $25,000 reward.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department includes the Taylors’ killers on its online list of “Wanted Persons.”
But while the case is “still active,” Patterson said, investigators “have no leads to pursue at this time.”
“Whether or not that will change—we don’t know,” he added.
Patterson said investigators are asking the public to come forward with information in the case.
“We’re still asking for help from anyone who knows—who has any information about what occurred at the Taylor home, or has any information about the suspect or anything that might be useful to law enforcement,” he said.
Anyone with information regarding the case is encouraged to contact Sgt. Bobby Dean in the Sheriff’s Homicide Unit at (909) 387-3589. Information can be provided anonymously to We-Tip at (800) 78CRIME.
Copyright 2004, Metropolitan News Company