DNA from Sidewalk Spit Helps Crack 1988 Boston Cold Case Murder: Police

DNA from spit on a sidewalk has helped police arrest a Massachusetts man in connection with a 1988 cold case murder, according to authorities.

On Sept. 19, James Holloman, 65, was taken into custody for the May 1988 murder of Karen Taylor at her Roxbury home, according to court documents obtained by WFXT.

Authorities said saliva samples from Holloman were collected in 2023 from the sidewalk in front of his residence.

This allowed the Boston Police Department to obtain his DNA, which, police claimed, has now been linked to evidence found at the scene of Taylor’s murder in 1988.

“What I understand is they collected a DNA sample from the ground after he spit, and that’s how they claim to have matched all this up,” defense attorney Anthony Ellison told WFXT.

On May 27, 1988, Taylor’s mother called her, but Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter answered the phone and told her grandmother that her mom was sleeping and could not be woken.

Taylor’s mother went to her apartment and found her daughter in a pool of blood, with wounds to her head, neck and chest after being stabbed 15 times, authorities said.

The victim's daughter was also in the apartment. Police said they located a blood-covered gray sweatshirt and brassiere, two cigarettes, and a paycheck made out to Holloman lying near Taylor’s body.

Investigators questioned Holloman in June 1988 and he said he had not seen Taylor in the weeks before her death.

After obtaining the DNA sample from Holloman in 2023, investigators used it to reportedly match scrapings underneath Taylor’s fingernails, a bloody sweatshirt from the crime scene and a cigarette.

At his arraignment on Sept. 20, Holloman pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder.

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He was ordered to be held without bail, and his next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29. Before this murder charge, prosecutors said Holloman did not have any criminal record.

In a statement to WFXT, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said, “This is an example of superb investigative work by detectives and prosecutors using modern criminology science, but most of all it’s an opportunity for Karen Taylor’s loved ones to see someone answer for her death after so many years of unanswered questions.”