Taylor sentenced to life in prison for the unsolved murder of Vickie Lynn Belk in 1979

LA PLATA, Maryland. — Charles County District Attorney Tony Covington announced that on Friday, August 23, 2024, Charles County District Court Judge H. James West sentenced Andre Taylor, age 63, to life in prison for the premeditated murder of Vickie Lynn Belk. Taylor was found guilty of the above charges by a Charles County jury on July 18, 2024.

On August 28, 1979, Belk's then-boyfriend reported her missing to the Prince George's County Police Department after last seeing her the previous day at their shared workplace in Washington, DC. Belk had not returned to her apartment in Suitland, MD.

On August 29, 1979, a local teenager called 911 after noticing a body on the ground in a wooded area in the area of ​​Metropolitan Church Road and Route 227. Officers from the Charles County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) responded to the scene and discovered the body of a woman with a gunshot wound to the right side of her head and no clothing from the waist down.

On August 30, 1979, Belk was positively identified as the woman discovered in the wooded area. The Baltimore Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her cause of death was a gunshot wound.

Investigators secured, processed, and preserved evidence during the initial investigation, but the case was not pursued further. In the years that followed, several detectives worked on the case. In recent years, Detective Sergeant John Elliott of the CCSO's Criminal Investigations Division continued the investigation and worked with various agencies to follow up on leads.

As forensic technology has advanced, evidence from the murder has been re-examined over and over again. In 2022, the CCSO's Forensics Division re-evaluated the evidence and submitted Belk's clothing for examination using newer technology. A profile was created and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA database.

On November 1, 2022, Noelle Gehrman, Deputy Director of the CCSO's Forensics Division, was notified of a DNA match between profiles created from evidence obtained in the Belk and Taylor case.

While looking into Taylor's past, investigators learned that he had been arrested for violent crimes in Washington, DC. Additionally, it was determined that Taylor lived in a home on Bryan's Road at the time of the murder. The address was less than 4 miles from where Belk's body was found. Taylor also had ties to the Washington, DC area where Belk was believed to have been abducted.

Detectives attempted to locate Taylor, but his address had been unknown since 2019. Working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the DC Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Unit, and the U.S. Secret Service's Baltimore Field Office, CCSO detectives were able to locate Taylor at his residence in Washington, DC.

On June 22, 2023, Taylor was arrested by detectives from the CCSO's Criminal Investigations Division, the CCSO's Warrant/Fugitive Unit, the United States Marshals Service, the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and members of the Metropolitan Police Department.

During an interview with investigators, Taylor admitted to acts amounting to rape of Belk, but denied involvement in her murder.

At the time of the murder, Belk was 28 years old and Taylor was 18. There is no evidence that Belk and Taylor knew each other before the incident.

At the sentencing, Assistant District Attorney John Stackhouse told the judge that the incident had caused “generational trauma because it lasted 45 years.” [Belk’s] Son grew up without a mother. Her parents had to bury their daughter. Her parents were on their deathbeds, not knowing who killed their daughter. Her grandchildren never had the chance to meet their grandmother. – And yet, in this whole case, I have never seen a family with so much grit, determination and grace.” He added, “When you victimize someone like that and then murder them, it really doesn't get any more cruel than that.” He echoed the words of Belk's son and urged the judge to “use the power you have to get justice, and justice in this case means life.”

Before sentencing Taylor to life in prison, the Honorable Judge said Belk had “a presence or a spirit that lingers like I've never seen before, frankly,” adding that the “victim leaves a tremendous legacy, and the family carries on a tremendous legacy.” He also stated that “the crime is a horrific loss of a human life – the violence was extreme. The level of fear and terror that preceded the violence is not present in most cases.” [The incident was] so heinous, I can't think of any lesser punishment that would be appropriate.”

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