On Monday morning, the Lubbock Police Department released new details surrounding the almost 26-year-old murder case of Sherry Ann Ragsdale Dorsey. Police identified the suspect as Kenneth Earl Taylor.
Taylor was not indicted on charges in 1993 due to insufficient evidence. All these years later, DNA technology improved and police were able to get more evidence.
By the time the evidence came in, Taylor had been dead for 10 years.
Alexus Ragsdale, 26, the youngest of Dorsey’s three children, was on hand when the police publicly offered new details in the case.
“To be honest with you, it’s like I don’t have words. It was just like surprise because we thought this day would never come,” said Ragsdale in a press conference with her brother and her sister nearby.
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On April 17, 1993, Ragsdale was found deceased inside her apartment formerly known as the Greenfair Manor Apartments. With the suspect being identified after almost two decades, Alexus Ragsdale said this brings both peace and pain.
“We’re at peace but at the same time, it still hurts… Growing up without a mother, it kinda hurts,” Ragsdale said.
A break in the case came in October 2017, when DPS was notified that DNA from the murder case matched another murder in California in the 1990’s. Less than a week later, Lubbock Police were looking to see if they could do something with that new DNA. Not only did police find one of Taylor’s relatives for a DNA test but they went so far as to get a court order to exhume the body and get a DNA sample.
“It was worth it but at the same time knowing him that he’s passed away, it’s not really justice for him,” Ragsdale said. “At the same time he’s gone.”
As reporters continued asking Ragsdale questions, she held back tears.
“Heartache, pain,” she said. “Some rejoice, but at the same time we’re still hurting.”
With the announcement coming just two and-a-half weeks shy of the anniversary of her mother’s death, as she continued answering questions, she was no longer holding back tears.
“Yeah I thought they had given up… so I’m just glad they finally solved it,” said Ragsdale.
