Lubbock Police announced “new developments” Monday morning in the 1993 murder case of Sherry Ann Ragsdale Dorsey.
Dorsey was beaten and strangled in the 2400 block of Weber Drive.
The suspect was publicly identified as Kenneth Earl Taylor. He died in October of 2007. A case was previously presented to the office of Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney in 1998 before Taylor died, but there was not enough evidence to go forward.
Police Chief Greg Stevens said evidence tied a California homicide case to the murder in Lubbock. In 2017, DNA from a family member of Taylor was then matched to DNA at the murder scene.
In March of 2019, a search warrant was obtained to exhume Taylor’s body. A specialist with the University of North Texas helped get a DNA sample which then matched DNA from the original murder scene at 2400 Weber Drive.
Related Story: “It was worth it,” says daughter of 1993 murder victim, after new developments
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Lubbock Police provided the following timeline in the murder of Sherry Ann Ragsdale Dorsey:
93-13878
DOB: 9/21/64; She was 28 at the time of her death
- April 17, 1993: Sherry was found deceased inside her apartment at Greenfair Manor Apartments located at 2704 Weber Driver.
- LPD detectives developed information to believe Kenneth Earl Taylor (10/13/1958 – 10/18/2007) was a suspect in the murder.
- January 1998: LPD detectives presented the case against Taylor to the District Attorney’s Office; however, charges were not filed.
- March 2017: DPS began the process of analyzing swabs taken as evidence
- October 20, 2017: DPS received a confirmation that the DNA from Sherry’s case matched DNA collected in a California murder in the 1990s. The DNA profile still remained unknown.
- October 26 – 30, 2017: LPD detectives met with Taylor’s mother. She willing gave a DNA sample to be submitted for testing.
- December 2017: The forensic report came back from UNT’s Center for Human Identification. Through a Familial DNA match, the suspect was a biological child of Taylor’s mother. (The mother died in June of 2018)
- December of 2018, Metro Special Crimes Unit was created and began assisting with the case.
- March 5, 2019: A search warrant was served at the Lubbock Cemetery to exhume Taylor’s remains. DPS flew in Dr. Gill-King with UNT to assist with the process and collection for DNA samples.
- March 25, 2019: LPD received information that Taylor’s DNA matched the swabs taken from the Ragsdale murder.
CLARIFICATION: Police initially said Kent Earl Taylor. That was later updated to Kenneth Earl Taylor.