DA: Man pleads not guilty in cold-case murder of young mother found stabbed 15 times in Boston home

BOSTON — A man pleaded “not guilty” on Friday after he was arrested in connection with the cold-case murder of a young mother who was found stabbed to death in her Boston home more than three decades ago, law enforcement officials said.

James Holloman, 65, of Dorchester, was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on a charge of first-degree murder after he was indicted Thursday in the 1988 stabbing death of 25-year-old Karen Taylor in Roxbury, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.

Holloman hid from view while listening to the charges levied against him.

On the afternoon of May 27, 1988, Taylor’s mother called to speak with her daughter, but Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter answered the phone and told her grandmother that her mother was sleeping and she could not wake her up, the DA’s office said.

When the mother later traveled to Taylor’s apartment on 37 Williams Street, she was unable to get into the building so she went around the back, crawled through a first-floor window, and found her daughter lying face-down in a pool of blood, according to investigators.

The DA’s office said Taylor was stabbed 15 times in the chest, head, and neck.

Forensic testing on the fingernail scrapings from Taylor’s right hand produced a full profile that matched a sample obtained from Holloman in 2023, Boston police detectives said.

Prosecutors said his DNA was found on the sleeve of the sweatshirt and on a cigarette.

Prosecutors also said he recently gave a statement to police that he did see Taylor the day before her death even though he previously told investigators decades ago that he hadn’t seen her the weeks before.

Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden praised the work of detectives in cracking this case.

“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,” Hayden said.

Additional details are expected to be revealed in court on Friday.

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