Group kidnapped, tortured and killed man over drugs in 2006, feds say. Five now charged

Five people have been charged in connection to a 2006 kidnapping and murder of a Pennsylvania man.

Kevin Holloway, Mark Scott, Linton Mathis, Atiba Wicker, and Kenneth Tuck were indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and aiding and abetting, according to a May 2 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

McClatchy News reached out to attorneys for Tuck, Mathis and Scott for comment May 7 but did not immediately hear back. An attorney for Wicker was not listed in public court records.

Halloway’s attorney sent a statement saying, “It is important to remember that Mr. Holloway, like all American citizens, is presumed innocent. An Indictment is simply a charging document that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. We look forward to getting the discovery/evidence in the case, reviewing it and defending Mr. Holloway to the best of our abilities.”

On Aug. 26, 2006, Shamari Taylor, 38, and his then girlfriend were kidnapped by several men impersonating police officers in West Philadelphia. Taylor’s girlfriend was released, but Taylor was not, officials said.

“The ensuing investigation revealed that in the summer of 2006, at least nine men conspired to rob Taylor of cocaine and drug proceeds, and, in doing so, some of them disguised themselves as police officers while using fake badges, police lights, and firearms,” officials said.

After being abducted, Taylor was taken to a warehouse where he was interrogated and tortured, officials said. His captors were trying to find out where he stored cocaine and money.

“Taylor was then suffocated to death and his body was discarded in Fairmount Park. Several days later, four of the kidnappers moved Taylor’s body, burying him in a vacant lot in North Philadelphia that has since become the parking lot of a charter high school,” officials said.

Taylor would not be found until Aug. 21, 2018, when his remains were recovered in a “shallow grave,” according to officials.

Tuck was charged in 2006 in connection with the kidnapping, but in 2008, after two trials, he was acquitted, officials said. A family member of Tuck is accused of bribing a witness who testified at his 2007 state trial, “and that witness along with other witnesses provided false testimony supporting Tuck’s alibi for the evening Taylor was abducted,” according to authorities.

Prosecutors said “Tuck was recruited to join the conspiracy plot to kidnap and rob Taylor while posing as a police officer, and that Kevin Holloway and his drug-dealing associates, Mark Scott and Linton Mathis, participated in the kidnapping and murdered Taylor in the warehouse after torturing him.

“The investigation further revealed that Taylor’s friend, Atiba Wicker, and another acquaintance helped plan the crime, in part, by luring Taylor to the abduction site on August 26, 2006,” officials continued.

The defendants face life in prison, if convicted.

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