Boston police confirmed that a 65-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of an unsolved 1988 murder in Boston.
Suspect James Holloman was linked to the crime after DNA from saliva left on the sidewalk in front of his home last year matched DNA from the crime scene, according to Boston 25 News.
When Karen Taylor was found dead in her Roxbury home in May 1988, stabbed 15 times, the suspect’s DNA was found under her fingernails, on her bloodstained sweatshirt and on a cigarette.
Holloman’s paychecks were also allegedly found in her home.
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Boston police confirmed that a 65-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of the unsolved 1988 murder of a woman near Boston. (Boston Police Department)
“My understanding is that they took a DNA sample from the ground after the defendant spat and that’s how they claimed all the matches,” defense attorney Anthony Ellison told Boston 25.
Holloman had been served with a murder warrant out of Suffolk Superior Court in connection with Taylor’s murder and was being held by the Boston Police Fugitive Unit.
He pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, according to Boston 25.
On May 27, 1988, Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter answered the phone and was told by her grandmother that her mother was asleep and she couldn’t wake her, the station reported, citing the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
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Taylor’s mother later discovered her body in a pool of blood at her home.


Holloman pleaded not guilty Friday in Suffolk Superior Court. (Massachusetts State Government)
“This is an example of an outstanding investigation by our detectives and prosecutors using modern criminal science, but more than anything, it’s an opportunity for Karen Taylor’s family to have some answers about her death after so many years of unanswered questions,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden told Boston 25.
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Holloman had previously claimed to authorities that he had not seen Taylor in the weeks before her murder, but recently admitted to seeing her the day before she died, the station reported.