Community activists organize Sacramento event, demand to know how Taylor Blackwell died
More than four months have passed since Taylor Blackwell was found dead in Sacramento hotel. Her family and friends believe they have received few answers from investigators about the 19-year-old woman’s suspicious death.
Those who knew her have taken to social media. Blackwell’s family and friends have shared news of her Feb. 28 death, and they say the Sacramento Police Department and Sacramento County Coroner’s Office investigation has still not determined how she died and revealed what investigators believe might have led to her death.
Sacramento community activists have come together to organize and event at WoodSpring Suites, 7789 La Mancha Way, the hotel where Blackwell was found in late February. The event – called “Justice for Taylor Blackwell” and scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday – is for the public to gather and demand answers from authorities.
“We want them to do their jobs faster,” said Berry Accius, one of the event’s organizers. “What happened to Taylor Blackwell in the last moments of her life? Why are there still so many holes in this case?”
Sgt. Sabrina Briggs, a Sacramento police spokeswoman, said police learned of the woman’s death about 5:45 a.m. Feb. 28. At that time, officers responded to the hotel, just north of Mack Road in south Sacramento.
Officers had been called to the hotel after firefighters found a dead woman in a room. Briggs said the woman was later identified as Blackwell.
She said homicide detectives and the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office took over the investigation.
“Crime scene investigators also responded to collect evidence and document the scene,” Briggs said in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon. “This is still an open and always has been an active death investigation.”
She said the Police Department is still working with the Coroner’s Office on this case. The department is encouraging any witnesses with information to call police.
Accius, a Black community activist and mentor, believes there has not been enough urgency by police investigating Blackwell’s death. He said he doesn’t believe the same would’ve happened if Blackwell was white and from one of Sacramento’s wealthy neighborhoods.
“Four months later, we have no idea what happened to her,” Accius told The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday. “This is outrageous, we should all be outraged. And we should be afraid.”
He asked if Blackwell’s death was accidental, then why is there no information from authorities indicating that? Accius also asked if her death was a homicide, then is there no suspect information for who did this and is still out there?
Kamiah Crenshaw, one of Blackwell’s family members, started a petition a week ago on change.org, demanding that police investigate Blackwell’s death and provide the family with some answers.
“Of course many stories and false claims circulated but the cause of death is still UNKNOWN,” Crenshaw wrote in the petition, which on Tuesday had already received more than 9,000 of the 10,000 signatures the family asked for. “We just want justice at the very least some closure!”
Crenshaw described Blackwell as an “intelligent” and “powerful young women” attending Sierra College and majoring in psychology who had “so much more life to live, so many goals to complete and definitely didn’t deserve any of this.”
Anyone with information about the death of Taylor Blackwell is encouraged to call officers at 916-808-5471 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357. Tips can also be submitted confidentially through the P3 Tips website and app.
