A woman was found dead at a Sacramento hotel. Her mother and the community want answers
Chiffon Buckner has spent the past four months waiting for Sacramento police investigators to tell her what happened to her 19-year-old daughter Taylor Blackwell.
“All I want is the truth. All I want is to know what happened to my baby girl,” Buckner said Wednesday at a news conference in the parking lot of the south Sacramento hotel where her daughter was found dead in late February. “I want any and everybody responsible held accountable.”
The young woman was an intelligent and compassionate Sierra College student with a bright future ahead of her and hopes of bringing about positive social change to her community, her family and friends said Wednesday. That’s why they’re heartbroken and shocked, worried her death involved foul play.
Sacramento community activists organized Wednesday’s news conference at WoodSpring Suites, the hotel where Blackwell’s body was found. The organizers of the event, called Justice for Taylor Blackwell, wanted to galvanize public support to demand answers from authorities about her death.
From the beginning, an investigator told the mother that her daughter’s death was most likely accidental, but authorities would learn more from the autopsy results, according to Buckner. She said she was told the man who last saw her daughter alive was questioned in front of hotel staff and released.
“I want justice for my baby,” Buckner said. “I want the same justice that anybody who was in my position would want. I’m not asking for anything more than what I’m supposed to have.”
The mother says she hadn’t received any response from investigators since April, even though she repeatedly called authorities to find out the status of the investigation.
She posted a plea for help on social media, since very few people in Sacramento knew about her daughter’s death. Buckner said the social media post went viral with the help of her daughter’s friends and others in the community spreading the word.
Death investigated as a homicide
Buckner said she received calls on July 2 from police and coroner officials, saying her daughter’s suspicious death was being investigated as a homicide. But the investigators told her the death had not been officially ruled a homicide.
“I’m trying to give them an opportunity to do what’s right,” Buckner said about police and coroner officials. “I’m trying to give them an opportunity to do their jobs and find out what happened to my baby.”
The mother says investigators are awaiting the completion of an autopsy report before the investigation will resume. They told her they were expediting the autopsy, but she wasn’t told when they think the autopsy report would be completed, she said.
“I was told on July 2 that the criminal side of the investigation is at a standstill until they get the results,” Buckner told reporters. “Not finding out what happened to my daughter is not an option.”
Sgt. Sabrina Briggs, a Sacramento police spokeswoman, has 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 were called to the hotel after firefighters found a dead woman in a room. She was later identified as Blackwell.
Briggs has said homicide detectives and the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office took over the investigation, and crime scene investigators also responded to collect evidence.
The investigation into Blackwell’s death was still open and always has been “an active death investigation,” Briggs said this week. The department is encouraging any witnesses with information to call police.
Police transparency and accountability
Berry Accius, a Sacramento Black community activist, said this death investigation is another clear example of how young people in south Sacramento are treated in comparison with those in more affluent, privileged neighborhoods. He said it speaks to the lack of transparency and accountability for police; the reason many are asking for defunding of police.
“Four months is too long for a mother and her family to not have any answers at all,” said Accius, who partnered with other community advocates to organize Wednesday’s news conference. “If it was murder, if it was an accident, well let us know. Let the family be able to close that door and move forward.”
He said the slow-moving investigation and the few answers speak to the lack of transparency and accountability for police; the reason many are asking for defunding of police.
“We care about this young lady. Didn’t have to be my daughter; she could’ve been my daughter,” Accius told The Sacramento Bee. “We care about Black women’s lives. And this is just showing us again that there is a lack of care for Black women here, especially in the city of Sacramento.”
He said as a father of two daughters he’s fearful this young woman’s death was not accidental and the slow investigation has allowed those responsible to walk free for the past four months. Accius said he wants to hold the hotel accountable, asking where is the video of who came in and out of the hotel.
“If Taylor Blackwell was murdered, if her death was not accidental, her killer still walks among us ... and ready to do it to the next victim,” Accius said. “At 19 years old, her last day was here at this hotel.”
Promise to help other Black girls
Erinee Carson, Blackwell’s best friend since they were 11 years old, said they promised each other to return to their community to help other Black girls. Carson would study law, and Blackwell would study psychology.
“Taylor wasn’t just a random girl on the street,” Carson said about her friend. “She was a smart girl. And everybody is left confused. Everybody who knew Taylor knew she would never put herself in a position to be hurt.”
Carson, 19, told reporters that police should have the decency to tell her friend’s mother what happened to her daughter.
Les Simmons, a pastor at South Sacramento Christian Center and a longtime community activist, said he’s afraid about the lack police transparency when a young Black woman is dead, and authorities have no answers.
“I’m very nervous. I’m very alarmed. I’m scared. I’m angered,” Simmons told reporters about police. “This is that moment that could build trust. Take this moment for what it is, build trust.”
Yet, Simmons says members of his community have to continually come out of their homes and stand up for Black lives when they should be sheltered in place to avoid the infectious respiratory disease COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus.
“We’re asking our society to see us. We don’t want to be out here. This is not something we want to do,” Simmons said. “Respect us; treat us like people. We want answers for Taylor.”
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.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 9:21 PM.
