Baltimore detectives used an unusual method to capture a terrifying kidnapping and sexual assault that took place in Leakin Park: they traced the tires from dental braces.
Police have released a sketch of a man wanted in connection with an attack on a 71-year-old woman who was out for a walk in the park on November 7. The victim reported that she was taking her daily walk on the trail at 5:30 p.m. passed a man sitting on a bench and tried to strike up a conversation by commenting on the weather, according to charging documents.
She noticed that the man was following her and kept talking to her. His tone changed, he said, after he said his mother had recently died and that he was bipolar and wanted to kill himself, police wrote in charging documents. He suddenly grabbed her from behind, pulled a gun and threatened to kill her.
The victim tried to bite him in an attempt to escape, and he began hitting her and squeezing her neck until she lost consciousness, police said. During the match, her glasses and hat fell off.
The attacker then dragged her off the trail and into a campsite in the woods, where he had set up a tent and a folding chair, police wrote in charging documents. He tied her to the chair.
While she was tied up, the suspect kissed and sexually touched her and later applied pressure to her neck, causing her to pass out again, police said.
The victim asked the suspect to pray with her, hoping it would calm him down, and then asked if he could find her glasses that she had dropped during the initial struggle.
He agreed, and after she was out of sight, he was able to untie himself and fled across a creek and up an embankment, where he flagged down a driver.
Police obtained a search warrant for the camp. There was a blood-stained rope, an air mattress, generator, makeshift shower, portable stove and chainsaw, according to charging documents.
They also found packages of tires used for braces, which listed the manufacturer.
Sgt. Keith Savadel contacted the company and provided serial numbers for the tires, and the company provided a list of dental offices it supplies across the country, police said.
There was only one office in Maryland — in Ellicott City.
Savadel went to the dentist’s office and showed them a sketch of the suspect.
“Staff immediately identified the suspect believed to be Charles Taylor,” said Det. Latarsha Young wrote in the charging documents.
Charles Avon Taylor Jr., 46, is a two-time convicted sex offender, including a 30-year sentence for first-degree rape in 2000. Half of the sentence was suspended. He was also convicted of third-degree sexual assault and first-degree assault in Baltimore County in 2001, receiving another 15-year sentence.
Police learned that Taylor’s mother had died in 2017. The day after the abduction, Taylor had also gone to Sheppard Pratt Hospital to receive treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts.
A warrant was officially served on Taylor on Nov. 22 and he is being held without bond on charges including kidnapping, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and fourth-degree sexual assault.
Taylor did not have an attorney listed in online court records.
The Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park is hosting a public safety meeting with officials from the city’s recreation and parks departments and police departments at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 28, at the Cahill Recreation Center.
The goal is to discuss state funding to improve security at the park, calling the Nov. 7 attack “a crime that would be less likely if the park were adequately funded.”
justin.fenton@thebaltimorebanner.com
Justin Fenton is an investigative reporter for the Baltimore Banner. He previously spent 17 years at the Baltimore Sun, covering the criminal justice system. His book, We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption, was published by Random House in 2021 and turned into an HBO miniseries.
