ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A St. Johns County grand jury on Monday indicted a St. Augustine mother on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree felony arson in the death of her son.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Michelle Taylor, 38, is accused of burning down her own home on Lee Street in 2018 while she was home with her two children. Her 18-year-old daughter escaped, but her 11-year-old son David Taylor died from smoke inhalation and severe burns all over his body.
Neighbor Brent Anderson told News4Jax that before firefighters arrived, Taylor banged on his door for help because her son was still inside.
“I wasn’t able to enter the front door. I went around back to check the back patio area, and the flames were coming out so strong there was no way I was entering there. So I went to a back bedroom and was able to break a window, take a peek in, but there was nothing there,” Anderson recalled. “I made every attempt to figure out a way to get in and not really thinking about the concept of backdraft when I ripped open the garage.”
Anderson, who is a father of three young children, said he never get over not being able to rescue his neighbor’s child.
“A lot of sleepless nights and a lot of feelings with me from that night,” Anderson said.
According to investigators, Taylor’s motive for the alleged arson was an attempt to get insurance money. She later received a check for more than $90,000 from her homeowner’s insurance company, according to the State Attorney’s Office.
Fire investigators said several areas in the home tested positive for gasoline, the State Attorney’s Office said.
State Attorney R.J. Larizza said Taylor’s “depravity and greed know no bounds.”
“She will be held accountable for the murder of the younger child,” he added.
The family’s 10-year-old daughter also died in 2013 in an accidental drowning, the Sheriff’s Office said.
A Department of Children and Families report shows 10-year-old Natalie Taylor, who had cerebral palsy, drowned after being left unattended in a bathtub. The report says the oldest sibling, who was 12 years old at the time, was babysitting her sister and David, who was 6, while their mother was at work and their father was on a hunting trip in Georgia.