Kalila Taylor was convicted twice of the 1996 murder of Curtisha Morning, a 17-year-old Riverhead High School homecoming queen who was stabbed 94 times behind the school on Long Island. Prosecutors said Taylor, then 20, killed Morning in a jealous rage after the father of Taylor’s young son began dating her. Taylor is serving 25 years to life and was denied parole in 2024.1New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Kalila Taylor DIN 99G1373
Who Curtisha Morning Was
Morning was a senior at Riverhead High School on Long Island’s East End, college-bound, studying nursing, and voted the school’s homecoming queen.2CBS News New York. Retrial in 1996 Killing of Riverhead High Homecoming Queen Set to Begin She disappeared on February 29, 1996, while walking across the school’s playing field on her way to an early-morning nursing class. Prosecutors said Taylor stalked her across the field and attacked her there.3The New York Times. Romantic Rival Is Arrested in Death of a Teenager Morning was stabbed 94 times.4Riverhead Local. Jury Finds Taylor Guilty in Murder of Curtisha Morning Her body was found roughly a month later in a wooded area near the athletic field, covered with branches and leaves.
The Jealousy Motive
The case centered on a love triangle. Carl Brown Jr. was the father of Taylor’s young son, and he had begun dating Morning about two weeks before the murder.5Newsday. Jury Finds Kalila Taylor Guilty in 1996 Murder Prosecutors said Taylor killed Morning after learning Brown had left her for the younger woman. According to District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr., one month before Morning disappeared, Taylor stabbed Brown in the back during an argument about her.3The New York Times. Romantic Rival Is Arrested in Death of a Teenager
How Police Linked Taylor to the Killing
Detective Vincent Stephan interviewed Taylor in April 1996, shortly after Morning’s body was found. He questioned her about scars, bite marks, and scratches on her body. Taylor gave explanations for most of them, tied to earlier fights, and police confirmed those accounts through reports and medical records. She could not account for one wound: a slice mark on her right thumb. Stephan theorized her hand had slipped while she stabbed Morning.6Newsday. Kalila Taylor’s Unexplained Injury Questioned
Over the next year, forensic testing linked Taylor’s DNA to blood on Morning’s boots and connected her to a silver necklace recovered from the scene.6Newsday. Kalila Taylor’s Unexplained Injury Questioned On June 10, 1997, more than a year after the killing, she was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.7The New York Times. New Sentence in 1996 Killing of Homecoming Queen Curtisha Morning
The First Conviction and Why It Was Overturned
Taylor was tried in Suffolk County Court in 1999 before Judge Arthur Pitts. The case was entirely circumstantial, resting heavily on DNA. A jury convicted her of second-degree murder, and she was sentenced to 25 years to life.8New York State Unified Court System. People v. Taylor
In 2004, the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed the conviction. Judge Pitts had told the jury to treat the DNA as direct evidence, but because the prosecution’s case was entirely circumstantial, the jury should have applied the stricter circumstantial-evidence standard to all of it. The court ruled the error was not harmless and ordered a new trial.8New York State Unified Court System. People v. Taylor
Why the Retrial Took Nearly a Decade
In 2006, County Court Judge Ralph Gazzillo ruled Taylor unfit to stand trial based on letters she had written that the judge described as “bizarre, baseless and delusional.” She was held at the Mid-Hudson Correctional Facility, which provides psychiatric treatment. Her attorney, John LoTurco, said she had exhibited signs of paranoid schizophrenia since being incarcerated.9Riverhead News-Review. Kalila Taylor Rejects Court Offer of 18 to Life in Jail State and defense experts disagreed over her competency for years. She was not deemed fit to proceed until 2011.10Newsday. New DNA Link Cited at Kalila Taylor Trial
The 2012 Retrial and Sentence
The retrial opened on June 11, 2012, before State Supreme Court Justice William Condon, more than 16 years after the killing.11Riverhead News-Review. Retrial of 1996 Riverhead Killing Begins in Suffolk Court
Prosecutors put updated forensics in front of the jury. Forensic scientist Diane Shkoditch testified that newer DNA testing linked blood smears on Morning’s boots and pants cuffs to Taylor, with the probability the blood came from someone else placed at one in 75.9 billion. Investigators identified a “struggle area” containing a bloodstained piece of concrete, one of Morning’s earrings, and a silver necklace they attributed to Taylor. Morning had been dragged roughly 90 feet to a spot along a chain-link fence after the attack.10Newsday. New DNA Link Cited at Kalila Taylor Trial
LoTurco argued the evidence was circumstantial and the police work “sloppy and incompetent,” pointing to the month it took to find the body.11Riverhead News-Review. Retrial of 1996 Riverhead Killing Begins in Suffolk Court He claimed the DNA was contaminated and that police had settled on Taylor from the start.12Newsday. Second Trial in Homecoming Queen’s Slaying He also offered an alternative source for the blood on Morning’s clothing: a “chance encounter” about a month before the killing in which Taylor was bitten on the finger.10Newsday. New DNA Link Cited at Kalila Taylor Trial
The jury deliberated a little over three hours before finding Taylor guilty of second-degree murder on July 2, 2012.13Riverhead News-Review. Kalila Taylor Found Guilty of Murder in Retrial On August 23, 2012, Justice Condon imposed the maximum sentence of 25 years to life, telling the courtroom, “Miss Morning was not shown any mercy, and I’m not inclined to show any here.”14Newsday. Max Sentence in Homecoming Queen Slay Case Taylor was 35 and received credit for roughly 12 years already served since her 1997 arrest.15Riverhead News-Review. Kalila Taylor to Be Sentenced for 96 Killing Behind Riverhead H.S.
Where Taylor Is Now
Taylor is held at Albion Correctional Facility in western New York. In February 2024, the Board of Parole denied her release and set a 24-month hold on her next hearing. She appealed, arguing the Board had leaned too heavily on her criminal history, weighed arrests that did not lead to convictions, relied on an official statement with incorrect information, and failed to apply risk-and-needs principles. The Board’s Appeals Unit rejected each argument, finding the Board was permitted to give greater weight to the severity and brutality of the offense, and affirmed the denial.1New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Kalila Taylor DIN 99G1373 With the 24-month hold, her next parole hearing would fall in early 2026.