People in St. Francisville, home of serial

killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee, are buzzing over a possible connection

between Lee and the unsolved murder of Joyce Taylor, a popular gym

instructor at the local high school. Taylor, whom I knew and was quite fond

of, was murdered in her north Baton Rouge home years ago — I’m not sure of

the precise date, but it was the late 1980s or early 1990s, I think. The

case was never solved. The word is that Taylor was close to Lee when he was

a student at West Feliciana High School, which wouldn’t have been surprising

because she was friendly to all students, and well-liked. If Lee did kill

Taylor, that would put his career as a serial killer — assuming the charges

against him in the more recent cases are proven — beginning much earlier

than anyone now suspects. I imagine investigators all over south Louisiana

are re-opening old unsolved murder files right now.