A dark time for The Bahamas

Wellington Adderley, Harl Taylor, Dr. Thaddeus McDonald and Marvin Wilson all have something in common, their lives were cut short in a string of gruesome murders that took place in late 2007 and 2008. 

Three of these men were also well known for their contributions to Bahamian society so naturally these murders captured everyone’s attention and gripped the country in an unsettling way. 

‪Dr. Thaddeus McDonald at the time of his death was a COB lecturer and Dean,Wellington Adderley was a well known AIDS activist and Harl Taylor was a famous hand bag designer who used native products which caught the attention of celebrities like Naomi Campbell,the Queen and Oprah‬

These men were also all apart of the LGBTQ community  which, unfortunately is targeted violently at disproportionate rates. This left those apart of the community feeling more unsafe than usual 

The fact that these men were gay caused even more of a stir in the media with headlines claiming there could even be a “male prostitution theory” 

The first victim was Dr. Thaddeus McDonald, on November 16th 2007 he was found in his home dead after being bludgeoned in the head with an iron with no sign of forced entry 

The second victim Harl Taylor was found just 2 days later on the 18th with reports of the scene being extraordinarily gruesome, stabbed dozens of times with blood splattered everywhere. In this case there was also no sign of forced entry.

I’ll also never forget his body viewing at the funeral home, there were so many people that showed up and to this day he’s the only person I’ve ever seen sit upright on a chair for a body viewing. His body was done by Ted Sweeting who brought this new embalming trend from the US

The third victim Wellington Adderley died 6 months later, he was found in his Delancey Street apartment on May 27th 2008 with his throat slit. And still no sign of forced entry.

The final victim in this string of murders was Marvin Wilson , a waiter who was stabbed in the chest in his home just a few days after Wellington Adderley on June 3rd 2008

It was clear that the victims knew their killers and the public couldn’t help but think that these murders were all linked.  13 years later and unfortunately the murders are still unsolved.