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Bergen-Based Cold Case Unit Cracks Newark Killing

A new cold-case task force created in Bergen County solved the four-year-old slaying of a Newark man in his apartment with the arrest of an Irvington man, authorities said.

Victor Taylor

Victor Taylor

Photo Credit: MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Victor Taylor, 47, struck 46-year-old Mark Holley with an object and then strangled him in the South 16th Street apartment on Feb. 1, 2015, they said.

What initially was an exhaustive investigation didn’t produce an arrest, and the case went cold, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens, II and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose, III said in a joint release.

The investigation was revived by the North Jersey Cold Case Task Force, established by Musella’s office and the New Jersey State Police five months ago.

The task force includes detectives from Bergen, Essex, and Passaic County prosecutor’s offices, Newark police and the NJSP.

Taylor remained held Friday in the Essex County Jail pending a detention hearing in Central Judicial Processing Court in Newark.

He is charged with murder.

“We are grateful that our task force has resolved another homicide,” Musella said. Its continuing success is a testament to the close cooperation of the participating agencies.”

“It’s very satisfying for us to close these kinds of cases and maybe bring a small measure of comfort to the victim’s family,” said Ambrose, the Newark police director. “Our partners from the Prosecutor’s Offices at Essex, Bergen and Passaic Counties, and the New Jersey State Police are to be congratulated for their good police work.” 

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