Family and friends are urgently searching for Jordan Taylor, a City University of New York first-year law student missing for nearly two weeks.
Jordan’s family reported him missing to the NYPD’s 107th Precinct on January 8 after he did not respond to messages since January 6. Taylor, a Queens resident, has not been seen or heard from by his family or close friends since.
His brother, Alton “Al” Taylor, isn’t ruling out foul play given that Jordan Taylor’s phone was found near The Q, a popular Hell’s Kitchen nightclub that has been embroiled in controversy and allegedly linked to at least one nightclub murder since May 2022.
Al Taylor told NBC New York that it was likely that his brother, Jordan Taylor, went to The Q. It is unclear if Jordon Taylor identifies as LGBTQ. An NYPD spokesperson said on January 25 that Taylor “remains missing” and the “investigation is ongoing.”
Al Taylor did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
“I don’t want to rule out a heinous foul play,” he told NBC New York, stating that he doesn’t want to think about it. “I can’t rule it out either.”
Taylor is a Nyack native who graduated from Spring Valley in Rockland County before earning degrees in political science and Black studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz, according to PIX11.
Taylor was a community organizer who worked on campaigns for New York Lieutenant Governor Anthony Delgado and Baltimore City Council President Nick Mosby.
“He was also involved in Black Lives Matter,” Al Taylor told PIX11 News. “He was very involved in community and grassroots efforts.”
Tracking Jordon
NYPD officers alerted Taylor’s family that people turned in his phone and wallet to two separate police stations on January 7.
Taylor’s mother began tracing his steps through his phone and Gmail accounts, Jordan Taylor’s brother, Al Taylor, told PIX11 News. He was last seen in the middle of the afternoon in Queens at the Hustle Barbershop. Surveillance footage from the shop showed him leaving soon after 5 p.m. on January 6.
“He seemed a little off,” barber Rafael Padilla told PIX11 News. “He didn’t let me give him a full haircut. He didn’t wait for the haircut. He said he had to go. I asked the boss what to do. He said, ‘Let him go,’ and he stood outside for like five minutes.”
Data showed Taylor next appeared at Port Authority Bus Terminal and Times Square between 9 p.m. and midnight January 6.
Taylor’s family and friends don’t know why Taylor was there. His brother, Al Taylor only guesses that his brother could have met someone there.
“He was hanging for like three hours or so,” he told NBC New York. “It’s kind of strange, like, I guess maybe meeting someone?”
The next thing they know is that Taylor’s phone was found by someone on the street in Hell’s Kitchen soon after 1:30 a.m. and his wallet was found three miles away near the Goldman Sachs Building in Battery Park City on January 7.
Taylor’s phone and wallet were turned into the NYPD’s 18th and 10th precincts on January 7. The cash and credit cards were still inside his wallet, reported NBC New York.
It’s unclear why Taylor’s phone and wallet were found so far away from each other.
NYPD officers informed his family that his wallet had been found in Lower Manhattan that morning.
“We got a call at 9:30 saying that someone found his wallet in Battery Park by Goldman Sachs,” Alton Taylor told NBC New York.
Jordan Taylor’s phone was found in Hell’s Kitchen and his wallet was found three miles away near the Goldman Sachs Building in Battery Park City January 7.
Al Taylor added that there was no sign of his brother.
Striking a nerve
Taylor’s case is striking a nerve among Hell’s Kitchen residents echoing two cases where young gay men, Julio Ramirez, 25, and John Umberger, 33, were found dead after leaving two popular gay bars in the neighborhood, The Ritz and The Q, respectively. Both men appeared to have been drugged and their bank accounts were depleted.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the arrest of Kenwood Allen, 33, who faced multiple charges, including two counts of second-degree murder for two people December 23, 2022. Five other suspects were also arrested and charged with drugging and robbing victims at the city’s nightclubs.
None of the suspects have been connected to Ramirez’s and Umberger’s murders, Linda Clary, John Umberger’s mother, told W24ST.
“I am very concerned about Jordan Taylor and sending thoughts and prayers and perseverance to his family and friends,” Clary said.
Clary expressed hope that following the arrest of several suspects in December. the terror that gripped New York City’s gay nightlife scene would have ended.
“Those arrested earlier, unfortunately, had nothing to do with John’s and Julio’s deaths. Those responsible for their deaths and grand larceny are still at large,” she said. “It is clear there are several rings operating in the area doing the same thing, not just one. I had hoped things would stop, going into the holidays, due to increased awareness.”
While Jordan Taylor’s brother, Alton Taylor, said he had gone to The Q several times, there is no evidence currently that Jordan Taylor went inside the nightclub on January 6. Alton Taylor told NBC New York the location data on his brother’s phone showed him at The Q early in the early morning January 7. Soon after, his phone and wallet were found three miles apart.
A search for Taylor is planned in Hell’s Kitchen this Thursday. Family, friends, and community members will meet outside The Q nightclub at 795 8th Avenue at 3 p.m. on January 26, according to W24ST.
Jordan Taylor is 5-foot-11 and 160-170 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark blue coat with hood, black pants, a black-and-red argyle sweater, and black sneakers.
A Facebook group, “Let’s Find Jordan,” was launched to help search for Taylor.
The Black and Missing Foundation also joined the effort to find Taylor.
