TEEN’S 2006 MURDER, BURNING HEADED TO TRIAL May 5, 2008 Jury selection is expected in the coming days and testimony is expected to begin next week in the brutal murder of a young woman whose remains were set on fire in a public park two years ago. RODRICK JAMES TAYLOR, 36 (D.O.B. 5/15/71), is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly strangling 19-year-old Dominique Sade Samuels to death in the early morning hours of April 28, 2006. Samuels’ body was discovered two days later in a remote section of Franklin Park; her remains had been doused with an accelerant and set aflame. A recent graduate of Milton High School, Samuels was living on Woodbine Street in Roxbury prior to her death. It was in that residence, prosecutors allege, that Taylor physically confronted and choked the young woman with his bare hands, killing her. Taylor is believed to have brought Samuels’ body into her bedroom, closed the door, and turned on a radio to suggest that she was alive and listening to music. Taylor allegedly left the area, returning to Woodbine Street on the morning of April 30 to recover Samuels’ body. Prosecutors say he transported the teen’s body to Franklin Park, poured a liquid accelerant on it, and set it on fire in a bid to destroy any evidence that could link him to the crime. Three months later, following testimony by more than 20 witnesses and the introduction of extensive documentary evidence, a Suffolk County grand jury returned an indictment charging Taylor with Samuels’ murder. Taylor was arrested in the midst of that investigation and has been held without bail since his May 15, 2006, arraignment. Jury selection was initially expected to begin last week but has been continued to allow defense attorney John Swomley additional time to prepare. Empanelment is now scheduled for later this week, with testimony expected to begin Monday before Judge Stephen E. Neel in courtroom 914 of Suffolk Superior Court. Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin, chief of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s Homicide Unit, is prosecuting the case. Catherine Yuan, also of Conley’s Homicide Unit, is the assigned victim witness advocate. Return to the Press Releases page.