Unsolved Ashland case part of FBI database

A female homicide victim, whose body was discovered a decade ago near an Ashland truck stop, is part of a federal database of about 500 victims.

While the case of Carol Taylor, 39, formally remains under investigation by Ashland police, the FBI says details of the case are part of a nationwide program that is attempting to consolidate cases that may be similar.

The cases of female victims whose bodies turned up along interstates, near truck stops and at interstate rest areas are being collected by the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in Quantico, according to the FBI.

Taylor had been in the Ashland area only a few days when her body was discovered in August 1999 behind the Travel Centers of America in Ashland, just off Interstate 95.

A spokesman for Ashland police said Taylor's death remains the only unsolved homicide in the community, except for the death about 75 years ago of a police officer.

An FBI spokesman said Taylor's death is the only unsolved Virginia case in the 500-victim FBI database that has turned up evidence of multiple deaths tied to truck drivers and other long-distance travelers. -- Bill McKelway