Man Spits on Ground Outside of His Home, DNA Match Later Leads to His Arrest in 1988 Stabbing Murder of Boston Woman

James Holloman’s DNA was matched to fingernail scrapings taken from Karen Taylor, as well as to a cigarette and sweatshirt found near her body

More than three decades after young mom Karen Taylor was found stabbed to death in her Boston apartment, a man has been charged with her murder.

James Holloman has been linked to Taylor’s death after her body was discovered in 1988, as authorities found a check made out to him near her body. However, police had not been able to tie him to the case forensically — until now, according to CBS News, WCVB and WHDH.

After Holloman, 65, spit on the sidewalk outside of his Boston home last year, authorities were able to link his DNA to the 36-year-old cold case, the outlets reported.

Investigators deemed Holloman’s DNA a match to DNA found underneath Taylor’s fingernails at the time of her murder, as well as to a bloody sweatshirt and cigarette discovered near her body, officials told WCVB.

With this new forensic evidence, Boston Police arrested Holloman, who has no criminal record, on Thursday, Sept. 19. His next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 29.

According to CBS News, Holloman’s attorney said he doubts his client’s DNA could be tied to Taylor’s murder after all this time.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, meanwhile, told the outlet that “this is an example of superb investigative work by detectives and prosecutors using modern criminology science.”

“But most of all,” Hayden continued, “it’s an opportunity for Karen Taylor’s loved ones to see someone answer for her death after so many years of unanswered questions.”

Boston Police and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Taylor was found dead on May 27, 1988, in her apartment in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. She was 25 years old at the time.

Her body was discovered after her mother called the apartment and Taylor’s 3-year-old daughter answered the phone, stating that her mom “was sleeping and she could not wake her up,” the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said in a statement, per WHDH.

“The mother went to Taylor’s apartment at 37 Williams Street in Roxbury, but was unable to get into the building,” the statement continued. “She went around the back of the building and crawled through the window of her daughter’s first floor bedroom, where she discovered her daughter lying face-down in a pool of blood.”

According to her autopsy, Taylor had been stabbed 15 times throughout her chest, head and neck area.

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