Alvin Taylor was a man from Wisconsin who worked as a nightclub singer and performed in venues around the state. Between 1985 and 1987 four men, each known to him, were killed in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and he was held responsible. He was 68 in July 2015 and 70 in November 2017. His place of birth, family background and the dates of his arrest are not on record.
He was not convicted of any of the killings. In the Wisconsin cases the courts found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, a verdict under Wisconsin law that is not a conviction and that leads to commitment to a state institution instead of a prison sentence.
Timothy Hayden was from Menomonie. Robert Williams and James Severson were from Eau Claire. Daniel Lundgren was from Esko, Minnesota. Their ages and the dates of each death within the 1985 to 1987 span are not on record.
Two of the killings took place in Wisconsin counties where the courts later had to approve any release: Dunn County and Eau Claire County. A third Wisconsin matter was heard in Washington County, where a man died in the Town of Jackson in 1986; Taylor later admitted responsibility for that death. The Washington County outcome is also given as a no-contest plea to attempted murder. Which of the four men corresponds to which county is not on record.
The Wisconsin findings were that he was not guilty by reason of mental disease. This was the verdict for the killings in Eau Claire and Dunn counties, and he had been held at a state mental health institution since the late 1980s. By November 2017 he had been held for 29 years.
In 2013 his lawyer told a Dunn County jury that Taylor was no longer on medication and had not had a violent outburst in 25 years. Taylor had once described himself as a "soldier of God" who received messages over the radio and television telling him to kill four people in the 1980s. The court's own findings on his mental condition at the time of the killings, and the dates and judges of the original proceedings, are not on record.
Under Wisconsin law a person committed after a verdict of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect may ask a court for conditional release, and may renew the request every six months. Taylor had been seeking conditional release since 2010.
In February 2013 a Dunn County jury considered whether he should be released. A district attorney urged the jurors to send him back to the institution. The jury's decision is not on record.
In July 2015 a Washington County judge ordered two psychiatrists to evaluate him on a new request. In October 2016 Washington County Judge Andrew Gonring denied conditional release. The judge said he was not persuaded that Taylor would no longer pose a danger to others. Even had he approved, judges in Dunn and Eau Claire counties would have had to agree that Taylor was no longer a risk, and that Taylor could petition again in six months.
He did. Taylor appeared by video in Washington County Court in 2017, and a hearing was scheduled for July 14, 2017. A further hearing in Washington County Court took place on November 3, 2017, when he was 70 and still seeking release. The outcome of the July and November 2017 hearings is not on record, and no later petition is on record.
Taylor was held in a Wisconsin state mental health institution as of November 2017. Any later hearing, decision or change in his status is not on record.
The Washington County outcome is given both as a verdict of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and as a no-contest plea to attempted murder. The 2013 jury's decision on release is not on record. The Wisconsin findings are not convictions.
1985 to 1987: four men killed in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
1986: a man dies in the Town of Jackson, Washington County; Taylor later admits responsibility.
Late 1980s: found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in the Wisconsin cases and committed to a state mental health institution.
2010: begins seeking conditional release.
February 2013: Dunn County jury hears his release petition; outcome not on record.
July 2015: Washington County judge orders two psychiatric evaluations.
October 2016: Judge Andrew Gonring denies conditional release.
July 14, 2017: hearing scheduled in Washington County Court.
November 3, 2017: further hearing in Washington County Court; outcome not on record.