[1] Donna Ponsano worked as a cook at Cajun's Fabulous Fried Chicken restaurant on Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge.
At approximately 7:00 a.m. on the morning of March 27, 1991, Keith Clark, the restaurant's manager, arrived to assist Ponsano in opening for business.
He made a 9:00 a.m. appointment with the Popeyes manager responsible for hiring, and intended to accompany Taylor to discuss his qualifications.
As Clark was placing money into the cash registers, Taylor decided that robbery was the solution to his financial problems.
Between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m., while Taylor was herding Clark and Ponsano to the back of the restaurant, another employee of Cajun's, Viola Kaglear, arrived for work.
She waited a few minutes, went to the rear of the building, and looked through a two-way peep hole in the back door where she saw Taylor exit and return to the storeroom.
As he drove away, Johns was able to read the automobile's license plate number, and relayed it to Hookfin and Kaglear, who gave it to the 911 operator.
When the police and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene, they found Ponsano and Clark lying in the storeroom handcuffed together, each with multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
At approximately 10:00 p.m. on the day of the shooting, police arrested Taylor near his apartment for attempted first degree murder and armed robbery.
Taylor was indicted by a grand jury for the first-degree murder of Donna Ponsano, in violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 14:30.