My mother’s name was Melissa “Missy” Taylor Ellison, and she was taken from me when I was only one year old. I don’t have memories of her voice, her laugh, or the way she held me. I don’t remember her warmth, the way she moved, or how her eyes softened when she looked at her baby girl.
But grief has a strange way of forming memories out of absence.
Sometimes the things you never got to experience leave the deepest imprint.
Growing up, I learned who my mother was from the people who loved her — and from the pain left behind in the wake of her murder. She was vibrant. She was warm. She was deeply loved. She was human, imperfect, alive. And then she was gone.
Her case remains unsolved.
And although the world kept turning, my world formed around a wound I never consented to carry.
Her Name Was Missy
The Story That Shaped Our Mission
Missy Ellison’s case was featured in February 2019 on the UNSOLVED series aired by First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida.
If you have any information on the unsolved murder of Melissa "Missy Taylor" Ellison, please call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a $3,000 reward, call First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-TIPS.
Some stories shape us long before we understand them. Some losses become the quiet undercurrent of our entire lives. This page holds one of those stories — the story of my mother, Melissa “Missy” Taylor Ellison. Her life, her absence, and her unsolved case are the reason I created Change the Face of Depression. If you’re here reading this, thank you for giving her story space in your heart. Her name was Missy — and this is where our mission begins.
"This is the most publicity my mother's case has gotten in my LIFETIME."
This story is part of a collaborative project between Project: Cold Case and a University of North Florida Journalism class.
Thank you,
Project Cold Case.
Because of you, my mother will
Never Be Forgotten
REWARD
If you have any information on the unsolved murder of Melissa "Missy Taylor" Ellison, please call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a $3,000 reward, call First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-TIPS.
Christmas was always the most wonderful time of the year for the Taylor family – two parents and five beautiful daughters who called Jacksonville home. The family matriarch, Catherine, loved every minute of the holiday. There would be at least 30 people all under her roof and decorations galore. Everyone loved it, but the most distinctive and contagious laugh belonged to Melissa Ellison, known by friends and family as Missy. She was the second oldest of the five girls.
But the Christmas of 1987 would be the last one the Taylor family spent all together, and the last one Catherine Taylor pulled out all of the stops for.
December 28th, 1987
Melissa Taylor was murdered three days later in her Jacksonville home on December 28, 1987. The young mother was killed while she was asleep in her room. Roommates found Ellison’s body as well as her 13-month-old baby. The baby, Casie, was alive, on a couch in the living room surrounded by pillows.
It has been more than three decades since Ellison’s murder and the case continues to go unsolved. The Taylor family has not celebrated Christmas since then.
“Christmas isn’t even a thing anymore. No get-togethers, nothing. I can’t even remember the last time my mom went Christmas shopping,” said Ellison’s younger sister, Catherine Bennett.
Community members were shocked when they heard the news of Ellison’s murder. “Missy’s funeral was standing room only. There were people waiting outside of the funeral home. I was told that there was a four-mile line of traffic all on their way to attend her funeral. We had flowers upon flowers out in front of the funeral home,” said Bennett.
Ellison was an AB honor roll student, a cheerleader, and a huge fan of Prince and the movie Grease. She was very outgoing and had many friends.
“Missy was the glue. She was the one that brought everyone together. If a bunch of us were getting together for a concert or a movie, we would always meet at her place,” said Charles Marshburn, who was friends with Ellison since grade school.
“To know her was to love her,” Bennett said of her sister.
When loved ones reflect on their memories of Ellison, the immediate reaction is always, “She was so sweet.”
Bennett remembers seeing Ellison give a man the only three dollars she had left. It was after Ellison’s separation from her husband and money was tight. Ellison did this kind act knowing she had a baby that needed milk. After watching her older sister, Bennett questioned Ellison as to why she gave away her last bit of money. Ellison responded that you always help someone in need. Ellison said that God would bless her and she knew her family would help her if needed.
The 13-month-old daughter of Ellison is now a grown woman with children of her own. The only memories that Casie Ellison has to cling to from her mother are the memories that loved ones have of her. Casie was robbed of her chance to get to know her mother.
Living a life without her mother has been extremely difficult. Casie wrote a book on her experiences called “Waterproof Mascara.”
It has been a painful and weary 30 years for Catherine Taylor. “Our mom still grieves for Missy as if she was just taken from us,” said the oldest Taylor sister, Lisa. “I pray all the time that her cold case will be a solved case before our mom leaves this world so that she will be able to rest in peace. Her sisters also need some type of closure so that we may begin to heal.”
Melissa's story is told on the 51'st episode of the podcast:
Ellison’s murder caused a wound that has never been able to heal for the Taylor family. The family wants closure more than anything so they can have their peace.
Almost eight years to the day after Ellison was murdered, the youngest Taylor daughter, Ronda, died from cerebral palsy. Ronda was not expected to live past 5 years old. She lived to be 18.
“After Missy, my mom kept going because she had Ronda to take care of. That kind of kept her motivated. After Ronda passed my mom completely gave up her will to live” said Bennett.
Unfortunately, Catherine Taylor passed away on April 18, 2019 without knowing who killed her daughter.
Missy Ellison’s case was featured in February 2019 on the UNSOLVED series aired by First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida.
In December 2020, Action News Jax aired a segment, dedicated to remembering Melissa's case by bringing attention to her death anniversary.
In April of 2022, Southern Girl Crime Stories featured Melissa's murder on an episode of "5 Mysterious Cold Cases".
If you have any information on the unsolved murder of Melissa Ellison, please call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at (904) 630-0500. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a $3,000 reward, call First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-TIPS.
The Grief That Became My Blueprint
I didn’t understand it at first — the heaviness, the sadness, the confusion. How could I miss someone I never had the chance to truly know? How could an absence feel so loud?
But grief is inherited.
Trauma is inherited.
And silence is inherited.
My family did what families do — they survived. They held things together the best they could. They tried to protect me. But what I grew up with was a mixture of love, loss, and unanswered questions that found their way into every corner of my life.
Grief shaped my childhood.
Depression shaped my adulthood.
And the search for meaning shaped everything in between.
For years, I felt like I was carrying a story without a beginning.
A book with the first chapter torn out.A wound with no explanation.
This isn’t something you “get over.”
This is something you grow around.
Why CTFOD Exists
Change the Face of Depression wasn’t born out of branding meetings or business ideas.
It was born out of pure necessity — a need to build something meaningful from the pieces I had left, and a desperate desire to make sure no one else had to navigate their grief or depression alone.
CTFOD exists because:
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I know what grief feels like when it has nowhere to go.
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I know what depression feels like when it hides behind a mask.
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I know what it means to crave connection, clarity, and compassion.
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I know what it means to carry a story that the world doesn’t fully see.
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I know what it means to feel abandoned by justice, by answers, by closure.
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And I know what it means to decide — despite everything — to keep living.
My mother didn’t get the chance to tell her story.
But I do.
And I will.
Not because grief disappears, but because grief becomes the fire that lights the path forward.
A Daughter’s Promise
Every part of CTFOD — the resource directory, the peer support, the advocacy, the guidebooks, the podcast
— carries my mother’s name in spirit.
This nonprofit is not about pretending grief doesn’t exist.
It’s about acknowledging it with tenderness.
Meeting it with community.
And transforming it into meaning.
My mother’s name was Missy.
And her story matters.
Not just because of how she died, but because of how her absence has pushed me to help others live.
This is my way of honoring her.
This is my way of reclaiming a story that tried to break me.
This is my way of making sure no one feels alone in their darkness.
Her life shaped mine.
Her loss shaped my mission.
And her love — even the love I never got to remember — shapes every single thing that CTFOD stands for.