A Jacksonville man will spend decades behind bars after pleading guilty to setting a woman on fire nearly seven years ago, an attack so severe she had to be flown to a specialized burn center in Chapel Hill. Venice Taylor was sentenced Monday to 34 to 43 years in prison for the February 2020 assault that left a 24-year-old woman with severe burns to her upper body.
Taylor pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, burning personal property, and being a habitual felon, according to WITN. As part of the plea deal, several other charges were dropped, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, the station reports. The sentencing closes out a case that stretched back nearly seven years, to a winter morning that shook the East Street neighborhood where the attack unfolded.
How the Attack Unfolded on East Street
On Feb. 3, 2020, Taylor approached the woman while she was in a vehicle stopped on East Street in Kinston, poured a flammable liquid on her, and set her on fire, according to Kinston Police Department. An officer on patrol was flagged down by a passerby around 10:52 a.m. near the intersection of Bright and East streets, where the victim was found with severe burns, per the same account. Kinston Fire and Rescue and Lenoir County EMS personnel responded to treat her at the scene.
The victim was identified in contemporaneous reporting as 24-year-old Khloe McNeal of Kinston, according to Neuse News. She was transported to UNC Lenoir before being flown to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill for treatment of her burns, the station's report notes.
A Residential Fire Before the Attack
About an hour before the attack on East Street, Kinston Fire and Rescue also responded to a residential structure fire at 1802 Elizabeth Drive. Investigators believed someone had forced entry into the home while residents were away and attempted to set the interior on fire, with the blaze apparently extinguishing itself before the residents returned, per the Kinston Police Department's account.
Taylor was identified as the suspect in that arson case as well. However, WCTI reported that the department's latest release did not specify whether the attempted-arson investigation was included in Taylor's guilty plea or sentencing, leaving that question unresolved in the official update.
Arrest Followed a Traffic Stop
Taylor's arrest came the same day as the attack, following a traffic stop. Reporting conflicts on his age at the time: WCTI reported he was 41 and living in Jacksonville, while WITN reported he was 48 when officers took him into custody that evening. He was processed into the Lenoir County jail following his arrest.
Kinston police credited the outcome to the broader case team, thanking the district attorney's office for its work on the case and Judge Somers for presiding over the proceedings, according to the department's Facebook post announcing the sentencing. Release provisions for Taylor had yet to be set at the time of the update.
