BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — As they plotted her mother’s death, Emily Evil Reznick told her boyfriend again and again she could carry out the murder, an attorney said.
Nikolai Thorn Roach wouldn’t hear of it. He said he wanted to be the one to stab Reznick’s mother as “this was going to be his first kill,” prosecutor Christine Antonios said during a juvenile court hearing Monday in which Roach was sentenced and new information in the disturbing case made public.
Roach and Reznick were 15 when arrested last year in the slaying of Michelle Louise Taylor, 54, who was stabbed multiple times in her Oildale home. Because they were under 16 they could not face charges in adult court. Roach last month admitted to the murder and conspiracy charges filed against him and Reznick has a hearing set for later this month.
Among new details released before Roach’s sentencing were that the teens gave the knife used in the killing a nickname, discussed how to hide Taylor’s body, explored the possibility of killing Taylor’s live-in boyfriend and went over disguises to avoid detection afterward. The nickname given to the knife wasn’t divulged in court.
Judge Wendy Avila, noting the killing was “premeditated and gruesome,” ordered Roach be held in custody until his 25th birthday, the maximum penalty under the law for a juvenile conviction. Roach will be sent to the APEX Academy, a 40-bed facility run by the Kern County Probation Department, where he’ll undergo rehabilitation services including psychiatric services, aggression replacement training and empathy training.
Roach, now 16, had no reaction during sentencing as he sat quietly next to his attorney, Keenan Perkins.
Avila said Roach had shown a lack of empathy and acted “as if the victim was not a real human being.” She told Roach he’ll be a very young man when released and she hopes he can change and become a benefit to society.
On July 7, 2022, Taylor was found dead in her home on Arthur Avenue near Rutherford Court. Reznick and Roach were arrested the next day and evidence seized in the case revealed they exchanged text messages plotting Taylor’s slaying for weeks, contradicting Reznick’s claims that they killed her mother in self-defense.
Before sentencing, Austin Taylor, Michelle Taylor’s son, told the court he wanted Roach put away as long as possible. As the father of a 4-year-old boy, Austin Taylor said he had been excited for his mother to see the good father he’d become and watch her grandchild grow.
Now she’ll never have that opportunity, Austin Taylor said. His wife told the court their child at times asks to hold the urn containing Michelle Taylor’s ashes so he can “dance with grandma.”
“I just feel like everything’s gone,” Austin Taylor said. “I want (Roach) to be gone too.”
