Palm Bay mother arrested for lying about missing 7-year-old with autism

Lina PortmanMay 30, 2024

0 4 minutes read

UPDATED 5/29/24 at 4:47 p.m. with transcript of arrest affidavit

Last night, around 7:30 p.m., Palm Bay police sent out an alert regarding the disappearance of a 7-year-old girl with autism. This alert was widely shared on social media and the Palm Bay community responded by launching search teams looking for the missing child.

Working with Palm Bay Police, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office deployed its STAR helicopter to assist in the search. Around 9:55 p.m., Palm Bay police announced she had been found safe. However, according to police reports, she never disappeared because her mother, Taylor Michelle Gordon, made the whole thing.

Here is a transcript of the arrest affidavit:

Today was the first day the accused was allowed to [redacted] following a Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) investigation that lasted 14 days earlier.

On 05/28/2024 at approximately 7:06 p.m., the defendant called 911 to report [redacted] missing. When officers arrived, she stated that [redacted] had just fallen [redacted] disabled. The accused told the police she thought V1 had run away [redacted] left because she wanted to be [redacted] with him. The defendant said she saw this happen and pointed to the direction in which she ran. The defendant claimed that V1 was also autistic and was known to wonder. So much so that she wears a “Project Life Saver” band on her ankle. The defendant reported that V1 cut the Life Saver tracker with scissors before disappearing. Due to this 911 call reporting V1 missing, an abundant number of resources were immediately dispatched to the scene, including: Brevard County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) Blood Dogs (3), Unit air force of the BCSO “Star”, the PBPD K9, 20 police officers. , Palm Bay Fire Department; information about the child on social media was distributed as well as emergency notifications via telephone messages to citizens of Palm Bay. This detective also responded and [redacted] to assist the accused. The defendant essentially stated that she [redacted] with [redacted] And [redacted] argued as [redacted] threw [redacted] stuff thrown in a trash can, V1 had to run out of the house. The defendant said that while she was [redacted] V1's Life Saver group had been cut off and she had disappeared. The accused claimed to have an aggressive dog, she said the police searched her house except [redacted] which is locked and the accused said she had already looked there.

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Because the defendant repeatedly said her dog was aggressive, she was able to enter the room alone to handle the dog, move the dog to another room, and then observe the aggressive dog in another room while the house was searched. The defendant was asked to move the dog [redacted] was [redacted]. V1 ran around the corner because she didn't [redacted]. She came back into the house, [redacted] it was covered in dust and debris. V1 said she then moved [redacted] because she was “afraid” of monsters. This statement is almost exactly what the defendant told the police when she called.

The defendant allowed officers to view the Ring Camera footage on her cell phone. Defendant owns ring cameras [redacted] including in several rooms. In a video at 7:08 p.m., you can hear the accused on the phone with police stating she didn't know where [redacted] was. She said it like [redacted] in front of the accused. At 7:11 p.m., the accused entered the room where V1 was hiding and moved around. [redacted] to the defendant [redacted]. You can hear the accused say to V1: “Don't worry, you won't get in trouble.” At 7:15 p.m., the accused walked the police around the [redacted] she just moved V1 while they were searching for V1.

This search lasted 3 hours.

The defendant agreed to speak with me after Miranda and stated essentially the following: that she did indeed lose V1 for a few minutes, but then located her. She said she didn't tell the police because she didn't know what to do. She says [redacted] wasn't there like it was supposed to be. I confronted her with the fact that I had seen the videos and she was on the phone with 911 watching [redacted] and telling dispatch they couldn't find her. The accused said that V1 was probably going to run away, so she simply reported him.

The defendant intentionally called 911 and gave false information to police in a missing person case, resulting in a significant police response. She lied in an affidavit saying she didn't know where [redacted] I was and I looked [redacted] and the police are looking for [redacted] For hours.

V1 [redacted] came home and [redacted].

Taylor was arrested and charged with child neglect without bodily harm, perjury outside of an official proceeding, providing false information to LEO during investigation, misuse of the 911 system, and causing the dependent delinquency in need. She was being held at the Brevard County Jail awaiting her first appearance, but was already released.

This is not the first time she has faced these kinds of accusations. On July 11, 2018, at approximately 9 p.m., Taylor Gordon, an employee of B & W Towing, called 911 to report a forced entry into the business located at 7609 Tropic Drive, west of Melbourne. She said she found a door open when she arrived to drop off a vehicle and indicated the door had been locked earlier in the day.

However, CCTV footage from a neighboring business showed Taylor Gordon arriving at 8:50 p.m. and kicking the south door of the business several times before entering through the north door. Over the next 10 to 15 minutes, she was seen exiting and re-entering the business several times.

In a post-Miranda interview, Taylor admitted to organizing the burglary due to his dissatisfaction with a neighboring business, hoping to blame them and cause their eviction. She caused approximately $500 in damage, ransacked the office to create the appearance of a burglary, then called 911 to falsely report the incident.

Further investigation revealed inconsistencies regarding the disappearance of a black bag and a digital camera, which Taylor denied taking. Despite his claims, a sworn interview with the camera's owner, Stephanie Martin, corroborated the description of the missing bag, which fits the timeline of the burglary. As a result, Taylor was charged with making a false statement to law enforcement and staging the scene.

She was the subject of several other arrests for dealing in stolen goods, grand larceny and false verification of ownership with a pawn shop.

This is breaking news and will be updated as we receive additional court filings.

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