{"id":119065,"date":"2026-01-15T11:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/119065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:26:08","slug":"family-investigators-renew-call-for-information-in-1987-murder-of-jacksonville-mother-found-beaten-to-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/119065\/","title":{"rendered":"Family, investigators renew call for information in 1987 murder of Jacksonville mother found beaten to death"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Investigators and family are renewing a call for information that could lead to an arrest in the murder of a Jacksonville mother almost 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

On Thursday morning, First Coast Crime Stoppers will hold an online news conference to highlight the cold case of Melissa Ellison, a young mother whose life was taken in 1987.<\/p>\n

Melissa Ellison, who many people called Missy Taylor, was found beaten to death in her home just three days after Christmas that year. <\/p>\n

She was just 20 years old when her life was taken from her.<\/p>\n

RELATED | \u2018Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee\u2019: Jane Doe in Sumter County identified after nearly 55 years as 21-year-old mother of 2<\/a><\/p>\n

Dec. 28, 1987, was a nightmare for Ellison\u2019s family and friends. It was just three days after their final Christmas together.<\/p>\n

According to investigators, Ellison was found beaten to death around 4 a.m. with a charred log that came from inside her fireplace.<\/p>\n

Her daughter, Casie, wasn\u2019t hurt. She was just 13 months old at the time and was found on the couch by a roommate. <\/p>\n

Almost 40 years later, there are still many unanswered questions about this case.<\/p>\n

During Thursday\u2019s news conference, Ellison\u2019s family, including Casie, and First Coast Crime Stoppers will be talking about Ellison\u2019s case and asking for the community\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

First Coast Crime Stoppers said anonymous tips can be submitted, with a possible reward of up to $5,000.<\/p>\n

Click here to read more about Melissa Ellison<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Investigators and family are renewing a call for information that could lead to an arrest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2453,15519,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-119065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-cold-case","tag-first-coast-crime-stoppers","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}