A heartbroken mum is reliving the horror of losing her beloved son five years ago to a brutal murder. University student Taylor Black was just 18 when he never made it home after attending a birthday party – having been stabbed a staggering 64 times, with 40 wounds inflicted upon his head.
His devastated mother, Lindsey Allison, has been irrevocably changed by the loss, and her anguish was compounded during the trial for her son’s murder. The “monster” responsible for the senseless killing on February 17, 2020, was Taylor’s one-time friend Nathan Costello, whom he had known from martial arts classes.
Despite text message confessions, Costello shamelessly denied guilt in court, claiming amnesia over the repeated stabbing, particularly the vicious blows to Taylor’s head. The Mirror reports in a cruel twist of fate Lindsey faced further heartache when her brother Niki, who had been unaware of the gruesome trial details until reading them online, took his own life in her shed.
Lindsey mourned not only her son but also her brother, stating: “My son’s killer took two lives when he decided to butcher my son. He took the life of my brother too.”
After laying her eldest child to rest, she faced the unbearable task of doing the same for her sibling, left wondering what she had done to deserve such sorrow. Speaking to our sister title on the fifth anniversary of Taylor’s death, Lindsey said: “It is hard to believe it has been five years since Taylor was so cruelly taken from our lives and while it feels like yesterday it also feels like a lifetime without him.
“The only thing that helps me cope is my other little boy, Shae. Everyday is a struggle for me but when I look at his innocent little face and knowing that he relies on me, it gives me the strength to carry on and he makes me so proud.
“While he has his own struggles daily he still always manages to smile and he is still so young and deserves a happy childhood just like his big brother had so I will continue trying to be the best mum that I can be to him.”
Despite their best efforts, Lindsey explained how Costello’s actions, who was found guilty and sentenced to life with a minimum of 21 years, had life-changing consequences. She revealed Shae suffers from severe separation anxiety and needs to be with her at all times because he fears something bad will happen to her.
Lindsey’s own mum has been diagnosed with PTSD and she relives the moment her grandson was taken away.
Speaking about her brother, she said: “And the year after Taylor was murdered, just before the guilty verdict, my little brother Niki sadly decided that the pain of losing Taylor was just too hard to live with and sadly he took his own life in the shed at my home.
“The devastating heartbreak has taken its toll on all of our lives and I am no longer the carefree person I was before and I doubt I will ever be that person again.
“I just have to learn to live with our new normal, a life without my beautiful son and while I grieve for the void Taylor has left in our lives I also grieve the future that he will never have.
“I know he would have succeeded in everything he would have done and my only hope is one day, when my time is up, his face will be the first one I see because I know he will be there to greet his mum and show me around his home in the sky.”