The Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office is working with the U.S. Marshals Service to locate an escaped inmate convicted in a Milan homicide, according to a news release.
On Friday, the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office received a phone call from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force about an escaped inmate. Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice inmate Johnell Lamont Smith III was taking part in a program and escaped while in Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 12, the release says.
Smith was charged in April 2023 with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion in connection with the death of Danny Taylor in Milan. The sheriff’s office investigated the case, and a jury found Smith guilty on all three counts on April 4, 2025. He was later sentenced to 35 years in the Department of Corrections and three years of mandatory supervised release on June 10, 2025.
According to the release, after sentencing, Smith was transported on June 12 to the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg, Illinois. He has been in the custody of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice since that date.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about Smith’s location to contact the department or the Crime Stoppers Tip Line anonymously at 309-762-9500.
A fatal shooting in Milan in 2023
Illinois State Police crime-scene investigators and Rock Island County sheriff’s deputies responded to the early-morning April 14, 2023, shooting in the 11700 block of Ridgewood Road in Milan, according to a news release.
The Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at 12:44 a.m. reporting a person shot at a residence on Ridgewood Road. Deputies arrived and found a 17-year-old boy inside the home with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the sheriff’s office.
Despite life-saving efforts by deputies and members of the Coal Valley and Coyne Center Fire Departments, Daniel Taylor was pronounced dead. Police say early information indicated a confrontation took place inside the residence.
During the incident, several shots were fired, including the round believed to have struck the victim. The suspects fled the scene, the release says. Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson later identified the 17-year-old killed as Daniel “Danny” J. Taylor of Milan.
Also connected to the incident, Tationna Taylor, 21, was sentenced to nine years with 18 months of mandatory supervised release after pleading guilty to and being convicted of home invasion, a Class X felony, according to Rock Island County Court records.
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