UPDATED 5/29/24 4:47pm with arrest affidavit transcription

Last night, around 7:30pm, the Palm Bay Police Department sent out an alert for a missing 7-year-old girl with autism. That alert was shared widely on social media, and the Palm Bay Community responded with search parties looking for the endangered child.

Along with Palm Bay Police, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deployed its STAR helicopter to assist in the search. Around 9:55pm, Palm Bay Police announced she was found safe. However, according to police reports, she was never missing to begin with as her mother, Taylor Michelle Gordon fabricated the entire thing.

Here is a transcription of the arrest affidavit:

Today was the first day defendant 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 7:06pm, defendant called 911 to report [redacted] missing. When officers arrived, she stated that [redacted] had just dropped [redacted] off. Defendant told police that she believes V1 ran off [redacted] left because she wanted to be [redacted] with him. Defendant said she saw this occur and pointed to the direction she ran in. Defendant claimed that V1 is also autistic and has been known to wonder off. So much so that she has a “Project Life Saver” band on her ankle. Defendant reported that V1 cut the Life Saver tracker off with scissors before she went missing. Because of this 911 call to report V1 missing, an abundant number of resources were immediately dispatched to the area, including: Brevard County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) blood hounds (3), BCSO air unit “Star”, PBPD K9, 20 police officers, Palm Bay Fire Department; social media news about the child went out along with emergency notifications via phone messages to the citizens of Palm Bay. This detective responded as well and [redacted] to assist defendant. Defendant stated essentially that she [redacted] with [redacted] and [redacted] argued as [redacted] threw [redacted] stuff away in a garbage can, V1 must have run out of the house. Defendant said that while she was [redacted] V1’s Life Saver band had been cut off and she was missing. Defendant claimed to have an aggressive dog, she said police had searched her house except for [redacted] which is locked and defendant said she already looked there.

- Advertisement -

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

Defendant allowed officers to view the Ring Camera footage on her cell phone. Defendant has Ring Cameras [redacted] including in several bedrooms. In a video time 7:08pm, you can hear the defendant on the phone with police stating she didn’t know where [redacted] was. She was saying this as [redacted] in front of the defendant. At 7:11pm, defendant comes into the room V1 is hiding in and moves [redacted] to defendant [redacted]. You can hear the defendant say to V1, “Don’t worry you won’t get in trouble”. At 7:15pm, defendant walks police around the [redacted] she just moved V1 out of as they searched for V1.

This search had gone on for 3 hours.

Defendant agreed to speak to me Post Miranda and stated essentially the following: that she did lose V1 for a few minutes but then located her. She said she didn’t tell police because she didn’t know what to do. She said [redacted] wasn’t there like he was supposed to be. I confronted her with the fact that I had seen the videos, and she was on the phone with 911 while looking [redacted] and telling dispatch she couldn’t find her. Defendant said that V1 was probably going to run away so she just reported it.

Defendant intentionally called 911 and gave false information to police in a missing person’s case that caused a significant police response. She lied in a sworn statement that she did not know where [redacted] was and watched [redacted] and police search for [redacted] for hours.

V1 [redacted] returned to the home and [redacted].

Taylor was arrested and charged with Child Neglect W/O Bodily Harm, Perjury Not in Official Proceeding, False Information to LEO During Investigation, Misuse of 911 System, and Cause to Become Delinq Dependent Needy. She was being held in the Brevard County Jail awaiting her first appearance, but already bonded out.

This isn’t her first time being hit with these kinds of charges. On July 11, 2018, at approximately 9:00 PM, Taylor Gordon, an employee of B & W Towing, called 911 to report a forced entry at the business located at 7609 Tropic Drive, West Melbourne. She claimed to have found a pried open door upon arriving to drop off a vehicle and reported that the door had been locked earlier in the day.

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

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

Further investigation revealed inconsistencies regarding a missing black bag and digital camera, which Taylor denied taking. Despite her claims, a sworn interview with the camera’s owner, Stephanie Martin, corroborated the missing bag’s description, aligning with the staged burglary timeline. Consequently, Taylor was charged with making a false statement to law enforcement and staging the scene.

She has several other arrests for dealing in stolen property, grand theft, and false verification of ownership to a pawn broker.

This is a breaking story and will be updated once we receive additional court records.