Bio

Steven Elliott Laffin was born in 1974 and lived in Nova Scotia, Canada. Before Taylor’s murder, Laffin had already appeared in court for a separate crime. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to attempted robbery after entering a Halifax convenience store with a knife and demanding money. He received a two-year conditional sentence. In 2007, a judge noted that Laffin had been working at a Tim Hortons, had been promoted to a supervisory role, and was trying to rebuild his life after personal and financial problems.

By 2010, Laffin was living in Dartmouth and was preparing to marry Joanna Swinemar. Around the same period, he came into contact with women working in the sex trade. One earlier sexual assault charge involving a sex-trade worker was dropped when the alleged victim did not appear in court. Later that same year, Laffin became connected to two major criminal cases: the disappearance and murder of Nadine Anne Taylor, and the kidnapping and violent assault of another woman who escaped from the trunk of his moving car.

Murder Story

Nadine Anne Taylor was a 29-year-old woman from Halifax, Nova Scotia. On July 28, 2010, she left her Halifax apartment to use a pay phone and did not return. She was reported missing on July 31, 2010. Her disappearance caused concern among her family and within Halifax’s sex-trade community.

Laffin later admitted that he killed Taylor. Court reports stated that the night Taylor disappeared was shortly before Laffin’s wedding, while his fiancée was away at a stagette. The court heard that Laffin met Taylor in Halifax and brought her back to his home in Dartmouth. Investigators later found large blood stains in the basement of the home, even after attempts had been made to clean the area. The exact cause of Nadine Taylor’s death was not publicly confirmed. Her remains were found nearly three years after she disappeared, which made it difficult to determine a clear medical cause of death.

However, court evidence showed that she was killed violently. Blood evidence found in Steven Laffin’s home, along with his later attack on another woman, suggested that Taylor’s death involved a serious physical assault and possibly choking or strangulation.

Laffin did not immediately become a suspect in Taylor’s disappearance. Police began focusing on him after another woman escaped from the trunk of his moving car on Old Sambro Road in Halifax on August 16, 2010. In that separate case, the woman reported that she had been choked, bound with duct tape, sexually assaulted, threatened, and placed in the trunk before escaping and getting help. Laffin later pleaded guilty to kidnapping, aggravated assault, uttering threats, and unlawful confinement in that case.

In October 2010, Laffin was charged with second-degree murder in Taylor’s death. At the time, police did not expect to find her body. More than two years later, shortly before his scheduled murder trial, Laffin led police to human remains in a wooded area off Inletview Drive in East Chezzetcook, Nova Scotia. The remains were believed to be Taylor’s.

On March 7, 2013, Laffin pleaded guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to second-degree murder in the death of Nadine Anne Taylor. A guilty plea to second-degree murder carried an automatic life sentence, with the court still required to decide how long he would serve before becoming eligible to apply for parole.

On April 25, 2013, Laffin was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years. The same day, he was also sentenced to nine years for the separate kidnapping and assault case involving the woman who escaped from his car trunk. That sentence was ordered to run at the same time as the life sentence. Reports stated that Laffin would be eligible to apply for parole in October 2023 because of credit for time already served.