40 years later, UAE murder mystery is back on the books
Sabrina Taylor was an attractive, vivacious young woman from Sharjah with everything to live for.
When she went missing 37 years ago it sparked a massive search, but her body was never found.
The story of Ms Taylor, 22, had been long forgotten until it was unearthed by researchers for the second volume of a book into the darker side of life in the UAE.
It is a follow-up to Catastrophes, Crashes and Crime in
the UAE, published last year, which dealt with the 1970s.
This book will look at the following decade, and is based on research from local newspapers stored at the National Archives in Abu Dhabi.
Volunteers have been combing the archives for the past month. They were led by Athol Yates, a professor at Khalifa University, and Mohammed Alolama, a young Emirati whose day job is with Dubai’s Expo 2020.
Mr Alolama says there is a distinct difference in the feel of life in the UAE between the two decades.
“One of the things that came to my mind is that the 1970s saw the country getting to know each other,” he says. “With the 1980s, we see more of a focus on institutions coming together to realise the President’s [Sheikh Zayed] dream for the country.”
The search has recovered about 1,000 articles, which will serve as the basis for the new book, which is planned to be published in April next year.
Compared with the 1970s, there are more reports on weather conditions and flooding, says Mr Alolama, while the Iran-Iraq War, which lasted almost the entire decade, figures large.
There were many reports of ships and oil tankers being damaged in the Arabian Gulf by military action.
The opening of Dubai Dry Docks in 1983 meant that many were sent to the UAE for repairs, providing an economic boost for the city.
As a taste of what is to come, Mr Alolama has created an Ins tag ram account–Moments i nu ae history–top os ts cans of some of the articles and others of general interest, including old advertisements recalling the early days of Emirates airline.
Ms Taylor was last seen on December 9, 1980, and the case stayed open for two years.
She had left the family home near Sharjah Police headquarters for the office of Inca Tanvir Advertising, where she worked as a receptionist and advertising co-ordinator.
Ms Taylor never arrived, but her white Mazda 323 was found that evening in Al Wahda Street with her purse and ignition keys still inside.
Her increasingly desperate parents, Ronald and Joyce Taylor, made their own efforts to find her. Mr Taylor, an air force maintenance controller, printed and handed out leaflets asking for information about his daughter’s disappearance.
Her body was never discovered, but the case soon become a murder inquiry by Sharjah and Dubai Police.
Although suspects were identified, there was disagreement between the two forces about their guilt.
With the 1980s, we see more of a focus on institutions coming together to realise the President’s dream for the country MOHAMMED ALOLAMA Research volunteer