If convicted, Michael John Moore Sr. could be sentenced to death for the murder of Marcquius “Wendy” Timmons-Moore.
Paul Woolverton,Lexi Solomon|The Fayetteville Observer
The circ*mstances of Marcquius “Wendy” Clarrissa Timmons-Moore’s death in her home in Fayetteville’s Cottonade neighborhood in August 2018 couldbe the stuff of nightmares.
Someone tied her to her bed and tied plastic trash bags over her head, and it appears she died after trying to rip them off. Wendy Moore was 43.
Her husband, 47-year-old Michael John Moore Sr., could get the death penalty for her slaying. The jury in Michael Moore’s capital murder trial heard closing arguments on Wednesday afternoon and is to begin deliberating on his guilt or innocenceThursday morning.
Moore is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and common law robbery.
Michael Moore contends he is factually innocent. He told the jury in testimony on Tuesday and in closing statements on Wednesday that he was out-of-state, headed to Las Vegas, whenhis wife was killed.
The prosecutors say Michael Moore is lying. They say he tortured Wendy and watched her die, stole her jewelry, fled to Las Vegas in her car, sold the car and the jewelry, and drained their bank account as he gambled and spent money until it there was none left.
They say that when he sold the jewelry at a pawn shop, Michael Moore told the clerk he was divorced and wanted nothing to remember his wife.
Moore acknowledged the lie. “Dealing with pawn shops, you have to say something because pawn shops are nosy,” he testified.
Michael Mooresurrendered to Las Vegas police in early September 2018 after he learned there was a warrant for his arrest pending in Fayetteville.
After testifying in his own defense on Tuesday, Moore on Wednesday morning dismissed his lawyers — Public Defender Cindy Black and Assistant Public Defender Carl Ivarsson. This was in the final hours of the guilt-or-innocence phase of the trial. He proceeded to represent himself after Superior Court Judge Gale M. Adams questioned him to make sure that he knew the risksof proceeding without counsel.
Moore did not say why he was firing his defense team.
Black and Ivarsson remained on hand to answer questionsMoore had about the nuances of the law and court proceedings. As the day progressed, Moore consulted them frequently.
But Moore faced cross-examination from the prosecution team alone on Wednesday morning. Then on Wednesday afternoon, Moore spoke alone to the jury to make his closing arguments as to why he thinks the panel should find him not guilty.
PREVIOUS REPORTS ON THIS CASE:
Autopsy report: ‘Strumpet’ written above homicide victim’s body
Trial postponed from November: New expert witness delays Fayetteville capital murder trial
Moore’s arrest in 2018: Alleged murderer awaits extradition to North Carolina
Terrible scene in her bedroom
On Aug. 22, 2018, Fayetteville police officers broke into the Moore home on York Road to try to find Wendy. They were looking for her because both her mother in Maryland and her employer in Fayetteville, Eaton Corp., had been unable to reach her for days and she had failed to pick up her daughterafter a visit to Maryland.
The officers discovered a bizarre and haunting scene.
According to court documents, the autopsy report and statements made attrial:
- The air conditioning had been turned down to 56 degrees. Except for the air conditioner, all the home’s circuit breakers had been turned off.
- There was the smell of a decomposing body and the smell of bleach or household cleaning fluids.
- Blankets and clothing were piledon the bed in the master bedroom. Underneaththe pile, the police found Wendy Moore’s nude body.
- Three black plastic trash bags covered her head, Prosecutor Rob Thompson said, and another was wrapped around her neck. The bags were fastened to her neck with zip ties, he said.
In addition to the zip ties, Wendy Moore was restrained with an HDMI video cable and duct tape, Thompson said. Duct tape stuffed in her mouth held it open, he said.
Wendy Moore’s neck was tied to the head of the bed, and her feet to the footboard, Thompson said.Her hands, in handcuffs, were bound to her knees.
Tears in the trash bags and shreds of black plastic in her hands show Wendy Moore struggled to survive, Thompson said, but the restraint that fastened her neck to the headboard would have choked her as she bent her head toward her handcuffed hands, and she couldn’t get her hands past her neck.
There was bruising that might indicate she was sexually assaulted, he said.
Written in red crayon on the wallabove the bed: “Here lies the ultimate of all strumpets.”
“Strumpet” is an archaic term for a prostitute.
“This defendant turned their bed into Wendy’s tomb,” prosecutor Robby Hicks said in his closing arguments. “He turned the sheetrock behind their bed into her tombstone and wrote her epitaph.”
Husband asserts he did not kill his wife
In his testimony on Tuesday and his closing statement on Wednesday, Michael Moore described himself as the homemaker while Wendy Moore worked at Eaton.
He loved Wendy, he said, and he misses her “cheesy smile” that he used to wake up to every day.
“There is no way I could have murdered this woman at all,” Michael Moore said.
He said that in August 2018, Wendy gave him the OK to take off for eight days, and he drove to Las Vegas. He accused police investigators of failing to thoroughly investigate the case and developing tunnel vision in their focus on him.
Michael Moore contended that bank records, phone recordsand receipts show that Wendy Moore was still alive after he left for Las Vegas — after the police say she was killed. Prosecutors say Michael Moore made all the transactions.
The prosecutors also noted that handcuff keys were found in Wendy Moore’s car, which the police obtained after Michael Mooresold it in Las Vegas. No handcuff keys were found in the Moorehome.
The jury is scheduled to return to the Cumberland County Courthouse at 10 a.m. Thursday and begin deliberations after receiving instructions from the judge.
Senior North Carolina reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@gannett.com.
