BALTIMORE — A Maryland man has been sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the death of his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child.
Torrey Moore, 33, was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences on two counts of first-degree murder for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Denise Middleton, and for the death of her unborn fetus.
In December of 2022, Moore was arrested and charged with a homicide at a gas station in Silver Spring.
Moore shot a store clerk over a bottle of iced tea — then led police to the body of his pregnant girlfriend, left to rot after he killed her weeks earlier.
Moore, 31 at the time, walked into a convenience store across the street from his White Oak apartment, placed a bottle of iced tea on the counter and began arguing with the clerk on the afternoon of December 8, 2022, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said during a news conference.
He shot 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu, then leaned over the counter to shoot him several more times after he fell to the floor, McCarthy said.
Then, Moore walked back across the street to his apartment. There, a responding SWAT team found the body of his live-in girlfriend Denise Middleton under a blanket in an “advanced state of decomposition,” he said.
Middleton, 26, was 8-and-a-half months pregnant with Moore’s child. She had already named the boy Ezekiel, The Washington Post reported.
Surveillance footage showed Moore pushing Middleton into an elevator in the building’s lobby on Oct. 9, 2022. Moore shot her seven times in their shared apartment that day, McCarthy said, with at least four bullets entering her back.
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According to McCarthy, Moore traveled to North Carolina and California in the following weeks. Investigators searching his phone after his arrest found searches for “how long does it take for a dead body to smell?” and “How to move a dead body without being seen?”
McCarthy said Moore also researched how to plead insanity.
After traveling for 26 days, Moore lived in the apartment with Middleton’s body until his arrest, the Washington Post reported.
Moore was convicted of first-degree murder and another firearm-related charge in Wondimu’s death on May 16 last year, per a statement from the state attorney’s office.
On Nov. 22, 2024, another jury convicted him on two counts of first-degree murder — one for Middleton’s death, and another for her viable fetus, according to the statement.
Moore was sentenced to three consecutive life terms last Friday. McCarthy said he likely wouldn’t qualify for parole until he is in his 90s.
Prosecutors said that Moore’s was the first conviction in the county’s history for the murder of an unborn child, the Washington Post reported.
The Maryland man, now 34, did not testify at his trial or speak at his sentencing last week, per the outlet. His attorneys argued that mental illness and schizophrenia led to his unthinkable actions.
“These acts were not a byproduct of a cold and calculated individual, but one who has struggled with his mental health for his entire life,” Assistant Public Defender Roberto Martinez wrote in recent court filings, per the Washington Post. “The very fact that Mr. Moore was sleeping in the apartment with Ms. Middleton’s body emphasizes that Mr. Moore’s mental illness brought him out of touch with reality.”
“We’re left to wonder why he did what he did,” said Montgomery County Circuit Judge Rachel McGuckian at sentencing. “And really no one knows but him… maybe not even him.”
By CHRISTINA COULTER/People
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