A Maryland man was handed three consecutive life sentences after he was implicated in the 2022 shooting deaths of his pregnant girlfriend and a store clerk.
Per WJLA, Torrey Damien Moore, 34, was handed the life sentences after two different juries found him guilty of fatally shooting his eight-and-a-half-month pregnant girlfriend, Denise Middleton, and 61-year-old store clerk Ayalew Wondimu.
Authorities also confirmed Moore as the biological father of the fetus. In a statement, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said that on October 9, 2022, surveillance video captured Moore and Middleton at their apartment complex using the elevator to access their home.
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Authorities said that was the last time Middleton was spotted alive, and Moore is said to have opened fire on her not too long after they were seen. It was later determined that Middleton was shot seven times.
An hour after the pair were last seen together, surveillance video captured Moore making his way out of the apartment complex. Authorities said cell phone data established he then embarked on a 26-day journey across the country.
“His search engine history during that time included the terms, ‘How long does it take for a dead body to smell?’ and ‘How to move a dead body without being seen,’” the statement said. Moore is said to have also looked up how to plead insanity, WJLA reported.
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Authorities said Moore then went back to the apartment and stayed with his deceased girlfriend and unborn child’s decomposing bodies until he was ultimately arrested.
After his pregnant girlfriend’s killing, authorities said that on December 8, 2022, Moore went to a Dash In convenience store in Silver Spring. The convicted man is said to have gone to the store despite being banned from the establishment.
“Moore entered the store and became involved in an altercation with Wondimu. Moore produced a handgun and shot Wondimu, killing him,” the statement said.
Authorities said that while they were trying to locate Moore after Wondimu’s killing, they “executed a no-knock search warrant on December 9, 2022, on Moore’s apartment in 11000 block of Oak Leaf Drive in Silver Spring.”
“Members of the Montgomery County Police SWAT team found Moore inside his apartment with a gun,” the statement said. “The bodies of Denise Middleton and her unborn fetus were found in another room. They were in an advanced state of decomposition. An autopsy revealed Middleton had been shot seven times. The investigation determined the gun found in Moore’s possession was the weapon used in all three murders.”
Authorities said that a jury in May 2024 ultimately found Moore guilty of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, and illegal possession of a firearm for killing Wondimu. A different jury in November 2024 also found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his girlfriend and her unborn, viable fetus.
“In addition to those two counts, the jury found Moore guilty on two counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, one count of crime of violence against a pregnant person, and one count of illegal possession of a firearm,” the statement said.
“This marked the first time in the history of Montgomery County that we had a conviction for the murder of a viable fetus.”
Moore additionally received an 80-year prison sentence that would run concurrently with the life sentences.
