I hesitate to call anyone's death a "win" for anything, especially when they were murdered in cold blood. But what happened in deep blue Maryland on Friday was a win for life. Unfortunately, it took the death of a 26-year-old woman and her unborn child for it to happen. With any luck, we can honor Denise Middleton and her baby, Ezekiel, by looking back at this landmark ruling as proof that life begins at conception. It also serves as a beacon of hope that people are taking the preciousness of life more seriously. On top of all that, it took a man who seems like an absolute menace to society off the streets forever. But let me start from the beginning.
Thirty-three-year-old Torrey Moore of Silver Spring, Maryland, went into the Dash In convenience store at a Shell gas station in December 2022, despite the fact that management had previously banned him from the store. He got into an argument with the clerk, 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu, based on surveillance camera footage. Moore began throwing energy drinks at the clerk, according to ABC 7 News. Wondimu picked up a metal pole, and Moore took out a handgun and shot him three times.
The next day, police went to Moore's apartment to serve a no-knock warrant for his arrest, but they found a lot more than what they bargained for. Not only was Moore asleep on the dining room floor with a hand gun, but the badly decomposed body of a pregnant woman was found inside the apartment under a blanket. That woman was Middleton. Moore claimed she was his girlfriend, and the baby was his.
She was last seen alive in early October 2022, two months before police arrested Moore. Surveillance camera footage caught the couple in the lobby of the apartment building getting onto the elevator. When police found what was left of her body, she'd been shot seven times.
The same lobby camera caught Moore leaving the apartment later that night. He apparently went on a road trip for 26 days that spanned from North Carolina to California. During that time, police say he used his phone to search things like, "How long does it take a dead body to smell?" and "How to move a dead body without being seen."
While Moore has not yet been sentenced for any of the murders, it's unlikely he'll ever see the light of day. In the case of Wondimu, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, and illegal possession of a regulated firearm.
In the case of Middleton, the jury found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, one for her and one for the baby. Middleton was eight months along in her pregnancy, and a doctor found that the baby boy would have been viable had it been born at the time of his mother's death. It's the first time in Montgomery County that someone has been charged with murder for killing an unborn baby, making it a groundbreaking conviction.
This is especially significant because Montgomery County is part of the Washington, D.C.m metropolitan area and is considered a highly left-leaning area. All members of its county council are Democrats.
After the trial, Middleton's family gathered to make a statement. "My baby sister Denise was a loving and caring person, excited to have her first child, Ezekiel. It is unbelievable that she will never have that opportunity," said her sister, Chinita Coates.
"I miss my baby and never get the chance to meet my grandson," Dennis Middleton, Denise's father, said of his daughter's murder.
