After a taking pictures with no obvious motive in Maryland that left a comfort retailer clerk lifeless, police tracked the suspect again to his house the place they uncovered one thing much more stunning.
A person in Maryland will probably by no means see freedom after he was sentenced on Friday to 3 consecutive life sentences years for the first-degree murders of Ayalew Wondimu, a 61-year-old comfort retailer clerk, and his pregnant 26-year-old girlfriend, Denise Middleton.
He’ll concurrently serve 80 years for an extended record of different costs. The suspect purportedly had an extended historical past of home violence. In accordance with ABC affiliate WJLA, he will not be eligible for parole till he’s in his 90s.
He was charged with three murders for the deaths, with Moore turning into the primary particular person ever convicted in Montgomery County for killing a viable fetus, in line with NBC affiliate WRC. Household Middleton had already ready to call her child Ezekiel, per the outlet.
Who is aware of how lengthy Middleton’s demise may need gone undiscovered had Wondimu’s mindless demise not occurred on December 8, 2022, whereas he was working. After a prolonged investigation, police consider they have been in a position to uncover what occurred — if not why.

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In accordance with the Montgomery State’s Lawyer’s Workplace in a press launch, Torrey Damien Moore, 34, was already banned from the Sprint In comfort retailer the place he labored when he got here in anyway and grabbed an iced tea.
It wasn’t lengthy, although, earlier than the suspect was allegedly throwing gadgets from the entrance counter at Wondimu. After enduring this sudden assault, Wondimu purportedly grabbed a metallic pole from behind the counter and tried to defend himself by hanging Moore throughout the counter.
“He went in there itching for a struggle,” stated Montgomery County Circuit Choose Rachel McGuckian of Moore, per The Washington Submit. “He went there with a loaded weapon.”
It was at this level that police stated Moore stepped again, pulled a “silver handgun” from a “entrance vest pocket” and fired point-blank vary at Wondimu. When his sufferer collapsed to the bottom, Moore allegedly reached over-the-counter and shot him once more, a number of occasions, earlier than fleeing.
He then purportedly picked up his iced tea from the counter and walked again throughout the road to his house. The whole altercation was captured on surveillance cameras inside the shop, per police.
“He was my all the pieces,” Wondimu’s widow stated in court docket earlier than the sentencing. “I’m heartbroken.”
The next day, police have been in a position to monitor their suspect in Wondimu’s taking pictures to his house throughout the road, the place they performed a no-knock raid. It was at this level, nevertheless, that the real-life story “grew to become, tragically, worse than they ever might have imagined,” stated State’s Lawyer John McCarthy within the assertion.

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Discovering Denise Middleton
Instantly detecting “a horrible odor that was apparent to the officers,” they rapidly found there was one other sufferer — solely this one had been deceased for fairly a while already.
Below a blanket and on the ground in a again room of the house, police found the stays of Middleton, who was two-and-a-half months’ pregnant with Moore’s baby on the time of her demise. She had been shot seven occasions.
After additional examination of her physique, which was described as in a complicated state of decay, officers decided she had been lifeless some two months. The identical gun had been utilized in each shootings.
They then started digging additional into Moore’s actions over the previous few months. They discovered surveillance video of Moore and Middleton strolling into an elevator collectively on October 9, 2022, on the house complicated round 7 p.m.
As described by WRC, the footage confirmed Moore grabbing Middleton within the foyer earlier than pushing her towards the elevator. Contained in the elevator, safety footage reveals Middleton shifting to a nook away from Moore, showing to wipe tears. This may show to be the final sighting of Middleton alive.
Officers consider that the couple had an argument that received bodily and that is when Moore shot Middleton. Leaving her physique there, in line with the investigation, police acknowledged that he left the house about an hour after they arrived collectively, after which spent the following month touring across the nation, with WRC reporting he went from North Carolina to California and again.

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Whereas he was away, examination of the suspect’s Google search exercise uncovered queries associated to masking up his crime and disposing of Middleton’s physique, as reported by CBS affiliate WUSA, together with:
- “How lengthy does it take for a lifeless physique to odor?”
- ” transfer a lifeless physique with out being seen”
- plead madness
In early November, proof reveals that Moore moved again into the house, the place he continued to stay with Middleton’s physique till police arrived on December 9.
Moore was convicted of the first-degree homicide of Wondium, in addition to associated firearm costs, on Might 16, 2024. Then, on November 22, 2024, he was convicted in a separate trial for 2 first-degree murders for the deaths of Middleton and her unborn baby.
There isn’t a clear motive for both killing, with Moore providing nothing as he remained silent throughout his sentencing. After his sentencing, Middleton’s father, Dennis Middleton, expressed his frustration, saying, “I might actually like to listen to why.”
“These acts weren’t a byproduct of a chilly and calculated particular person, however one who has struggled together with his psychological well being for his total life,” wrote Assistant Public Defender Roberto Martinez in court docket filings. “The actual fact that Mr. Moore was sleeping within the house with Ms. Middleton’s physique emphasizes that Mr. Moore’s psychological sickness introduced him out of contact with actuality.”
In case you are experiencing home violence, name the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. The hotline is accessible 24/7 in additional than 170 languages; Calls are confidential and toll-free.