A Maryland man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend and lived with her corpse before killing a store clerk was sentenced to three life sentences this week.
Torrey Damien Moore, 34, received three consecutive life sentences. According to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, Moore will most likely not be eligible for parole until he is in his 90s.
McCarthy stated that based on surveillance video, Moore’s girlfriend, Denise Middleton, was last seen alive in early October.
McCarthy claimed Moore murdered Middleton, who was eight months pregnant and had left the area for a while.
McCarthy stated that while Moore was a way, he conducted internet searches on how long it takes for a body to begin to smell. He also looked into possible defense strategies, such as the insanity defense.
Moore eventually returned to Maryland and remained in the apartment alongside Middleton’s corpse.
McCarthy claimed in December that Moore shot and killed Ayalew Wondimu in a convenience store almost directly across the street from where Moore was staying. Moore was identified as a suspect through security camera footage.
Police then executed a search warrant in Moore’s apartment. They discovered him sleeping, with the handgun used in Wondimu’s murder lying nearby.
“However, that’s not where the story ends,” McCarthy said. “That’s where it became, tragically, worse than they ever could have imagined because there was a terrible smell that was obvious to the officers who came in to execute the no-knock search warrant.”
