Opinion ID: 1059872
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the murder of archie d. moore, jr.

Text: On November 28, 1996, Thanksgiving Day, Roxanne Moore, who was in Greensboro, North Carolina, placed a telephone call to the Danville Police Department. Ms. Moore informed the police personnel that her brother, Archie Moore, who lived at the Cabin Lake Apartment Complex in Danville, was supposed to have met her at an airport in Greensboro on November 27, 1996, but he failed to appear. Ms. Moore informed the police personnel that neither she nor her parents in North Carolina were able to contact Archie Moore by telephone at his Danville apartment. Danville police officers entered Archie Moore's apartment around 8:00 a.m. on November 28. While searching the apartment, they found Archie Moore's body in a closet behind a suitcase. A plastic bag had been placed over Mr. Moore's head, and his feet were propped up against the closet wall. There was a strong odor of cologne in the closet and on the victim's body. The cause of Mr. Moore's death was a gunshot wound to his head, immediately above his left eye. A bullet was found on the floor in his apartment. Shortly after Moore's body was discovered, two witnesses informed the Danville Police Department that they had recently observed Walton driving Moore's Ford Mustang automobile. Other witnesses had also observed Walton walking on a sidewalk from the area near Mr. and Mrs. Kendricks' townhouse toward Cabin Lake on several occasions between November 19 and November 26, 1996. Subsequently, the police found Moore's Mustang, parked right across the street from [Walton's] house. Walton lived in a condominium with his parents a short distance from Moore's apartment and the Kendricks' townhouse. Lieutenant Kenneth D. Fitzgerald, a Danville police detective, went to Walton's home, spoke with Walton, and asked him if he knew Moore. Walton denied that he knew Moore, and he denied ever [having] been in Archie Moore's car. Walton agreed to go to the police department for further questioning. Detective Fitzgerald left Walton's home and later, Walton, accompanied by his father, went to the police department. The police obtained a search warrant for Walton's residence. During a search of Walton's bedroom, police personnel found a silver metal box inside one of Walton's boots. The box contained a diploma and an ATM card, both bearing Archie Moore's name. The police also found a set of car keys; one key fit Moore's Mustang and two other keys fit locks on the doors of Moore's apartment. The police also found a ring, which contained a very distinctive letter A, which was similar to a ring that Moore had been wearing before his death. When the police officers searched Moore's car, they found a box containing two dozen.32-caliber bullets as well as keys that fit locks in the Kendricks' car and home. The police officers also found a plastic bag which contained a plastic sleeve from a wallet. Jessie Kendrick's driver's license and his Knights of Columbus card were inside the plastic sleeve. Walton's fingerprints were identified on the plastic sleeve. Walton's fingerprints were also found on numerous items at various locations in Moore's apartment and car. When the police searched the Kendricks' car, they found a shotgun that had been stolen from the Kendricks' townhouse. Walton's fingerprint was found on the shotgun. A knife, found in a toolbox in the trunk of the Kendricks' car, contained blood which matched Mr. Kendrick's DNA. The police officers recovered two .32-caliber bullet cartridges that had been partially submerged near the shoreline of Cabin Lake. The lake was drained, and the police officers recovered a .32-caliber pistol that Mr. Kendrick had purchased in 1970. Ballistic tests conducted on a bullet that had been removed from Mr. Kendrick's head revealed that the bullet matched the .32-caliber pistol recovered from the lake and was consistent with the bullets that had killed Moore and Mrs. Kendrick. The pistol contained four bullets and two spent cartridges. The lead contained in the bullets found in Moore's car, the bullets recovered from the heads of the victims, and the bullets in the revolver originated from the same manufacturing source. While in jail awaiting trial for the capital murder charges and related offenses, Walton admitted to several inmates that he had killed three people at Cabin Lake. Walton also described the graphic details of the murders at length to Lacy H. Johnson, with whom Walton shared a cell in the Danville City Jail.