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Amber Spradlin, Aliza Sherman, & Amy Hooper ////// Updates
00:54:34
Amber Spradlin, Aliza Sherman, & Amy Hooper ////// Updates Part 1 of 1 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com This week from the Garage, we are very happy to be bringing to you major updates in three cases that we have covered. 38 year old Amber Spradlin was killed at an after work party sometime in the night of June 18, 2023. True Crime Garage covered this case in July of 2023 with episode #687. Since, arrests have been made and trial dates have been set. In 2013 Cleveland Clinic nurse Aliza Sherman was killed in downtown Cleveland in broad daylight. Back in December of 2017 we covered his “stranger than fiction” true crime story in a four part series. These were episodes #167 to #170. As we predicted Aliza Sherman’s divorce attorney Gregory Moore was arrested and charged with her murder. In March of 1992, Amy Hooper was murdered in her Lincoln Village apartment on the westside of Columbus, Ohio. In December of 2025 Bruce Daniels was arrested for this homicide in Washington state. We are ...
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Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick, and with me, as always, is a man who says, watch out because card sharks and street preachers want your soul. Here is the captain, and don't you forget it.
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The Captain
It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
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Nick
Today in the garage we are drinking Mothman Hazy Double India Pale Ale by the cool cats over at Ogopogo Brewing. So hazy typically means that the beer is unfiltered, which I love. I think it unfiltered beer has much more character. And while he is a creature of few, maybe even no words at all, few have more character than the Mothman himself. You'll like this one. It has enough citrus in it that you'll want to order up another garage grade four out of five bottle caps. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good Garage friends that certainly have a lot of character themselves. First up, a cheers to Alicia Hahn in Minot, N.D. and a big we.
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The Captain
Like your drip goes out to Amy in the Big Apple, New York City, New York.
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Nick
Here's a cheers to Rocky, a retired teacher of forensic science living in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
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The Captain
And a big cheers goes out to Sherry D. In Atlanta.
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Nick
And last but certainly not least, we have a longdistance cheers to Rosie in Sierra Madre, California. Everybody we mentioned went to true crime garage.com and helped us out with this week's beer Run for the beer fund. And for that, we thank you.
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The Captain
Yeah, BWR you and beer run. Make sure you get some TCG swag. Everybody needs a new T shirt. Everybody needs a new coffee mug. Everybody needs a great pair of TCG sunglasses. So check those out@TrueCrimeGarage.com and Colonel, that's enough of the B is.
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Nick
All right, everybody gather round. Grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. This week we are very excited because we get to do something different that we don't always get to do here in the garage. We can check in and do this from time to time. But today we are loaded with some case updates for you. These are cases that were previously covered here in the garage and they are making their way, making some movements. And in all three cases, we have arrests that have been made. And with some of them, we even have some trial dates upon us. So this is the rare occurrence where we are bringing you good news. Usually our news is not the kind you want to have to hear. It's somebody was a victim, somebody was victimized, and we're looking for the perpetrator. Today we are proud and happy to present to you cases that have been covered here. They have significant updates and hopefully some of these folks will be getting justice. And let's let it be sooner rather than later. Let's start with Amber Spradlin. Amber Spradlin was 38 years old. She was found dead in the home of a prominent Prestonsburg dentist, Michael McKinney II. This was back in June of 2023. This is in the state of Kentucky. Now, our coverage on this case was episode 687 on your true crime garage radio dial. That was from July 2023. And unfortunately, she was killed in June of 2023. So we were pretty quick on this one. There was a lot of this that stood out to us as a case that needed to be covered right away even though we were still sifting through the facts and learning a lot more about the case as it kind of the investigation kind of drug on. And the reason why it drug on, I believe is because there are multiple people that seemed to have some involvement in this homicide. There are multiple people that wanted to confuse the crime scene and can confuse the sequence of events for the investigators in this one. Now from our show, notes we wrote, On June 18, 2023, first responders arrived at the scene of a residence on Arkansas Creek in Martin, Kentucky. Martin is a tiny community near Prestonsburg. Later, the ksp, that's the Kentucky State Police announced that they had found Amber Spradlin dead at the scene due to a knife attack. The initial reports coming out were that Amber had been stabbed at least 11 times. This in her head, her neck and her throat. The community, rightfully so, was in an uproar right out the gate with this one right from Jump street because there was more than 1911 call that was made before anyone showed up at the scene. And we pondered right away, just like the community did, could Amber's life had possibly been saved that night had first responders been able to arrive sooner? Prestonsburg interim police chief at the time was Ross Shirtliff. He said that the 911 center didn't receive any calls from Amber Spradlin on June 18th. He said all the calls were from that day had been forwarded to the Kentucky State Police for their investigation. So you have one group saying, hey, multiple 911 calls. And the interim police chief at the time, who from my understanding from the interim police chief at that time, his statement was that they didn't receive any. They were all being forwarded to the Kentucky State Police. Regardless what we do know of this situation beyond the 911 call center and the mishaps that took place there, this lady Amber Spradlin was a very nice woman. And it seemed like it had to be her family, as it is in most cases to come to her defense, to raise the alarm. Not with a disappearance or finding her body. They are raising the alarm saying, hey, something's going on here. Because that night she was supposed to be with people that she considered to be and co workers and something horrific happened to this woman. The short of it here, Captain, as you remember, is that she was at work. She worked at this place. It's a restaurant that is called the Seasons Restaurant. The Seasons in and restaurant is the name of the business. She's essentially at an after hours party and after work party with some people that she works with and some others that happen to be at this after hours party there that night. But it's at the home of a prominent dentist of a well to do individual, his name Michael McKinney II. And he is also the owner of said business. Now by the time, regardless of whatever happened with the 911 stuff, by the time that the first responders are on the scene, they find her lifeless body there at that party at the home of that dentist. There was a lot of speculation in this case. Some of it that made its way to the Internet and made its way to the different news outlets and really, the speculation was pretty spot on here in this case. And I don't think you have to be a Sherlock Holmes to figure out that obviously somebody there at that party was responsible for what happened to Amber. There's no arguing this was a homicide. She was stabbed multiple times. Somebody was aware, and likely more than one person was aware of what happened that night. So the difficulty becomes sifting through who at this party had knowledge of the attack, who participated in the attack, and who participated in ways to cover up what happened that night. Now, I do know that early on in this investigation, one of the problems that they were having was simply getting these folks that were there to talk and then being able to confirm that what they are being told is the truth, because they were getting conflicting stories from the individuals that were at this party.
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The Captain
And it was a difficult case to cover because obviously the, the misinformation coming out, then law enforcement trying to keep everything close to the. The chest so then they can sift through this information. And then also the. The rumors coming out from this community.
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Nick
One of the first updates that we do get in this case was a, a complaint that was filed in Floyd Circuit county by Melissa Sammons. She was the. And is the administrator of Amber's estate. So this was a wrongful death. A civil lawsuit was filed in connection with Amber's murder in Floyd County. This was June of 2024, so last year. And the Floyd County Chronicle listed the persons that were named in that lawsuit. Now, we're. We got to be perfectly clear here. Don't make the hop, skip and jump leap to assuming that every person named in this lawsuit was present at this party. That's not the case at all. What this lawsuit is doing is it's saying that in some form or fashion, this individual, any individual named here, has some accountability in this and is responsible in some way for the wrongful death of Amber Spradlin. Now, people that are familiar with lawsuits are aware that typically what you do early in a lawsuit is you cast a wide, wide net, right? If you. If. Let's say that you have a situation where a trucker spills, there's an oil spill on a thoroughfare, and civilian A is driving their vehicle and loses control because they slide on the oil and they smash into a lamp post and unfortunately, they died at the scene in this horrible accident. Well, if there were a lawsuit in that regard, you would sue the trucker, this, the company that he works for, any of the companies involved in the delivery, right. The pickup, the receiving of said products. You would Maybe even attempt to sue the city because they have some responsibility with the lamppost, maybe even the electrician or electric company that put in the lamppost. So you can see where this can snowball very quickly in this case. What we have is the persons named as defendants in this lawsuit. One was the city of Prestonsburg, the Prestonburg Police Department, the Prestonsburg police chief. They name Randy woods here. And again, we had an interim police chief at the time. So I'm a little confused as to who was the chief of police at that time. The Prestonsburg mayor is named a Floyd county judge, Executive is named a Floyd county magistrate. Two of them are named. One is Mark Critter, and the other is George Osley or Osley. And then, of course, you have the local dentist, Michael K. McKinney, individually and in his capacity as the owner of the Seasons Inn and Restaurant, and of course, the owner of the house. You have Michael McKinney Jr. And you have Roy Kidd and Chris McKinney, who was the had some involvement, of course, with the Seasons in motel and restaurant as well, all of those persons named in that, that lawsuit. And then the next update we get is a little bit of. So part of it is we get updated information about the crime scene and what took place that night. So later, investigators would update their information that was released to the public to state that Amber had, in fact, been stabbed 12 times, this in the head, neck and torso. And then later we have suspects that were arrested. So the persons that were arrested in connection with Amber's death were Michael McKinney III and Michael McKinney II and Josh Mullins. So this next part here, Captain, is from Lex18 News. And the summary of it is stating that more than a year after the murder of amber, police charged McKinney's son, Michael McKinney III, with murder and multiple counts of evidence tampering in the case. Michael McKinney II and family friend Josh Mullins were also charged with multiple counts of complicity to tampering with evidence. Early court proceedings were three motions by Michael McKinney's attorneys. His attorneys were asking for a bond reduction, for additional discovery and for prosecutors to produce polygraph results in the case. So let's ignore, for the sake of today and the sake of brevity, let's ignore this bond reduction and the additional discovery because that's pretty typical stuff, right? And that stuff all worked itself out. The portion here that I think would be of interest to the listeners. And thank you for joining us here in the garage today. You beautiful, beautiful Listeners would be this polygraph results. Because the polygaph results request is the defendant's attorneys requesting that the prosecutors turn over the results from this polygraph exam that was conducted on Roy kid. So Roy Kidd is one of. He's not being charged. From my understanding, he's not one of the three people being named as one. One person's being named as the person responsible for the murder and two others being named as complicity complicit in tampering with evidence. So Roy Kidd, who is he? He, according to this, is the person who claims to be the one that found Amber Spradlin's body. There was also some allegations of his royal kid's quote, violent and out of control behavior prior to Amber Spradlin's death. So my guess here is that what the defense wants the opportunity to do once this thing gets to trial is to say, look, we have statements that were given to police and police at least seem to run these statements down. Right. So they, they believed them, or at least believed that they had some credibility at the time that this other guy who's not been charged was violent and out of control before Amber was killed.
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The Captain
Right.
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Nick
This implying that there might be either another person involved or maybe somebody else is completely responsible for this, not the person charged. What is interesting to note is that the prosecutors, in response to that motion and that request, they state that Roy Kidd passed the polygraph examination on the question of whether he stabbed or cut Amber, but the results would not be admissible at trial. Still, the prosecution wrote that they would provide the results to the defense. Normally you see the defense kicking out anybody trying to put polygraph results in a trial. Here you have them requesting them. We know that they will not be admissible at trial. But the prosecution willing to pass this along because it seems to be with this short, kind of vague statement about what took place, is that yes, Roy Kidd was given a polygraph examination and when asked if he was responsible for killing Amber or stabbed her, cut her anyway, his answer was truthful. And he's not the person that's being charged with her murder.
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The Captain
Do we have a set date for this trial?
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Nick
No. That's what's a little puzzling about this, but because part of that is that they are either having trouble with or still sifting through the evidence. Okay. Depending on who you talk to. Which side of, of the aisle for this trial depends on what is the delay. So part of this though, that we know that took place, that would slow this down a bit is after these charges are brought we later get more charges of tampering that were brought forward. And this is something that we do not get much of here in the garage. We get, for a lack of better term, we get a fake murder weapon charge. Fake murder weapon charge. The prosecutors say this is due to, quote, fabricating physical evidence, end quote. That indictment, this was brought forth late last year, suggests that a knife had been planted on the couch where the act of murder, the attack took place. So they're saying that somebody went out of their way to go and find another knife that was not the murder weapon and place it on the couch where the attack happened to suggest to investigators that this was the weapon, this was the murder weapon. They state, the prosecutors state that the knife that was used to kill Amber Spradlin was actually broken during the attack. They believe that they have evidence that will show this is part of that tampering with evidence and complicity to tamper with evidence charges. They're stating they have evidence to show that this, the actual murder weapon was broken in the attack and then later destroyed, concealed and or removed from the scene to hinder the investigation. Now, you asked about a trial date there, Captain. The latest update that we get was from very recent, this is from April of this year. Good coverage coming from the folks at Wowkins. They say the case of three men facing charges in the death of 38 year old Amber Spradlin is officially being moved to another county. So in March, the defense for Michael McKinney III filed a motion to have the trial moved out of Floyd County. Does make sense because this has been in the news a lot. We've seen the community in an uproar right from Jump street here. So if you live in this county, very difficult to not have any prior knowledge. All parties agreed that it should be moved. They all approved. With the judge then recommending pike county for the location. That motion was not on that day, but was later granted. Now, what remains up for some debate is the trial date, as we said. So we have Judge Edie Coleman who is serving as a special judge for the case. The judge said ideally the trial would begin December 1, 2025, and was will wrap up by the end of the year. So the commonwealth attorney says suspects DNA was found under Amber Spradlin's fingernails.
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The Captain
Right.
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Nick
But there's a debate between the prosecution and the defense that took place in court over the progress of the DNA testing. So this is one of the reasons for the delay in setting the trial date. The prosecuting attorney's office says that there were around 25 pieces of evidence submitted for testing, but many allegedly showed signs of being tampered with, which is making it difficult to get the actual results. To put it short and sweet, they're saying, we have all this evidence. Saying that they were tampering with evidence. That is why it's slowing down the testing process to get these results. And we, the prosecution, don't want to take this thing to trial until we have all the evidence that was collected at the scene. And look, if. If they can prove that any of the defendants on any of these charges did in fact, tamper with evidence, then they should absolutely have the right to not go to trial. Delay the trial as long as you can, hoping for that. You do get these results for the evidence and for the DNA and such to be presented at trial. These guys shouldn't be rewarded for contaminating the scene, contaminating the victim, contaminating physical evidence. And. But the argument you have is that they are, in fact, due to the right of a speedy trial, which they may not get, because the defense's rebuttal in this is that Amber was killed two years prior to this, even this argument about the DNA evidence. And they're saying, look, the lab workers have had plenty of time to figure out the results by now. So they're saying. The defense is saying, we're ready to move forward with the trial, which, of course, no, duh. Because they want as little evidence to be presented at that trial as possible. And right now, they know that the prosecution doesn't have what the prosecution wants for that trial.
- [23:21]
The Captain
Yeah, smart play by the defense, but I think smart play by the prosecution to have those charges of tampering, because then you have chips, and maybe you can negotiate or use those chips as leverage to get somebody to turn and stop trying to tamper and stop trying to hold back information. And if you can get more of these individuals that have charges that aren't the murder charges, for them to just come forward, and then maybe they'll just make a deal with everybody in this case.
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Nick
Well, and I think that the way that this is playing out with the judge and with the courts and the different arguments that are going on, I really think that this is playing out the way that it should. And good for the judge, because the. The judge is keeping an eye and keeping tabs on the situation. The judge isn't just simply saying, nope, not going to happen till December. No, the keeping an eye on it, because that judge can set that trial date. And what the judge knows is that the defense is pushing for a trial sooner rather than later. And the prosecution is pushing for a trial once they have the results from the lab, which may not be until late this year. So the next step here in the courts and in getting justice for this young woman is all three suspects are due to appear in Pike County Court. This will take place. It's scheduled for July 24th of 2025. So just next month this will be for another hearing and Judge Coleman says that on that date he would like to hear updates on the evidence, the DNA testing, and set the starting date for this trial. This message is sponsored by Greenlight. We all know the phrase money doesn't grow on trees. While true, it doesn't teach us much about the saving and budgeting lessons we need in life. Greenlight is an easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together. Greenlight is a debit card and money app made for families that helps kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send money to their kids and keep an eye on kids spending and saving. Meanwhile, kids and teens build money, confidence and skills in a fun, accessible way. I think Greenlight is awesome. It's a great way to teach your children to be financially responsible. Teach them how to save, teach them to set goals and achieve their goals. 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The Captain
We are back. Cheers mates. To the windows, to the walls. Cheers to you, Colonel.
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Nick
He's back. I'm back. We're all back. And cheers to you all for being back as well. Cheers to you, captain. Our next update comes from a case that is, you know, many people think that we live in Cleveland. I think it's because, you know, we talk, we talk about Cleveland. We've covered a lot of Cleveland cases.
- [31:12]
The Captain
Cleveland rocks.
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Nick
Yeah. We will get emails from people or, or when people are, when we request their information so we can give them a beer, shout out. They'll say, oh, I live here now, but I'm from Cleveland. And it's like, that's awesome. We do love Cleveland. But, but the captain, congratulations. We're not from Cleveland. So there's many other cities you could say that you're actually from that we would also be like, that's awesome because we city as well. Yeah. So we're going to go back to March of 2013 when 53 year old Eliza Sherman was, she's supposed to be arriving for a meeting with her divorce attorney in downtown Cleveland. Now while she's outside of the building, she's later found stabbed lying on the sidewalk. And the person that finds her, this witness didn't witness the attack but finds her says that Eliza was trying to speak but the only thing that the witness could make out was hearing her say, quote, I'm dying. The witness called for medical assistance and Eliza was transported to Metro Health Medical center where she, she sadly passed away. Crime Stoppers was at one time offering a reward of $100,000 for information leading to an arrest.
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The Captain
Well, this attack was also caught on CCTV footage. Right.
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Nick
The fleeing, the, whoever attacked her was seen running from the scene. And that was something that we analyzed to a great deal, to a great degree when we covered the case in episodes. It was a four part series, episodes 167 to 170. Way back when when we were still figuring out how to turn on the microphones. This was in December of 2017. Well, the thing is we, we figured out how to turn them on. We've not figured out how to turn them off now.
- [33:19]
The Captain
Right.
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Nick
Many of you longtime Listeners will remember that on that episode I predicted the Chiefs would win three Super Bowls in the next seven years. I also predicted a global pandemic was just two or so years away and that Sherman own divorce attorney likely killed her because he was not prepared to go to trial. Turns out the colonel, as crispy as he is. Three for three, baby.
- [33:42]
The Captain
Yeah.
- [33:43]
Nick
Now crystal ball. Yeah. So our show notes for that episode and we recommend if you want to do a deep dive on any of these and you've not heard those episodes on any of these cases, go back and listen. There is some YouTube stuff that we have on this case as well that you can view. And in fact, it was so early into our YouTube career that has paid us a whole $19 that I saw, I saw some of the comments when I went back to look at some of our old coverage of the Sherman case and there was several people that were very nice and kind that said, you guys are doing an awesome podcast. I wish you would do more on YouTube. But yeah, as I said, that was 2017. So we were, we were somewhat new to it.
- [34:29]
The Captain
We can't afford the plastic surgery.
- [34:32]
Nick
No. And, and you know how many episodes it would take us to figure out how to turn on the camera. So our show notes read as follows. Cleveland, Ohio. Sunday, March 24, 2013. Eliza Sherman, a 53 year old mother of four. Mother of four stepped out into the cold to run some errands. She promised her youngest son she would not be gone very long and she would return home with with dinner that evening. But hours and hours go by. Her son Jeremy tried calling his mother's cell phone, but she did not answer. Then he called his older sister. Her name is Jennifer. Jeremy explained to Jennifer that their mother had gone, had been gone far too long and he could not reach her. Jennifer tried many times to get her mother on the phone to no avail. Jennifer decided to take the search to the streets and look for her mother. But before she could locate her mother, the Cleveland police department notified her that they would like to speak with everybody in the Sherman family. It was then that detectives notified the family that Eliza had been killed in downtown Cleveland, Ohio in broad daylight. This was a case and it was certainly something that we circled around when we talked about it. And it was something that was should be considered by. All right. The. The husband was a long time suspect in this case of having some kind of involvement in the death of his wife, who he was soon to be divorced. One thing we stated, we took a look at the physique of the Individual fleeing the murder scene and the physique of the husband. And we said, well, if the husband had involvement, he hired somebody. But because that's not the husband in that puffy winter coat that is seen fleeing from the scene.
- [36:23]
The Captain
Looks like a small individual.
- [36:25]
Nick
Yeah. Yes, it did. The coroner's office went on to say that the victim had been stabbed 11 times. We know that surveillance cameras in the area captured. You might be right there, Captain, because there are statements that say captured the attack. I've not witnessed that. That the footage of that. I've only witnessed the fleeing portion.
- [36:48]
The Captain
It might not have released the full video.
- [36:51]
Nick
That video is in the hands of the Cleveland Police Department, which once this thing does go to trial, now that there is an arrest and has been an arrest, it will go to trial eventually, unless this guy pleads guilty.
- [37:05]
The Captain
Yeah, but do you think it's actually this guy or do you think he actually hired somebody?
- [37:10]
Nick
That's a great question. I. I personally thought that it was him. I remember, I'm thinking back to our coverage, and I thought at the time that it was him or at the very least he had some involvement and that that is exactly what he's being charged with. So the extra sad layers of this case is that she beloved mother of four, she was a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. And again, this was in broad daylight in Cleveland, Ohio. And just last month, Mr. Gregory Dushkanu Moore, former divorce attorney for Eliza Sherman, was arrested for her 2013 murder. He was indicted on a number of charges, including aggravated murder and conspiracy. With the update, we have a brilliant article by Tracy Carlos and Courtney Shaw titled how technology led to an indictment in the Eliza Sherman cold case. This is from the good people at News 5 in Cleveland. The News 5 used to be my go to for Cleveland Browns news, and they State Attorney General Dave Yost said his office was called in 20211 to help Cleveland solve Eliza Sherman's cold case. BCI, that's the Bureau of Criminal Identification here in Ohio. Their cold case unit has extra tools, yo said, technology and the bandwidth to help bring a fresh set of eyes to the case and new insights. The article continues 12 years after Eliza Sherman's murder, after she was brutally stabbed to death in broad daylight, the attorney representing her in a divorce case, Gregory Moore, has been indicted for her death. When it came to this case, Yosh said new technology and fresh eyes help unlock this mystery. Quote, the analytics on the digital fingerprints, so to speak, from the electronic devices and a number of transmissions gave us the keys, end quote. Yost Said yo said that anytime a person uses their cell phone, it leaves a fingerprint. Anytime a cell phone connects to the nearest WI fi, there is a record that can help police with their investigations. According to Yost, more in depth information will be released at the trial. And that was part of the reason why we were circling around the possibility of this divorce attorney being involved because he's the one that schedules this meeting and it's on a Sunday. Look, no offense to any lawyers out there, no offense to anybody in any career out there. Most people don't like to work on Sundays. From my understanding, lawyers, if they're worth their salt, they're doing everything they can not to work on Sundays. They got everything wrapped up so they can be with their families on Sundays. He's calling this meeting on a Sunday. The divorce proceedings are supposed to take place the very next morning. He's mia. He's got a blank window of time on his cell phone information.
- [40:26]
The Captain
Yeah.
- [40:27]
Nick
So according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office. This is still from the. The good folks over at News 5. 51 year old Gregory Moore was charged with one count of aggravated murder, one count of conspiracy, six counts of murder and two counts of kidnapping, according to the secret indictment. So he was. There was a secret indictment that was then very quickly made public. This was. They indicted him, I think, because they were convinced they did the secret indictment because I believe they were convinced he would flee. And now you hear that those words put together and it sounds like it's something so very special. It's not, it's not that special. It happens very often now. It's made public after he was apprehended. But according to this indictment, they state that he allegedly lured her to where he worked, saying that he needed to meet with her. But they're saying he never intended to meet with her at all. The indictment states this was part of a plan that was hatched months earlier. That's the strange part. That's the part that, that we need the, the door that we need to unlock.
- [41:39]
The Captain
Yeah. Because the motive of just not being prepared never made a lot of sense to me.
- [41:44]
Nick
This would seem like there was something else at play if there, if, if they have evidence that's suggesting to them that, that a plan was hatched months earlier to kidnap her. All right, this, this is their word. This is the words of News 5 reporting on the situation from the indictment. They are stating that a plan was hatched months earlier to kidnap her to avoid having her try her divorce case in court. That makes you really start to think, and we do know not trying to just float this out here. This has certainly been talked about many times and this is one of those horrific situations, horrible situations where mom is murdered. Mom and dad are in a, the, the process of a divorce. And we said there are four kids. There are four kids. And it was a house divided on. A house divided on if they thought their dad was up to anything shady or, or, or do we stand by dad? Do we stand by dad and defend him here against the eyes of the public. Now, unfortunately, regardless of what happened, that man has passed away. Her husband has passed away. We reported on that on off the record about a week or so after he, he had died. The indictment goes on to say that as Eliza Sherman was waited for someone to unlock the doors at Moore's office building. Air quotes. Well, I'm reading from paper so it's actual quotations. Quote, an individual who was either more or an unknown co conspirator, end quote, approached Sherman on East 12th street, circled behind her, chased her and then stabbed her more than 10 times, the indictment states. It also states that Moore allegedly disconnected his phone from the cell phone network for three hours around the time of Sherman's death in an attempt to avoid creating cell tower location evidence. He later turned on his phone and made several calls to Sherman's phone, Eliza Sherman's phone, to cover his track. So he's, he's calling saying, where are you? We were supposed to meet, you know, you never showed up, according to the paperwork. Now they also state that he, he went out and purchased a new phone just a few days after her death. The prosecutor, this is Michael o' Malley, said through the diligent work of the Ohio Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation, new evidence was obtained. After meeting with these investigators and reviewing this evidence, a decision was made to present the case to a grand jury. We look forward to presenting all of the evidence in this case at tr. We are confident the jurors will come to the same conclusion as to Gregory Moore's orchestration and participation in the murder of Eliza Sherman. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Sherman family who have never given up hope that the truth would be uncovered. The Ohio Ag Yost does say when being interviewed by News 5 that this is not a traditional open and shut kind of DNA case. So.
- [45:12]
The Captain
Right.
- [45:13]
Nick
That means we're going to have to see how this will play out at trial. The bond was set at $2 million. Moore was arrested in Austin, Texas. Remember one thing we discussed when we covered it twice Twice he called in bomb threats to the courts. Now, was that because something else was going on or because he wasn't prepared or what? Hard to say.
- [45:39]
The Captain
Right.
- [45:40]
Nick
But we do know that that happened. So his defense team or attorneys are saying they're pushing back. They're like, look, you guys don't have any evidence that's any different than the evidence you had 12 years ago when you didn't charge him with the murder. So we don't understand why he's being charged now.
- [46:02]
The Captain
Well, they're going to find out. And that's one of the things about these. All these case updates. These cases are bizarre, and the individuals involved are bizarre. There's a bunch of unanswered questions, and hopefully those answers get answered or those questions get answered during the trial.
- [46:26]
Nick
Yeah. And I think if you're an investigator. Well, more importantly, if you're the prosecutor in this case, you're probably looking at the other stuff that he did that's illegal to help you get to an indictment in the murder. Right. Even if you have evidence suggesting it. But you're just, you're. You're on the fence of, well, do we charge him and. And risk losing the trial? Then you, you might go, hey, this other stuff that he is accused of, let's really push hard and apply pressure here, see how this shakes out and see if it leads us to any more information or a statement or an admission of guilt by the accused. So Moore had been licensed to practice law starting in 2003. He went to Cleveland State University, according to this article. Records are not clear on when Moore started and ended practicing law at the company he worked for, Stafford Law Company in Cleveland. But he says this article states that he at least worked for Stafford Law Co. From 2011 to 2014. His license to practice law was suspicious, suspended in 2017 as he was facing felony charges. And he resigned his legal license in 2018 pending discipline for his crimes. When we covered it, they were. He. His license had been suspended and they were threatening to take it away. This is from Cleveland News 19, where they listed some of this guy's criminal history according to the court records. And this article states that Gregory Moore has a criminal history dating back to 1998. The offenses started with traffic offenses in the 90s and early 2000s. Okay, no big deal there. Then the charges escalated in 2013 when Gregory Moore was first charged with three counts of inducing panic. Those charges are connected to the bomb threats that Gregory Moore would call into court to avoid court appearances, according to this indictment. The indictment also said Gregory Moore's company, Stafford Law Company, were aware of the bomb threats as of May 24th of 2013. In the years after 2013, more charges would come against Gregory Moore, including at least six counts of inducing panic, three counts of terrorist threats, telecommunications fraud, obstructing official business falsification, two counts of forgery, possessing criminal tools. Moore eventually pled down to charges of two counts of felony inducing panic and one count of falsification. This in May of 2017. So the falsification count comes from lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his whereabouts during the murder of Eliza Sherman. So he lied about where he was, he lied about what he was up to that day. We know he's done some just straight. This is one of those stranger, bizarre fiction stories. I mean, yeah, it's not easy to get a license to practice law.
- [49:53]
The Captain
No.
- [49:54]
Nick
You usually have to be a fairly disciplined, smart individual. But I mean, this guy's calling him bomb threats.
- [50:00]
The Captain
Yeah. The courts, again, I would be surprised, based off, you know, I'm re watching that footage right now, and I'm, I'm just gonna. This does not look like a male to me. You know, this looks just the movements and everything. And so I wonder if there's going to be more charges brought against other people.
- [50:20]
Nick
Yeah, it's, it's, it's difficult to say. Then why so much with his phone?
- [50:26]
The Captain
You get somebody to help you and you're, you're the getaway driver, so you're still involved.
- [50:31]
Nick
Right. And, and that's where it gets confusing for me. And, and having experience with those cameras and those systems, I know that the, those videos are not usually great. They usually are coming from weird angles. It's difficult to determine how high that, that's certainly coming from an elevated vantage point. It's difficult to say how high up that would be. A lot of times those buildings have large and high entrance ways, and usually those cameras are placed near the entrances to those buildings. So, I mean, that camera could be 20, 24ft in the air, which would give the appearance of a smaller person than what they actually are.
- [51:17]
The Captain
Right, I agree with that. But the, the, what becomes an issue, though, is you go, well, this guy wasn't prepared. Well, calling a bomb threat makes sense. Right? I'm not prepared if I call on a bomb threat, that they'll have to cancel the, the hearing. But that's, that's a, you know, that's a bad thing. It's a federal building, so that's a bad thing. But you go, but nobody's Getting physically hurt. And so to call on a bomb threat is quite a bit of a big leap to become a murderer. And it. And what gets me is, like you said, well, they have some kind of evidence that says that this has been planned for months.
- [52:04]
Nick
Yeah, that's the tricky part of it. That's the. The part of it that kind of throws me off a little bit to. To saying that. That it was absolutely him that was the murderer wielding the knife. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit. Maybe he's just not smart. I mean, he's. Because he's just crazy. If I were using their word, orchestrating this homicide, this murder, then my phone being on would be my alibi.
- [52:41]
The Captain
Right.
- [52:42]
Nick
But again, you know, the prisons are filled with dumb, dumb people, dumb criminals. Maybe he's of that variety. I don't know. But. But this one, I. Look this. To be honest with you, Captain, this was one of those cases that seemed so. It seemed so clear who the person either responsible or involved was when we covered it. But as time drug on and with the passing of her husband and with this guy facing other charges and serving time for those charges and then being released, I mean, we know he was released because when he was apprehended for the murder charge, he was down in Austin, Texas. You know, this is a sad situation. Regardless of his level of guilt, his father was in the process of passing away, so he was down there to. To visit with his father, from my understanding. And he's arrested down there. So we'll see what comes about with this at trial. And maybe with. I think there's some. Some evidence, and I think there's some statements that have been released that are suggestive that this is much more complicated than. Than at first glance.
- [53:58]
The Captain
Well, like I said, selfishly, because these cases, some of these cases that are complex and bizarre and seems like the more you dive in, the more questions you get, selfishly, by going to trial, maybe we'll get some of those answers, and I will be glued to figure out those, you know, what. What the heck is the motive here? I mean, was it. Was there something more going on with his relationship with the victim, or was there just more going on his life? You know, but that's where it's like, normally the answer is simpler, but you go, okay, well, let's say he was having money problems or whatever. You go, but she was his client. She'd be paying him. It doesn't make a lot of sense.
- [54:49]
Nick
Yes. I'm curious to find out what led her to hiring him. Right, Right. Because who connected these two did. Was it as simple as she got on the Internet or opened up the Yellow Pages and just called a defense? You know, I keep saying defense attorney, but divorce attorney and really got unlucky with the random divorce attorney that she picked on that day. Or, or is this something larger? Right. Did somebody purposely put her in, in touch with this guy who sucks at his job? Right. I mean, there's no way for me, I don't know what, what his record is in court. I don't know how successful he was as an attorney, but I'm guessing based off of calling in multiple bomb threats to the court that you're supposed to be showing up to, that you probably suck at your job. So how did she get connected? Because she wasn't dumb. She was a smart woman. She was a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. So, yeah, there's a lot more to uncover and a lot more for at least the public to learn about this very bizarre murder case that at least thankfully there is an indictment, at least, thankfully there is a trial that will be happening. But this one, too, I don't see. Or could I find an exact date where we should be learning more. And that's kind of a good segue into our third and final case update for this week. And as said, it is, it is a joyous occasion when we can present to you updates in these cases rather than just more doom and gloom of another case or another case that's gone cold or another family that can't find justice for their loved ones. One, but this case, there was an arrest. We've touched on this a little bit on off the record and mentioned it kind of here and there. The problem is there's not a whole lot of details other than it was DNA evidence that led to the arrest. We don't know a lot of the details of the other evidence in this case, but that is the case of 1992 Columbus homicide. Amy Hooper, who was a young woman, lived in an apartment. She was attacked and killed in her apartment. And we did learn late last year that a DNA hit led to an arrest of a man named Bruce Edward Daniels, who lived all the way at the time of the arrest, all the way out in Washington State later this month. There is going to be, there is a court date. But to be clear here, from what I've been told, my sources all say don't expect a trial to start. Don't expect to learn a whole lot about the case or the evidence. This is simply just another, another routine court date that has to take place before this thing can actually go to trial. So we know it's a DNA hit that led to the arrest of this man. It's many, many years, obviously after the murder. Curious to see what other evidence they have against this Bruce Edward Daniels and how this one plays out in court, if in fact it does get to court. But whatever happens with the Amy Hooper case, expect to hear an update on True Crime Garage off the record, which is if you're unfamiliar, if you're new to the show, make sure you subscribe. You like, follow whatever you have to do to keep hearing us. Show up on your listening device, do that. You can sign up for that on Apple subscription and on Patreon.
- [58:33]
The Captain
Yeah. Another one that I don't know if we're gonna get a lot more answers because it's pretty vague and, and then also because of the DNA match, you wonder if there's just going to be a deal made. But either way, those, those are three cases. They're fascinating cases. So go back and listen to the original episodes which will probably just lend you to have more questions and, and hopefully we get those.
- [58:58]
Nick
Yes, the Amy Hooper episodes was a two parter and that were, that was episodes 294 and 295.
- [59:18]
The Captain
All right, we want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage for a little bit of a different episode. Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the beautiful listeners?
- [59:28]
Nick
Recommended listening. Go back and listen to those old episodes that we mentioned here here today if you have not heard them already, that we'll take you through the case as we knew it at the time in all three situations and as we kept repeating very bizarre cases, each one of them. They're all unique cases. And with the Amy Hooper one, I really didn't think we would be sitting here having this conversation today. So I'm so that brings me a lot of joy and it just looks these people shouldn't do this to each other. People shouldn't treat each other this way and they shouldn't hurt other people.
- [60:03]
The Captain
Right.
- [60:03]
Nick
But unfortunately it's not a perfect world and it does happen. There is evil out there, there are bad people out there, but at least we are making progress in these three cases, which gives me a lot of hope that we will be getting this kind of movement in other cases that we've covered here in the garage.
- [60:21]
The Captain
And until next week, be good, be.
- [60:23]
Nick
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