A Silver Spring, Maryland, man was sentenced on Friday to spend decades behind bars after being convicted on two unrelated murders.
Torrey Damien Moore, 34, was given three consecutive life sentences and an additional 80 years in prison to run concurrently with the life sentences for the 2022 deaths of his girlfriend Denise Middleton and their unborn baby, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Moore was the biological father of the unborn child.
A jury found Moore guilty of first-degree murder, use of a handgun in the commission of a felony and illegal possession of a firearm on May 16, 2024, for the 2022 shooting death of Ayalew Wondimu, 61, a gas station clerk, at a Shell gas station in the White Oak area.
In November 2024, a different jury found Moore guilty of shooting and killing his pregnant girlfriend and an unborn child on Oct. 9, 2022. He was found guilty on two counts of use of a handgun in the commission of a felony, one count of crime of violence against a pregnant person, and one count of illegal possession of a firearm.
At the time of her death, Middleton was 38 weeks — or eight and a half months — pregnant with a boy named Ezekiel.
It was the first time in Montgomery County that someone was convicted for the murder of a “viable fetus,” according to a news release.
Middleton’s decomposed body was found in Moore’s bedroom on Dec. 9, 2022. Prosecutors said an autopsy showed Middleton was shot seven times. The discovery of Middleton’s body happened a day after Moore was arrested for shooting and killing Wondimu.
Prosecutors said Moore and Wondimu were in an argument over items that Moore was buying. Officials said Moore threw energy drink shot bottles at Wondimu, who swung a metal pole at him.
Surveillance video captured Moore pulling a handgun from his jacket and firing at Wondimu, who then fell to the ground behind the counter, the news release said. According to prosecutors, Moore went behind the counter and fired additional shots that killed Wondimu.
Prosecutors said cellphone data showed Moore traveled the country for about 26 days and searched for things like “how long does it take for a dead body to smell?” and “how to move a dead body without being seen.”
He later returned to the apartment. Prosecutors said he was living there “with the decomposing bodies” until his arrest on December 9, 2024.
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