MD Man Convicted Of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend, Unborn Baby: Report

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — A Silver Spring man has been convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child before leaving her body inside their apartment for nearly two months, according to reports.

A jury on Friday found Torrey Moore, 33, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of 26-year-old Denise Middleton, who was more than 8 months pregnant at the time of her death, the Washington Post reported.

The case marks the first time in Montgomery County that a person was tried for and convicted of murdering a viable fetus.

“This story is awful. There’s no way to slice it — this is a terrible case,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Friday, according to WTOP.

Moore was arrested and charged in December 2022 after police said he fatally shot a Shell gas station clerk during an argument over the purchase of a bottle of Pure Leaf tea, the Post reported.

According to authorities, Moore entered the convenience store and approached the counter to make a purchase. Shortly after, a verbal altercation broke out between Moore and the clerk, 61-year-old Ayalew Wondimu of Silver Spring.

The altercation quickly turned physical, police said, at which point Moore pulled a gun from his vest and shot Wondimu multiple times.

Following the shooting, police tracked Moore to the Enclave Apartments across the street from the gas station, where Montgomery County police found Middleton’s body “in an advanced stage of decomposition” inside the apartment.

Police said Moore told officers he had been in a relationship with Middleton and that she was eight months pregnant when she died.

According to the Post, evidence presented during Moore’s trial showed he shot Middletown seven times before he left her body in the apartment and moved around the Washington area for several days. He eventually went to North Carolina and California, returning home a month later with Middleton’s body still on the bedroom floor.

He lived with her body for another 26 days before he was arrested on Dec. 9, 2022, reports said.

Moore was found guilty of killing Wondimu earlier this year, WUSA9 reported. He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Dec. 12. Sentencing has not been set in the Middleton case.