Police Find Decomposing Pregnant Woman’s Body In Man’s Apartment While Arresting Him for Unrelated Murder

31-year-old Torrey Moore was arrested and charged last week with first degree murder and possession of a firearm while committing a felony in connection to a shooting at a Shell gas station in Silver Spring. 61-year-old convenience store employee Ayalew Wondimu was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to Chief Marcus Jones of the Montgomery County Police Department, Moore was seen picking up items from the counter “and began throwing them at the clerk.” Wondimu reportedly “picked up a metal pole which was behind the counter and attempted to strike Moore.” At that point, Moore then allegedly pulled out a handgun from his pocket and shot the clerk “at point blank range.”

After tracking down Moore to an apartment building across the street from the gas station, a search warrant was obtained for his unit and Moore was taken into custody “without incident.” While they were executing the search warrant on his apartment, police then discovered the body of a deceased female “in an advanced stage of decomposition.”

Per a press release, “Moore gave statements to detectives that he had been in a relationship with the person located inside the apartment. He also stated that the victim was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.”

According to Jones, Moore also waived his Miranda rights and allegedly “made statements implicating himself in the murder on Wondimu.” Moore also said “there had been some type of fight” between him and the woman “about one month prior that led to the victim becoming deceased.”

The woman’s body was transported to the medical examiner for an autopsy. Per the police department, her name and stage of pregnancy will be released after the autopsy, positive identification and notification of next of kin. Additional charges could come for Moore after the medical examiner makes a determination on the cause and manner of the woman’s death.

“We’re at the very early stages of this investigation, and trying to understand her family history, much about her, what has been occurring between these two individuals over the past, during the course of their relationship, and what would have occurred that would have warranted someone’s dead body to be in the apartment for a very lengthy period of time and not contact authorities,” added Jones. “That raises a lot of concerns for us. So we’ve got a lot of work to do, to follow up with this particular investigation.”

Moore is slated to appear in court Monday for a bond hearing, per WJLA, with a preliminary hearing set for January 6, 2023.