A 15-year-old girl who was behind the wheel of a car she took from a relative to go on a joyride with friends intentionally veered the vehicle to hit a man whom she saw running on the side of a rural road in Maple Valley; she was driving about 50 miles per hour, according to police reports and King County prosecutors’ documents.
The girl, whom KIRO 7 is not naming because of her age, is being charged as a juvenile with the murder and hit-and-run of 53-year-old Greg Moore, who was found July 18 near a church at the 23800 block of 216th Street several hours after he was hit at about 6:15 a.m., according to prosecutors.
Charging documents indicated the teen suspect tried to hide the crime over the next seven weeks and was concerned friends — including another 15-year-old girl who admitted to driving another car with the suspect that morning — might “snitch” on her. Detectives said the suspect turned herself in at a King County sheriff’s precinct in SeaTac last week and was accompanied by her father.
Michelle Moore, the widow of Greg Moore, whose family offered a $35,000 reward for information leading to the hit-and-run driver, expressed outrage over the decision not to charge the suspect as an adult.
“A family member (of the suspect) heard the individual laugh about the way Greg’s body flew up in the air when she hit him,” said Moore.
Moore said detectives told her that the accused teen driver allegedly pulled over to see the body of the man she’d hit and then sped away.
“It’s a ‘thrill-kill’ is what it’s called,” Moore said.
“I would argue that the brutality of her crime and blatant disregard for human life warrants her being tried as an adult,” Moore said.
King County prosecutors said they understand the anger. “There’s understandable frustration and this feeling that we don’t care about this case when we do,” said Casey McNerthney, spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, who added the prosecutor’s office stated since Greg Moore’s murder suspect is 15, has no criminal record, and will likely have an adult charge reversed by a judge, they have no choice but to charge her as a juvenile.
“It’s not the justice that everyone wants, but we will be accountable for our decision and, ultimately, we intend to get a conviction here,” McNerthney said, indicating that if convicted, the girl could stay in corrective detention until age 21.
“Greg and I got married in my parents’ backyard 30 years ago today,” Michelle Moore said. Moore is asking people to contact the King County prosecutor in hopes he will change the decision and try the girl in adult court.
“It’s even worse knowing someone could take him from me like that,” she said. “She stole that from me. I know I can never get Greg back. But if justice is not served, I’m afraid I will never know peace.”