Larry Leroy Moore found guilty of murdering Dianna Lowery

Dianna Lowery and Larry Leroy Moore appear in images released by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office.

Dianna Lowery was just 25 years old when she was strangled to death and sexually assaulted in her own bathtub in 1987. Now, more than 35 years later, the man the government said killed her was eventually found guilty of murder.

Larry Leroy Moore, 69 years old, from Prescott, Arizona. He was initially arrested in 2005, but the case against him was dismissed, according to San Antonio ABC branch KSAT. In 2018, the cold case was reopened and Moore was charged again. On Friday, March 26, 2022, Bexar County jurors deliberated for six hours before concluding he was guilty.

“He was 33 years old at the time,” Assistant Bexar County Criminal District Attorney Talia Triesch told the juror during the conclusion of the argument, according to a Courthouse News Service account. “He plays basketball, throws darts, mows the lawn sometimes. . . he also raped and murdered his tenants. Why did he do that? What is the engine? We may never know. But he did it – that we know. ”

Prosecutors in the case did not seek the death penalty. Under Texas law, Moore is automatically sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 40 years behind bars.

Lowery was renting a two-story apartment from Moore in San Antonio at the time of her murder. Her boyfriend, Dale Andrew Martinturned around and found her strangled to death on January 29, 1987.

“She never got to work,” says Triesch. “Andy went home as usual but that’s when normality ends and this nightmare begins.”

In testimony in three days of trial. Martin said he watched the “smell of death” after returning home from work the night of the murder. Finally, he discovered a horrifying sight. Lowery was sexually assaulted, bound and gagged with duct tape, was wounded all over, was still wearing a bathrobe and had poop stuffed in the bathtub with socks.

Moore’s wife also stood her ground. In her own testimony, she discussed an email conversation she had with her son about a “terrible crime” her husband had committed.

“It involves killing someone,” Gretchen Phelps said when asked to explain the contours of that email exchange. “He talked to me about a situation where a younger woman was killed.”

Larry Leroy Moore appeared in court. (Image via KSAT-TV screen.)

Garon Foster, a forensic serologist from the Bexar County Crime Lab, also testified. He said he was first involved in the Lowery case in 2004. At the same time, limited DNA testing could not rule out Moore as a suspect and he was subsequently arrested – although, as noted in the previous article. above, finally the first allegation was made. In 2020, additional DNA testing has essentially narrowed things down, testimony revealed.

“It’s 780 billion times more likely that they originated from Dianna Lowery and Larry Moore,” Foster said, referring to DNA samples from the rape kit as well as from Lowery’s bed sheets and duvet. “Mr. Moore really fits.”

Defendant maintained his innocence.

“It makes no sense, has no motive,” defense attorney Mark McKay said on Friday. “There’s no reason to kill her.”

The lawyer also criticized the investigation and the evidence-gathering methods used as “myopia detectives,” saying much of the evidence against his client was outdated and unreliable.

However, the jury believes that the state’s version of events.

“At the end of the day, the judges saw the work that needed to be done and they got it done,” said Triesch. speak. “And we’re so grateful.”

[Images as noted.]

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