21st Tacoma Homicide of 2023: Chloee Moore
Chloee Moore had just turned eighteen. And she had plans. Her ambition was to be a dental hygienist. Once she set her mind to something, it was only a matter of time. Unfortunately, she’d never get that opportunity.
In the early morning hours of September 3, 2023 a little after midnight, a sedan pulled up to the 2900 block of Upper Park Avenue. This is a secluded spot near the Tacoma Dome just south of Interstate-5. The 40-year-old driver had been convicted of a murder in Spokane in 2003 and had only just been released in 2021.
His nephew in the passenger seat acted as lookout while the driver popped the trunk and pulled out a large suitcase that he lugged over to a wooded area and set on fire before leaving in his car.
Two days earlier, in the first hours of September 1, 2023, Chloee Moore told her mother she was going out. Her mother begged her not to go. It was after midnight and nothing good happens after midnight. Her mother did not feel good about this, but worrying is something parents do all the time. We never know when we should listen to it.
Phone data and surveillance video shows Chloee arriving at the 40-year-old man’s apartment in a complex on MLK Jr. Way later that night a little after 2:00am on September 1. The two walk to an alcove between apartment buildings. Less than twenty minutes later, the man is carrying a clearly unconscious Chloee to his apartment. She’ll never be seen alive again.
When firefighters arrived to put out the brushfire that the man had started they found Chloee’s body. It would take time to identify her due to the fact that her body had been doused in accelerants.
Police would eventually track down the 40-year-old man. He claimed that she overdosed and not wanting to go back to prison, he chose not to simply call 9-1-1 when it was clear she was dying. Instead he doused her body in flammable liquid, stuffed her in a suitcase, and burned it all.
While the Medical Examiner cannot conclusively say if she was alive or not when she was set on fire, Chloee Moore’s death was the result of the man’s actions and has been charged with her murder.
However, finding and punishing those responsible does nothing to bring back Chloee Moore or her dreams and plans. Her life cut short by drugs and violence will always have an impact on her friends and family. Losses like these are scars on the lives the victims touched. Chloee’s family has a GoFundMe that remains active. I encourage you to donate if you have the means.
As always, the comment section is reserved. Please comment only if you knew Chloee Moore and want to share thoughts and/or memories of her.