Leroya Moore. (Facebook)
A 36-year-old mother from East Haven, Connecticut, who was found “despondent” and injured outside her home last Tuesday afternoon, has been charged with murder in the deaths of her two young kids.
Inside LeRoya Moore’s home, police said they found her two young children dead and an active gas leak that sent three officers to the hospital.
Moore was arrested June 10, more than a week after the incident, and charged with two counts of murder. She was held on $2 million bail.
Police said the gas was intentionally left on inside the home, the New Haven Register reports. Moore was hospitalized for treatment of exposure to gas and injuries to her arms.
Moore’s 6-year-old daughter, Aleisha, and 7-year-old son, Daaron, were found dead in the home. The causes of death for the two children haven’t been determined.
The children’s father, Michael Moore, told the Hartford Courant Wednesday, “I’m trying to do right by my kids.” Police said he was notified of his children’s death by the police department’s chaplain on Tuesday. He and LeRoya Moore are divorced.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. She Posted a Photo to Facebook of Her Kids After Police Believe They Were Already Dead
LeRoya Moore posted this photo of her two kids to Facebook at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Police belief the kids died hours before that. (Facebook)
Moore posted a photo of her son and daughter to Facebook at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, which is after police believe they had already died. She made the photo her profile picture.
2. Moore Told Her Friend She Was Going to Commit Suicide & Said Her Children Were ‘Laying Down’ Inside Their Home
A tape of the 911 call that sent police to the home was released Wednesday.
Moore’s friend called 911 to tell police her “friend had sent her a letter that she was going to kill herself.” The friend was calling from outside Moore’s Strong Street home and was talking to Moore.
“She says she cut herself, but I can’t get in the house,” her friend says in the call. She tells the dispatcher Moore’s kids are there, “laying down in the house,” and the “door is locked.”
The friend says she was talking to Moore on the phone, but then hung up and called 911 when Moore said she cut herself.
Police said an officer is guarding the children’s mother at the hospital where she is receiving treatment. She has not been criminally charged.
The woman was seen being placed into a police car and then loaded into an ambulance, a neighbor told the New Haven Register.
The deaths are being investigated by state and local police.
3. She Bragged About Her Daughter’s Artistic Talent in a Mother’s Day Facebook Post
In a May 11 Facebook post, Moore bragged that her daughter, Aleisha, “definitely be doing some great work!” Moore posted photos of the Mother’s Day card she was given by Aleisha, telling her friends to “remember” her daughter’s name.
Aleisha wrote in the card, “Happy Mother’s Day. thank you for being a awsome mom. I love you!”
Moore also posted, on May 2, about how she was looking forward to the summer, “I can’t wait for summer hours to begin. I love coming home after a short day of work to see my man waiting to pamper me. Kids were in a great mood after putting up w my crazy work schedule. SUMMER…BEGIN!”
She posted in April, “Advice to self: before you pass conviction, offer compassion…you never know the weight someone carries even though they hold it together on the outside. It’ll be ok with a little understanding and patience.”
4. She Has a Lengthy Criminal Record, Including a Recent Arrest on Charges She Assaulted Her Ex-Husband
LeRoya Moore with her daughter. (Facebook)
She was most recently arrested April 15, 2015 in New Haven on charges of third-degree assault and second-degree breach of peace. Those charges are still pending. She was released from custody on a promise to appear in court.
According to the Hartford Courant, Moore was arrested on those charges as a result of a fight with her ex-husband, Michael Moore in September 2014.
Court records obtained by the Courant reveal that LeRoya Moore is accused of following her husband after he picked up their kids from school, flashing her headlights and beeping the horn at him. After he stopped, she came at the car “in an extremely hostile manner,” and struck him in the head with a clenched fist three times, he told police. She said she was upset because he was late picking them up and it made her late to a party she planned to attend at a casino.
Details of the other cases were not immediately available. Records do show that Moore, who also has gone by the last name White, was convicted in 2006 of risk of injury to a child, a felony, and sentenced to eight years in prison, but the execution of the sentence was suspended and she did not serve any time. She was placed on probation for five years.
Moore moved to East Haven from Meriden, Connecticut, in 2014, purchasing the house at 541 Strong Street for $220,000, according to town records. She has also lived in New Haven and Hamden, Connecticut.
According to her Facebook page, Moore studied at Gateway Community College from 1999 to 2001 to become a certified nursing assistant.
5. Moore Has Another Child Who Is a Teenager
LeRoya Moore. (Facebook)
She says on her Facebook page that she gave birth to her first child in June 1997.
