Prince Moore slashed his wife’s neck and stabbed her 63 times – and then claimed that he’d killed her in self-defense!
But skeptical cops didn’t buy Moore’s story and slapped him with murder charges.
“It’s a strange defense,” said a law enforcement source. “Two or three stab wounds are one thing, but 63 to her hands, back, chest and face? No wonder he’s been indicted for murder.”
Authorities say Moore, 53, called 911 around 2 a.m. on Sept. 13 and reported that his wife Mauryn, 39, had tried to stab him while he was sleeping, and that he’d stabbed her in return.
When cops arrived, the front door of the couple’s apartment in Brooklyn Park, Minn., was wide open. Inside they found a gory scene – with blood in the living room area and bloody footprints in the kitchen.
Mauryn, a licensed practical nurse, was face down on the bedroom floor near the bed. Her husband was lying next to her with his legs over her lifeless body. Near her head were a bent knife and a large pool of blood.
Her neck had been slashed so deeply that knife impressions were left on her spine.
The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office counted a shocking 63 stab wounds on Mauryn’s body. Her right carotid artery and right jugular vein, as well as her trachea and esophagus, had been severed.
The tip of a knife was recovered from Mauryn’s back, and there were defensive knife wounds on her hands. Meanwhile, Moore suffered only minor stab wounds to his neck and chest.
The couple had been married four years and had no children. Their wedding was conducted by Charles Goah, senior pastor at United Christian Fellowship in Minneapolis.
“I’m shocked,” said Goah, whose congregation consists mainly of people from Liberia, which had been Prince Moore’s home before he emigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1990s.
“I had no indication of any trouble between them. This is shaking our community and our church.”
Moore sang in the church’s choir and was a member of the building committee. His wife had studied accounting in her native Kenya and owned a bridal shop before coming to America. She attended college in Minnesota for LPN certification and graduated with honors.
Wayne Doe said he knew Moore when they both lived in Liberia. “They seemed happy and hard-working, spending long hours at school,” he said.
Authorities say Moore had misdemeanor convictions in the early 2000s for disorderly conduct, violation of an order of protection and assault. He’s being held in jail in lieu of $750,000 bail. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars.
The law enforcement official concluded: “This IS a strange, tragic case.”
