Sgt. Moises Perez of the Dayton Police Department said the Troy woman appeared to have been running from someone along nearby train tracks when she was shot several days ago.
Investigators said they can only guess how long her decomposed body had been lying in the field.
Moore’s mother, who asked not to be identified, said her daughter left home about a month ago after resuming a powerful addiction to crack.
A missing person report was never filed, according to Dayton and Troy police.
Moore’s mother and stepfather said they have been caring for her 5-year-old son since she ran away from their Troy home.
“She was a good person, but just fell in with a bad, bad crowd,” Moore’s mother said.
Moore was arrested just last week by Dayton police after officers conducting a traffic stop of her Oldsmobile Bravada found a crack pipe in her day planner, according to a police report.
Moore appeared in Dayton Municipal Court the next day and on Sept. 10 pleaded guilty to a drug paraphernalia charge, according to court records.
Four other people were in the car when Moore was arrested, the police report stated. Two of those in the car, Mark Whitaker, 28, and Danielle Brock, 19, were arrested on obstruction of official business charges.
Moore’s mother said she wasn’t aware of the arrest and had only been keeping in sporadic contact with her daughter by telephone.
Moore’s arrest came after she spent six months in a Miami County drug treatment program last year, though she continued to struggle with the crack addiction after leaving the program, her family said.
Police were mum Tuesday afternoon on any evidence recovered from the homicide scene and possible suspects.
They have not given a possible motive for the shooting, though Moore’s family suspects she owed someone money.
Police want anyone with information about her death to call (937) 333-COPS.
Contact this reporter at
(937) 225-2494 or lsullivan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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