Latest / NO FILTER / The disappearance of Emily Noble [True Crime documentary]

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The disappearance of Emily Noble [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

0:00
Speaker 1: Twenty four years over one hundred and fifty jury trials.
0:03
Speaker 2: I've never had a harder closing argument than this, because, honestly,
0:07
Speaker 2: at most I've got evidence to attack. This case is
0:13
Speaker 2: totally speculation.
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Speaker 3: Hi everyone, I'm Kevin, and this is just thought Lounge.
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Speaker 3: JTL is the true crime channel that delivers serious, well
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Speaker 3: balanced coverage of the cases that really make you think.
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Speaker 3: We're about to take a look at a case that
0:28
Speaker 3: had investigators questioning the meaning and authenticity of every piece
0:32
Speaker 3: of evidence they uncovered, what was real in this case
0:35
Speaker 3: and what had been staged to lead them in the
0:37
Speaker 3: wrong direction. On the twenty fourth of May twenty twenty,
0:42
Speaker 3: in Westernville, Ohio, Emily Noble and her husband of two years,
0:46
Speaker 3: Matthew Moore, went out on the town to celebrate her
0:48
Speaker 3: fifty second birthday. After an enjoyable time out, they were
0:52
Speaker 3: seen returning home early that evening. Less than twenty four
0:55
Speaker 3: hours later, however, Matt had called police to the home.
0:59
Speaker 3: His wife was missing, her purse, car id and phone
1:03
Speaker 3: all left behind, and Emily could not be found. Telling
1:07
Speaker 3: police that he had a bad feeling in the pit
1:09
Speaker 3: of his stomach and suspected the worst. Matt spent hours
1:13
Speaker 3: speaking with investigators. He pointed out potentially key evidence guided
1:18
Speaker 3: them to areas to look for. Emily suggested what he
1:21
Speaker 3: thought or feared could have happened. After months of searching evidence,
1:26
Speaker 3: gathering expert reports, and questioning, detectives were convinced they have
1:31
Speaker 3: seen through the act and they have pieced together the puzzle.
1:34
Speaker 3: There was more to the case than meets the eye,
1:37
Speaker 3: and more to Matthew, more than a distraught husband. Or
1:41
Speaker 3: was there? Let's take a look. Friends of Emily nobles,
1:55
Speaker 3: of which she had many described her as a big hearted,
1:58
Speaker 3: slightly eccentric, an unfailingly loyal person. She embraced in nature,
2:03
Speaker 3: loved going for walks, and had adopted a hobby of
2:07
Speaker 3: foraging and drying out plants what most people would consider weeds,
2:11
Speaker 3: and using these as herbs in her kitchen or to
2:14
Speaker 3: replace the produce at her local grocery store. Emily was
2:18
Speaker 3: a lover of nature. Many of her friends said that
2:21
Speaker 3: they never expected the feisty and independently minded Emily to
2:25
Speaker 3: get married, but she did so twice. In around twenty sixteen,
2:29
Speaker 3: Emily joined the dating website Plenty of Fish and met
2:32
Speaker 3: Matthew Moore, a man that shared her self described hippie
2:37
Speaker 3: like lifestyle. Matt, once married himself, had made a career
2:41
Speaker 3: as a casino worker in Las Vegas for over twenty years,
2:44
Speaker 3: but he had relocated with his son briefly, at first
2:47
Speaker 3: to Ohio, where he had first met Emily. But after
2:51
Speaker 3: the program that his teenage son, Joey was enrolled and ended,
2:54
Speaker 3: Matt made his way back to Vegas to work, leaving
2:57
Speaker 3: Emily devastated and heartbroken to those close to her. The
3:01
Speaker 3: separation did not take however, Emily and Matt reconnected, leading
3:06
Speaker 3: Matt and Joey to move back to Ohio. In the
3:08
Speaker 3: summer of twenty eighteen, Emily and Matt Moore were married.
3:12
Speaker 3: They moved into Emily's condo and inheritance from her mother,
3:16
Speaker 3: and looked after Joey, a teenager who required special care.
3:20
Speaker 3: Emily and Joey rapidly grew very close. There was a
3:26
Speaker 3: cloud that hung over Emily's fifty second birthday celebration with
3:29
Speaker 3: her husband on the twenty fourth of May twenty twenty.
3:33
Speaker 3: It had been a year of grief for the couple.
3:35
Speaker 3: Ten months prior, eighteen year old Joey having recently been
3:39
Speaker 3: diagnosed with schizophrenia had taken his own life. Devastated by
3:43
Speaker 3: the loss, Emily had taken a few months off at
3:46
Speaker 3: the medicaid office where she worked. Matt also struggled with
3:50
Speaker 3: depression for a time. At least, they both just tried
3:54
Speaker 3: to cope. Even regular daily tasks became difficult to work through.
4:02
Speaker 3: The two took a bit of a road trip in
4:04
Speaker 3: the morning towards a small village where a natural spring
4:07
Speaker 3: provided fresh water which they could bottle up and take
4:10
Speaker 3: home with them. This was the type of natural foraging
4:13
Speaker 3: activity that Emily loved. Back in Westerville, the couple headed
4:17
Speaker 3: to Uptown, where shops, restaurants, and bars provided an evening
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Speaker 3: out drinking and chatting. They bar hopped, but they did
4:24
Speaker 3: not stay out late. It was an enjoyable evening, Matt said,
4:28
Speaker 3: they had both been in good spirits. This made the
4:33
Speaker 3: events of the next day even more confusing. Awake by
4:36
Speaker 3: maybe ten am, Matt had no idea where his wife was.
4:40
Speaker 3: They had plans to have a picnic with an old
4:42
Speaker 3: friend of Emily's, but he didn't know any of the
4:44
Speaker 3: details surrounding the plans that she had made, and she
4:47
Speaker 3: wasn't around to clarify Just before six pm, he called
4:51
Speaker 3: one of Emily's best friends, Celeste. Had she heard from
4:54
Speaker 3: Emily that day? She had not. Celeste told Matt to
4:58
Speaker 3: contact the police. The next call made was to nine one.
5:01
Speaker 4: One my wife, let your perfect here, whether I be
5:15
Speaker 4: a car or the carts their volunteer. I mean it
5:23
Speaker 4: was animalist is always an advice.
5:25
Speaker 5: Who called you?
5:26
Speaker 4: It's very very character pressed. You know, a great day
5:34
Speaker 4: of today.
5:35
Speaker 3: It was the day well.
5:38
Speaker 6: The fun.
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Speaker 4: He wasn't there. But there's not abnormal. But I mean,
5:42
Speaker 4: you know, you come home or all not go for
5:45
Speaker 4: a walk. It's a very repetidulture to the contact. You
5:51
Speaker 4: have phone here.
5:52
Speaker 7: She's always got.
5:53
Speaker 8: Her phone with.
5:58
Speaker 2: You or give you a call.
6:03
Speaker 3: So letste approached the house just as Sergeant Robert Hollis arrived.
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Speaker 9: Okay, so what's she's uh?
6:13
Speaker 7: Uncharacteristically say, uh, I just heard her laws here. Hears
6:21
Speaker 7: the wat's nie and her phone's here.
6:29
Speaker 3: Matt explained that he had gotten out of bed in
6:31
Speaker 3: the night at an undetermined time, maybe about midnight, to
6:35
Speaker 3: use the restroom, but instead of returning to bed with
6:38
Speaker 3: his wife, his habit was to go back to sleep
6:40
Speaker 3: in Joey's old room. So that he would not disturb
6:43
Speaker 3: Emily when returning to bed. Then when he awoke sometime
6:47
Speaker 3: around ten am, Emily was gone.
6:51
Speaker 9: Did you call her and called?
6:53
Speaker 7: She's her her best friend in and I'd just call her.
6:59
Speaker 7: We were supposed to be at a party today.
7:02
Speaker 9: What time was a picnic?
7:07
Speaker 10: Start?
7:07
Speaker 11: Tell me more of the baby again?
7:10
Speaker 2: Sometimes she didn't tell me when it was stars.
7:12
Speaker 6: Just waiting for her.
7:13
Speaker 4: Tell me when we should go.
7:14
Speaker 9: I text her twice and say one party.
7:17
Speaker 4: She'd get back to me.
7:18
Speaker 9: So K called that guy and I said she would
7:22
Speaker 9: the gods at the party. Okay, is this a friend?
7:25
Speaker 9: Do you know this guy? It's an old from hers that.
7:30
Speaker 7: She just connected with on Facebook, shet hers Bay.
7:38
Speaker 4: But I texted him, you say, Seeing all.
7:40
Speaker 3: That, Matt offered to Sergeant Hollis that Emily often took
7:45
Speaker 3: walks to forage, and that the regular trails that she
7:48
Speaker 3: frequented nearby would be a logical place to look for her.
7:52
Speaker 9: She forages, goes for walks, and she picks wild at whole.
7:58
Speaker 4: Number of hobby she goes around here.
8:05
Speaker 3: The most.
8:10
Speaker 9: Is that something you guys do together, So you would
8:13
Speaker 9: know where we could look if we need to.
8:15
Speaker 4: Go out yes, it's public.
8:18
Speaker 5: Sounds like watch.
8:22
Speaker 7: I got died seeing It's really hard to get off
8:29
Speaker 7: this so.
8:33
Speaker 3: Not over two hours, Matt walked Sergeant Hallis through his house,
8:41
Speaker 3: examining both vehicles, and reviewed his recollection of the night
8:45
Speaker 3: before and that morning numerous times. More than once. Matt
8:50
Speaker 3: noted that he had a bad feeling and that he
8:52
Speaker 3: was thinking that it was possible the worst had already happened.
8:56
Speaker 3: It is really disturbing. Matt said that a person is
8:59
Speaker 3: so methodical, thoughtful and organized as Emily would behave so unpredictably.
9:07
Speaker 4: Where's person out of her new does every good?
9:11
Speaker 6: She taught me a lot.
9:12
Speaker 4: She's really tituous.
9:17
Speaker 3: Character.
9:18
Speaker 4: Never go somewhere that tide where she never see.
9:24
Speaker 9: I mean, I'd last as long as I could today,
9:27
Speaker 9: just like her.
9:29
Speaker 3: She's ordering she went for a lock.
9:31
Speaker 12: The trip here, make something picture, which I don't think.
9:34
Speaker 2: It ever happened.
9:36
Speaker 4: I've never heard, well she would have her I mean, that's.
9:41
Speaker 5: And she would have told you that she's.
9:45
Speaker 3: He pointed to one item in particular that stood out
9:48
Speaker 3: to him as out of place in the house, A
9:50
Speaker 3: large extension cord placed on top of the cooler in
9:53
Speaker 3: the garage, the same cooler that the couple had brought
9:56
Speaker 3: with them on the trip to the spring the day before.
9:58
Speaker 3: How did the chord come to rest on top of
10:00
Speaker 3: the cooler after they came home? And what did that mean?
10:05
Speaker 9: Dang, I don't know, man, it's just weird this it's here,
10:11
Speaker 9: And I don't know if there was more more than
10:14
Speaker 9: one thing, and I.
10:15
Speaker 6: Would just why is this here?
10:17
Speaker 13: And her mom passed away and out.
10:20
Speaker 6: Of the car crash cracked.
10:21
Speaker 5: O'kay, kid, I don't know.
10:25
Speaker 4: If I don't know, this is.
10:30
Speaker 12: We went that, We went to that spring.
10:33
Speaker 4: And felt about this is the spring, the spring water?
10:37
Speaker 4: Your phone rang and I just got out home and
10:38
Speaker 4: put it there, getting wrong.
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Speaker 2: I don't know, but I'm telling you.
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Speaker 9: I'm positive this was.
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Speaker 1: Here in it It wasn't there to tell you guys,
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Speaker 1: put the thing in there here yesterdays like the Three
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Speaker 1: bouts put it.
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Speaker 7: In the frise to keep the cold and kept the
10:56
Speaker 7: risks out here. And it's maybe at some point she
10:59
Speaker 7: took it for some weird reason. Maybe, But I'm just
11:02
Speaker 7: going if this wasn't enough, she wouldn't do that. Everything
11:06
Speaker 7: weren't supposed to be everything here is. This means she
11:12
Speaker 7: wouldn't you're like that.
11:20
Speaker 3: In the days that followed, missing person posters were printed
11:23
Speaker 3: and distributed, and more formal search parties were organized. The
11:27
Speaker 3: police employed to the use of drones, helicopters, divers, and
11:30
Speaker 3: eventually cadaver dogs to comb through the surrounding area. The
11:35
Speaker 3: investigation was not restricted to the outdoors. Matthew and Emily's
11:39
Speaker 3: condo was searched extensively. Forensic teams from the Ohio Criminal
11:43
Speaker 3: Investigations Bureau were called in to assess the condo. They
11:47
Speaker 3: found no signs of foul play in the home. Security
11:50
Speaker 3: footage from the restaurant and the bars confirmed Matt's version
11:53
Speaker 3: of events up to that point. They were seen leaving
11:56
Speaker 3: the last bar at around seven thirty pm. Something that
12:00
Speaker 3: both had worn out was located in a laundry bin
12:03
Speaker 3: in the condo's bathroom, still unwashed, which again confirmed that
12:07
Speaker 3: they had in fact come home that night and left
12:09
Speaker 3: in question what Emily may have been wearing when she
12:12
Speaker 3: exited the condo. Police asked for help from the public.
12:16
Speaker 14: And then one resident in the area who puts her
12:20
Speaker 14: back at home seven to eight pm range on Sunday,
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Speaker 14: the twenty fourth May. I think the nature of this
12:27
Speaker 14: disappearance is suspicious because how many people up and vanish,
12:32
Speaker 14: leaving everything behind like that. Now that said, we've had
12:35
Speaker 14: another recent case where a young lady did exactly that.
12:40
Speaker 3: As the search for Emily continued, many in her close
12:43
Speaker 3: circle of friends grew more and more suspicious of Matt.
12:46
Speaker 3: After the first few days, he was not contributing towards
12:49
Speaker 3: their efforts to find her, they said, and he refused
12:52
Speaker 3: to join foot searches. Matt did contact a popular true
12:55
Speaker 3: crime podcast, The Vanished Podcast, to bring greater exposure to
12:59
Speaker 3: the but this effort did nothing to dispel suspicions towards him.
13:04
Speaker 3: The description that he offered of his very petite wife
13:07
Speaker 3: on the show struck many as extremely odd and off putting.
13:11
Speaker 3: His comments brought exposure to the case, but also to himself.
13:17
Speaker 14: We asked him if he could describe Emily to us.
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Speaker 1: This is what he said.
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Speaker 4: I never saw her got on to get on a scale.
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Speaker 4: She's very small. She's like one hundred pounds, great legs,
13:28
Speaker 4: great arms.
13:30
Speaker 3: Matt also unhelpfully suggested more than one somewhat bizarre theory
13:34
Speaker 3: to account for Emily's disappearance. Perhaps she had run off
13:38
Speaker 3: with Amish people, or she had been secretly kidnapped. Friends
13:42
Speaker 3: began to speak openly about their distaste for Matt, which
13:45
Speaker 3: had been brewing, it seems for some time. The perception
13:49
Speaker 3: was that he abandoned Emily early in their relationship, when
13:52
Speaker 3: he had moved back to Las Vegas to care for
13:54
Speaker 3: his son, leaving her heartbroken. From this point onwards, he
13:59
Speaker 3: was not well liked. He was characterized as possessive and
14:03
Speaker 3: demeaning towards his wife by her friends, and it was
14:06
Speaker 3: suggested that he had slowly but purposely isolated her from them.
14:11
Speaker 3: Emily's friends were not the only ones harboring doubts about
14:14
Speaker 3: Matt and his story. Detectives with the Westerville Police were
14:18
Speaker 3: thinking that things did not add up. Matt was brought
14:21
Speaker 3: in for a voluntary interview two days following the missing
14:24
Speaker 3: person report. Straight out of the gate, he told the
14:27
Speaker 3: detectives that he didn't do it, a statement that in
14:30
Speaker 3: fact had the opposite of the intended impact on the investigators.
14:34
Speaker 3: His wife was missing, so what was it that he
14:37
Speaker 3: didn't do? He also continually referred to Emily in the
14:40
Speaker 3: past tense throughout the interview. He was asked again to
14:44
Speaker 3: provide the timeline of events leading to the last time
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Speaker 3: he saw Emily.
14:51
Speaker 9: Now, I've gone through to my head with timeline and
14:56
Speaker 9: some times don't line up. I made his home call
14:59
Speaker 9: when I thought obviously being so, I mean, I quo
15:04
Speaker 9: try my best, but I don't want.
15:05
Speaker 3: To make but you didn't be fault.
15:07
Speaker 4: You're healing, right, yeah, I mean, and all I want
15:12
Speaker 4: is your best.
15:13
Speaker 9: It might be I can specific time that couldn't really
15:17
Speaker 9: be like this is mine and this is mine that
15:20
Speaker 9: I could if I had my phone sort.
15:22
Speaker 15: Of just the best that you can.
15:25
Speaker 9: I want to make sure that sequentially, I understand you
15:27
Speaker 9: help me write it because I can't spell for one
15:30
Speaker 9: very horrible or like just kind of help me.
15:33
Speaker 7: But if you need help with the word.
15:34
Speaker 4: That I can help you spell the absolutely bits And
15:36
Speaker 4: I'm not here to judge now.
15:39
Speaker 3: Matt's faltering memory was one of many factors concerning to investigators.
15:43
Speaker 3: They also believe that he may have had a motive
15:45
Speaker 3: to hurt his wife. He had initially framed their marriage
15:48
Speaker 3: as a happy one, but text messages pulled from Emily's
15:51
Speaker 3: phone suggested a different story. Matthew was at best misrepresenting
15:56
Speaker 3: the state of his relationship. At worst, he was outright
16:00
Speaker 3: lying about a marriage that was crumbling over disagreements that
16:03
Speaker 3: had become quite heated.
16:05
Speaker 12: Same time, she said, I think Matt is mentally ill.
16:12
Speaker 2: She's and then the.
16:13
Speaker 12: Same day, we aren't talking reference to your relationship.
16:18
Speaker 4: We're not talking through the monc episod.
16:19
Speaker 15: We're not talking.
16:22
Speaker 8: And she said, I wanna talk about him or rather
16:25
Speaker 8: focus on the future. By the way, mac up really
16:29
Speaker 8: joint classness was the February By the way, macup really
16:33
Speaker 8: joint class night said some things I don't think he
16:35
Speaker 8: can take back. I'm fine, I'm pretty sure we are
16:37
Speaker 8: not going.
16:37
Speaker 5: To stay together.
16:41
Speaker 3: What did you say?
16:42
Speaker 9: I mean we we would argue about me that I
16:46
Speaker 9: don't I would.
16:46
Speaker 4: Did anythink that it would say?
16:48
Speaker 12: What was it that you said? I think she was
16:50
Speaker 12: that what we did? And she focused on one thing.
16:55
Speaker 12: Ye know, Matt take to play against his april.
16:59
Speaker 9: This is apparently can accused me of kicking guys.
17:02
Speaker 5: Okay, but this was this was a month ago.
17:04
Speaker 8: Okay, this isn't even good.
17:06
Speaker 12: This man picked to flight with me yesterday and said
17:09
Speaker 12: some awful things.
17:10
Speaker 4: I'm not wearing my wedding ring.
17:14
Speaker 8: That doesn't sound like somebody who's in a happy relationship.
17:17
Speaker 7: If I don't.
17:18
Speaker 12: My wife tected death to somebody a month ago.
17:21
Speaker 5: I get it.
17:22
Speaker 3: I don't.
17:22
Speaker 9: I'm not going to say that that those things. Of course,
17:25
Speaker 9: there wasn't a roller coaster relationship, but it wasn't like
17:28
Speaker 9: anything that was anything you would think that someone would
17:32
Speaker 9: hurt something.
17:32
Speaker 4: It just would.
17:34
Speaker 8: I'm not. I'm just addressing the fact that you you
17:36
Speaker 8: just hold me.
17:36
Speaker 9: The last six months have been the lasting and not Yes, okay,
17:40
Speaker 9: there have been levels about that, and you can check
17:43
Speaker 9: a few other texts in they are super I love.
17:47
Speaker 8: Okay you very much about there now and I hold.
17:51
Speaker 4: Watch that would go away, that would really go.
17:54
Speaker 12: Away with last for an you will you acknowledge that
17:57
Speaker 12: that's some pretty happy ship when your wife said, up
17:59
Speaker 12: took my I don't think we're going to be to gather.
18:08
Speaker 3: In mid September, nearly four months after Emily had gone missing,
18:12
Speaker 3: two hikers who were part of a search party discovered
18:14
Speaker 3: a body in a wooded area not far from the
18:17
Speaker 3: bike paths that Emily loved to walk. Police reported at
18:21
Speaker 3: the time that the area had been previously searched on
18:23
Speaker 3: no less than three separate occasions. At least once with
18:27
Speaker 3: cadaver dogs, and somehow nothing was found. It was later
18:31
Speaker 3: revealed that the paths nearby had been combed and cadaverdogs
18:34
Speaker 3: had walked along the woodline, but the area itself had
18:38
Speaker 3: not actually been entered to search. Dental records suggested that
18:42
Speaker 3: it was Emily that had been found, but due to
18:45
Speaker 3: the time that had passed, full DNA testing was required
18:48
Speaker 3: to be certain.
18:50
Speaker 16: WPDS going to continue to conduct our investigation to try
18:53
Speaker 16: to figure out.
18:55
Speaker 4: How the body got.
18:56
Speaker 16: In the location that did on Callyline Road. There's still
18:59
Speaker 16: a lot of work to be done. We do not
19:03
Speaker 16: have an autopsy report yet to actually even give us
19:05
Speaker 16: the cause of death.
19:08
Speaker 3: A few weeks later, DNA testing confirmed that the remains
19:11
Speaker 3: were those of Emily Noble. She had been found hanged.
19:15
Speaker 3: It was an apparent suicide. It appeared that she had
19:18
Speaker 3: brought a plastic USB cord with her to the woods
19:21
Speaker 3: for this purpose. A water bottle was found laying next
19:24
Speaker 3: to her on the ground. It had been filled with alcohol.
19:27
Speaker 3: Her vape pen had fallen from her hand to her
19:30
Speaker 3: left hand side on the ground. Emily had been left handed.
19:35
Speaker 3: To those who knew Emily her death felt eerily similar
19:38
Speaker 3: to and maybe even symbolic of one from only ten
19:42
Speaker 3: months earlier. Emily's eighteen year old stepson, Joey, had died
19:47
Speaker 3: in the woods and in the same manner. Emily was
19:50
Speaker 3: no stranger to loss. Her first marriage had ended when
19:53
Speaker 3: her husband, Mark, a musician who had battled with depression,
19:57
Speaker 3: had ended his own life. His actions had come as
20:00
Speaker 3: a complete shock to her. Roughly three years later, Emily
20:03
Speaker 3: would lose her mother in a fatal car accident, followed
20:06
Speaker 3: by her father to illness, both within the span of
20:09
Speaker 3: twelve months. The first autopsy report, performed by the Montgomery
20:16
Speaker 3: County Coroner determined only that Emily had died from multiple
20:20
Speaker 3: injuries of the head and neck. The formal cause of
20:23
Speaker 3: death was not determined. Law enforcement took these basic findings
20:27
Speaker 3: and began to dig deeper.
20:30
Speaker 11: We asked for the help of the Ohio State University
20:32
Speaker 11: Skeletal Biology Research Lab. They provide a thorough report of
20:36
Speaker 11: their findings that included multiple facial fractures and multiple neck
20:40
Speaker 11: fractures that Emily suffered. We then provided our entire case file,
20:45
Speaker 11: the OSU report, and all the information that we were
20:48
Speaker 11: able to gather in this case to a strangulation expert,
20:51
Speaker 11: His findings were very clear. He said that this was
20:54
Speaker 11: clearly a homicide based on the injuries that were sustained
20:57
Speaker 11: and the mechanism of those injuries. He also gave his
21:01
Speaker 11: opinion that her body was staged to appear as though
21:03
Speaker 11: it was a suicide. In his opinion, that was absolutely
21:06
Speaker 11: not the case.
21:09
Speaker 3: It was the theory of the Westerville police that matt
21:11
Speaker 3: had returned home with Emily on the night of her
21:13
Speaker 3: birthday sometime shortly before eight pm, as he had claimed,
21:17
Speaker 3: but then they said sometime between nine pm and one
21:20
Speaker 3: am he had killed her. The scene in the woods,
21:24
Speaker 3: just off a path, the one that he had been
21:26
Speaker 3: directing them towards, must have been staged. Their expert claimed
21:30
Speaker 3: that there was no way that Emily had sustained the
21:33
Speaker 3: injuries to her neck from the USB court. Almost as
21:36
Speaker 3: soon as matt had finished with the attempted cover up,
21:39
Speaker 3: police said, he then tried to curate the image of
21:42
Speaker 3: a worried husband. He called her best friend, He texted
21:46
Speaker 3: and called family members. He spoke extensively with police. Matthew
21:52
Speaker 3: Moore was arrested during a traffic stop in late September.
21:56
Speaker 3: The previous day, he had been indicted by a Delaware
21:58
Speaker 3: County grand jury on two distinct accounts of murder and
22:02
Speaker 3: one of bolonious assault.
22:04
Speaker 9: You're head, do not.
22:08
Speaker 7: Guess, sir, it's really courtnick.
22:11
Speaker 10: On your hands out this way.
22:12
Speaker 16: Matt belts on on that.
22:14
Speaker 17: Just listen to what you're being told, all right, take that.
22:18
Speaker 10: On, do your There's no way this is a mistake.
22:21
Speaker 10: Like Matt wanted to say, we knew he did this
22:25
Speaker 10: from the beginning, his family or our family and friends.
22:30
Speaker 10: We just bit our tongue and let the officers do
22:33
Speaker 10: what they needed to do, and we knew this was
22:36
Speaker 10: going to be the outcome that he was going to
22:38
Speaker 10: be arrested, and hopefully it will follow through and he
22:43
Speaker 10: will serve time in jail, hopefully a lifetime.
22:49
Speaker 3: In a pre trial hearing in June twenty twenty one,
22:52
Speaker 3: prosecutors told the court that Emily had been severely beaten
22:55
Speaker 3: before her death and had sustained multiple injuries to her neck.
22:59
Speaker 3: The actual fature of her injuries would be later disputed
23:01
Speaker 3: at trial, but in the meantime, Matt was held on
23:04
Speaker 3: a two point five million dollar bond. His trial commenced
23:08
Speaker 3: in August twenty twenty two. Immediately following the swearing in
23:12
Speaker 3: of the jury, all members were taken on a trip
23:15
Speaker 3: to the exact location where Emily had been found. The
23:18
Speaker 3: walk took them roughly ten feet from a very busy road,
23:21
Speaker 3: across a bike path, and into some dense woodland. To
23:25
Speaker 3: reach one side of the foraging area to the other
23:27
Speaker 3: required crouching or even crawling under and between various plants, shrubs, trees,
23:33
Speaker 3: and underbrush. The location raised questions about the plausibility of
23:38
Speaker 3: the murder. Could Matt have carried Emily to this location
23:41
Speaker 3: in order to stage the scene? Was that reasonable? The
23:47
Speaker 3: States case hinged upon the testimony of the medical expert,
23:50
Speaker 3: doctor Bill Smock, who found that Emily's death was the
23:53
Speaker 3: result of a homicide. They also presented texts showing that
23:57
Speaker 3: Emily had been making future plans. I've been in contact
24:00
Speaker 3: with her dentist for a cleaning, for instance. Were these
24:04
Speaker 3: the actions of someone who was planning to no longer
24:06
Speaker 3: be around? The prosecution also highlighted the inconsistencies in Matt's
24:11
Speaker 3: statements times where they believe he was caught in a
24:14
Speaker 3: lie and attempting to cover his actions. Phone records showed
24:17
Speaker 3: him texting friends between one am and four am on
24:20
Speaker 3: the night of the alleged murder. Then around noon, he
24:23
Speaker 3: used an app on his phone to try to locate
24:25
Speaker 3: Emily's phone, which was in the other room of the
24:28
Speaker 3: home in a eight hundred square foot condo. Matt chose
24:32
Speaker 3: to use an app instead of getting out of bed
24:34
Speaker 3: and just looking for her. Doctor Smock conducted his forensic
24:39
Speaker 3: analysis using reports from the coroner, anthropologist, and crime scene photos.
24:44
Speaker 3: The doctor testified that the crime scene was staged and
24:47
Speaker 3: that Emily Noble died of manual strangulation. There were four
24:51
Speaker 3: fractures on her neck identified, as well as breakage to
24:54
Speaker 3: her nose. According to doctor Smock, the nature of the
24:58
Speaker 3: damage to her neck could not been caused by the hanging.
25:01
Speaker 3: It was simply unheard of, which meant the way she
25:04
Speaker 3: was found did not reflect the way she had died.
25:09
Speaker 15: Reviewing those crime scenes, you consider the totality of.
25:12
Speaker 3: All of the evidence that's correct.
25:15
Speaker 15: And what additional factors besides the literature, the sides of
25:22
Speaker 15: the four fractures in the neck, besides her age and
25:27
Speaker 15: way did you consider.
25:29
Speaker 6: I considered the nature of the scene. I considered the
25:35
Speaker 6: fact that she had an additional fracture of her nose
25:40
Speaker 6: at the edge of the nose, that the injuries that
25:47
Speaker 6: she sustained were not from a ligature. The type of
25:54
Speaker 6: injuries that Emily has in her neck, the four here
25:58
Speaker 6: are the type of injuries that you see with manual strangulation,
26:02
Speaker 6: not with the ligature. Doesn't exist in the medical literature,
26:07
Speaker 6: never a reported case anywhere. Looking at that medical.
26:12
Speaker 18: Literature of thousands, more than a thousand cases studied by
26:16
Speaker 18: forensic pathologists around the world in women less than hundred
26:20
Speaker 18: and ten pounds, it doesn't exist in an incomplete kneeling position.
26:26
Speaker 6: That's the totality of the evidence.
26:31
Speaker 3: In rebuttal, the defense called doctor Heather Garvin, professor of
26:34
Speaker 3: anatomy at the Des Moines Medical University. Her finding suggested
26:39
Speaker 3: that hanging should not be ruled out as a possible
26:41
Speaker 3: cause of death. Doctor Garvin pointed to a study that
26:44
Speaker 3: showed that up to ten percent of hanging cases showed
26:47
Speaker 3: the same bilateral neck fractures that doctor Smock claimed could
26:51
Speaker 3: not have been caused in this manner, to.
26:55
Speaker 19: A statement that doctor Smock made under what he casts,
27:00
Speaker 19: but that there is absolutely no literature supporting that a
27:07
Speaker 19: hundred pound woman could have the four fractures and.
27:13
Speaker 2: From a hang, What, if any opinion do you have with.
27:17
Speaker 1: Respect to that statement.
27:20
Speaker 17: Well, it's obvious that there is at least one article,
27:23
Speaker 17: uh if not more, indicating that this fracture pattern can
27:27
Speaker 17: occur with hanging. While it may not specifically have a
27:31
Speaker 17: hundred pound fifty two year old woman, there's lots of
27:35
Speaker 17: things regarding the scenario. And I mean there's ligatures, there's health,
27:39
Speaker 17: there's bone density, There's a lot of different factors that
27:43
Speaker 17: go in. I would not be comfortable saying that this
27:46
Speaker 17: could not happen, given that it does.
27:51
Speaker 3: Even the timing of the murder was brought into question.
27:53
Speaker 3: The state's theory that Matt had committed the murder overnight
27:57
Speaker 3: and staged the scene before returning home in the morning
28:00
Speaker 3: was supported, they said, by the flashlight that was left
28:02
Speaker 3: sitting out next to the orange extension cord in the garage.
28:06
Speaker 3: According to the state, Matt had cleverly drawn attention to
28:10
Speaker 3: the placement of the cord, but he had errored in
28:13
Speaker 3: also leaving out in playing view the very tool that
28:16
Speaker 3: had enabled him to stage the supposed murder in the darkness.
28:21
Speaker 3: But there was evidence that Emily was still alive. On
28:24
Speaker 3: the morning of the twenty fifth, John Kramer, the couple's
28:27
Speaker 3: former neighbor from directly across the street, told Sergeant Hollis
28:30
Speaker 3: that he saw Emily leave for a walk at around
28:33
Speaker 3: nine to ten am on the day she was reported missing.
28:36
Speaker 3: They had a brief exchange of pleasantries. She seemed fine,
28:39
Speaker 3: he said. At least, that was the statement John Kramer
28:42
Speaker 3: provided to Sergeant Hollis on the day that he responded
28:45
Speaker 3: to Matt's nine one one call. This information was received
28:49
Speaker 3: later that day by Matt with some relief. It meant
28:52
Speaker 3: that Emily could be just fine. She had just left
28:54
Speaker 3: for a walk that morning. But John later retracted his
28:57
Speaker 3: statement at trial. He claimed that due to his age,
29:01
Speaker 3: he may have been confused. Perhaps it was the day
29:03
Speaker 3: before that he had seen Emily, he suggested. The only
29:07
Speaker 3: problem is that Emily's cell phone records placed her an
29:09
Speaker 3: hour and a half drive away from her home at
29:12
Speaker 3: nine thirty a m. On the day before. The exchange
29:15
Speaker 3: that John and Emily had therefore was almost certainly as
29:19
Speaker 3: he had originally stated, on the morning of her disappearance.
29:24
Speaker 3: In closing arguments, the prosecution summarized the facts as they
29:28
Speaker 3: presented them, the death was a homicide. Evidence that may
29:32
Speaker 3: appear to clear him, like text messages and the bodycam footage,
29:36
Speaker 3: in fact only showed Matt's clever attempts to cover up
29:39
Speaker 3: the crime.
29:44
Speaker 5: This is a staged suicide scene. Who on planet Earth
29:52
Speaker 5: would have an incentive to stage a suicide other than
29:56
Speaker 5: the defend random unknown suspect the Westerville strangler who's manually
30:08
Speaker 5: strangling women in the woods wouldn't take the time, the effort,
30:17
Speaker 5: the care to stage a suicide will would be the point.
30:22
Speaker 5: And I was laying in bed and instead of getting
30:24
Speaker 5: off the couch and talking to my wife about our
30:26
Speaker 5: plans for the day, I texted her, Uh, are we
30:30
Speaker 5: going to this party or what? And an eight hundred
30:34
Speaker 5: square foot condo, Hey, are we going to this party
30:39
Speaker 5: or what? And then what's he do? Hits that find
30:45
Speaker 5: my iPhone? App right, because that'll give you. Look Now,
30:49
Speaker 5: when I pull out my phone records if anybody ever
30:51
Speaker 5: looks at it, see I cent her this text. I
30:53
Speaker 5: didn't know where she was and I didn't find my iPhone.
30:57
Speaker 5: At the end, Officer Hollis and the defendant are standing
31:01
Speaker 5: out in the driveway and he says, maybe I'm crazy,
31:07
Speaker 5: but you just got to come look at this. He
31:10
Speaker 5: leads him right there. He wants Officer Hollis to see it.
31:13
Speaker 5: And look, here's this orange cord. My wife must have
31:18
Speaker 5: been looking for something to hang herself.
31:23
Speaker 3: The defense questioned whether phone data indicated anything more than
31:27
Speaker 3: the ups and downs of a regular marriage. There was
31:29
Speaker 3: no hatred expressed, nothing terribly harsh or abusive. These messages
31:34
Speaker 3: did not constitute a motive. There was no motive. There was, however,
31:39
Speaker 3: evidence of Emily's poor mental state in the months before
31:43
Speaker 3: her death.
31:44
Speaker 1: Twenty four years over one hundred and fifty jury trials,
31:47
Speaker 1: I've never had a harder closing argument than this, because, honestly,
31:51
Speaker 1: and most I've got evidence to attack this case is
31:57
Speaker 1: totally speculation.
31:59
Speaker 2: That doesn't go into the woods and search for her,
32:02
Speaker 2: and so that inference should lead you to the fact
32:05
Speaker 2: that he didn't want to find her, and that should
32:07
Speaker 2: lead you to the fact that he killed her. And
32:10
Speaker 2: this is common sense of relationships and in divorce, and
32:13
Speaker 2: those that stay together, well, I submit that some of
32:16
Speaker 2: them shouldn't, and.
32:16
Speaker 1: Those that do probably argue every once in a while.
32:19
Speaker 3: Here's my point.
32:20
Speaker 2: When you look through these text messages with respect to
32:24
Speaker 2: divorce or not wanting to be together or those kind
32:27
Speaker 2: of things. The only time divorce is mentioned is when
32:29
Speaker 2: matt says, if you want to divorce me, leave me,
32:33
Speaker 2: just tell me. Never in here and you heard me.
32:36
Speaker 2: Ask the detective, does he say I hate you, I
32:39
Speaker 2: want you dead, I'm going to kill you, I will
32:42
Speaker 2: hurt you. Nothing.
32:45
Speaker 1: Please read them because the.
32:48
Speaker 2: Truth is and you'll see in the counseling records that
32:51
Speaker 2: Emily had a history of depression and anxiety, that she
32:55
Speaker 2: had struggled with prior loss and trauma. Look through the
33:00
Speaker 2: records and see how many times you see the word
33:02
Speaker 2: tra and loss and grief and sadness.
33:08
Speaker 3: Defense counsel Diane ma Nashi further questioned the state's theory
33:12
Speaker 3: of the crime, including the last minute shift made in
33:15
Speaker 3: the state's closing argument that the murder actually took place
33:18
Speaker 3: in the woods and not in the house as they
33:20
Speaker 3: had initially submitted. Furthermore, Manashi argued that Matthew Moore was
33:25
Speaker 3: simply not the criminal mastermind that he would have needed
33:28
Speaker 3: to be to pull this off. Manashi compared her client
33:31
Speaker 3: to a child, not a criminal genius.
33:35
Speaker 2: They come home from the bar, Emily changes to get
33:39
Speaker 2: ready for her walk because she's wearing her walking clothes,
33:42
Speaker 2: and then Matt follows her for an unknown reason. And
33:48
Speaker 2: we don't know if he's, according to the state's theory,
33:50
Speaker 2: changed his clothes or not, but we certainly know what
33:52
Speaker 2: he was wearing at the bar. They have that shirt,
33:56
Speaker 2: no burrs, no scratches, no rips.
33:59
Speaker 3: No blood.
34:00
Speaker 2: Remember that question about might you have a fracture in
34:02
Speaker 2: the nose? If you have blood from a fracture in
34:04
Speaker 2: the nose, nothing and the sure from the criminal mastermind
34:12
Speaker 2: is in the hamper. That the hamper and still not wash.
34:18
Speaker 2: Let's talk last thing about Matt Moore.
34:21
Speaker 15: We heard a lot.
34:21
Speaker 1: I guess the usual suspects.
34:23
Speaker 2: He's a mastermind. He's the same guy and we're all
34:26
Speaker 2: if we're not parents, we're siblings and we're children. And
34:31
Speaker 2: he's the same guy that's writing out a statement and
34:33
Speaker 2: asks how you spell the word couch, he asks how
34:37
Speaker 2: you spell memorial, and that I'm sorry, I don't mean
34:41
Speaker 2: to be disrespectful. But he's the same guy that reads
34:45
Speaker 2: while he's writing. When he's writing, he's reading what he's writing.
34:48
Speaker 2: And we all know, as people that have been around shoulder.
34:50
Speaker 2: What that means it's this same man though that would
34:55
Speaker 2: be able to stage a scene, figure out to put
34:59
Speaker 2: the alcohol water bottle, put the bagpen next to her.
35:03
Speaker 2: Because she's left hand dominant, would tie her shoes so
35:06
Speaker 2: tight that they.
35:07
Speaker 1: Wouldn't come off.
35:09
Speaker 2: Oh that the branch is taller than six y three
35:12
Speaker 2: sixty four.
35:12
Speaker 3: We know that the.
35:14
Speaker 2: Cord is slung over the branch. It's not not at
35:20
Speaker 2: at the top. And if you're going to actually see
35:23
Speaker 2: age a suicide and hang someone from a branch and
35:25
Speaker 2: you're six feet tall and the branch is like right here,
35:30
Speaker 2: you nodded to make sure.
35:31
Speaker 6: It stays up.
35:31
Speaker 2: Don't you look at that she flung it over.
35:39
Speaker 3: The jury deliberated for less than three hours before returning
35:42
Speaker 3: their verdict.
35:45
Speaker 13: Verdict on count one, we, the jury ving Dullian, Pennell Sworn,
35:49
Speaker 13: find the defendant Matthew Elmore, not guilty of murder as
35:53
Speaker 13: he stands charged in count one of the indictment dated
35:57
Speaker 13: the twenty sixth of August twenty twenty two, signed by
36:01
Speaker 13: all twelve members of the panel. Verdict on count two, we,
36:07
Speaker 13: the jury being Dulian, Pannel and Sworn, find the defendant
36:09
Speaker 13: Matthew Elmore not guilty of murder as he stands charge
36:13
Speaker 13: in count two of the indictment dated to twenty six
36:17
Speaker 13: August twenty twenty two, and signed an ink by all
36:21
Speaker 13: twelve members of the panel. I think from day one
36:27
Speaker 13: everyone's wanted justice for your wife, Emily, and I've heard
36:31
Speaker 13: that phrase a lot. I think everyone truly desires that,
36:35
Speaker 13: But I think the jury has also said justice for
36:38
Speaker 13: family is not in justice for you, and they reaffirmed that.
36:45
Speaker 3: Jurors later told the press that not one of them
36:47
Speaker 3: had pushed for a guilty verdict in their discussion. The
36:50
Speaker 3: bodycam foot had shown to them on the first day
36:52
Speaker 3: of the trial set the tone. No one believed that
36:55
Speaker 3: Matthew Moore was putting on a show, and the prosecution
36:58
Speaker 3: never gave them a reason to doubt that. Some of
37:01
Speaker 3: the jury questioned whether the death was a homicide at all,
37:04
Speaker 3: while others believed it was, but regardless, there was nothing
37:08
Speaker 3: that proved Matthew Moore had anything to do with it.
37:15
Speaker 3: I'm Kevin, this is just thought lounge, and I'll see
37:18
Speaker 3: in the next one.