Five months after she vanished, the remains of a Westerville woman were found hanging from a rope in a wooded area last September.
For more than eight other months, detectives believed Emily Noble had taken her own life last May after celebrating her 52nd birthday, as her husband Matheau Moore claimed.
“He said maybe she went off with the Amish people, maybe she was kidnapped. He kept throwing out these crazy scenarios,” the couple’s neighbor said.
On Thursday, Moore was busted and charged with murder. He insisted he was innocent as he was being led to the police car.
“They’re making a mistake. This is a mistake. I am innocent,” he told reporters.
The turning point in the case was the results of an investigation conducted by a strangulation expert.
“His findings were very clear,” said Westerville Police Lt. Justin Alloway said. “He said this was clearly a homicide based on the injuries that were sustained and the mechanism of those injuries.”
“He also gave his opinion that her body was staged to appear as though it was suicide and, in his opinion, that was absolutely not the case,” Alloway added.
Moore had inherited Noble’s condo and insurance benefits following her death.
“I thought (the body) had to be moved from its original place and there is only one person who would have benefited from that to collect insurance,” the neighbor added.
“As soon as this happened, I had no doubt in my mind that it was him.”
