Murder of Jennifer Moore
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Moore was an 18-year-old American student from Harrington Park, New Jersey
, who was abducted around July 25, 2006, from Manhattan, and then raped and murdered.
, located in Bergen County, in May 2006, where she had been captain
of the girls' soccer team. Moore was scheduled to attend and to study nursing at the University of Hartford
.
Initially, Moore was reported as 'missing'. Her murder prompted a media comparison to John Jay College of Criminal Justice
graduate student, Imette St. Guillen
, who had also been abducted, raped and killed five months earlier.
Moore's murder, as well as St. Guillen's, focused public attention, and later bureaucratic scrutiny
on New York City nightlife
. It also brought to public attention the issues of teenage drinking and fake IDs
to obtain access to nightclubs. Nightlife legislation was begun in other states following New York.
district on West 27th Street. Moore's friend later moved the car, but it was ticketed while the girls were inside the club and finally towed to the West 38th Street impound lot. When Moore and her friend went to get the vehicle at the impound lot, the attendants refused to surrender it. The friend collapsed, allegedly from too much alcohol consumption and an ambulance was called. Moore had walked away unnoticed.
Moores' friend later awoke to find herself in an ambulance, on her way to St. Vincent's Hospital. The friend tried futilely to contact Moore on her cellphone. Witnesses had reported seeing Moore walking uptown alongside the West Side Highway, dressed in a black halter top and a white miniskirt
.
Moore was reported to have made a frantic phone call to her boyfriend and saying, "There's a guy following me. He's offered me drugs. He won't leave me alone."
Moore's body was found in a trash bin in West New York, New Jersey
. Moore's funeral was held at St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church in Saddle River, New Jersey. Five hundred friends and family members attended.
record. After interrogating Coleman, New Jersey Police located Moore's body in a dumpster
in West New York, New Jersey
.
It was later reported that the crime had taken place in a nearby Weehawken, New Jersey motel named the Park Avenue Hotel. A New Jersey judge had later signed an arrest warrant on Thursday, July 27, 2006. Videotape
recovered from the hotel showed Coleman and Moore entering the premises. Police had said that Coleman beat and strangled Moore, then stuffed her body into a duffel bag for disposal. It appeared that Coleman tried to remove his DNA
evidence from her body by cutting Moore's fingernails and cleaning her body with alcohol.
Coleman's criminal history included two assaults for which he served community service, and a conviction for selling drugs for which he served about five years in prison. Coleman was released from prison in June 2002. He spent the next three years in-and-out of detention for parole violations. His last incarceration ended in January 2005. His parole board noted that Coleman failed to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the criminal-justice system.
murder case in tracing the steps of alleged killer, Darryl Littlejohn, who reportedly made cell phone calls near Fountain Avenue
, the site where St. Guillen was later found.
, a 20-year old female prostitute named Krystal Riordan, who allegedly helped Coleman in the disposal of Moore's body and was also arrested. She credited herself as being an escort and she was reported by a police source as allegedly trying to sell herself for sex, offering a "$150 special" with the web-name, "Lisa", a day after Moore's death, July 26, 2006, on the website, Craigslist
. Riordan was later charged with a felony murder with the kidnapping of Moore who investigators say was raped, beaten and strangled in a Weehawken hotel on July 25. Riordan had been accused of participating with her boyfriend, Draymond Coleman, 35, in crimes leading to Moore's death. Hudson County Prosecutor, Edward DeFazio indicated that Riordan was an accomplice with Coleman in Moore's murder.
to New Jersey. A warrant was issued by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and Manhattan prosecutors decided to drop a 1997 charge against him for allegedly having a small knife. Coleman later appeared in State Superior Court where he had to face Moore's mother and her sister. He glared at them as he was led out of the courtroom in shackles. The Superior Court Judge, Sheila Venable, imposed a $2 million cash bail against him. Coleman was extradited to New Jersey to face trial in October 2006.
Page then mentioned how another columnist, Michelle Malkin, who appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, seemed to agree with these observations. Page quoted Malkin in the same article as saying:
Page then went on to discuss alcohol and its effects on teenagers and their family members. By coincidence, Page had written a column before Moore's murder about other teenagers being shot to death in New Jersey and encouraged families to 'Watch the kids carefully. This is a fearful time."
Other commentators such as Tucker Carlson and Keith Olbermann severely criticized O'Reilly for suggesting that the young woman was herself responsible for her own brutal rape and murder.
Lawrence Auster wrote an online critique on the reasons for the delay of the trial of Draymond Coleman.
The Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Michael D’Andrea petitioned Judge Callahan to impose the maximum sentence of 40 years on Riordan and to discount the testimony of a 'rough childhood' as a mitigating factor, then he made this statement:
Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan made this comment to Riordan:
At Riordan's Sentencing, Moore's mother, Candida, had a rather long prepared statement, which she read to Riordan before the sentencing. In her statement, Moore's mother mentions her views upon seeing the security camera footage in 2006, the mention of the violence done to her daughter and some of Riordan's own family history. Her statement was summed up thus:
student, Imette St. Guillen
, who was murdered earlier on February 25, 2006, allegedly by one of the bouncer
s at The Falls bar. Her death was also related to nightlife
in general. With Moore's death, some news and media sources such as the New York Post, started article series that focused on nightlife, bars, bouncers, underage drinking and fake I.D's in their newspaper and television stories.
As the year 2006 had been one in which a number of high-profile murders of young women students were covered in the media, there have been no revelations, however, to the case of even younger Chanel Petro-Nixon, who disappeared in broad daylight while walking in Brooklyn
on a Sunday afternoon to apply for a job. This further murder prompted columnist Andrea Peyser
to write an article titled "It's open season on young gals", linking together the murders of St. Guillen, Moore and Petro-Nixon:
An article published one year after Moore's death in the New York Post reported that felony assaults had dropped 13%; that every person seeking admittance to a club had to present an I.D. card which would be checked by handheld scanners and mentioned other areas of the city affected.
, missing since December 2008, has entered the NYC news headlines and she was initially compared, in the print edition of the New York Daily News, to Moore and St. Guillen. She had left a Chelsea club named Marquee on Tenth Avenue and has not been seen since Wednesday, December 3. Unfortunately, the remains of Laura Garza's body have been found by the Police.
–"New York Nightlife Association partnered with the NYPD after the deaths of Imette St. Guillen
and Jennifer Moore, who were killed in separate incidents after a night out in city clubs."
Harrington Park, New Jersey
Harrington Park is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 4,664....
, who was abducted around July 25, 2006, from Manhattan, and then raped and murdered.
Background
Moore graduated from Saddle River Day SchoolSaddle River Day School
Saddle River Day School is a non-discriminatory, coeducational, college-preparatory independent day school, located in Saddle River, in Bergen County, New Jersey...
, located in Bergen County, in May 2006, where she had been captain
School Captain
School Captain is a student appointed or elected to represent the school.This student, usually in the senior year, in their final year of attending that school...
of the girls' soccer team. Moore was scheduled to attend and to study nursing at the University of Hartford
University of Hartford
The University of Hartford is a private, independent, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in West Hartford, Connecticut. The degree programs at the University of Hartford hold the highest levels of accreditation available in the US, including the Engineering Accreditation Commission of...
.
Initially, Moore was reported as 'missing'. Her murder prompted a media comparison to John Jay College of Criminal Justice
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a senior college of the City University of New York in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and is the only liberal arts college with a criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States. The college offers programs in Forensic Science and Forensic...
graduate student, Imette St. Guillen
Imette St. Guillen
Imette Carmella St. Guillen was an American graduate student of Venezuelan and French Canadian descent who was brutally raped and murdered. She was studying criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City at the time of her death...
, who had also been abducted, raped and killed five months earlier.
Moore's murder, as well as St. Guillen's, focused public attention, and later bureaucratic scrutiny
Scrutiny
Scrutiny...
on New York City nightlife
Nightlife
Nightlife is the collective term for any entertainment that is available and more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning...
. It also brought to public attention the issues of teenage drinking and fake IDs
Identification (information)
The function of identification is to map a known quantity to an unknown entity so as to make it known. The known quantity is called the identifier and the unknown entity is what needs identification. A basic requirement for identification is that the Id be unique. Ids may be scoped, that is, they...
to obtain access to nightclubs. Nightlife legislation was begun in other states following New York.
Murder
During the night of her disappearance, Moore and a friend had driven into New York City, for a night of clubbing and drinking. Moore was underage at the time. Moore's friend parked her vehicle on the street outside a nightclub named Guest House, which is located in the Chelsea, ManhattanChelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
district on West 27th Street. Moore's friend later moved the car, but it was ticketed while the girls were inside the club and finally towed to the West 38th Street impound lot. When Moore and her friend went to get the vehicle at the impound lot, the attendants refused to surrender it. The friend collapsed, allegedly from too much alcohol consumption and an ambulance was called. Moore had walked away unnoticed.
Moores' friend later awoke to find herself in an ambulance, on her way to St. Vincent's Hospital. The friend tried futilely to contact Moore on her cellphone. Witnesses had reported seeing Moore walking uptown alongside the West Side Highway, dressed in a black halter top and a white miniskirt
Miniskirt
A miniskirt, sometimes hyphenated as mini-skirt, is a skirt with a hemline well above the knees – generally no longer than below the buttocks; and a minidress is a dress with a similar meaning...
.
Moore was reported to have made a frantic phone call to her boyfriend and saying, "There's a guy following me. He's offered me drugs. He won't leave me alone."
Moore's body was found in a trash bin in West New York, New Jersey
West New York, New Jersey
West New York is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, situated upon the New Jersey Palisades. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 49,708.-Geography:...
. Moore's funeral was held at St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church in Saddle River, New Jersey. Five hundred friends and family members attended.
Investigation and arrest
New York City police arrested a man suspected of her murder, Draymond Coleman, age 35, of New York City, who was later charged with the slaying. Coleman had an extensive arrestArrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
record. After interrogating Coleman, New Jersey Police located Moore's body in a dumpster
Dumpster
A dumpster is a large steel waste receptacle designed to be emptied into garbage trucks. The word is a genericized trademark of Dumpster, a American brand name for a type of mobile garbage bin...
in West New York, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
It was later reported that the crime had taken place in a nearby Weehawken, New Jersey motel named the Park Avenue Hotel. A New Jersey judge had later signed an arrest warrant on Thursday, July 27, 2006. Videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
recovered from the hotel showed Coleman and Moore entering the premises. Police had said that Coleman beat and strangled Moore, then stuffed her body into a duffel bag for disposal. It appeared that Coleman tried to remove his DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
evidence from her body by cutting Moore's fingernails and cleaning her body with alcohol.
Coleman's criminal history included two assaults for which he served community service, and a conviction for selling drugs for which he served about five years in prison. Coleman was released from prison in June 2002. He spent the next three years in-and-out of detention for parole violations. His last incarceration ended in January 2005. His parole board noted that Coleman failed to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the criminal-justice system.
Cell phone investigation
It was reported that police found Coleman through the use of a cell phone. Cell phone usage investigation was also the technique applied in the Imette St. GuillenImette St. Guillen
Imette Carmella St. Guillen was an American graduate student of Venezuelan and French Canadian descent who was brutally raped and murdered. She was studying criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City at the time of her death...
murder case in tracing the steps of alleged killer, Darryl Littlejohn, who reportedly made cell phone calls near Fountain Avenue
Fountain Avenue (Brooklyn, New York)
Fountain Avenue, is a north / south street in Brooklyn, New York. Its north end is at Atlantic Avenue near Conduit Avenue.The south end is a site off the Belt Parkway, specifically named "Exit 15 Erskine Street". The area is mostly composed of landfill and has areas of swampland-like forest...
, the site where St. Guillen was later found.
Prostitute accomplice
Coleman had an accompliceAccomplice
At law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even though they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller and asks for the money is guilty of armed robbery...
, a 20-year old female prostitute named Krystal Riordan, who allegedly helped Coleman in the disposal of Moore's body and was also arrested. She credited herself as being an escort and she was reported by a police source as allegedly trying to sell herself for sex, offering a "$150 special" with the web-name, "Lisa", a day after Moore's death, July 26, 2006, on the website, Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
. Riordan was later charged with a felony murder with the kidnapping of Moore who investigators say was raped, beaten and strangled in a Weehawken hotel on July 25. Riordan had been accused of participating with her boyfriend, Draymond Coleman, 35, in crimes leading to Moore's death. Hudson County Prosecutor, Edward DeFazio indicated that Riordan was an accomplice with Coleman in Moore's murder.
Coleman's extradition to New Jersey
It was reported that Coleman was fighting extraditionExtradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
to New Jersey. A warrant was issued by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and Manhattan prosecutors decided to drop a 1997 charge against him for allegedly having a small knife. Coleman later appeared in State Superior Court where he had to face Moore's mother and her sister. He glared at them as he was led out of the courtroom in shackles. The Superior Court Judge, Sheila Venable, imposed a $2 million cash bail against him. Coleman was extradited to New Jersey to face trial in October 2006.
Blame
The initial discussion of 'blame' was in a Bergen Record article that was reproduced on a "Crime and Justice" blog. That article discussed Moore's murderer and the failure of bureaucracy. In another Bergen Record article, Jeffrey Page had also commented on the issue of blaming the victim, criticizing how blog websites were discussing how Moore dressed, etc.- "Some postings on blog sites and Internet message boards hint through some crazy logic that Moore was somehow culpable. You've heard this garbage before: They get drunk, they dress provocatively, so what do they expect? The more obscene version includes the words 'asking for it'."
Page then mentioned how another columnist, Michelle Malkin, who appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, seemed to agree with these observations. Page quoted Malkin in the same article as saying:
- "At some point these young women have to take responsibility for putting themselves in vulnerable positions. And this is an 18-year-old girl who has, you know, free will and a free mind. And if she's walking around by herself, bombed, you know, it could be very dangerous."
Page then went on to discuss alcohol and its effects on teenagers and their family members. By coincidence, Page had written a column before Moore's murder about other teenagers being shot to death in New Jersey and encouraged families to 'Watch the kids carefully. This is a fearful time."
Other commentators such as Tucker Carlson and Keith Olbermann severely criticized O'Reilly for suggesting that the young woman was herself responsible for her own brutal rape and murder.
The three-year delay in the Drayman Coleman sentencing
In March 2010, Coleman pleaded guilty in front of Hudson County Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan, in Jersey City, to the murder of Jennifer Moore The plea terms require Coleman to serve 50 years in prison plus more time beyond that period.Lawrence Auster wrote an online critique on the reasons for the delay of the trial of Draymond Coleman.
Krystal Riordan pleads guilty after Statement by Moore's Mother
In May 2010, Krystal Riordan, now 24 years old, pleaded guilty for her role in the kidnapping and murder of Moore and received a sentence of 30 years. Both, Moore's parents and Riordan's adoptive parents were in the courtroom for the sentencing.The Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Michael D’Andrea petitioned Judge Callahan to impose the maximum sentence of 40 years on Riordan and to discount the testimony of a 'rough childhood' as a mitigating factor, then he made this statement:
-
- “There is only one victim here, judge, make no mistake about it, her name is Jennifer Moore. She will never feel the sun on her face. She will never feel the warmth of love or a kind embrace. She’s dead. She’s dead because of what this woman did.”
Superior Court Judge Kevin Callahan made this comment to Riordan:
-
- "You won't see anything but a roof over your head and bars in front of you through your 20s, your 30s and into your 40s; think about that; but you'll walk free one day, and Miss Moore never will."
At Riordan's Sentencing, Moore's mother, Candida, had a rather long prepared statement, which she read to Riordan before the sentencing. In her statement, Moore's mother mentions her views upon seeing the security camera footage in 2006, the mention of the violence done to her daughter and some of Riordan's own family history. Her statement was summed up thus:
-
- "Your honor, it is our belief that Ms. Riordan has given up her right to be part of society at this time. It is evident from her actions, or non-actions, that she should be considered dangerous. She aided in abusing the trust of a young, naive girl and allowed a horrific crime to take place in her presence. She accepted the brutality of her partner and worked with him to cover up their actions."
Comparison to the murders of Imette St. Guillen and Chanel Petro-Nixon
The Spanish language newspaper periodical, El Diario, in its Friday, July 28, 2006 edition, used the front page headline title, Otra Imette, with Moore's high school picture on the front page to compare her murder with John Jay College of Criminal JusticeJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice is a senior college of the City University of New York in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and is the only liberal arts college with a criminal justice and forensic focus in the United States. The college offers programs in Forensic Science and Forensic...
student, Imette St. Guillen
Imette St. Guillen
Imette Carmella St. Guillen was an American graduate student of Venezuelan and French Canadian descent who was brutally raped and murdered. She was studying criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City at the time of her death...
, who was murdered earlier on February 25, 2006, allegedly by one of the bouncer
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
s at The Falls bar. Her death was also related to nightlife
Nightlife
Nightlife is the collective term for any entertainment that is available and more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning...
in general. With Moore's death, some news and media sources such as the New York Post, started article series that focused on nightlife, bars, bouncers, underage drinking and fake I.D's in their newspaper and television stories.
As the year 2006 had been one in which a number of high-profile murders of young women students were covered in the media, there have been no revelations, however, to the case of even younger Chanel Petro-Nixon, who disappeared in broad daylight while walking in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
on a Sunday afternoon to apply for a job. This further murder prompted columnist Andrea Peyser
Andrea Peyser
Andrea Peyser is a columnist for the New York Post, well-recognized for her coverage of many "scandals" involving public figures.-Career:...
to write an article titled "It's open season on young gals", linking together the murders of St. Guillen, Moore and Petro-Nixon:
- "It's open season on young girls. An 18-year-old was found murdered this week in Jersey, allegedly by a man who took her from Manhattan after a night of underage clubbing. In February, graduate student Imette St. Guillen was taken from a SoHo bar and killed, allegedly by the bouncer. But the case of Chanel Petro-Nixon stands out for three reasons: She went missing in broad daylight, blocks from her house – not at night, coming out of a bar."
An article published one year after Moore's death in the New York Post reported that felony assaults had dropped 13%; that every person seeking admittance to a club had to present an I.D. card which would be checked by handheld scanners and mentioned other areas of the city affected.
Comparison to Laura Garza
The disappearance of 25-year-old Laura GarzaLaura Garza
Laura Garza is an American socialist politician, a garment worker and a member of UNITE HERE Local 187.Garza ran as the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Vice President in 1996. She and running mate James Harris received 8,463 votes...
, missing since December 2008, has entered the NYC news headlines and she was initially compared, in the print edition of the New York Daily News, to Moore and St. Guillen. She had left a Chelsea club named Marquee on Tenth Avenue and has not been seen since Wednesday, December 3. Unfortunately, the remains of Laura Garza's body have been found by the Police.
New York City and other states' nightlife legislations
Recently, in September of 2011, the NYPD Nightlife Association updated their Safety Manual Handbook to "to include a section on counterterrorism, after several bars and clubs around the globe were targeted by terrorists". To further quote the article:–"New York Nightlife Association partnered with the NYPD after the deaths of Imette St. Guillen
Imette St. Guillen
Imette Carmella St. Guillen was an American graduate student of Venezuelan and French Canadian descent who was brutally raped and murdered. She was studying criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City at the time of her death...
and Jennifer Moore, who were killed in separate incidents after a night out in city clubs."