Last Thursday, Alicia Moore's friends and family members braved the rain for a somber vigil to call for the 16-year-old's killer to step forward.
The murderer's identity was a mystery. She had last been seen alive on the afternoon of November 2 stepping off the school bus near her family's home. Four days later and 40 miles away, a construction crew in Van Zandt County found the girl's body stuffed in a furniture trunk off Highway 47.
As the months dragged on, it seemed like the investigation might just stagnate and gradually disappear from the public consciousness. But today comes news that police think they have broken the case. Various outlets are reporting that that 57-year-old Michael Vincent Moore of Grand Prairie is being held in Van Zandt County jail on a capital murder charge. As in another recent high-profile murder mystery outside Dallas, the killer was much closer than anyone initially suspected. Michael Moore is Alicia's uncle.
WFAA interviewed him in Greenville on February 23. Moore was baking and decorating dozens of cupcakes for what would have been the girl's 17th birthday.
"No one's been caught yet. We're still waiting for answers and that's really hard on us," Moore said in a quote that seems incredibly creepy in retrospect. "It hurts sometimes, but I'm over it now and it's time to rejoice. You know, you've got to get over it and move on."
The girl's family is, understandably, in shock. They're reportedly planning to give a news conference later today.
