CINCINNATI (Court TV) — Days before her murder trial was scheduled to begin, an Ohio woman changed her plea to guilty in the death of her teenage son.
Tamara Moore appeared in court to plead guilty days before her trial was scheduled to begin. (Scripps News Cincinnati)
Tamara Moore was sentenced to 15 to 20.5 years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangering children in the death of her son, 16-year-old Jeremiah Moore.
A police report reviewed by Court TV revealed that officers were called to the Moores’ Springfield Township home on Feb. 6, 2024, for a report of a teenager unconscious and not breathing. When officers arrived, they found Jeremiah dead in the laundry room, lying on a cot.
Investigators told The Enquirer that Jeremiah had been chained to the cot and starved. An autopsy revealed there was no food in the child’s stomach or intestines, which led authorities to believe that he had not eaten for some length of time. Prosecutor Jacqueline Stachowiak described the conditions, saying the room was 56 degrees and Jeremiah was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and an “absolutely disgusting” diaper.
An officer investigating the case told The Enquirer that the victim had autism and was non-verbal; he entirely relied on adults to take care of him. “I’ve never seen a case that’s this horrific,” Springfield Township Police Sgt. Rami Khayo told the outlet. “With the suffering that they put him through and with him not being able to even verbalize the pain or suffering that he was going through.”
Tamara was arrested and charged alongside her boyfriend, William Turnage. In August, Turnage pleaded guilty to endangering children and involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors dropped charges of murder and failure to report a crime. He was sentenced to 11-15 years in prison, according to jail records reviewed by Court TV.
