Police: Killer accused man of molestation, gunned him down

Posted in Related Deaths

1-26-2012 Washington:

A Des Moines man accused of killing a man after accusing him of molesting children has been charged with murder.

King County prosecutors contend Denzil R. Moore shot Thomas R. Humphries at point-blank range during an argument inside Moore’s pickup truck on Jan. 10. The Des Moines man and a purported accomplice are alleged to have then dumped Humphries’ body at a vacant house in Auburn, where it lay undiscovered for days.

“Moore effectively executed a man,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Don Raz told the court. Moore, 41, has threatened to kill others who know the details of the killing and is believed to have a list of people to kill, the prosecutor added.

A review of court records showed Humphries has not been arrested for or convicted of sex crimes in Washington. He was not listed on the county sex offender registry.

Police learned of the killing just before 11 a.m. on Jan. 14, when a gardener at a vacant Auburn home called 911 to report a body, Detective Buie Arneson told the court.

Mowing the lawn at the home in the 11100 block of Southeast 304th Street, the gardener noticed Humphries in the grass behind the home. When he found the 57-year-old man was dead, he called the police.

Officers responded to the scene and found Humphries partially stripped with his jacket pulled over his face, his pants around his knees and wounds to his torso and head. Two .22-caliber casings were found amid a pile of broken safety glass nearby.

A medical examiner later determined Humphries had been shot three times in the left shoulder; one of the bullets pierced his heart. He was also shot in the back of the head. A fifth round is believed to have struck his belt.

Having identified Humphries by his fingerprints, police contacted a friend of his the following day who said she’d last seen him on Jan. 9, five days before the body was found. At the same time, a King County deputy sheriff notified Auburn police that he had a witness to the killing – Glae M. Roland – in custody.

According to court documents, Roland, 34, told investigators that on Jan. 10 he met up with Moore, whom he knew well, and Humphries at a Goodwill store in Des Moines hoping to get a ride to work. All three climbed into Moore’s GMC pickup and headed toward Roland’s place of employment in Kent.

On the way, though, Moore began accusing Humphries of molesting children, Arneson told the court. As the argument intensified, the detective continued, Moore pulled a .22-caliber pistol and pointed it at Humphries.

Moore pulled into a gas station, Ernie’s Truck Stop, around 2:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. and shot Humphries at once, Arneson continued. Moore then drove from the area with Humphries mortally injured in his passenger’s seat.

Continuing to drive, Moore shot Humphries four more times as Roland looked on from the rear passenger’s seat, according to charging documents.

“Moore told Roland that he needed to call in and say that he would be late because they needed to get rid of the body,” Arneson told the court.

Moore then drove to the vacant home and, with Roland’s help, dumped Humphries’ body on the grass, the detective said in court documents.

Following the killing, Moore tossed some of Humphries’ belongings in the Green River, then spent $5 taken from Humphries at a convenience store, Arneson added.

Police contend the men returned to the house the night after the body was discovered to hide it better.

Gloved and masked, the men found the property had been cleared and that the body was gone, the detective told the court. They searched the area with flashlights and noticed orange spray paint marks left behind by death investigators.

Concerned that police had discovered Humphries, the men repainted the truck and concocted a story they would tell police if arrested, Roland allegedly told investigators.

Having taken Roland’s statement, officers arrested Moore at his Des Moines home. Moore allegedly told police the fabricated story Roland said they rehearsed after finding the body had been removed.

According to charging documents, Moore threatened to kill Roland, his family and at least one woman who learned of the killing if any of them spoke to police.

Jailed on $1 million bail, Moore has been charged with first-degree murder. Roland, who also remains jailed, has been charged with rendering criminal assistance to Moore following the crime. ..Source.. by LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF