An Oregon man has been charged with murder after the body of an 80-year-old woman was found stuffed in a suitcase.
Michael Darwin Moody, 54, has been charged 2nd degree murder and additional offenses related to the death of Judy Hurley, police said. Hurley's body was found Feb. 17 in a suitcase near the Willamette River. Police arrested Moody on Feb. 20.
A young couple—Justin Misner and Leslie Ortiz—who had purchased Hurley's home last year, described her as a kind woman who was bedridden.
"Judy was in a pretty bad spot," Misner told KPTV.
According to Misner, Hurley had people living in her home without her permission. Some were stealing from her. Some squatters, who she was unaware of, had moved in upstairs.
"There were people that would come to the house and essentially use it as a base of operations to commit crimes such as stealing cars and there were cases of people squatting in the house that she didn't know about because they were squatting on the upper floor and she was bedridden so there were people living in the house that she didn't even know were living here," Misner told the TV station.
The couple bought the home, helped Hurley move out and helped her move into a retirement home. Eventually, Hurley left the home and the couple lost touch with her until they heard about the murder.
"I was disgusted and it's horrible. Nobody deserves to go that way regardless of your history," Ortiz told KPTV.
Originally published on Latin Times
