An attorney has been indicted on charges of tampering with evidence, misleading the victim, and purposely lying to police investigating the 2013 murder of Aliza Sherman, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said Thursday.
Sherman was murdered outside of the downtown Cleveland office building of Divorce Attorney Gregory J. Moore, McGinty said. He had an appointment to meet with Sherman the afternoon of March 24, 2013. Her divorce trial was scheduled to begin the next day. The prosecutor's office said evidence showed that Moore was unprepared for the trial and the judge informed him there would be no more continuances in the case.
Sherman, a Beachwood nurse, was stabbed repeatedly outside of 75 Erieview Plaza. Her death was captured on security camera, along with an image of the hooded killer.
FULL ALIZA SHERMAN MURDER CASE COVERAGE
Thursday, the Grand Jury indicted Moore on one count of tampering with evidence, telecommunications fraud, possessing criminal tools, obstructing official business and falsification, two counts of forgery, three counts of terroristic threats, and six counts of inducing panic. All expect obstructing official business and falsification charges are felonies.
The terroristic threat counts refer to bomb threats Moore made from his cell phone in January, May, and July of 2012 against courthouses in Geauga, Lake, and Cuyahoga counties, the prosecutor's office reported. On the day of each bomb threat, Moore was scheduled to begin a trial.
VIEW GREGORY J. MOORE'S INDICTMENT REPORT
Moore was previously charged with inducing panic for those threats and has been waiting to go to trial in Common Pleas Court since he was first indicted for the Cuyahoga County threat in December 2013.
The prosecutor's office said a police investigation revealed on the day Sherman was killed, Moore sent text messages to her cell phone just before and after her murder. Those messages indicated that Moore was in his office, but phone records, analysis, additional records and witness statements show he was not in the building. Moore then made false statements to Cleveland police homicide detectives when questioned about his whereabouts.
“Ms. Sherman’s family and the community should rest assured that this case has never gone cold and that an aggressive investigation into her murder continues,” said Prosecutor McGinty. “We believe that this indictment and the evidence behind it take us one step closer to bringing her killer to justice. The work of the Cleveland Police and other investigative agencies has been relentless.”
