Police discover decomposing body of pregnant woman while arresting man in separate murder case

Maryland police found the decomposing body of a pregnant woman at the home of a man they were arresting in connection with another suspected homicide that occurred last week, authorities said.

Montgomery County police said Friday they discovered the body when they arrested and charged Torrey Moore, 31, of Silver Spring with shooting and killing Ayalew Wondimu, 61, at a gas station Thursday.

Police say Moore had an argument with Wondimu, an employee of the Dash In convenience store at the Shell station at 11150 New Hampshire Ave., around 3 p.m. Thursday. A verbal argument that began when Moore approached the counter turned physical, and Moore shot Wondimu multiple times in the chest with a handgun he had in his jacket, police say.

Wondimu was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

When officials obtained a search warrant for Moore’s apartment and searched it early Friday morning, they discovered the body in the apartment “in an advanced stage of decomposition”, police said.

More told authorities he had a relationship with the woman and that she was eight months pregnant when she died, county police said.

He also told police that “there had been some sort of fight between the two about a month prior which led to the death of the victim prior to today,” Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters on Friday. reporters, adding that police believed the woman lived in the apartment. .

Police arrested Moore at his apartment and charged him with first degree murder and possession of a firearm while committing a felony.

The medical examiner’s office will perform an autopsy, and the woman’s identification and additional costs will be withheld until the cause and circumstances of death are determined, police said.

A neighbor, Tony Pineda, who said he had lived in the apartment complex for two years, told NBC Washington he detected an odor emanating from it.

“It just smells like garbage,” he told the station. “I don’t know. It’s just a bad smell.

“I mean, knowing it’s right here is kind of crazy,” he added.

Jones told reporters on Friday that police were “a little surprised that we haven’t received any calls – none that we’ve seen so far – that would have given us the slightest indication that something was going on in this apartment.”