Post by Scumhunter on Nov 5, 2016 0:09:44 GMT -5
(Above photo credits: NBC San Diego website)
From the San Diego Union-Tribune website:
Sixteen years after Andrew Tan Tai Moore was murdered in a robbery at his downtown San Diego apartment, his parents still tear up as they ask the unanswered questions:
Who did it? And, why?
Richard and Rita Moore of Lebanon, Pa. made their annual trip to San Diego to hand out a City College scholarship in their son’s name, check on progress of the homicide investigation, and urge anyone with information to come forward.
“We’re here in memory of our son, Andy, who was murdered here in San Diego,” Rita Moore told reporters in front of San Diego Police headquarters Tuesday. “ ... He was just beginning to see his world open up. Then someone murdered him.”
Their son, who was 26 when he died, would have turned 42 on Monday. The Moores timed their San Diego trip to coincide with his birthday and a City College scholarships award ceremony held Saturday at the Hall of Champions in Balboa Park. The couple and their daughters screen the applications and bestow $500 on one student who has been in the workforce and returned to college, as their son did.
The couple adopted 7-month-old Nguyen Tan Tai after he was airlifted out of Vietnam in 1974. He grew up in the small Pennslyvania town with his two older sisters. He fell in love with San Diego the summer during high school that he worked at Sea World while staying with his uncle, his mother said.
“He loved it out here,” she said, saying he felt at home amid San Diego’s ethnic diversity. After graduation he returned to San Diego, taking jobs as a cook until being hired as a chef at Maloney’s Tavern in the Gaslamp Quarter. He began taking City College classes with an eye to a major in international business.
Then, on a weekend in 2000, Rita Moore got worried when she couldn’t reach him by phone. She asked her brother, in North Park, to check on her son on Sept. 12.
The uncle went to Andy’s apartment on Eighth Avenue, looked in a window, and called police. Officers forced open the door and found the young man’s body. He had been shot and stabbed, his place was ransacked, and his red and black, 1995 Suzuki Katana motorcycle was gone, police said.
The motorcycle was found a month later in Golden Hill.
The Moores said they have found comfort in a grief support group and Parents of Murdered Children — “a group you never want to belong to,” Rita Moore said, choking back tears. “No one else knows, not one else can understand this. And then not knowing who did it or why they did it.”
The homicide investigation has yielded no solid leads to the killer. But detectives keep working on it. They believe, for reasons they have not disclosed, that he was killed a few days before he was found, likely on Sept. 8.
“We run DNA checks on that case about two or three times a year in hopes of obtaining additional information,” homicide Lt. Manny Del Toro said Tuesday. He said they also re-run fingerprints for possible hits, and are involving additional detectives and other police agencies.
“Although there are no known witnesses at the time, we continue to interview individuals who we believe might have possible information,” Del Toro said. “The case is a difficult one to solve, but we are optimistic that someday we will catch a break and be able to solve this case.”
Richard Moore said his family is grateful for the support they get from San Diego police, and that the case is considered a priority.
The Moores contributed a $5,000 reward for any tip that leads to a conviction in their son’s murder. Crime Stoppers has put in $1,000 and the state governor’s reward program is offering $50,000.
“We want justice for Andy,” his mother said. “He deserves that.”
www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-andrew-moore-unsolved-murder-2016apr26-story.html
Thoughts? Andrew's case was featured on America's Most Wanted's website (when it was up and running) as a "My Story" web-exclusive case: web.archive.org/web/20130801143823/http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=78342#case
Admin Note #1: Based on crime location & online articles, our advice for anyone having information on this case would be to contact San Diego Crime Stoppers: www.sdcrimestoppers.org/
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form