Matthews County man gets 45 years
Moore stabbed his parents to death at their home in June
A 25-year-old man was sentenced to 45 years behind bars Wednesday for killing his parents last June in Mathews County.
Adam Thomas Moore, 51, and wife Melissa Moore, 49, were found stabbed to death in their home on White Point Lane in the New Point area of Mathews.
Their son, Jonathan Thomas Moore — who also lived in the home — was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of using a knife in a felony.
Moore pleaded guilty Dec. 14 in Mathews County Circuit Court to one murder count and one knife count, with one of his lawyers, Michael Soberick Jr., saying a plea agreement called for the charges to be “merged.”
“His statement ... was that it occurred when he was in an alcoholic state of rage,” Soberick said, saying Moore gave no other explanation in court for his actions.
Judge Jeffrey W. Shaw sentenced Moore Wednesday to 40 years on the first-degree murder charge and five years on the weapons charge. That was above discretionary sentencing guidelines of between 23-38 years, but below a potential life term for first-degree murder.
“We thought it was a very, very fair sentence,” Soberick said, saying Moore “took responsibility for what happened and that he has been suffering from a number of mental health issues for a long time.”
The outside prosecutor on the case, Gloucester Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Marie Walls, asked for a life term, pointing out the number of stab wounds and the “vileness and egregious nature” of the crime.
Moore stabbed his mother over 21 times, including four to the upper back, with wounds at least 4 inches deep, Walls said.
Moore’s father had 21 knife wounds. That included three stabbings — one 5 inches deep — and 18 other slashings. The father also had an “X” carved into his back, Walls said.
“We never got a reason ... for why he did that to his father,” she said.
Walls also pointed out that because of the December plea agreement, the sentencing guidelines were based on one murder rather than two. She asked Shaw to take that into account in arriving at his sentence.
Soberick said his client had anxiety and depression and had multiple medical temporary detention orders. The attorney also said Shaw also factored in Moore’s young age, and “balanced out all the interests” in arriving at the sentence.
Mathews sheriff ’s deputies went to the home on June 8, 2022, after relatives said they hadn’t heard from the family in two days.
Deputies found the couple dead in their master bedroom, the sheriff ’s office said. They also found the initials “J.T.M.” scrawled in blood outside the bedroom.
Deputies soon discovered Moore had fled the area in his father’s Ford F-150 Lariat pickup. The truck was tracked down in Lynchburg, and Moore was arrested without incident just before midnight June 9. Soberick said Moore “made admissions to investigators when he was approached.”
Walls said Moore told the judge at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing that his parents were good people.
“He said repeatedly that his parents were good parents — they loved him, they cared for him, and they sacrificed for him,” Walls said. “And that they gave him a great childhood and a good life.”
But Moore also said he was a heavy drinker and smoker, who also used LSD, cocaine, mushrooms and painkillers. “I was a damn bad man when it came to being lit — what a shame,” Moore told the judge, according to Walls.
He told the judge “that his intoxicated rage had been building up for several years,” Walls said. “He said he didn’t think about any of the good things mom and dad did for him. That he was sorry, but that when he killed them, it was a release.”
Online records show Moore is being held at a medical facility but is in the custody of the Middle Peninsula Regional Jail in Saluda.
Homicides are rare in Mathews County, which has a population of just over 8,800. Before this double slaying, the county hadn’t had a killing since 2018, and had only three slayings over the past 10 years.