In a shocking turn of events, a divorce attorney from Ohio has been arrested on charges of murdering one of his clients. The accused, Gregory Moore, 51, is alleged to have killed 53-year-old Aliza Sherman in 2013 to avoid taking her divorce case to trial. The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office claims that Moore’s intention was to incapacitate Sherman, thereby preventing her case from proceeding as planned.
Moore was indicted last Friday on charges of aggravated murder, conspiracy, and kidnapping. The indictment reveals that Sherman was scheduled to meet Moore at his downtown Cleveland law office on March 24, 2013, to discuss her impending trial. Moore instructed Sherman to call him once she arrived, at which point he would let her into the office. However, prosecutors assert that Moore never intended to hold this meeting.
Authorities have revealed that Moore was unprepared for the trial and had a history of devising strategies to postpone his court appearances. In the previous year, Moore had made three separate bomb threats to courthouses where he was due to appear, leading to a six-month jail sentence after pleading guilty.
On the day of the incident, Sherman texted Moore to inform him of her arrival at his office. Unbeknownst to her, Moore had switched off his phone to avoid being tracked by law enforcement. He allegedly used a company hotspot to text Sherman, indicating his presence. When he didn’t let her in, a confused Sherman texted that she would return to her car due to the cold weather.
Prosecutors allege that Moore or an unidentified accomplice approached Sherman from behind, chased her down the street, and stabbed her ten times. In an attempt to mislead investigators, Moore continued to text Sherman, asking about her whereabouts and urging her to call him.
Sherman managed to call the police for help, and a passerby also dialed 911 after finding her on the sidewalk. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. As the investigation unfolded, Moore allegedly entered his office building through a back entrance to avoid detection. He switched on his phone and continued to call Sherman, pretending to be unaware of the attack. In the following days, Moore also changed his cell phone. The divorce case was eventually dismissed without going to trial.
The initial lead investigator for the Cleveland Police Department, Ed Tomba, expressed his long-held suspicions about Moore. However, he admitted that they lacked the necessary evidence to charge him with aggravated murder at the time. Moore was previously charged and pleaded guilty to lying to the police about Sherman’s death and making bomb threats.
Moore was arrested near Austin, Texas, last Friday and will be arraigned once he is returned to Ohio. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley praised the relentless efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies in gathering evidence against Moore. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations took over the case in 2021, and Sherman’s murder was also featured on NBC’s Dateline. Sherman, a mother of four, worked as a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic.