Murderpedia

 

 

Juan Ignacio Blanco  

 

  MALE murderers

index by country

index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

  FEMALE murderers

index by country

index by name   A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

 

 
   

Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.

   

 

 

Harry Charles MOORE

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Revenge
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: June 1992
Date of birth: May 5, 1941
Victims profile: Barbara Cunningham, 53, and Thomas Lauri, 60 (his half-sister and her former husband)
Method of murder: Shooting (9 mm handgun)
Location: Marion County, Oregon, USA
Status: Executed by lethal injection in Oregon on May 16, 1997
 
 
 
 
 

Harry Charles Moore was executed in Oregon on May 16. Moore had been married to two of his nieces and was convicted of killing his half-sister and her former husband. He threatened to sue anyone who tried to stop his execution.

Moore said he had killed his relatives because he thought they would move to Las Vegas with his estranged wife and infant daughter, and expose them to a life of prostitution and drugs.

 
 

Harry Charles Moore

Marion County - Oregon

Born: 5/5/1941

Sentenced to death: 7/20/1993

Moore shot Thomas Lauri and Barbara Cunningham to death in 1992. He shot Lauri, his father-in-law, four times in the face with a 9 mm handgun in front of the main Salem post office. Moore then drove to Cunningham's house, shot her in the stomach and then fired three more rounds point-blank into her head. She was his half-sister in addition to being his mother-in-law. Moore claimed that his in-laws had interfered in his marriage to his niece and had persuaded her to leave him.

Interesting fact: As he lay dying, he whispered: "I want the last word I say to be Jennifer, J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r." Jennifer is the name of Moore's daughter by his niece Cindy Moore.

Status: Executed in 1997.

 
 

Harry Charles Moore (May 5, 1941 - May 16, 1997) was the second individual executed in the state of Oregon since 1978 for the murders of Thomas Lauri and Barbara Cunningham.

The Crime

Harry Charles Moore had been married to two of his nieces. Moore shot Thomas Lauri four times in the face with a 9mm handgun in front of a Salem post office. Moore then drove to Cunningham's house and shot her in the stomach. He then fired three more rounds into her head.

Cunningham was Moore's half-sister and Lauri was her former husband. Moore said he had killed his relatives because he thought they would move to Las Vegas with his estranged wife and infant daughter, and expose them to a life of prostitution and drugs.

Sentencing and Execution

Harry Charles Moore was sentenced to death on July 20, 1993. Moore later threatened to sue anyone who tried to stop his execution. He also appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court to drop the automatic appeal of his sentence.

As Moore lay dying, he whispered: "I want the last word I say to be Jennifer, J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r." Jennifer is the name of Moore's daughter by his niece Cindy Moore.

Moore was executed by lethal injection on May 16, 1997.

 
 

Oregon Executes a Killer

The New York Times

May 17, 1997

A man whose family history included marriages to two nieces was executed by injection early today for killing his half-sister and her ex-husband.

The prisoner, Harry Charles Moore, 56, had threatened to sue anyone who tried to stop his execution, even petitioning the Oregon Supreme Court to drop the automatic appeal of his sentence.

Mr. Moore was convicted in 1993 and sentenced to die for killing the parents of his third wife in 1992.

He fatally shot Thomas Lauri, 60, at a post office here, and then went to the home of Mr. Lauri's former wife, Barbara Cunningham, 53, and shot her to death. Ms. Cunningham was Mr. Moore's half-sister.

 
 

Harry Moore - Oregon - April 3, 1997

Oregon doulbe murderer Harry Moore will be able to fulfill his death wish at 12:01 a.m. May 16. Marion County Circuit Judge Richard Barber has signed Moore's death warrant, setting the date for him to become the 2nd person executed in Oregon since voters there reinstated the death penalty in 1984.

Last September's execution of triple murderer Douglas Wright was the 1st execution in Oregon since 1962.

Moore has vowed not to file any legal challenges to stop his execution by lethal injection, and told the judge that he is ready to be executed, adding that "for one, it'll get me out of the hell hole I'm in now." He said he will be happy to get away from the other men on death row, adding that "those are the foulest, most evil sickos I've ever been around."

Moore was found in June 1993 of aggravated murder for the June 1992 deaths of his wife's parents, Thomas Lauri. 60, and Barbara Jean Cunningham, 49. Moore gunned down Lauri outside Salem's main post office and shot Cunningham minutes later at her home.

Cunningham was Moore's half-sister, so his wife, Cindy, was his own niece. Morre's mother, a former minister, had performed the couple's wedding, but before the murder trial, the judge said he did not consider the marriage legal.

Moore has always held that he killed 2 "predators" who were a danger to his infant daughter. He said he feared that they would take his wife and daughter to Las Vegas, where the daughter might fall into a life of prostitution and drugs.

Since his conviction, Moore has steadfastly resisted any efforts to delay his execution, including the legally required automatic appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.

He had asked that his execution be carried out at 10 am, May 10, his 56th birthday, and asked for a woman executioner and full media access, including television cameras. Michael Mills, his defense attorney, said that Moore "feels that could have a deterrent effect in Oregon."

Deputy District Attorney Don Abar said the May 16 date was the only one available to all other principals in the execution. The governor, attorney general, prosecutors and defense lawyers all have to be available, he said.

David Groom, a lawyer in the state public defender's office, said he would be standing by with the appropriate legal papers should Moore change his mind about an appeal. The judge advised Moore that the option remains open until the last second.

Moore emphatically told the judge that he did not want anyone interfering with the execution. Judge Barber agreed with a psychologist who examined Moore and concluded that the inmate was legally sane "for the purposes of being executed." Opponents say Moore is mentally incompetent.

Rick Halperin / AI-Texas

 

 

 
 
 
 
home last updates contact