'America's Most Wanted' fugitive dies from injuries sustained during suicide attempt

Ronald Lee Moore, one of “America’s Most Wanted” fugitives, died over the weekend from injuries he sustained after he hung himself in his jail cell on Jan. 2.

 

Moore was arrested when he was found coming out of a home in which a burglar alarm had sounded. At the time of his arrest, Moore gave a fictitious name, but when his fingerprints were taken, authorities were soon able to connect him with a brutal rape that occurred in Maryland.

 

In that crime, Moore allegedly broke into a woman’s apartment, shocked her with a cattle prod and forced her to perform sexual acts on him. According to “America’s Most Wanted,” Moore was in prison on a burglary charge when a DNA hit in 2006 connected him to the ’99 rape. However, Moore was mistakenly released from the Baltimore City Correctional Center last November because of a clerical error.

 

In an attempt to end his life, Moore took the drawstring from his mesh laundry bag and affixed it to the air-conditioning vent above the commode. When deputies were passing out dinner trays to inmates in the area, they located Moore hanging from the vent.

 

Deputies immediately untied Moore and nurses in the correctional center began CPR within two minutes. Moore was breathing and had weak vital and was soon transferred to the St. Charles Parish Hospital and then Ochsner. He died three days later.

 

Moore was not on suicide watch at the time, nor had the staff of the correctional center received any information that he should have been.