Children awoke to find mom missing in 2010. Now man sentenced in her killing, feds say
A 24-year-old mother vanished after putting her children to bed during a sleepover with their cousin in October 2010.
After the three children awoke the morning of Oct. 10, 2010, to find Unique Harris missing from the Washington, D.C., home, one of them noticed a couch cushion — which would later serve as a key piece of evidence — was newly torn, according to court documents.
Investigators also noticed Harris’ cell phone and keys were missing from the house that morning while her purse, credit cards and eyeglasses “she never left home without” were still there, federal prosecutors said.
Now, nearly 13 years after Harris was reported missing, a man accused of murdering her is going to prison, according to federal prosecutors who said her body still hasn’t been found.
A yearslong investigation revealed Isaac Moye, 46, of D.C., who Harris had known only two months before her disappearance, visited Harris’ home after her children went to bed the evening of Oct. 9, 2010, prosecutors said.
Moye’s semen was ultimately discovered on the torn sofa cushion in Harris’ home, according to prosecutors who said a review of GPS records also showed he spent the entire evening there.
On Sept. 15, Moye was sentenced to 35 years in prison on a second-degree murder conviction in connection with Harris’ death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced in a news release. His sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release.
“I hope he burns in hell after he’s released,” Harris’ sister said in reaction to his sentencing, according to WJLA.
McClatchy News contacted Jason Tulley, Moye’s attorney, for comment on Sept. 18 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
In court, Tulley maintained his client was wrongfully convicted and indicated he would appeal Moye’s sentence, The Washington Post reported.
“He’s innocent and has no idea what happened to Unique Harris,” Tulley said, according to the newspaper.
Meanwhile, Harris’ mother Valencia Harris addressed Moye in court, calling him a “demented psychopath,” The Washington Post reported.
“If you don’t want to tell me where you put my child so I can give her a decent burial before I die myself, that’s fine. I know God will lead me to her…I hope you spend the rest of your life being tormented by Unique’s spirit.”
‘Justice delayed is not justice denied’
Ahead of Moye’s sentencing, Tulley unsuccessfully tried to have him acquitted by arguing there was a lack of evidence in the case, court records filed in D.C. Superior Court in June show.
Prosecutors argued Moye’s motive for killing Harris stemmed from jealousy, as he was romantically interested in her when she wasn’t and had a boyfriend, according to The Washington Post.
During the yearslong investigation into Harris’ disappearance, Moye was repeatedly interviewed by D.C. police, who observed inconsistencies in his stories, according to prosecutors.
“He changed his story between interviews — denying, then admitting, then denying that he and Unique Harris had ever been intimate, denying that he had ever been in her home overnight, and denying that he had seen her the day that she went missing,” prosecutors said in the release.
One witness testified in court that Moye spoke about a woman’s disappearance to them but reported that Moye said authorities were “‘never going to find her’ because he ‘did it, but did it the right way,’” according to prosecutors.
At Moye’s sentencing hearing, the judge said Moye was previously convicted in separate attacks on women, WJLA reported.
He was ultimately arrested on a murder charge in connection with Harris’ death on Dec. 19, 2020, after DNA and GPS evidence linked him to the crime, prosecutors said.
“My baby’s smiling right now, that big old smile that she had. (She’s) smiling right now,” Valencia Harris said the day of Moye’s sentencing, according to WJLA.
“The wheels of justice may turn slow, but it’s one brutal lesson I’ve had to learn...it turns slow, but justice delayed is not justice denied. We just gotta keep fighting for ours,” Valencia Harris said, the outlet reported.
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