Local doctor formally charged with murder
Nov. 4—Surveillance footage from a gas station showed an accused killer from Tahlequah hugging his victim less than hour before she was found unresponsive in Arkansas.
According to online court reports, prosecutor Thomas D. Deen has charged Tyler Edward Tait for the murder of Moria Kinsey. Tait was a physician with Cherokee Nation Health Services, and Kinsey had been employed there at one time as a nurse.
An affidavit filed in Chicot County, Arkansas, alleges that Tait called authorities and advised them Kinsey was having a seizure. Deputies arrived at the location on U.S. Highway 65, about two miles north of Lake Village, and found Tait standing in a ditch with his fingers interlaced behind his head and his shirt pulled over his head. Kinsey was reportedly lying outside of a vehicle parked alongside the roadway.
"I walked over and started to talk to [Tait] and detained him for safety due to the circumstances being strange and [the] unusual incident that had occurred with his girlfriend," the affidavit said.
Tait kept his eyes closed when investigators took his shirt down and had to talk him into opening his eyes. An ambulance transported Kinsey to the hospital, and Tait agreed to be evaluated by another doctor at the sheriff's office.
Investigators arrived at the emergency room and were informed Kinsey had died. Several bruises could be seen around the base of her neck.
Tait has a history of alleged domestic violence, including the domestic assault and battery case from January. In 2017, a protective order was filed against him by Shelby Burris. That was ultimately dismissed, after Tait was charged with violating the order, but Burris filed another protective order against him in 2020.
According to the affidavit, Burris contacted authorities and said she wanted to be contacted if Tait bonded out of jail.
Surveillance footage from a gasoline station showed Tait and Kinsey pull up to one of the pumps at 12:27 p.m.. The two talked and gave each other a hug before entering the store and then leaving, headed south toward Greenville. Tait called 911 at 1:12 p.m.
On Nov. 2, Tait appeared in the circuit court of Chicot County with his attorneys, Jeff Rosenzweig and Robert G. Bridewell.
