A look back at the Moonda murder case

Michelle Ganassi, Beaver County Times
·3 min read

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Damian Ray Bradford was well-known before the early Friday morning incident in Aliquippa.

The 41-year-old Pittsburgh resident was charged with attempted homicide after shooting a state police trooper in the leg on Franklin Avenue.

Before that, Bradford spent 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder of Dr. Gulam Moonda on the Ohio Turnpike in May 2005. The case attracted national attention after it was revealed Moonda's wife, Donna, plotted with Bradford to kill her husband for a share of the estate.

Moonda, Bradford talked a lot on day of murder

The night before her husband was shot to death, Donna Moonda was sending text messages to her boyfriend that prosecutors said made her look like a lovesick schoolgirl.

Damian Bradford was her "daddy," and she was his "baby girl," according to transcripts revealed in federal court. She spoke of his bulging muscles, and said when she was going to sleep, "I'm getting tired, I'm going to count little Damians until I fall asleep." Read the full story here

Damian Bradford speaks out

Donna Moonda wept, her body shaking in heaving sobs, as her one-time lover Damian Bradford admitted that once the two were flush in the wealth of her murdered husband, he had planned to leave her. Read the full story here.

Donna Moonda sentenced to life in prison, no parole

Inside a nearly empty federal courtroom in 2007, Donna Moonda and her beloved mother, Dorothy Smouse, shared a few quiet moments and a final hug. Moments earlier, a federal jury sentenced the 48-year-old Hermitage, Mercer County, woman to life in prison without the possibility of parole, meaning she might not be able to embrace her mother again. To read more click here.

Damian Bradford gets 17 years

In July 2007 Damian Bradford was sentenced to 17 1/2 years. "What I did was wrong. I want (the Moonda) family to know from my heart, I am sorry," he said at that time. Click here.

Bradford to serve sentence in Atlanta

Damian Bradford, the former Center Township resident who admitted killing a Mercer County doctor in a plan hatched by the dead man's wife, was assigned to a high-security federal prison in Atlanta. To read this story click here.

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10 years later, Moonda murder-for-hire case remembered

After garnering international attention, the murder of Dr. Gulam Moonda had a lasting impact on communities across Western Pennsylvania.

"It's still one of the most significant cases I worked on in my time at the U.S. attorney's office," Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda H. Barr said in 2015. Click here to read the full story.

Damian Bradford arrested after shooting Pennsylvania State Police trooper in Aliquippa

After being released from prison last year, Bradford was taken into custody again on July 29, 2022, after an altercation with state troopers in Aliquippa's Franklin Mini Mart. During a struggle with one of the troopers, Bradford fired at the officer and the bullet struck his leg. Click here to read the full story.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Bradford spent 15 years in prison for his role in the Moonda murder