'I miss him so much': Earl Moore Jr.'s mother grieves on anniversary of his death

Some days Rosena Washington can see her son, Earl Moore Jr., jumping high into the air, scared, after she caught him off guard.

There were other fond memories of playing games or cards at her house or just sitting in the yard listening to music.

"In my world, he was everything," Washington said Thursday. "He still is everything. He's not here (physically), but I think about him all the time. Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. I look at his picture all the time on the wall (at home). I want to see him.

"I wish I could tell him I love him."

Moore, 35, died a year ago Monday in a case that has caught national attention.

After an Illinois State Police investigation and a forensic pathologist determined that Moore died of "compression and positional asphyxia," two emergency medical services workers -- Peggy Jill Finley, 45, and Peter Cadigan, 51− were arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Jan 9.

It has been an eventful year since.

Body camera footage from three Springfield Police officers was released to the public and the incident raised the question of whether EMS workers should also wear body cameras.

One of the most celebrated civil rights attorneys, Ben Crump, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Finley and Cadigan and their employer, LifeStar Ambulance, Inc., based in Centralia, Illinois.

The prosecutor who brought the charges, Sangamon County State's Attorney Dan Wright, has become a judge, though his former first assistant is staying with the case as a special assistant to the office.

Both defendants have gotten out of Sangamon County Jail, Finley on a reduced bond and Cadigan through the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity Today (SAFE-T) Act that eliminated cash bail in Illinois.

Another forensic pathologist hired by the defense teams is finishing a report that would counter the state's claim about the manner of Moore's death.

It doesn't appear a trial will start any time soon because of the mountainous volume of discovery and the mechanics of such a complicated case. Finley and Cadigan are next due in court on Jan. 29.

Meanwhile, Washington plans to mark the one-year anniversary with a balloon release.

"My heart is overloaded with hurt, with pain," Washinton admitted, as the day nears. "Earl should've still been here. Every day I pray, 'God, let me carry this load.' So far, he's doing a good job of helping me. I cannot believe I'm still standing.

"I wouldn't wish this on nobody. I miss him so much."

'As thick as thieves'

The initial call to the 1100 block of North 11th Street just before 2 a.m. on Dec. 18 indicated there were multiple people at the residence with firearms, Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette told The State Journal-Register.

But as the first Springfield Police officers arrived, Samantha Cutler, the wife of Moore's cousin Aaron Cutler, defused the situation by explaining that Moore was "hallucinating" after detoxing for several days.

Moore had moved in with his cousins only about a week before his death.

Aaron Cutler said after the murder charges were filed that he had wanted to keep an eye on Moore.

"I wanted to make sure he stayed safe," Cutler said. "I wanted to make sure he was cool. I didn't want anything bad to happen to him."

Cutler said the two were "as thick as thieves" growing up, even though Cutler was three years older than Moore. They had planned to go into business together and living together would save on finances, Cutler reasoned.

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"Aaron and Earl were close," Washington said. "(They) ran every day."

On May 31, Cutler and another Springfield man, later identified as 37-year-old Jerry E. Stegall, got into a physical altercation. Cutler was shot and died.

Stegall has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

'A stretch'

One of Finley's defense attorneys, W. Scott Hanken, has maintained since the outset of the case that the murder charges against her won't stand.

Hanken said Finley's case got a huge assist in a most unlikely place: a Fourth District Appellate Court ruling on her bond reduction on June 16.

The ruling noted that while there were acts of violence perpetrated against Moore, "none were physically committed by (Finley). Defendant did not assist in placing Moore on the gurney or tighten the straps around him, the two events the State alleges caused Moore's death."

Hanken said in the year since he became Finley's attorney, "this case is still a stretch," Hanken said. "I stand by what I said before, that is, at worst the state is trying to criminalize malpractice. In saying that, I'm not saying there was malpractice here."

The defense will also try to counter the cause of Moore's death.

At the Oct. 30 hearing, Cadigan's attorney, Justin Kuehn of Belleville, proffered that a St. Louis forensic pathologist's findings would suggest that Moore didn't die of asphyxiation, but that his death was a cardiac event related to alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Kuehn would not talk for publication about the case.

Asked about the Moore case before he took over for Wright as state's attorney, John Milhiser said, "Every case is important, and I am going to review every case that we currently have in the office."

Bob Hilliard, one of the attorneys representing Moore's family and estate in the wrong death lawsuit, said it should have been "immediately apparent" that Moore was in grave danger and should have had his vitals checked en route to the hospital.

The irony, Hilliard added, was that Moore "slowly and painfully suffocated inside of an ambulance filled with all the medical equipment necessary to have saved him.”

Crump had one word for the EMS workers' treatment of Moore.

"It's barbaric," Crump said, through a news release provided to The State Journal-Register. "(They) gave him no professionalism and no humanity. They treated Earl inhumanely.”

Ultimately, Hanken said, a jury or a judge will likely hear competing evidence how about how Moore died.

"If it is something within the purview of what the state's alleging, then the other issue is were either one of those acts committed by my client and I think the answer to that is pretty simple," he said.

"That's why I'm saddened by the fact that we're still dealing with this a year later."

'By my heart'

Astarr Wright, 8, said one of her favorite memories of Moore, her uncle, is when she asked him to take her shopping at a Family Dollar on Mother's Day.

Wright was with her cousin and wanted to buy her a gift.

"When we were there," Wright said, "me and my cousin started picking up everything. We got a whole bunch of stuff, and he bought it all (for us)."

Like Washington and Washington's daughter, Chatara Moore, Wright wears a button with Moore's picture.

"Every time somebody asks me about my button, it makes me smile," said Moore, one of Earl Moore's sisters, along with Mahogany Moore and ShiKira Brooks. "It makes me feel so good when they ask me (about him)."

"That's Earl with me," said Washington," patting the button. "Keeping him by my heart. Keeping him close to me."

Washington jokingly referred to Moore as her "nerd child": too scared to do anything to get into trouble.

"I could always count on Earl," she said. "Anyone would want Earl to be their son."

Family members and supporters have picked up the hashtag #JusticeForEarl. Washington knows that's a complicated thing, but she also knows that justice for her son can be justice for her and her family.

"It's not ever gonna be fixed," Washington said. "Ain't nothing they can do, ain't nothing they can say will put Earl back here. Having justice for Earl, that would be the best thing in the world for me. Justice for me and for my family. I don't want my son's name in vain out there, because Earl was not a bad person.

"He should still be here and not just in my heart."

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

Timeline of the death of Earl Moore Jr.

Here is a chronological list of events that led to the death of Earl Moore Jr. and the aftermath:

Dec. 18, 2022, 1:59 a.m.: Springfield Police receive a call to the 1100 block of North 11th Street. An original dispatch indicated there were multiple subjects at the residence with firearms, Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette told The State Journal-Register.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:05 a.m.: The first of three Springfield Police officers arrive. Samantha Cutler, wife of Aaron Cutler, Moore's cousin, said there were no weapons in the house and that Moore, who lived with the couple, was "hallucinating" after detoxing for several days.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:07 a.m.: Springfield Police call for an ambulance for Moore.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:17 a.m.: Emergency medical services workers from LifeStar Ambulance Services, Inc. arrive at Moore's home. Only Peggy Finley, a paramedic, goes into the house.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:25 a.m.: Moore is placed on a stretcher originally on his side by officers and EMT Peter Cadigan. It is Cadigan who places him in the prone position or face down.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:27 a.m.: Moore is transported to HSHS St. John's Hospital.

Dec. 18, 2022, 2:30 a.m. The LifeStar ambulance arrives at St. John's. Finley was riding in the back of the ambulance, by Moore.

Dec. 18, 2022, 3:14 a.m.: Moore is pronounced dead by hospital personnel after attempts to resuscitate him.

Jan. 9: According to Dr. John Scott Denton, a forensic pathologist from Bloomington, Moore died of "compression and positional asphyxia." Sangamon County coroner Jim Allmon declares it "a homicide."

Jan. 9: Finley and Cadigan are arrested and charged with first-degree murder by Sangamon County state's attorney. Bond for both is set at $1 million. At a press conference at the Sangamon County Building, Wright said based upon Finley and Cadigan's "training, experience and the surrounding circumstances, that such acts (placing Moore in the prone position and tightening straps against his back) would create a substantial probability of great bodily harm or death."

Jan. 9: Finley and Cadigan arraigned in Sangamon County court.

Jan. 14: Civil rights attorney Ben Crump of Tallahasse, Fla., and Robert Hilliard of Corpus Christi, Texas, announce that they have been retained by the family and estate of Moore.

Jan. 16: Under a light rain, about 150 people march in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity March, including Moore's mother, Rosena Washington, and other relatives.

Jan. 19: In a brief proceeding, Finley and Cadigan demand a preliminary hearing, which is continued to Jan. 20.

Jan. 19: In a press conference at the Springfield NAACP, Crump and Hilliard announce the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit against Finley, Cadigan, and LifeStar. Moore's case, Crump said, is "unlike any case that I'm aware of currently in America."

Jan. 20: In a wide-ranging preliminary hearing in Sangamon County court, Judge Raylene Grischow ruled there was probable cause to justify first-degree murder charges against Finley and Cadigan, who both pleaded not guilty.

Feb. 3: State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, files legislation that would require all EMS workers to wear body cameras while responding to calls and for all service vehicles to be equipped with dash cameras. Moore's death, Turner said, was "an impetus" for the move.

Feb. 6: Circuit Judge Robin Schmidt, presiding over the case for the first time, rules against having bonds for Finley and Cadigan lowered noting the "seriousness" of the charges.

Feb. 19: Addressing the Lincoln-Douglass Freedom Fund Banquet, sponsored by the Springfield Branch of the NAACP, Crump said the state's charge showed "Earl Moore's life mattered."

June 16: Finley's bond is reduced from $1 million to $600,000 (10% applies) after a three-judge panel from the Fourth District Appellate Court ruled in her favor. She is released from jail later that day.

Oct. 30: Cadigan was released from jail under conditions of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity Today (SAFE-T) Act.

Jan. 29, 2024: Next court date for Finley and Cadigan

Sources: The State Journal-Register; Sangamon County.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: One year later, EMTs accused in death of Earl Moore Jr. out of jail