Suspect in Charlotte murder of hurricane evacuee dies by apparent suicide, officials say
The suspect in the killing of a woman who evacuated to Charlotte from Hurricane Ida last summer died by an apparent suicide in a southeastern North Carolina prison on Thursday, authorities said.
Malek Moore “was found unresponsive in his cell” at Tabor Correctional Institution in Tabor City just after 4:30 a.m., according to a news release by the N.C. Department of Public Safety. The prison is about 160 miles southeast of Charlotte.
The 29-year-old was pronounced dead just before 5 a.m., after attempts by prison first responders and local paramedics to resuscitate him, officials said.
Police in Greensboro arrested Moore in September, days after 29-year-old Gabryelle Allnutt was robbed and killed in northeast Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer reported at the time.
Allnutt’s body was found in the 400 block of East 22nd Street, a block north of Cordelia Park.
Allnutt was an artist who evacuated to Charlotte from New Orleans to escape the hurricane, CMPD Capt. Joel McNelly said during a news conference at the time.
In it news release Thursday, the Department of Public Safety said police were called to investigate Moore’s death, as is common practice. The department said it is “cooperating fully in the investigation” and will separately investigate what happened.
