James Moore, New York's longest-serving prison inmate, to walk free 60 years after killing 14-year-old Pamela Moss
A western New York state man imprisoned for the past six decades for strangling and raping a teenage girl has been granted parole at age 88.
James Moore, a former landscaper from the Rochester area, is scheduled to be released around June 6, after the state parole board granted him parole after his previous 20 requests were denied, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. The decision came after his most recent parole hearing in late April.
Moore, New York's longest-serving prison inmate, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison for the 1962 killing of 14-year-old Pamela Moss, of Penfield. Authorities said Moore attacked the girl on a trail near her home, strangled and raped her, and dumped her body in a water-filled gravel pit.
While confessing to the killing, Moore told police he had sexually molested at least 17 other girls and admitted he raped a 9-year-old girl, authorities said. According to Moore's confession, the last word spoken by the girl was: "Please…"
"Not only did he confess to his heinous crime, but prior to sentencing, Moore agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison to avoid the death penalty," Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said in a statement.
Doorley said she and her predecessors had opposed Moore's numerous parole requests.
"I am deeply saddened by this news," Doorley said. "It is a disservice to Pamela's family."
Officials said Moore does not yet have an approved post-release residence.
Pamela Moss' brother, Greg, was just 11 when his sister was killed. "Me and my two sisters, we grew up without our older sister and that was very painful," he told told WHAM.
Pamela's parents didn't live to see their daughter's killer released from prison, WHAM reported. Her mother died in 2003, her father in 2006.
Her brother Greg told the station he and his siblings were thinking about their parents after hearing the news.
"My mother took it the worst. She was just very depressed and sad for a bunch of years," he said told the station.
