On October 3, 1978, Ida Mae Moses was found dead in her Montgomery County, Virginia, home in Ironto. Her husband discovered her nude body on a bed; an autopsy found she had been shot three times in the head — twice in the face and once in the back of the head — and that seminal fluid was present. The examination also noted she was pregnant. Investigators collected hair, carpet fibers and fingerprints and reported a bag of pennies and a .22 caliber snub-nosed revolver missing from the house.

Police arrested Buddy Earl Justus on October 10, 1978. After being read Miranda rights, he confessed to burglarizing the Moses residence and fatally shooting Ida Moses but denied raping her. Officers recovered a .22 caliber snub-nosed revolver from Justus; ballistics testing matched a slug removed from the victim to that weapon. A witness, Dale Dean Goins, later said Justus had admitted to raping and killing a woman in Virginia and had shown a bag of pennies.

Justus was convicted of capital murder at trial and sentenced to death; that conviction was overturned on appeal because of a jury-selection error, and after a change of venue a new jury again found him guilty and recommended the death sentence, which the court upheld. Does anyone have additional information about Ida Moses or the Ironto community in 1978 that could shed light on this case?