Joshua Moore, a 28-year-old Black male, and his longtime girlfriend, Colamecia McQuirter, 26, were a young couple raising their two children together in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Their life was intertwined with that of Joshua’s mother, Joyce Moore, who lived in an apartment across from theirs in the Belaire community. Each morning, Joshua and Colamecia would knock on her door to take her to work, a daily routine that came to an abrupt and devastating end.
On the morning of Tuesday, July 10, 2012, the couple never appeared. Worried, Joyce went to their apartment in the 1700 block of North Harco Drive. She knocked, but there was no answer. She began banging on the door, trying to pry it open. Finally, she went to a window and peered inside, where she saw both of them lying on the floor.
Joyce climbed through the window and rushed to her son’s side, discovering that he and Colamecia had been shot to death.
Baton Rouge Police detectives arrived at the "Little Vegas" apartment complex shortly before 8:30 a.m. Investigators believed the couple had been killed sometime overnight and noted that a tipster had reported hearing gunshots in the area. At the scene, police found no signs of a break-in, such as a kicked-in door or broken windows. This detail led both police and family to a painful conclusion.
Investigators, including Detective Belford Johnson, came to believe that the person responsible was someone the victims knew and had willingly let into their home. Joyce Moore later stated that there was only one person she could think of whom her son would have allowed inside. While at the apartment, police received a phone call from a witness that pointed them in a particular direction, but the information was not enough to secure an arrest.
Years later, the double homicide remains unsolved, leaving the couple’s children to grow up without their parents. "They want to know when mom and dad is coming back," Joyce Moore said of her grandchildren. As of a June 2016 report, police were still hoping the witness who called from the scene would contact them again to provide the final details needed to close the case. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.
