Melissa Cody, a 42-year-old white woman who was from out of state, was killed in a shooting in Mobile, Alabama, in the winter of 2022.
On the morning of Wednesday, February 2, 2022, police responded to a report of gunshots at the Days Inn & Suites in the Tillman's Corner area. Arriving around 11:30 a.m., officers found that two people had been shot inside a third-story room. According to the investigation, a man had fired a shotgun from the doorway into the room, striking Melissa in the stomach while she was in the bathroom. A man who was in the room with her, later identified as her husband Jason Cody, returned fire and struck the shooter. Melissa did not survive her injuries.
The investigation into the shooting led Mobile police to identify a suspect. On February 8, 2022, authorities arrested 35-year-old Eric Maurice Moseley Jr., who was also reported as Eric Mosley Junior. He was charged with murder and first-degree burglary in connection with Melissa’s death.
The man who was shot during the exchange of gunfire, alleged to be Moseley, had driven himself to an urgent care facility after the incident.
During a court hearing in March 2022, a police detective testified about the events that may have led to the violence. Prosecutors alleged that Moseley had tracked Melissa to the motel room after being angered by a fake prostitution scam they claimed she and her husband were running. The detective testified that the couple would arrange to meet men for sex, collect money upfront, and then leave without engaging in the act. However, Moseley's defense attorney maintained that his client shot in self-defense and that Jason Cody had fired first.
At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, a judge determined there was enough evidence to send the murder charge against Eric Moseley Jr. to a grand jury. Moseley, who attended the hearing in a wheelchair due to an injury to his foot, was awaiting the next stage of legal proceedings as of March 2022.
