[chris]

Matheau L. Moore was acquitted on August 26, 2022, of two counts of murder and one count of felonious assault in the death of his wife, Emily Noble, after a trial in Delaware County Common Pleas Court in Ohio. There is no conviction or sentence, and he cannot be tried again on those counts.

Noble, 52, was last seen on May 24, 2020, after celebrating her birthday. Moore reported her missing to Westerville police the next morning. Her keys and wallet remained at their home in Westerville, Ohio, a suburb north of Columbus that lies partly in Delaware County. Moore spent months publicly asking for help after searches failed to find her. On September 16, 2020, three local women foraging in woods near the home found her badly decomposed skeletal remains suspended from a tree branch by a USB cord around the neck. A water bottle containing alcohol was at the scene.

The Westerville Division of Police investigated. An examination by Ohio State University's Injury Biomechanics Research Center found perimortem fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage on both sides, along with nasal injuries. The Delaware County coroner's office attributed Noble's death to multiple head and neck injuries. Police consulted strangulation expert Dr. Bill Smock, who concluded the injuries showed a homicide and that the body had been staged to look like a suicide. Westerville Lieutenant Justin Alloway said Smock's opinion was that the scene was staged and that a suicide was not what happened.

Police said Moore declined to participate in multiple searches and stopped cooperating with detectives. Detective Steve Grubbs later said no DNA or blood evidence connected Moore to the death. Moore denied harming Noble throughout the investigation. The date of the recorded police interview has not been established. When officers arrested him on June 17, 2021, he said, "They're making a mistake. This is a mistake. I am innocent."

A Delaware County grand jury indicted Moore, who was 50 when arrested and 51 by the time of trial. Jury selection began on August 16, 2022. Prosecutor Mark Sleeper argued that Noble was seeing a therapist, exercising and preparing to return to work, and had no reason to take her own life. The defense argued that she died by suicide after a run of family losses. Defense forensic anthropologist Heather Garmin testified that the fragile neck bones could have broken under the body's weight in a hanging. The jury found Moore not guilty on all three counts after deliberating just under three hours.

Several family deaths preceded Noble's disappearance. Moore's teenage son from a previous relationship, Noble's stepson, died by suicide in 2019. Noble's first husband had also died by suicide, and her mother died in a car crash. Moore acknowledged marital trouble after his son's death and said the relationship had improved before Noble died.

Three board-certified forensic anthropologists who later examined the state's reliance on Smock said his conclusions were stated more firmly than the evidence supports. No one else has been charged in Noble's death.

The video is about 135 minutes of police interview-room footage released by Westerville police. It presents the interview itself, without narration or a presenter.

[chris]

Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.