[chris]

Robert Arthur Moses was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the January 13, 2015, shooting death of his former wife, Anna Moses, 43, at her home in Frisco, Texas.

Anna grew up in Russia and moved to the United States after meeting Robert. They married, and he raised her young son as his own. Anna worked as a statistical analyst in the strategy department at the University of Texas at Dallas and was a master's degree student. After their March 2013 divorce, Robert rented a room in a house with three other men while Anna remained in the family home. Friends testified that Anna did not tell them after the divorce that she feared Robert. A co-worker testified that after a December 2012 incident in which police responded to a 911 hang-up call at the house, Anna came to her home and said she feared Robert would kill her that night. Anna had been dating a man she met online. Robert was 63 when arrested.

Anna left work at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 2015. Surveillance video showed her leaving the university garage at 5:07 p.m. and buying food at a Taco Bell drive-through at 5:37 p.m. Investigators concluded she was killed at home between about 5:50 and 5:55 p.m. After she failed to report to work on January 14, officers conducted a welfare check and entered the house at about noon. They found her body on the garage floor, still wearing her coat and scarf, with her purse and scattered mail nearby. Her car was missing. She had been shot seven times. An appellate opinion described three wounds in front, three in back, and one that did not penetrate the skin. The Collin County District Attorney's office described three shots to the back, two to the chest, one to the throat, and a seventh that grazed her. Eleven cartridge cases were recovered, and the bullets were consistent with .22 long rifle ammunition.

Shortly before midnight on January 14, Texas Ranger Rueben Mankin and Frisco Detective Brian Tschudy went to Robert's residence. They saw a bandage on the back of his right hand with a stain consistent with blood. Robert agreed to go to the police station and answer questions. He said he had spent the day at home watching football before going to a Twin Peaks bar, where video showed him from 7:06 to 7:57 p.m. No one could confirm his whereabouts between 6 and 6:30 p.m. He consented to searches of his room, phone and guns and provided a DNA sample. His .22 firearms were tested and excluded as the murder weapon.

At about 1:50 a.m. on January 15, an officer found Anna's car, which had been reported stolen, parked a couple of blocks from her home. Blood-like stains were found on the driver's seat. DNA testing could not exclude Robert or Anna as contributors, while the other men tested were excluded. Robert said he could not think of a reason his blood would be in the car. During a second interview on January 28, 2015, he said he had last been in the car when he fixed a broken water pipe in the garage. Detectives also learned that after Anna's death he asked about her accounts, passwords and jewelry. Her son was the beneficiary of a $750,000 life insurance policy. Robert was arrested on February 26, 2015, and charged with murder.

A Collin County jury heard the case from October 25 to November 3, 2016. The defense argued that investigators had done poor work and overlooked other men in Anna's life. A locked desk drawer contained Anna's notes about her fear of a divorce fight, including that Robert said he would kill himself and blame her. The jury found Robert guilty of murder and assessed punishment at life in prison. The District Attorney's office announced the life sentence on November 4, 2016. The Fifth Court of Appeals at Dallas affirmed the conviction on August 23, 2018, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused discretionary review. Later pro se challenges failed, including an appeal dismissed for want of jurisdiction on February 6, 2024.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 122 minutes. It presents the interview itself and begins with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

[chris]

Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

[chris]

Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.