MURDERED: Bobby Moore

The gist

Bobby Moore's life took a dramatic turn after investigating Judge Louis Sisler's 1974 death in Washington, DC—a case of mistaken identity where a rape victim's family attacked the wrong house. Moore married Sisler's widow Barbara and eventually became town marshal of Fremont, Indiana in 1984. Their marriage deteriorated amid Moore's alcoholism and infidelity allegations, culminating in Barbara's shooting death just three days before their divorce was finalized in February 1988. Moore claimed self-defense, but inconsistencies in his account raised questions that ultimately led prosecutors to dismiss charges. Five months later to the day, someone assassinated Moore in his driveway, a crime that remains unsolved.

Key takeaways

• Judge Sisler died in 1974 when a rape victim's mother and associates mistakenly attacked his home instead of the actual assailant's house; the perpetrator of the original sexual assault was never identified or arrested
• Moore married the victim's widow Barbara just three years after investigating the judge's murder—an unusual circumstance that raised no documented ethical concerns at the time
• Barbara's death on February 26, 1988, contained conflicting evidence: Moore claimed she attacked him with a gun after he broke down a bedroom door, but her daughter (on the phone during the incident) heard no mention of a gun and heard no commotion from the door breaking
• Barbara's medical condition (reflex sympathetic dystrophy) prevented her from leaving fingerprints and may have weakened her grip, but doctors testified she could theoretically still hold a gun
• Moore was reinstated as town marshal two months after his wife's death despite public outrage; the board voted 2-1 in his favor, and someone responded by planting pipe bombs at the homes of the two board members who voted for his reinstatement
• Samuel Sisler, Barbara's son and Moore's stepson, was dismissed from the Indiana State Police in May 1988 reportedly for making comments about wanting revenge for his mother; he allegedly purchased a rifle days before Moore's murder but the gun was never found
• Moore was shot dead on July 26, 1988—exactly five months to the day and hour after Barbara's death—by someone with a high-powered rifle firing from a vacant lot, suggesting premeditation and possible revenge motive
• No arrests have ever been made in Moore's murder despite it being one of only a few unsolved police shootings in Indiana; Captain Kevin Smith of the Indiana State Police continues investigating the cold case

Notable quotes

• Moore's stepdaughter, Barbara Shuford, told him after Barbara's death: "Why did you kill her?" Moore's only response was "I didn't mean to."
• Barbara made a recording three months before her death stating that if something happened to her, "no one should believe that she took her own life. Basically, if I die, look at Bobbie."

Worth a full listen?

Listen to the full episode if you're interested in a genuinely complex case where the victim and accused murderer are both sympathetic in different ways, the evidence is genuinely ambiguous, and the aftermath raises troubling questions about small-town justice and potential vigilante revenge.