Adam Moss

Case identification

Adam Moss

The offence

Adam Moss killed Leticia Aguilar, 31; her five children, and Ron Fish, 58. The bodies of Aguilar and her children were found at their Sioux City homes. Ronald Fish’s body was found in another part of Sioux City.

Police said Moss beat all seven to death with a hammer and slit Aguilar’s throat. Authorities said the victims were attacked while sleeping. The children were between the ages of 6 and 12.

The five children were Claudia, 12; Zach, 11; Larry, 9; Lisa, 7; and Michael, 6.

Authorities said Fish was also attacked with a knife and hammer.

Authorities said Moss was the primary suspect and had been living with Aguilar. Police said Moss “definitely knew the victims from both houses, so that's the connection,” and that Moss “should be considered armed and dangerous,” adding that citizens should call local law enforcement immediately.

Investigation

After the bodies were discovered, police identified Moss as their primary suspect.

A warrant was issued early Friday by the Woodbury County Attorney’s Office for Adam Matthew Moss charging him with theft in the first degree. Police said he was wanted for questioning in regard to the homicides.

Authorities believe Moss murdered Fish to steal his car.

Arrest

Police captured Moss a day after the bodies were discovered.

Moss was taken into custody after an all-night search. He was found hiding behind a pile of plywood outside a shack the authorities had been watching.

Sioux City Police Chief Joseph Frisbie said the apprehension occurred at 713 E. 7th street in Sioux City, and that Moss was now in custody and being questioned.

Police said Moss was arrested without a struggle.

Trial

Moss pleaded guilty in Sioux City in October 2001 to seven counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of his girlfriend, Leticia Aguilar, her five children, and businessman Ron Fish, 58.

On September 25, 2001, Moss pleaded guilty to all seven counts. He was accused of beating the children to death with a hammer as they slept and then cutting Aguilar’s throat with a knife before striking her in the face with a hammer.

The judge accepted Moss’ plea and sentenced him to seven consecutive terms of life in prison without parole. Iowa does not have a death sentence.

Woodbury County Attorney Tom Mullen said he doubted whether investigators would ever know the motive.

Public Defender Mike Williams said he had some reservations about Moss’ plea, but that Moss seemed to be, “quite firm in his opinion.”

Moss entered the guilty plea against the advice of his attorney.

Sentencing

On September 25, 2001, Moss was sentenced to seven consecutive terms of life in prison without parole.

Appeals

No appeals were stated.

Outcome

Moss committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell on June 26, 2013.

He was found unresponsive and hanging with a bed sheet around his neck tied to a wall vent in his cell on Wednesday afternoon at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. He had been confined to a mental health unit.

Corrections spokesman Fred Scaletta said medical personnel immediately detached the bed sheet and determined Moss was dead. The Lee County Medical Examiner said the cause of death was asphyxia due to suffocation. Scaletta said the death was under investigation.

Background

Neighbors said there had been an argument at Leticia’s house Tuesday night.

Moss had been living with Aguilar for a couple of months.

Perri Harper, a neighbor of Aguilar’s, said there had been an argument at the house Tuesday night.

Myrtle Cress said Moss and Aguilar both had worked at Smurfit-Stone Container Co., which makes cardboard and paper products.

The company said Moss had quit recently.

Donna Stabile was the babysitter who discovered the bodies.

Stabile said she went to the house when the children did not show up at her house after school. She said that she had a key to Ms. Aguilar’s house and that she used it to enter. Stabile said: “The first thing I noticed was that their 32-inch TV was missing.” She then went upstairs and saw the bodies.

School counselors were called in to comfort schoolchildren after learning five of their classmates were dead. School counselors spoke with children at Everett Elementary School and West Middle School. Everett Elementary principal Michaela Hansen said: “They were truly wonderful kids” and “They were really outgoing and friendly. People liked them. My heart just goes out to that family.” Hansen said: “Words cannot express how badly I feel.”

A statement about trauma appeared: “There is always trauma for kids when a favorite teacher is lost due to sudden death,” and “There's trauma when a parent or close friends are lost. Here we have classmates - and a large number of them - who are dead.”

Neighbors said Moss could be friendly and helpful but had a history of violence.

Moss’s brother filed a restraining order against him last week for assault. Court officials would not explain the cause. It was also said that Moss’s younger brother Jason Moss obtained a restraining order against him for assault, and that Charlene Peterson, a trial court supervisor, said she would not provide details.

Moss’s mother said a former girlfriend, with whom he had a 4-year-old daughter, also had a restraining order against him.

Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Iowa Corrections Department, said Moss was sentenced to a year of probation in 1995 for assault with injury and the next year he was placed on two years’ probation for burglary and theft.

Other details

Moss appeared in court before Woodbury County District Judge Frank B. Nelson.

Bail was set at $7 million.

It was stated that if convicted of a single first-degree murder charge, Moss would face life in prison and Iowa does not have the death penalty.

The judge said a public defender would be appointed for Moss.

He was being held under suicide watch in the Woodbury County jail and isolated for his own safety, Sheriff Dave Amick said.

It was said that Moss “stared at the floor or his hands” as he appeared before the judge, and that he showed no reaction and never raised his eyes.

Amy H Peterson wrote that she was troubled by the event in her city since she first heard of it on Thursday, and that the details were derived from the complaint read at Adam’s arraignment. Peterson wrote: “All we can do is wonder why.”

The narrative included a statement that Moss came back around 3:00 a.m. with a hammer and a knife, killed Claudia, Lisa, Larry, Zach, and Michael, and then fractured Leticia Aguilar’s skull with the hammer, brought it down multiple times, and cut her throat with the knife; it also included that after the killings he put a sign on the door saying the family was on vacation and walked away.

The narrative further described a sequence around Monday night around 8:00 and around 3:00 a.m., and described items in bedrooms and the later discovery by a babysitter, including that Stabile noticed a “32-inch TV” missing.

Peterson wrote: “I have no idea why she let this loser move in with her.” Peterson wrote: “I can't imagine he'd get a fair trial around here, but with CNN, the BBC, and national news coverage of this case, it may be impossible everywhere.”