Kathleen Dorsett

Case record: Kathleen Dorsett

Background

Kathleen Dorsett was an elementary school teacher and an Ocean Township woman.

Kathleen Dorsett and her ex-husband, Stephen Moore, were married in 2007 and separated two years later when he moved in with his ailing mother in Manchester. During their divorce, the couple fought about the baby’s care, custody and parenting time. Moore initially was not permitted overnight visits with their daughter but was granted visits as part of the June 2010 divorce. The girl was living with Moore’s mother, Evlyn Moore.

A custody battle developed over their 20-month-old daughter Elizabeth during the period before Stephen Moore was killed.

Thomas Dorsett ran a refrigeration business. Lesley Dorsett was Kathleen Dorsett’s mother and co-defendant.

The offence

On Aug. 16, 2010, Stephen Moore dropped off their daughter Elizabeth at Kathleen Dorsett’s Ocean Township home. Authorities said Moore was sent to the back of the residence to pick up tools, and that Kathleen Dorsett lured him to the back of the residence while her father waited in bushes.

Authorities said Thomas Dorsett leaped from behind bushes and smashed Stephen Moore’s head with a heavy metal object. Investigators said Moore was then choked with a rope before his body was dumped in the trunk of Stephen Moore’s mother’s car.

Stephen Moore’s body was later found in the trunk of Evlyn Moore’s burning vehicle. Prosecutors said the body was found two days after he was killed, after firefighters extinguished the car fire in Long Branch.

A 2001 Nissan Altima was involved. Authorities said the car had been taken to the Seaview and Long Branch avenues area in Long Branch and set ablaze.

During the sentencing proceedings, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Director of Investigations Marc LeMieux recounted that Kathleen Dorsett assured a neighbor nothing was wrong and blocked the neighbor’s view with her body and told the neighbor to shut the window as screams occurred.

Kathleen Dorsett and her father then loaded Moore’s dead body into the truck of a car that later was set on fire in Long Branch.

Investigation and pre-trial events

Stephen Moore, 42, of Manchester, disappeared after dropping off his 20-month-old daughter at his ex-wife’s house on Lockwood Place in Ocean Township at around 7 a.m. on Aug. 16. Colleagues alerted police when Moore did not show up for work that morning.

Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin said the death was investigated as a homicide. Valentin declined to say whether a weapon was used and declined to say where the killing occurred or how the fire was set at the time details were initially described.

Investigators sought information about anyone who may have seen the Altima between Aug. 16 and Aug. 18 or had conversations with any of the suspects leading up to Moore’s death and the suspects’ arrests. Valentin said investigators were trying to determine where the Altima had been during those two days before it turned up ablaze at Long Branch and Seaview avenues in Long Branch, and said it was possible someone could have been driving the car for two days with the body in the trunk.

Authorities said Kathleen Dorsett was charged with one count of murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence in Stephen Moore’s death. Bail was set at $1.5 million, and she was being held in the Monmouth County jail in Freehold.

Arrest and charges

Kathleen Dorsett was arrested early on Lockwood Place near her home. She was charged with one count of murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence. Additional charges were later described as part of the case proceedings, including arson-for-hire and conspiracy to commit arson as filed against Thomas Dorsett, with Dorsett’s later plea involving additional counts.

Court papers and later proceedings described that while in jail, Kathleen Dorsett and her mother, Lesley Dorsett, planned a murder for hire plot to kill Stephen Moore’s mother, Evelyn Moore.

Kathleen Dorsett also pleaded guilty to murder on May 9, conspiracy to desecrate human remains and attempted murder.

Trial and guilty plea

Kathleen Dorsett pleaded guilty to murder, conspiracy to desecrate human remains, and attempted murder.

During the plea and sentencing proceedings, it was described that Kathleen Dorsett and her parents had previously pleaded guilty to charges in Stephen Moore’s death. She and her mother also entered guilty pleas to conspiring to murder Moore’s mother to keep her from testifying against them and to stop her from gaining custody of Kathleen Dorsett’s daughter.

Kathleen Dorsett directed a statement to state Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. and to the cameras in the courtroom. She said:

“I'm so deeply sorry for all the pain I've caused to Stephen's family and all the lives I've destroyed,”

Kathleen Dorsett denied the plot was over custody, and Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. said it was “exactly what this was over – control.”

Sentencing

Kathleen Dorsett was sentenced on August 8, 2013.

Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr. sentenced Kathleen Dorsett to a total of 58 years in prison. In the described plea agreement framework, she received:

• 30 years in prison on a murder charge
• 20 years in prison on an attempted murder charge
• eight years in prison on a conspiracy to disturb human remains charge, all to run consecutively

The case was described in court as a matter of manipulation and control.

Judge Mellaci said a presentence interview showed signs of a “narcissistic individual.” Mellaci also said:

“[Kathleen Dorsett] states that she’s sorry and she never meant for any of this to happen. I don’t believe that,”

Mellaci continued:

“It’s not been less than two or three times I have seen her in my courtroom, including today, where the crocodile tears get turned on and off almost on cue. As Mr. Lemieux was speaking and saying certain things you’re looking at me shaking your head mouthing ‘that’s not true’ as if trying to manipulate this court.”

Mellaci further said:

“Mr. Dorsett may have swung the murder weapon, but through her manipulation, Kathleen put the idea and the weapon in his hands,”

Mellaci also described the case:

“This is a narcissistic individual. Her crocodile tears get turned on and off seemingly at will,”

and:

“This is really an American family tragedy on so many levels, and the responsibility for it falls mainly on this defendant's feet.”

Kathleen Dorsett did not admit the plot was over custody; the judge characterized the case as about control and manipulation over her daughter.

Statements and quoted material

During sentencing, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Director of Investigations Marc LeMieux displayed pictures of Stephen Moore’s body inside the car’s trunk that drew gasps from the packed gallery, and he read a statement from Evlyn Moore.

Evlyn Moore’s statement included:

“cold-blooded killers”

She also wrote:

“How does she tell her friends? When she falls in love, how does she tell her future partner?”

and:

“I feel that Stephen has gotten justice today.”

Outside court, Evlyn Moore said:

“Knowing this amazing team from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has gotten me through,”

and:

“I love them all, I don’t know what I would have done with out them, I will never forget them.”

Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Marc LeMieux said:

“The absolute intention behind this plea was to make sure that both Kathleen and Thomas would no longer be on the street,” “We feel that we’ve accomplished that.”

Timeline

• May 9, 2013 — Kathleen Dorsett pleaded guilty to murder, conspiracy to desecrate human remains and attempted murder.
• Aug. 16, 2010 — Stephen Moore dropped off their daughter at Kathleen Dorsett’s Ocean Township home; authorities said he was lured to the back of the residence where Thomas Dorsett attacked him.
• Aug. 18, 2010 — Stephen Moore’s body was found in the trunk of a burning 2001 Nissan Altima after firefighters extinguished the blaze at Seaview and Long Branch avenues around 4 a.m.
• Aug. 8, 2013 — Kathleen Dorsett was sentenced to a total of 58 years in prison.

Other details

Authorities said Kathleen Dorsett’s daughter Elizabeth was in Moore’s custody after the killing, and later was described as being in Moore’s custody as a 4-year-old.

During the sentencing proceedings, it was described that the Dorsetts planned to murder Evlyn Moore to keep her from testifying and to stop her from gaining custody of Kathleen Dorsett’s daughter.

Kathleen Dorsett told her mother to bring $1,000 down payment to a man she believed was the cousin of a woman she met in jail, who was actually an undercover police officer.

In court descriptions, it was said that Kathleen Dorsett helped her father put the body in the trunk of Evlyn Moore’s car before Thomas Dorsett drove it to Long Branch.