Twelve years after Aliza Sherman’s fatal stabbing in downtown Cleveland, a grand jury charged her former divorce attorney with her murder.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office announced charges against 51-year-old Gregory Moore, including aggravated murder, conspiracy, multiple counts of murder, and kidnapping.
Sherman, a 53-year-old Cleveland Clinic nurse and mother of four, died March 24, 2013, near Moore’s office, COURT TV reports.
The indictment alleges it was part of a plan that was hatched months earlier to kidnap her to avoid having her try her divorce case in court.
As Sherman waited for someone to unlock the doors at Moore’s office building, “an individual who was either Moore or an unknown co-conspirator” approached Sherman, circled behind her, chased her, and then stabbed her more than 10 times, the indictment read.
“The Sherman family has waited over a decade for answers regarding their mother’s homicide,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in a statement Friday. “Through the tenacious work of multiple law enforcement agencies, evidence was accumulated that paints the unmistakable picture that Gregory Moore orchestrated and participated in the brutal murder of Aliza Sherman.”
Friday’s indictment accused Moore of planning to kidnap Sherman to delay her upcoming divorce trial. Unsealed documents showed Moore messaged Sherman and instructed her to come to his locked office. She arrived, waited for more than an hour, then began walking back to her car, according to the indictment.
In 2017, he admitted lying to police about his location during Sherman’s murder and pleaded guilty to falsification. He also confessed to making bomb threats in 2012 to delay court proceedings. That same year, the state suspended his law license, and he resigned it in 2018. Authorities sentenced him to six months in jail. At the time, he expressed regret for his actions.
Prosecutors said his arraignment has been scheduled for a later date.
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[Feature Photo: Aliza Sherman/Handout]
