Robert Edward Moore (Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and ABC News screenshot)
A 75-year-old man in Florida accused of beating an 87-year-old to death in a country club parking lot was arrested after authorities were able to positively identify the suspect from a photo published in a newspaper after he hit a hole-in-one at a local golf course. Robert Edward Moore was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person in the slaying of Dean Zook, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies with the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at about 6:41 p.m. on June 28 responded to the Glenview Country Club located in the 3100 block of Glenview Road in The Villages in response to a reported vehicular accident. Before first responders arrived, a woman called 911 from the location and said that her husband had been attacked by an unknown man.
The woman told deputies that her husband — later identified as Zook — was pulling into the lot when he accidentally struck a black Lexus RX350 causing “minor damage.” That’s when the alleged assailant — identified in the document as Moore — approached the couple and yelled “What the hell, you hit my car!” Zook admitted the collision was his fault and offered to exchange insurance information before Moore allegedly struck him “in the jaw with a closed fist.”
“The Victim attempted to put his hands up to defend himself, but was unable to protect himself from the continuing punches thrown by the unknown subject,” police wrote. “The unknown subject then realized the black Lexus RX350 did not belong to him and he left the Victim in search of his actual vehicle without any further word.”
Deputies were unable to locate the attacker, who left the scene before authorities arrived, but surveillance footage showed him wearing a “distinct blue polo shirt with a dark blue collar.” The document states that Moore is 6-foot-2 and approximately 210 pounds while Zook is about 5-foot-8 and weighs approximately 160 pounds.
The victim was conscious when deputies began interviewing him, but said his speech quickly started to slur and he became unsteady on his feet. Medics arrived soon after and transported the victim to Villages Hospital where doctors discovered he was suffering from a brain bleed. He was airlifted to Shands Medical Hospital via helicopter but was already unresponsive by the time he arrived at the facility.
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Zook’s condition continued to decline and he was pronounced dead on July 15 “due to the trauma he sustained from being punched.”
The day after the alleged attack, an anonymous tipster sent investigators a message identifying the suspect as “Bob” and stating he was at a nearby country club earlier in the day. The message also showed a man appearing to be the suspect wearing “the same distinct blue polo shirt.”
Investigators were able to trace the credit card the suspect used to purchase food at the Glenview Country Club which showed the cardholder was “Robert Moore.”
A detective performed a Google search for “Robert Moore” and found an article from the Villages-News from Nov. 8, 2022, “referencing Robert Moore scoring a hole-in-one on Hole #6 at the Tarpon Boil Executive Golf Course.” In the photo, Moore was wearing similar clothing to the suspect seen in the surveillance footage from the deadly assault.
Detectives on July 26 went to Moore’s home where he said he only hit Zook because he believed he was trying to flee after hitting the car Moore believed to be his and further claimed he waited for about 20 minutes for police to arrive after the attack. The surveillance footage allegedly undercut Moore’s claims and he was arrested without incident.
Moore was released after posting $30,000 bond, records show. He is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment before Judge Mary P. Hatcher on Sept.26, 2023.
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