Inset: Russell Antonio Moore (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home where Moore allegedly beat his mother to death (WFLA).
A 36-year-old man in Florida was arrested after he was allegedly caught on tape brutally beating his own mother to death with a brick, then telling an emergency dispatcher that he “put her down.” Russell Antonio Moore was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of premeditated first-degree murder and one count of tampering with physical evidence relating to a capital felony in the death of Shambray Lavern Levy, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Moore at about 8:22 a.m. on Dec. 9, called the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and began making statements about “being put down by lethal injection” before stating, “There’s a dead body here” and “I put her down.” He identified himself and said the victim was Shambray Lavern Levy, his mother.
Upon arriving at the home in the 8000 block of Beaty Grove Drive, first responders said they were concerned about the safety of the victim and entered the home to conduct a welfare check. Inside, they found Levy’s body on the floor covered in blood-soaked blankets, noting that she had “visible marbling” and appeared to be in the decomposition process.
A surveillance camera in the home allegedly recorded Moore killing Levy, attacking her inside the home at about 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 6. Investigators summarized the vicious six-minute attack as follows:
“The defendant grabs the victim from behind and throws her onto the tile floor before jumping on top of the victim and violently beating her head with his fists as well as wrapping his hands and arms around her neck and strangulating her. After a few minutes, the defendant lays the victim down and she is motionless on the tile floor face down. The defendant walks out of the [redacted] retrieves a gray in color concrete brick, walks back into the [redacted], stands over the victim and violently throws the brick down into the victim’s head twice. The victim remains motionless from that point forward.”
After killing his mother, Moore allegedly used a shovel to smash the surveillance camera.
One of Levy’s friends told authorities that she had told Levy to put a lock on her door after Levy confided in her about a previous domestic violence incident during which Moore allegedly struck her and threatened her with brass knuckles.
Moore’s sister told police that when she couldn’t get in touch with her mother earlier that morning, she called Moore, who told her, “It’s fine. It’s all been taken care of. They’ll just put me down [with] lethal injection,” the affidavit states.
A short while later, the sister allegedly told detectives that Levy had “recently inherited a substantial amount of money” after Levy’s mother passed away and planned on leaving some portion to Moore “in the event of her own death.”
In a post-Miranda interview, detectives asked Moore where he worked and he allegedly provided an odd response.
“The defendant stated, he lives a ‘normal free life now. Normal life. Till I get what belongs mine. My trust fund,’” he said, according to the affidavit.
Moore also allegedly made spontaneous statements about it being his “constitutional right” for “lethal injection” before requesting a lawyer.
Moore is currently being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing, records show.
