The last:
Police say Malek Moore, the man accused of killing a woman at an art studio in NoDa, has died of apparent suicide.
Moore was found unconscious in his cell on Wednesday around 4:34 a.m. and was pronounced dead minutes later, according to a press release.
Detectives say Moore was serving an eight-year prison sentence as a habitual criminal after being convicted in Guilford County.
Original story (9/14/21):
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Local police and the FBI have worked tirelessly to search for the man accused of a wave of crimes that includes the murder of a 29-year-old woman at an art studio in NoDa, killing a 21-year-old man in Greensboro, assaulting a woman along the Little Sugar Creek Greenway in Charlotte and breaking into The Exchange at 36th North Davidson Street.
Malek Moore was taken into custody Thursday, September 9 in Greensboro, North Carolina, authorities said. Police said officers from the Greensboro Police Department’s Violent Criminals Apprehension Team arrested Moore around 1:30 p.m. on East Market Street after receiving a call about a suspicious resident of a resident.
Moore was extradited to Charlotte and placed in Mecklenburg County Jail just after midnight on September 14. He first appeared in a Mecklenburg county court on September 14. He faces the following charges in Mecklenburg County: first degree murder, first degree kidnapping, first degree burglary, break and enter, break and enter after break and enter, second degree kidnapping and minor assault on a woman.
Moore is charged with the murder of Gabryelle Allnutt on September 5 on East 22nd Street in Charlotte. Police also said Moore murdered Christian Mbimba, 21, on September 3 on Patterson Street in Greensboro.
“There is a dangerous individual that we want to get off the streets and we want to get him off the streets as fast as possible,” CMPD captain Jim McNally said at a press conference as Moore was still wanted.
The FBI says Moore has been identified as the suspect in several violent crimes against aliens since September 2. While Moore was on the run, authorities posted notice boards around the Charlotte area with some of Moore’s previous photos.
Police said Moore was using the rail system to travel. Police said Moore did not know any of his victims.
“It’s terrible. It’s sad that it must have happened,” said Kevin Samuel, owner of Exchange at 36th.
Police believe that after Allnutt’s murder Moore broke into the Exchange on 36th Street. Samuel posted surveillance footage on Instagram showing someone walking through the front door and stealing a cash register.
“Our door basically looked like what had happened on the street,” Samuel said.
Court records show Moore was just released from prison on August 20 after serving more than eight years on usual break and enter charges. Moore is on the run from parole, but now faces additional murder charges and other crimes.
Allnutt was found unconscious just before 6 a.m. on September 6, according to CMPD. Allnutt was an art professor at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, according to an Aug.15 Facebook post.
She was staying in Charlotte after clearing the passage of Hurricane Ida. She posted a message on Instagram thanking the community for providing “shelter, friendship, employment and peace in such an unforeseen and financially devastating situation for most”.
The wave of crimes had a major impact on the narrow community of Noda.
“It’s horrible,” said Joey Hewell, co-owner of the Noda Company Store, “it’s really one of those things that a tight-knit community known for its art and diversity, someone would come and do. something like that.”
