Bio

Alvin R. Moore Jr. was born in 1960 and lived in the Shreveport–Bossier City area of Louisiana. At the time of the crime in July 1980, he was about 20 years old. Before the murder, Moore had lived on St. Charles Street in Bossier City, near the home of Aaron and Jo Ann Wilson. He knew the Wilson family because he had previously lived close to them, and he had also worked with Aaron Wilson at the Veterans Administration Hospital.

Murder Story

On July 9, 1980, Alvin R. Moore Jr. went to the Bossier City, Louisiana, home of Jo Ann Wilson, a 23-year-old former neighbor. Moore was with Arthur Lee Stewart Jr. and Dennis Sloan that day. According to trial evidence, property from Wilson’s home, including stereo equipment and a container of pennies, was later found in Moore’s car.

Jo Ann Wilson was stabbed multiple times inside her home. After the attack, she managed to call police and report that she had been stabbed. Officers arrived shortly afterward and found her badly wounded. According to police testimony, Wilson identified “Elvin” as the attacker and described him as a Black man who used to live down the street. Prosecutors treated this statement as an identification of Alvin Moore.

Medical testimony showed that Wilson suffered 13 stab wounds and died from blood loss and shock. The prosecution argued that Moore had raped, robbed, and murdered her. Moore denied killing Wilson and claimed that any sexual contact between them had been consensual.

Moore was arrested around 1:00 a.m. on July 10, 1980. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The Louisiana Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence on May 17, 1982.

Moore continued to deny the killing during his appeals. His case later became controversial because two witnesses who testified against him reportedly recanted parts of their testimony, and another officer later questioned whether Wilson clearly identified Moore. However, these claims did not overturn the conviction. Alvin R. Moore Jr. was executed by electrocution at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola on June 9, 1987. He was 27 years old.