Bio

John Glenn Moody was born on October 17, 1952. By 1988, Moody was living in Texas and had recently been released on parole. Moody had done yard work and cleaning jobs for Maureen Maulden before the murder. Maulden had paid him for cleaning and yard work in April and May 1988. Because of this, he was known to her and had access to her home through prior work.

At the time of the murder, Moody was a parolee. He had been released from prison only months earlier after serving part of a burglary sentence. The case later drew attention because Maulden, an elderly widow, had hired him for small jobs without knowing the full extent of his criminal history.

Murder Story

On or about July 3, 1988, John Glenn Moody entered the home of 77-year-old Maureen Louise Maulden in Abilene, Texas. Maulden had previously hired him to do yard work and cleaning. Court records state that neighbors saw a vehicle resembling Moody’s wife’s car driving slowly through the neighborhood and parked in Maulden’s driveway on the day of the murder.

Maulden was attacked inside her home. She was sexually assaulted and strangled with a telephone cord. Court records state that her body was found nude, with the telephone cord wrapped tightly around her neck. Her house was also in disarray, and her purse, wallet, and two rings were missing.

Maulden’s sister found her body on the evening of July 4, 1988. The evidence showed that the attack involved sexual assault, robbery, and murder. A later federal court summary described Maulden as a 77-year-old widow for whom Moody had occasionally done yard work.

On July 5, 1988, Moody was arrested by local authorities on an unrelated public intoxication charge. At the time of that arrest, he had Maulden’s two missing rings in his possession. Investigators also found a bloody fingerprint on a telephone inside Maulden’s home. The blood was connected to Maulden, and the fingerprint was identified as Moody’s.

These pieces of evidence became central to the prosecution’s case. The missing rings linked Moody to property taken from Maulden’s home, and the bloody fingerprint placed him inside the crime scene. Witness evidence about a vehicle resembling the one Moody used also supported the case against him.

Moody was tried in Taylor County, Texas. On February 28, 1989, a jury convicted him of capital murder and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and death sentence in 1992.

Moody continued filing appeals after his conviction. His claims included arguments about competency and expert testimony related to future dangerousness. In 1998, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of federal habeas relief.

John Glenn Moody was executed by lethal injection in Texas on January 5, 1999. His final statement included an apology and a request for forgiveness from those affected by his actions.

The case remains a Texas capital murder case involving the rape, robbery, and strangulation of an elderly widow by a parolee who had previously worked for her. The verified evidence included possession of the victim’s missing rings, a bloody fingerprint at the crime scene, and witness testimony connecting Moody to the area of the home.