PRESTON COUNTY, W.Va. — A Preston County woman has been accused of murdering her mother with a lethal dose of insulin in 2023.
Investigators from the Grafton Police Department said Kelly Moore, 61, of Arthurdale, was living with her mother, Ethel Moore, 82, in Grafton in May of 2023 when she injected her with 20 units of her own insulin that resulted in her death.
On May 25, 2023, first responders were dispatched to a report of a cardiac arrest at 40 Howard Street in Grafton just before noon. When police found Ethel deceased, Kelly told police her blood sugar was 250 and she gave her some of her own insulin.
Investigators said Kelly seemed put out while being questioned and declared her mother recently had a full hip replacement, had been feeling bad for the last couple days, and her blood sugar was high.
During the interview, Kelly went through the ailments her mother was battling: heart problems, arthritis, and dementia. Investigators said when the subject turned to dementia, Kelly became angered and told police that was why she was living with her mother.
Kelly told police she had a home in Arthurdale, and because she was the only one who was not married, she was designated to take care of their mother.
Kelly also told police about an exchange with her sister from Florida when Ethel told her she was not being taken care of. That resulted in a tense phone call to Kelly from Florida from her sister about the suspected lack of care her mother was receiving.
The autopsy confirmed that Ethel’s cause of death was insulin shock and the manner of death was homicide.
Investigators also said the sister in Florida believed her mother died from complications due to the hip surgery. Kelly never told her sister about the insulin injection.
Moore is charged with murder and is being held without bond in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail.