Mom Arrested Just Days After Her Public Plea To Help Find Missing 14-Year-Old Daughter
For weeks, Jamie Moore appeared to be in a state of panic and desperation. Her 14-year-old daughter, Jashyah Moore, had left home on October 14 to visit a grocery store near their home in East Orange, New Jersey, and suddenly vanished without a trace. As the investigation dragged on, the mother begged the public for help finding her and insisted that she must have been abducted. But according to local officials, Jashyah was finally found alive and well last week — and now, it's her mother who stands at the center of the investigation.
One theory that floated around earlier this month was that her disappearance might have had something to do with an upcoming court case. According to NBC News, Jashyah's aunt, Yolanda Moore, said the teen was expected to testify before a grand jury in a case against her estranged stepfather, who faces assault charges. The stepfather, who is reportedly an East Orange police officer, is said to have struck Jashyah last year, though NBC News could not independently confirm that.
According to prosecutors, Jashyah was initially reported by her mother as a runaway and not a missing child — hence the delay in issuing an Amber Alert. According to PIX 11 News, Jamie Moore immediately challenged that statement, insisting that it simply "wasn't true," but it's hard to dispute the paper trail.
Investigators learned that the teen reportedly spent time at various places throughout New Jersey for several weeks before ending up in a Brooklyn shelter and then traveling to Harlem, where she was found. All the while, she did everything she could to escape detection — including cutting off all her gorgeous hair. In the end, though, a passerby still noticed her, thanks to heightened media coverage surrounding the case.
"It appears that Jashyah was a runaway," Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens said during a press conference Friday morning. And, most telling of all, Stephens said she appeared to be "more comfortable where she was" and didn't wish to go home.
On Friday afternoon, 39-year-old Jamie Moore was arrested and charged with child endangerment.
Specifically, she faces allegations of physical abuse and neglect, which are believed to have led to Jashyah's disappearance.
The arrest may come as quite a shock to those who've been following the case from the beginning — especially because it was Jamie Moore who led the charge in asking police and the public to find her daughter. But after speaking with Jashyah and conducting a more thorough investigation into her home life, it's clear that authorities have learned there was more to this story than originally met the eye. (For one thing, prosecutors discovered that the teen wasn't even enrolled in school at the time of her disappearance.)
Both Jashyah and her 3-year-old brother have been removed from Jamie Moore's custody and are safely in the care of child protective services.
