A West Virginia woman is facing charges nearly two years after authorities claim she poisoned her 81-year-old mother with unprescribed insulin.
Kelly Louise Moore, 61, is accused of murder in the 2023 death of Ethel Moore.
Grafton, about 140 miles northeast of Charleston, police and paramedics responded to a cardiac arrest call at an apartment just before midnight on May 25, 2023.
EMTs arrived and pronounced Ethel Moore dead at the scene, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
Kelly Moore, according to the EMTs, told cops she was diabetic and had been prescribed insulin. She allegedly stated that her mother’s blood sugar was high earlier in the day, so she administered 20 units of insulin. Cops discovered that her mother had not been prescribed insulin by a doctor.
“I think she really killed her,” one of the EMTs told the first responding officer, according to the affidavit.
Cops entered the apartment while the younger Moore was on the phone, telling the person on the other end, “it’s bad.” She appeared “angry and annoyed,” according to police. Ethel Moor’s body lay on a bed in the back bedroom.
Kelly Moore stated that she had not been feeling well due to low blood sugar, so she went to bed around 8:30 p.m. on the night in question.
Her mother was also not feeling well because she was recovering from a hip replacement surgery performed about a week earlier. She also stated that her mother’s blood sugar was “really high.”
“I gave her some of my insulin,” Kelly Moore allegedly told cops.
She went on to describe her mother’s medical conditions, which included arthritis “all over,” heart problems, and dementia. Cops noted that the defendant “seemed very annoyed.”
She allegedly stated that this is “why I’m here with her” and that her mother “had all kinds of s— wrong with her.” Kelly Moore claimed she was “elected” to live with her mother because she was the only one who was not married.
On the day in question, Ethel Moore called her other daughter in Florida and claimed Kelly Moore “wasn’t doing nothing for her,” according to the affidavit. According to the affidavit, the sister called “freaking out” because her mother was not being taken care of.
The defendant checked her mother’s blood sugar twice and discovered it was high both times, prompting her to inject her with insulin in the shoulder. When asked how much she injected herself, she said her doctor told her to take 30 units three times per day.
She gave her mother twenty units. According to cops, Kelly Moore weighs more than twice as much as her mother.
According to the affidavit, when the medical examiner entered the home, the defendant “sat down on the recliner,” covered herself with a blanket, and began sobbing.
The ME took custody of the body and performed an autopsy. In August 2024, prosecutors received the autopsy results, which revealed that Ethel Moore died of insulin shock and the manner of death was homicide.
Kelly Moore never told her sister that she had injected their mother with insulin, so she assumed she died as a result of hip surgery complications. On March 10, detectives spoke with the sister, who gave them the decedent’s death certificate.
Police arrested the defendant last week. She is still in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail without bond.
According to her obituary, Ethel Moore had five children, six grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.
“Ethel never saw a person unless she hugged them,” the obituary reads. “She enjoyed going to Walmart and McDonalds, where she could always find someone to talk to.
Ethel enjoyed relaxing with a good book. She enjoyed spending time with her family and valued the time she had with each of them.”
