Texas police have made an arrest in connection with the May murder of 18-year-old Lakaria Moore — two days after the man suspected of killing her shot and killed himself as police closed in on him at a Lubbock motel.
Tahdeejah Washington-Harris, 29, was arrested early Wednesday and charged with hindering the apprehension or prosecution of a known felon, according to KCBD.
Moore was found dead on May 22 just outside Lubbock after vanishing the day before, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Police said at the time she was last seen with 39-year-old Christopher Carter and named him a suspect after Moore’s body was found in the trunk of his vehicle, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported.
They also executed a search warrant at his home and launched a search for him. On July 30, Lubbock police responded to a tip that Carter was at the Stadium Motel, KCBD said. They surrounded the motel beginning at 10:30 a.m. and tried to get Carter to come out, negotiating through another man inside the room.
Just after 1:30 p.m., a man came out of the room and told officers there was a dead man inside. Officers entered the room and found Carter dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound.
Washington-Harris is accused of helping Carter evade arrest, KCBD said. It’s not clear if he was the man in the motel room with Carter when he shot himself.
The investigation revealed the Carter shot Moore in the front yard of his home after they attended a party together, according to the Avalanche-Journal. Police found a bloody blanket and towels in a dumpster behind the house and five spent shell casings inside the home.
Neighbors reporting hearing gunshots the night Moore disappeared, and police obtained a statement from a witness who said that Carter shot Moore in the front yard and then cleaned up blood evidence from the inside, front entry way of the home.
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[Featured image:Christopher Carter and Lakaria Moore/Lubbock Police Department]
