A West Virginia woman faces three to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing her 81-year-old mother by injecting her with unprescribed insulin.
Kelly Louise Moore, 61, was initially charged with murder for Ethel Moore’s death in 2023, but she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter earlier this month.
“Kelly L. Moore got upset and gave her mother 20 units of insulin in which her mother while a diabetic did not have a prescription for and caused the death of her mother,” according to the plea arrangement.
Kelly Moore was originally charged with murder, but prosecutors determined that she lacked malicious intent.
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“It was not planned. Taylor County Prosecutor John Bord told Law&Crime that his office offered the plea agreement without malice.
The prosecutor expressed concern that a jury might convict the defendant of involuntary manslaughter, a misdemeanour. Another issue, according to Bord, is that West Virginia law does not classify insulin as a poison.
Bord claimed Kelly Moore “flew into a rage” while arguing with her mother and injected her with insulin. Although they both had diabetes, only the younger Moore was prescribed insulin.
“It put her in shock,” Bord said.
Kelly Moore immediately dialled 911.
“I think afterward she regretted what she did,” Bord told me.
Prosecutors will prepare a pre-sentencing report and then schedule a hearing where a judge will decide Kelly Moore’s fate.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, police and paramedics in Grafton, approximately 140 miles northeast of Charleston, responded shortly before midnight on May 25, 2023, to a cardiac arrest call at an apartment. EMTs arrived and pronounced Ethel Moore dead on the scene, according to the probable cause arrest affidavit.
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.
“I think she really killed her,” one of the EMTs told the first responding officer, according to the affidavit.
Cops entered the flat while the younger Moore was on the phone, telling the person on the other end, “it is bad.” She appeared “angry and annoyed,” according to police. Ethel Moore’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 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 stated that this is “why I am 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 of her siblings who was not married.
On the day in question, Ethel Moore called her other daughter in Florida and claimed Kelly Moore “was not 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. Police reported that Kelly Moore weighed 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.
According to her obituary, Ethel Moore had five children, six grandchildren, and a number of 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.”
