Wife of Maple Valley man killed in hit-and-run pushes to prosecute teen suspect as adult

The wife of a Maple Valley man killed in a hit-and-run incident in July is calling on the King County Prosecutor’s Office to try the 15-year-old girl suspected of the crime as an adult.

Deputies identify 15-year-old girl as suspect in Maple Valley hit-and-run

The teen was said to have been behind the wheel of a relative’s car with friends, allegedly swerving the vehicle into 53-year-old Greg Moore. Moore was out for a run along the shoulder of the road, and was found after being struck just after 6 a.m. on the morning of July 18.

Based on a statement from a family member who overheard the teen speaking to her friends about the incident, the girl was allegedly “laughing about the way that Greg went up in the air,” his wife Michelle described to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

“I don’t know that there are any words for that,” she said. “It’s sickening, it’s grotesque — it has made me lose my faith in humanity.”

Because the girl is a minor, she faces up to six years in jail if convicted. Michelle’s hope is that additional forensic evidence from a phone belonging to one of the teens involved will help prove to prosecutors that the suspect intended to kill Greg, and therefore should be tried as an adult instead.

“(Prosecutors) said that she had the intent to hit him, but not necessarily the intent to kill him, which is asinine,” she said. “Anyone above the age of 8 knows … if you hit a small person with a 3,000-pound car, the chances are pretty good that they’re going to die.”

“If there is evidence that she intended to kill him, then they will consider trying her as an adult,” she added. “But short of that, you know, your listeners could have a parade down First Avenue and call and email and take out billboards all over the city — it’s not going to (make a) difference.”

The King County Prosecutor’s Office noted in a statement to KIRO 7 that “there’s understandable frustration and this feeling that we don’t care about this case when we do.”

The statement further notes that because the suspect is a minor with no prior criminal record, any attempt to charge her as an adult with the current evidence in hand would likely get struck down by a judge. Even so, Michelle remains disheartened regarding how the legal process has played out.

“It’s a disgusting situation and I feel abandoned by the legal system,” she said. “It shouldn’t be like this.”

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.