MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX- A critically injured Laura Martelli clung to life and remained conscious just long enough to tell law enforcement who was responsible for leaving her dying on the filthy pavement of a gas station where she stopped for fuel. It was Monday, October 18, 2021, and it was the last day of 38-year-old Martelli’s life. Her ex-boyfriend, 48-year-old Anthony Dwane Moore made sure of it.
Around 8:30 a.m., Conroe Police responded to the Walden Market Xpress at 16050 Walden Road, where someone reported a woman lay injured after being struck by a vehicle that sped away. CPD Officer Brockett arrived to find medics already on-scene with Martelli, who had sustained massive trauma. Amazingly, she was still conscious and breathing, and alert enough to provide the name and address of her assailant.
Montgomery County Hospital District medics transported Martelli to HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe (formerly Conroe Regional Medical Center) where she was pronounced dead.
Conroe PD Supervisors assigned the case to Detective Vradenburg, who reviewed the store’s security video and found it captured the last of the horrifying attack. According to the Complaint, the video shows what is presumably Martelli’s SUV stopping at a gas pump for a period of time before starting to drive away, and then stopping. Since cameras weren’t available from every direction, some of the events were hidden from view at times.
The Detective states footage shows a suspect walk around the SUV from the passenger side, heading to the driver’s side door. The door is then opened, at which point the Detective can see what appears to be Martelli, lying on the ground outside of the SUV. The suspect gets in the driver’s seat, closes the door, and goes in reverse and backs up, and then shifts to drive and goes forward, “causing the tires of the SUV to strike and drag Martelli”. The SUV then drives through the parking lot, toward Walden Road and flees, leaving Martelli critically injured.
Officer Brockett, who responded to the initial call, listed a black BMW parked at the fuel pump beside where Martelli pumped gas. There was no driver around, and the Texas License Plate showed it was registered to Anthony Moore.
Additionally, Officer Brockett reported receiving a phone call from Spring Valley Police Department in Harris County, where an Officer had taken a report from a woman saying her friend had come to her home and confessed having killed someone. The friend was Anthony Moore, and the reportee said Moore said he strangled and then ran over Laura Martelli. By the time police reached Moore’s friend’s house, he was gone. It would be difficult for Moore to try and relocate and blend in anywhere without being noticed, because he’s 6′ 4″ tall and weighs around 250 pounds.
Police arrested Moore on October 21, 2021, in the 11000 block of Katy Freeway and booked him into the Montgomery County Jail. On January 11, 2022, a Grand Jury indicted Moore on the charge of first-degree Murder.
Anthony Moore pleaded “not guilty”.
Prosecutor Ryan Fuller presented the state’s case in the 221st District Court of Montgomery County, before Judge Lisa Michalk. Moore, with attorney Tay Bond, had chosen a jury trial and jury sentencing.
On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, the Montgomery County jury found Moore guilty of first-degree Murder with Enhancement (vehicle was considered a deadly weapon). They sentenced Moore, now 50, to life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Laura Martelli left behind a 9-year-old daughter, Sophia, who’s now 11 and sentenced by Moore to life without her mother.
Moore’s attorney, Tay Bond, filed an appeal of his conviction and sentence, followed by a motion to withdraw as counsel the day after sentencing. The motion was granted and Moore will now have a court appointed attorney.
