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Police witnesses and an old boyfriend sifted through decades-old memories, documents and pictures Tuesday in a 1999 Gary cold case killing.
Orvall M. McMoore, 58, of Chicago, is charged with 27-year-old Lisa Anderson’s death. She was discovered on Jan. 12, 1999 after her mother hadn’t heard from her.
The case was charged after his DNA was identified under her fingernails decades later — a potential sign she fought back against an attacker.
He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have argued other men’s DNA was also found.
The prosecution’s case is expected to rest largely on police and expert testimony.
Det. Jack Arnold, then a Gary Police officer and a member of the FBI’s Gang Response Investigation Team, which handles violent crimes, said Tuesday he responded to the second floor apartment, 501 Madison St. He was not the lead investigator, he said, but there to help out other officers.
Anderson’s mother Johnnie Anderson was “hard to console,” he said.
He went door-to-door in the building on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14 to speak with neighbors, but found nothing tangible that helped the investigation.
Lawrence Thurmond, a retired Lake County Sheriff’s officer, said it was his first CSI case as a trainee.
As Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz went through crime scene photographs, Thurmond described them.
Blood was found throughout the apartment, including in the bedroom, living room and near the kitchen sink. Anderson’s mother found what appeared to be a steak knife sticking out of her daughter’s neck. Thurmond said it was possible the killer could have gotten it from the dish rack.
Ivan Gregory, 64, Anderson’s former boyfriend, who testified first, said they had been broken up amicably for about two years when she died. He only saw her once afterward, while driving on 5th Avenue. She was near a liquor store.
McMoore, his friend, lived next door to his aunt and he later gave him “a couple of (construction) jobs.”
In 2020, Hobart Police Capt. Nick Wardrip, part of GRIT, asked Gregory for his DNA to rule him out as a suspect. He cooperated.
Gregory told defense lawyer Matt LaTulip he had never been to the building where she was found in her apartment. LaTulip asked if he gave police any tips for the investigation.
“No, not like that,” Gregory responded toward the end of his testimony.
Court records show Gregory told police he thought McMoore might have been in prison around the time Anderson died.
Wardrip wrote the cold case picked up after DNA from one of Anderson’s fingernails was linked in August 2020 to McMoore.
Gary Police responded in 1999 to Anderson’s apartment at 501 Madison St., Her mother and brother Larry Mitchell found her body after they were let in by a janitor. They last saw her on Saturday, Jan. 9, 1999.
Her mother Johnnie Anderson told cops her daughter was lying on her back in bed and still had a knife sticking out of her neck. She also was stabbed in the face and her hands had stab marks as if she was defending herself.
Her mother said she pulled the knife out and laid it on the bed. The Lake County Coroner’s Office later determined Lisa died from stab wounds to her neck and chest. Her death was ruled a homicide.
She was in a bra and nude from the waist down, the affidavit states. One sock was on her left foot, while jeans and her underwear were around her right ankle. She was still wearing a sock and shoe on her right foot.
The apartment was “ransacked.”
An officer wrote there were no signs of forced entry, but a violent scene. Cops found blood splattered all over the apartment, down the hall and in the stairwell.
Drawers were dumped out, a wall was “caved in,” and a chair was broken.
The case is before Judge Samuel Cappas.
