Fired Tennessee worker shot dead ex-boss and her 9-year-old son before turning gun on himself as cops closed in
A disgruntled worker shot and killed his former boss and her young son last week before turning the gun on himself as authorities closed in on him. The bodies of 31-year-old Jessie Binkley and her nine-year-old son Ezekiel "Zeke" Lacob were found riddled with gunshot wounds inside their home in Bethpage, Tennessee, Friday night. The mother-son duo is said to have been killed by a former worker who shot himself to death as police tracked his whereabouts Sunday morning, WKRN reports. Investigators scoured through evidence gathered at the crime scene and made Kevin Moore, 41, the prime suspect in the double homicide. It emerged that Moore was previously employed in Binkley's family business but had been fired recently. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation briefly added Moore to its Most Wanted List before detectives received a tip leading to his Gallatin residence.
🚨Most Wanted alert 🚨. This fugitive, Kevin Marc Moore, is wanted by the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office for two counts of first-degree murder, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony. 1-800-TBI-FIND. pic.twitter.com/UIv0lpXSTH
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) December 13, 2020
According to WKRN, deputies surrounded Moore's house at around 11 am Sunday. They could hear noise coming from inside. “A tactical team arrived, but the occupant refused to emerge,” Sumner County police said in a statement. “The tactical team served the search warrant, and upon entry, discovered Kevin Moore deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Moore was wanted on several charges in connection to Binkley and her son's deaths, including first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, and possession of a firearm during a dangerous felony.
Loved ones described Binkley as "generous" and "good-hearted." She had recently made a $15,000 donation to the organization Christmas4Kids to sponsor 100 kids, per the report. “I know she truly has the best heart and Zeke, too,” Taylor Rowe, a family friend and founder of local nonprofit Live Love Nashville told WTVF. "He's a monster. They were so goodhearted and he robbed them of that. I don't understand any of it at all."
Ezekiel's shocking death was addressed in a statement by the Jack Anderson Elementary School in Hendersonville, where he was a fourth-grade student.
“It is with our deepest regret that we confirm the loss of Ezekiel Iacob, a fourth-grader, at Jack Anderson Elementary School,” read the statement. “Our entire school district grieves this tragic loss with the Jack Anderson community. Jack Anderson is an extremely close-knit school community and we know that they will come together to support each other during this terrible tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Iacob family during this extremely difficult time.”
"He was goofy, silly, full of life," Jessie's sister Crystal Binkley Jones said of her young nephew in an emotional Facebook post. “When Jessie and Zeke were taken away from us I feel like a little piece of me died that day,” she wrote in a tribute to her deceased loved ones. “A piece of my heart belonged to them and they took it with them.”
That said, authorities are yet to find out what prompted Moore to attack his former employer and her son. Rowe, meanwhile, has set up an online fundraiser to help the family with funeral and related expenses.