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Matheau Moore: Ohio man, 51, faces life in jail after STAGING wife's murder to look like suicide

Noble was so badly decomposed that authorities had to use dental records to identify her after her body was found hanging from a tree

DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO: A man allegedly murdered his wife and made it look like a suicide. Matheau Moore, 51, stands trial in Delaware County, Ohio. Moore is currently facing life in jail after his wife was found dead hanging from a tree, months after she was last seen alive. His wife Emily Noble, 52, was last seen on her birthday, May 24, 2020. She was reported missing the next day. Her body turned up in a tragic and grisly fashion on September 16, 2020. 

The tree from which she was found hanging was located in a wooded area near her home, reports The Sun. According to 10WBNS, there was reportedly a 20-inch USB cord around her neck. There were multiple injuries to her head and neck. Authorities determined that this was a homicide. Noble was so badly decomposed that authorities had to use dental records to identify her. Prosecutors argue Moore killed her and staged the hanging. They believe Moore killed Noble on either May 24 or May 25, 2020. He faces charges of murder and felonious assault.

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Westerville Police bodycam footage captured the dramatic moment Moore was arrested during a traffic stop in June 2021. Armed officers swooped on his silver car before urging him to get out of the car. He said, “They’re making a mistake. This is a mistake. I am innocent.” 

On May 24, 2020, Noble and Moore visited several restaurants in Westerville as they celebrated her birthday, as revealed on 'The Vanished Podcast'. Moore reportedly woke up that evening to use the bathroom and slept in a separate room as he apparently didn’t want to disturb his wife. He claimed that she left the home without her car, wallet, and cellphone when being quizzed by cops. Moore appeared on 'The Vanished Podcast' a month after she disappeared as he appealed for information, Mamamia reported. He said at the time, “She went missing Labor Day, Monday, that’s when I noticed that she wasn’t there and I called the police.” However, May 25, 2020, was Memorial Day, not Labor Day. Noble’s friend Jeff told 'The Vanished Podcast' that he didn’t believe Moore’s account. He said, “The fact that she went missing and there was no one that saw her leaving, the fact that Matt couldn’t even say that he saw her leave cause in the middle of the night he went to the bathroom and didn’t want to go back to bed, because he didn’t want to wake her up."  He claimed, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Moore’s previous wife Lisa Pedersen told WBNS in a June 2021 report that he once choked her when she was pregnant with their first son. It was New Year’s Day 2001, she said. They had been married for three months. “He came over, and he did, for some reason, he ended up, yeah, putting his hands around my neck,” she reportedly said. “And he started to choke me.” It was the only time he put a hand on her, and they kept in touch throughout the years, Pedersen said. Though they maintained contact, she noted that he, contrary to contemporaneous media reports, claimed to be participating in the search for Noble.

“Once the details were made clear to me, I started to lean toward his guilt,” she said. Both of their sons are now dead, according to WBNS. One of the children reportedly died at 17 by hanging in a park the summer before Noble’s disappearance.