RIVERTON (WNE) — A Riverton man indicted Sept. 23 on first-degree murder charges has been extradited to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where pleaded “not guilty” Dec. 12.
The murder case is 36 years old.
Willie C. Moore, 61, was arrested by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office Sept. 20 after three years’ contact between the local law enforcement entity and a cold-case detective team from Tulsa.
At his initial appearance in Lander Circuit Court, Moore denied having committed murder.
He told Judge Robert B. Denhardt, “I didn’t have nothing to do with that.”
Fremont County Uundersheriff Mike Hutchison said there were no special challenges in Moore’s arrest, however, when he refused to be extradited, prosecutors sought a governor’s warrant to finish the process.
Once Gov. Mark Gordon compared the identities of the man wanted by Tulsa law enforcement and the local Willie C. Moore, the latter was extradited despite his refusal.
According to the Tulsa Police Department cold case file, on Sept. 18, 1983, Anthony Baltes was found deceased inside a motel room in Tulsa having been tied up and subject to “blunt-force trauma.” Robbery was the suspected motive at the time.
Baltes’s vehicle was discovered near the scene.
The office of Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter filed a press release Sept. 20 crediting DNA technology with the identification of the two suspects: Riverton’s Willie C. Moore, and Erlene Gayle Lee, 58, of Texas.
Lee also was extradited from Texas to Oklahoma. She pleaded “not guilty” in October.
