In ‘fear,’ teen girl posed as a male

Photo

Ashley Moore, "Saton Brown."

By Ed Runyan

The girl’s mom, 8-year-old brother and unborn brother were killed in Youngstown.

WARREN — She cut her hair from 6 inches to 1 inch to look like a boy.

She ran away from the home in Warren where she lived with her aunt and showed up at the Warren Family Mission, where a pastor took her in, straightened up her odd-looking hair, gave her a meal and called police.

The whole time, she claimed to be Saton D. Brown, a 14-year-old boy, who had been living on the streets for several months. The youth said his parents had been killed.

For a couple of days, the Trumbull County Children Services Board, which took custody of the youth, felt sure that some of the child’s story was not true, so investigators from CSB and the Warren Police Department did some checking.

Finally, on Wednesday morning, after the child’s picture was shown in newspapers, including The Vindicator, and on television, reports flooded into CSB: The boy was actually a girl named Ashley Moore, whose mother and two brothers were killed in Youngstown on July 31, 2007.

The girl’s aunt, Mary Moore, contacted Warren attorney George Kafantaris. Speaking for the family, Kafantaris said Ashley fled from her home because she saw someone in her Warren neighborhood who looked like the man charged with the deaths of her mother and brothers.

The man, Curtis Young, 25, of North Center Street, has been in Mahoning County Jail since last year, however, awaiting a capital murder trial set for January in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

“You might say she overreacted, but she was sitting next to her mom when she was killed,” Kafantaris said. At the time of the killings, police said Ashley would likely testify at Young’s trial.

“For a girl to cut her hair and run away, she must have felt a lot of fear,” Kafantaris said.

Young is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and could land on death row if convicted of certain charges.

Young, who had an on-again-off-again relationship with Helen Moore, is accused of killing her during a dispute near Young’s home.

Youngstown police say Young fired a gun into Moore’s van after a three-vehicle chase involving Young, Helen Moore and Mary Moore. Police said the single shot entered Helen Moore’s neck, killing her, then hit Ceonei Moore, Ashley’s 8-year-old brother, killing him. Helen Moore was also carrying a full-term male child, who also died.

Mary Moore, who according to a Warren police report is Ashley’s legal guardian, filed a missing person’s report on Ashley on Monday, the day after Ashley went to the shelter.

Mary Moore also filed a missing person’s report on Ashley on Sept. 23, police say. The report suggests Ashley returned home after that incident.

Kafantaris said he feels good knowing Ashley is in the protective custody of the CSB. “I think she’s a lot safer than she was before,” he said.

Marcia Tiger, director of the CSB, said she appreciates the public’s help in identifying the child. She said the child will remain with the CSB for as long as necessary and will be protected.

“There is no longer a ‘mystery’ to the story,” Tiger said in a written statement. “It is a tragic account of violence and fear.”

Pastor Chris Gilger, executive director of the Warren Family Mission, said he was shocked to learn that the young person he helped Sunday is actually a girl.

“She walked like a boy and everything,” he said.

Gilger said the 14-year-old looked “real depressed” when she arrived. She was very polite and spoke softly, but the pitch of the voice did not give away her sex, he said.

Because Ashley’s hair had an odd look to it, he gave her a haircut to even it out. He now believes her hair was uneven because she had cut it herself.

Gilger added that a truant officer from Ashley’s school came by this week with a picture of Ashley when she had hair that was about 6 inches long. He said he could tell it was Ashley.

With longer hair, Ashley looked like a girl, he said. “That is the strangest case I have ever seen,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com