By Michael Eng | Managing Editor
It’s a small urn, no bigger than a perfume bottle. And inside are the ashes of Kelly Moriarty’s leg, which washed ashore in December 2011, in south St. Petersburg.
The urn sits on a dresser in the Bradenton home of Bud and Grace Moriarty. It’s all they have left of their only daughter. It’s 60 miles away from Plant City — where the Moriartys believe their daughter was murdered nearly a year ago.
This week, the Moriartys scraped together all they could and are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who delivers information that leads to the arrest and conviction of Kelly’s killer. They specifically are interested in anyone in Plant City who may have seen something. Kelly was last seen alive in the Plant City home of her partner, Doris “Pat” Carter, Dec. 16, 2011.
“We don’t think Kelly ever left Plant City alive,” Bud says. “It’s been rough on us, but we just have to hope someone out there knows something.”
NIGHTMARE
It wasn’t uncommon for the Moriartys not to hear from their daughter for a month or more. Although they all resided in Bradenton, Kelly remained private about much of her life.
“I’d call her and say, ‘Call me when you can,’ but that may not be for a month, month-and-a-half,” Grace says. “You have to realize — she was 38. She wasn’t a little girl.”
That’s why, the Moriartys say, that when they didn’t hear from their daughter last Christmas, it didn’t alarm them.
“She spent Thanksgiving with Pat, and then I talked to her in December,” Grace remembers. “We figured she just got busy or decided to spend Christmas with Pat.”
It wasn’t until Kelly’s apartment complex manager called her brother, Brenden, Jan. 27, that the family discovered something was wrong. The manager told Brenden his sister had not paid rent for the month. He then conducted a welfare check and discovered the Christmas tree still standing with unopened gifts underneath.
That’s when the nightmare began.
Brenden reported his sister missing to the Bradenton Police Department. Two days later, Carter’s live-in daughter, Stacy Muralt, reported her mother missing after Bradenton police visit her.
Likewise, Muralt told police it wasn’t uncommon that her mother and Kelly would disappear for long periods of time, so she did not consider it strange that her mother was not home for the holidays.
“Whoever did this had a month’s jump on us and the police,” Bud says.
On March 23, the Pinellas County Medical Examiner’s Office identified a severed leg that washed ashore as Kelly’s.
And then, for seven months, the investigation seemed to stall. The rest of Kelly’s remains are missing, and there has been no evidence recovered of Carter at all.
“I’ve been looking for Kelly every single day she’s been missing,” Bud says. “I’ve written 16 letters to anyone I could think of — the governor, senators, the FBI, FDLE, the Plant City Police Department.
“To me, Kelly, to this day, is not gone,” he says.
The family has not had a memorial service.
“My son asked me why we haven’t had a funeral or anything, and I said, ‘No way,’” Grace says. “She’s still out there, and she’s still with me.”
INVESTIGATION
Several pieces of this case still are unknown. There has been no evidence of Carter, and police still have no crime scene where Kelly was dismembered.
However, several pieces of evidence have the Moriartys convinced their daughter was murdered in Plant City.
“Both Kelly and Pat had cell phones, and the last ping from both came off a tower about one mile north of Plant City,” Bud says. “Then, they both disappeared.”
Furthermore, Kelly’s car was recovered off S.R. 62, in Parrish — 30 miles from Plant City.
“Kelly never would have left her car on the side of the road,” Bud says. “She had law-enforcement training, and if her car had trouble, she would have locked herself and Doris in and called 911, AAA or someone in the family.”
Furthermore, once Kelly’s car was found with no mechanical issues and in drivable condition.
The Moriartys believe their daughter’s murderer or murderers drove the car to another county and abandoned it — perhaps to complicate the case and slow police investigation. Aspects of the crime span three counties.
A flurry of police activity Oct. 25 has renewed the Moriartys hope that their daughter’s killer will be found. Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detectives executed a search warrant on Carter’s Plant City home and left with several bags of evidence, including Carter’s personal belongings, articles of clothing and more.
Sheriff’s Office Det. Larry McKinnon says he is optimistic regarding the case’s progress.
“We are still moving forward; this case is not cold by any means,” he says. “I am confident we’ll get it solved. Our main goal, obviously, is justice for the victim but also closure for the family.”
Records filed with the Hillsborough County Circuit Court also reveal tension between Carter, Muralt and Muralt’s husband, Anthony. After the Muralts lost their home to foreclosure, Carter took them into hers. However, a handwritten note Carter filed in October 2011 suggests she wanted to evict them.
“I, Doris Carter, request my daughter, Stacy Muralt, husband Anthony Muralt [and granddaughter] to vacate my premises immediately do [sic] to an extended length of time undesirable to myself that these individuals have been occupying my residence,” she wrote.
McKinnon says the Muralts, who have been staying in the home since Carter disappeared, have been cooperative.
STRUGGLE
Kelly was by far the best athlete in the family. Growing up in New York, she played competitive softball with the Dutchess Debs.
“We traveled all over the country,” Bud says. “We only missed one game in six years.”
After the family moved to Florida, Kelly finished her softball career at St. Petersburg Catholic High School. According to her parents, Kelly had multiple scholarship offers to play in college, but she turned them all down.
“We traveled to Florida Southern, which had one of the best Division II programs in the country,” Bud says. “They really rolled out the red carpet for her, and we had a great time at a beautiful school.
“Then, when we were on our way home, she just said, ‘I’m not going.’ And that was that,” he says.
Kelly told her sexual orientation to her parents by about age 20. Brenden says that revelation may have caused her to feel uncomfortable and distance herself.
“We grew up in a fairly conservative household with traditional family values,” he says. “And maybe she did struggle with that part of her, with who she was.”
Says Grace: “We didn’t even know Pat’s last name, and I met her only once. When we’d ask, Kelly’s response would be, ‘Why do you need to know?’”
Still, the Moriartys say they remained supportive. Bud and Grace helped pay for Kelly’s massage therapy classes at Florida College of Natural Medicine. Kelly passed her national board exams and harbored dreams of returning to New York to practice. The Moriartys also say their daughter was considering ending her relationship with Carter.
However, until detectives arrest a suspect, the Moriartys remain in a constant state of unrest. Brenden, who has three children of his own, says he cannot comprehend what his parents are enduring.
“As hard as it’s been on me losing a sister, I can’t imagine what my parents are going through,” he says. “It haunts them every day.”
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.
REWARD
Kelly Moriarty’s family members believe she was murdered in or near Plant City. Her parents, Bud and Grace Moriarty, are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who delivers information that leads to the arrest and conviction of their daughter’s killer.
TIMELINE
• Dec. 16, 2011: According to Stacy Muralt, daughter of Doris Carter, she sees her mother and Kelly Moriarty at Carter’s Plant City home for the last time. Muralt says when she awoke Dec. 17, both women were gone and so was Moriarty’s car. Both women had been romantically involved for the past two years.
• Dec. 20, 2011: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spotted Moriarty’s car abandoned on the side of S.R. 62 in Parrish and places a red tag in the window for the owner to move the car.
• Dec. 27, 2011: A severed leg washes ashore behind at 6990 Fourth St. S., in St. Petersburg.
• Dec. 29, 2011: Manatee County Sheriff’s Office impounds Moriarty’s vehicle.
• Jan. 27: The apartment manager at Kelly Moriarty’s community contacts Kelly Moriarty’s brother, Brenden, and explains she has not paid her rent. Brenden Moriarty drives to the apartment complex and conducts a welfare check. Inside the apartment, nothing appears to be disturbed and a Christmas tree is still up with unopened Christmas packages underneath. Kelly Moriarty is reported missing to the Bradenton Police Department.
• Jan. 28: Bradenton Police Department responds to the home of Doris Carter in Plant City and talks with Muralt. She indicates she hasn’t seen her mother since she left with Moriarty on Dec. 16 to 17, 2011. Muralt indicates it was not uncommon for both of them to be away for extended periods of time.
• Jan. 29: Muralt contacts Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and reports her mother missing. Hillsborough detectives start investigating Carter’s disappearance and learn that Bradenton police have an active investigation of Kelly Moriarty. Hillsborough detectives execute a search warrant on Moriarty’s car. No evidence of a crime is found.
• March 23: Pinellas Medical Examiner’s Office notifies that Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office that based on DNA evidence, the severed leg found in December belonged to Kelly Moriarty.
• Oct. 25: Hillsborough detectives return to Carter’s Plant City home to search for more evidence. They leave with several bags, including Carter’s personal belongings, articles of clothing and more.