Woman Poisoned Ex-Boyfriend; Also Charged in Husband’s Death

A jury today convicted a woman in the arsenic-poisoning death of a former boyfriend. She is also accused of poisoning her first husband and trying to kill her current spouse.

Blanche Taylor Moore, 57, showed no reaction when the murder verdict was read. The sons of victim Raymond Reid, who died in 1986, hugged, and one cried.

A sentencing hearing for Moore was scheduled Thursday, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors said during the four-week trial that Moore was driven by a need for money and that she killed Reid to gain part of his estate.

Defense attorney Michell McEntire said after the verdict that Moore’s strong character had been used against her in the trial.

Moore is also charged with murder in the poisoning of her first husband, James Taylor, in 1973, and with assault for allegedly trying to kill her estranged husband, the Rev. Dwight Moore, after their honeymoon last year.

No trial dates have been set on those charges.

Officials exhumed five bodies while investigating the case, including those of Moore’s father. They found arsenic in his remains, but she was not charged in connection with his death.