Man pleads guilty to neighbor’s murder and had funeral pamphlet with victim’s name in his home

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former police officer in South Carolina has pleaded guilty to killing his neighbor after investigators found a trove of physical evidence tying him to the crime, including bloodstained clothing and a funeral pamphlet in his home with “RIP Oscar” and “you should love your neighbor” written on it, authorities said.

Justin Rawlins Moody, 43, was sentenced to 34 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to murder shortly before his trial was set to begin in Greenwood County, Solicitor David Stumbo said in a statement.

The girlfriend of 48-year-old Oscar Rubio found him dead in his Ware Shoals home in May 2023, shot in the head and in the chest, deputies said.

Neighbors told officers who responded to the shooting that Rubio and Moody had recently been arguing and said Moody borrowed money from his neighbor in the past. Moody refused to come out of his home for deputies until one he knew arrived.

When Moody spoke to investigators he said he didn’t kill Rubio, but knew an extraordinary amount of information about what happened, Stumbo said.

Officers then asked him how he knew so much and Moody “claimed to be God and could hear the thoughts of other people,” Stumbo said.

Deputies found the gun used to kill Rubio in Moody’s bedroom, blood spattered on pants hanging on a kitchen chair, boots in Moody’s home that matched a distinct footprint in blood at the victim’s house, thousand of dollars in cash belonging to Rubio and keys to his vehicle — as well as the funeral pamphlet with “RIP Oscar” and “you should love your neighbor” written on it, prosecutors said.

Moody worked as a law enforcement officer for at least six different South Carolina agencies starting in 2006, according to records from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.

He worked for four years in Laurens County, a year in Greenville County and nearly three years in Richland County during two stints before appearing to leave law enforcement for good in October 2018, according to his records.

None of the agencies reported that Moody was fired or said he shouldn’t be hired anywhere else, the records show, although one agency was upset that he left after less than five months and took a job with another agency.

By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press