SILVER SPRING, Md. — A Hyattsville man has been arrested for his role in a violent home invasion and robbery that happened 18 years ago in Silver Spring, according to detectives with the Montgomery County Police Department.
According to police, the initial investigation began around 9 p.m. on January 22, 2003, when officers responded to an apartment in the 9100 block of Piney Branch Road for a reported home invasion.
Investigators determined that a 31-year-old father was at home with his three young children and his wife when suspects with handguns, who identified themselves as police officers, came to the front door. They threatened the father and forced themselves into the apartment.
The suspects threatened the family and bound them with duct tape. Police said the husband was stabbed, bleach was poured on him, and threatened to cut out his eyes. The suspects also heated up a knife on the stove and held it to the husband's neck.
They even threatened to shoot the two children, who were 5 and 7 at the time.
Two and a half hours after the suspects entered the home, the father's 22-year-old brother came into the apartment. He was similarly tied up with duct tape and bleach was poured on him, according to police. The suspects stole property and took off.
The homeowners eventually freed themselves and called 9-1-1.
During the course of the investigation, detectives found socks at the apartment that they learned the suspects had used to cover their hands during the crime. The socks and additional evidence were collected on the scene.
Nearly two decades later, on March 22, 2021, the Montgomery County Police Department's crime lab received a notice through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) that DNA found on one of the socks matched that of 48-year-old Stacy Howard Moore.
"Your heart drops," the victim's daughter told WUSA9. "I can't believe it's happening."
The 22-year-old daughter, who only wanted to be identified by her first name Jazmin, remembered when the suspects barged in. She was five years old at the time and remembered one of the culprits sticking a gun against her head.
"They took us and put us behind the couch and covered us with a blanket and proceeded to hit my dad him," Jazmin said. "One of those instances, I decided to run out of the blanket and the guy pulled me out of the bedroom and carried me at gunpoint."
The father, who only wanted to go by his first name Adalberto, said the family felt so unsafe they moved around six times.
"Well it changed your life totally," Adalberto said. "You have to move place to place because you don't know if someone is following you."
He admits he felt excited when he learned about the arrest and hopes to get a piece of his life back.
On April 2, investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Moore charging him with first-degree burglary, the use of a handgun during the commission of a felony, three counts of armed robbery, five counts of first-degree assault, and five counts of false imprisonment.
Moore was arrested on April 22 and is being held without bond.
Detectives are still working to find the two other suspects in this case, and ask anyone who may have information to contact the Major Crimes Division at 240-773-5100.