A 27-year-old mother in Florida will spend the rest of her life in prison after her former stepfather murdered the father of her 4-year-old daughter in front of the child, just hours after a judge granted him split custody.
Rachiel Moore was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday by Santa Rosa Circuit Court Judge Clifton Drake for the murder of 24-year-old Colby Vinson in 2023, according to authorities. Drake imposed the sentence after a jury found Moore guilty of one count of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence.
Moore’s ex-stepfather, 55-year-old Jason Curtis, was found guilty of first-degree murder in May 2024 for shooting Vinson to death. He was also sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Moore had been communicating with Curtis “all week” before Vinson’s murder, “in reference to Curtis driving down from Alabama to kill Colby Vinson,” according to a news release.
“Moore paid Curtis gas money to make the trip and provided all of Colby’s personal information for Jason Curtis to identify, locate, and murder Colby Vinson,” according to the announcement.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, on the night of March 19, 2023, deputies from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported shooting at an apartment complex in the 7700 block of Navarre Parkway in Navarre, Florida, about 170 miles west of Tallahassee.
First responders arrived at the scene to find Vinson lying on his back on the concrete just outside his front door. He appeared to have received a gunshot wound to the face and was declared dead at the scene. Vinson’s 4-year-old daughter was found next to the body, according to authorities. She was unharmed.
Investigators first contacted Moore’s godmother. She explained that Moore was Vinson’s child’s mother, and the two had fought bitterly over custody, which had recently resulted in Vinson being granted split custody of the child. In fact, Moore’s godmother told detectives that the day he was killed was the first time “in approximately one year that Vinson was able to see [his daughter] and have her sleep at his residence,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
Moore allegedly told detectives from the Major Crimes Unit that after losing the custody dispute with Vinson, she had an ominous conversation with Curtis, whom she referred to as “Booger.”
Moore allegedly stated that when she informed Curtis of the outcome of the court hearing, “he sent her pictures of knives/guns through Facebook Messenger,” according to the affidavit.
“Rachel [Moore] thanked [Curtis] for making her feel better, and later would delete her Facebook Messenger app because it looked bad having this conversation with him,” according to a document. “Last night (3/19/2023) [Curtis] called [Moore] at approximately 10 p.m. and stated she did not have to worry about it, everything was fine, he had to go, and he had to put his ‘a—’ in the wind.”
Moore stated that when she spoke with Curtis, he sounded “excited,” and she promised that she “would pay him $50 in gas.” She allegedly told police that she knew the situation “looks bad for her,” but she didn’t believe Curtis would harm Vinson.
Curtis’ vehicle was tracked down by investigators, who apprehended him in Alabama. Sheriff Johnson stated that when investigators searched the vehicle, they discovered what they believe to be the murder weapon, as well as a piece of paper containing Vinson’s physical description and addresses for home and work.