Religion News Blog — New search warrants released Tuesday show a second fingerprint belonging to cult leader Peter Moses Jr. was found on clear tape used to wrap plastic around the remains of a 4-year-old boy.
Search warrants issued by the Durham, NC Police Department last month showed investigators have matched a fingerprint from the graves of a young boy and a woman with Moses, who has been charged in their deaths.
The single fingerprint found on a piece of tape that had been wrapped around plastic bags that encased the body of Jadon Higganbothan was conclusively identified as belonging to Peter Lucas Moses.
News reports variously refer to Jadon Higganbothan as either 4 or 5 years old at the time he was murdered. Warrants state he was 4 years old.
In June, 2011 Moses was charged with first-degree murder in the death of the young boy, who died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Earlier that month Moses — along with six other members of his household — had also been charged in the murder of Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy.
Their bodies were found in a shallow grave at a home a few miles from the Durham home where they had lived with Moses and his followers.
The home is the former residence of Sheilda Evelyn Harris, the mother of Peter Moses. She was among those indicted with the murders along with Moses, as is his brother, P. Leonard Moses and his sister, Sheila Falisha Moses.
Police have referred to Moses as the leader of a polygamous religious cult.
Police and media reports have referred to the group as the ‘Black Hebrews’ or ‘Black Hebrew Israelites.’
Investigators believe Jadon Higganbothan was killed because Moses suspected the 4-year old was a homosexual, like his biological father.
They have also indicated that Antoinetta Yvonne McKoy was shot and killed by Vania Sisk, Jadon Higganbothan’s mother, after McKoy tried to escape from the group’s communal house. Sisk is believed to have been dating Peter Lucas Moses.