Killing of Ramona Moore

Ramona Moore, a 35-year-old Guyanese American woman, lived on Jefferson Place in the Claremont neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City, in a Section 8 house managed by building superintendent Nasean Bonie. In early 2012, three of Moore's four children were removed from her home and placed in foster care after the city's Administration for Children's Services found evidence of neglect. Around the same time, Moore told a neighbor that Bonie was attempting to extort money from her under the guise of rent disputes. On July 12, 2012, Bonie beat his wife, Krystal Campbell, with a tray table, his belt, and his fists, fracturing her skull; he was arrested and charged with second-degree assault.

On the evening of July 31, 2012, Moore was outside talking with a neighbor, offered her a mango, and returned to her house to retrieve it. She was never again seen alive by anyone who has publicly discussed the events. The neighbor later told police she heard Moore arguing with Bonie shortly after Moore re-entered the house, followed by a loud bang that ended the argument. Moore was reported missing several days later. Investigators found she had left behind her cat unfed and her lupus medication, and had never missed her children's birthdays, suggesting an abrupt and unplanned departure.

Police investigation included neighbor tips describing Bonie carrying a large garbage container from the house and returning later that night, cell phone records showing pings near Orange and Rockland counties, and a 2013 search of the apartment's basement, where officers found charcoal believed to have been flushed to cause a sewage backup and destroy evidence. In May 2014, a Bronx County grand jury indicted Bonie on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. He was arrested in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, by federal marshals and held without bail. His trial, which would have been the first murder trial in Bronx County history without a body in evidence, was postponed multiple times.

In April 2015, utility workers discovered skeletal remains in South Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York; dental records confirmed four days later that they belonged to Moore. Bonie pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. Around this time, he pleaded guilty to the assault charge involving his wife and was sentenced to four years in prison. Prosecutors later subpoenaed unedited footage of a jailhouse interview Bonie gave to News 12, seeking evidence related to an alleged scheme in which Bonie pressured Moore to file false Section 8 documentation; News 12 opposed the subpoena, citing shield laws, but a judge ordered relevant portions released.

In July 2016, after a month-long trial with 20 prosecution witnesses, a jury acquitted Bonie of murder but convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison and maintained his innocence at sentencing, alleging police and prosecutorial misconduct. Moore's sister described him as a threat to society. He was incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility.