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The Search for Rachel, a father's journal

Wednesday, November 1 through Monday, November 6, 2006

I sent out e-mails to all of our previous bake sale contributors. We have a wonderful group of people who bake for us year after year. We hope to make a lot of money to go towards the M.U.S.T. seminars and other things.

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

The Williamson County District Attorney's Office called today. They want Janet, JoAnn, and me to meet with D.A. John Bradley tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. We were asked to hold any questions until the meeting.

Wednesday, November 8

Janet, JoAnn, and I met with District Attorney John Bradley, Sheriff James Wilson, and an investigator. They informed us that they had been interviewing Michael Keith Moore about Rachel's disappearance. Moore was just convicted this year for the murder of Round Rock resident Christina Moore and her unborn child in 2004. The murder shocked Central Texas just as Rachel's disappearance had.

Moore received two consecutive life sentences along with a third life sentence for another charge. The life sentence made him eligible for parole after 30 years. Moore had confessed to kidnapping and murdering Rachel. Enough interviews had been done with Moore to determine he probably was involved in Rachel's disappearance.

Mr. Bradley told us that Moore was going to sign a confession, and then tomorrow he would plead guilty at a hearing. If the judge found him guilty, Moore would be given an additional 30 years, which would begin immediately. Although the new sentence would not add a lot of time to Moore 's jail time, it would tag him with a third murder, making it harder to make parole.

The hearing will be tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. and is expected to last less than an hour if everything goes as expected. At 11:00 a.m. a press conference will take place with D.A. Bradley, Sheriff Wilson, Janet, JoAnn, and me.

We called several close friends and family members and informed them of the hearing. It is hoped that when Moore sees how many people were affected by the loss of Rachel it will cause him to be forthcoming with even more information about January 10, 2002.

Thursday, November 9

Tim Miller and two other Texas EquuSearch members stopped by my house before the hearing. I told them we expected a solution to Rachel's case this morning at the hearing. The TES members went to breakfast while I finished getting ready for court. Janet, JoAnn, and I left a little before 9:00 a.m. for the hearing.

Representatives from the District Attorney's Office met us at the back door of the courthouse so we could avoid the media. A security guide used a hand wand to check us since we were bypassing the courthouse main door metal detector. We were then escorted to the Grand Jury room and waited for the hearing.

Just before 10:00 a.m. we were escorted to the courtroom. Michael Moore was sitting with his attorneys. I'm sure the rest of the people in the courtroom felt as uneasy as I did being in the same room with a murderer. Even though I'd been in the presence of a murderer before, it still felt strange, especially knowing this man probably murdered my daughter.

At the beginning of the hearing Moore and his attorneys approached the bench. The judge asked him how he pled and he softly said "not guilty". The judge asked him to repeat his plea and he said "not guilty" again. I'm not sure if the judge, the DA, his attorneys, or our family were more shocked.

The judge called a 15 minute recess while Moore 's attorneys talked to him. The recess turned into an hour, and finally the judge postponed the hearing until a later date. Janet, JoAnn, and I were escorted to the D.A.'s office. Mr. Bradley quickly briefed us on what he would say during the press conference; then he and the sheriff left for the press conference.

After the press conference our family and friends were escorted to the Grand Jury room. D.A. Bradley and the sheriff explained everything that had just happened and what they thought was next. Mr. Bradley kept saying how humbled his was by the way our family approached and supported what they we doing. I spoke briefly because I wanted to thank all of the people there who in less than a day's notice dropped what they had planned and yet again came to support Janet, JoAnn, and me. They represented both Janet's and my families, friends, supporters, searchers, and both old and new friends. I didn't count but I think there were around 35 people there. This is what humbled me, This is how we keep going!

Just after noon Janet and I did a short press conference where we announced our full support for the District Attorney and Sheriff's Offices. We also announced our family's new motto, which is "We're not done yet!".

We will continue the search for Rachel and for answers to her disappearance.

Friday, November 10 through Tuesday, November 14

The Williamson County District Attorney's Office has dropped the original charges against Michael Keith Moore. D.A. John Bradley now wants to go after capital murder charges against Moore . Bradley has assigned the same two prosecutors to Rachel's case that handled the Christina Moore trial. Putting together evidence for the trial may take some time, but Michael Moore is not going anywhere.

Our family has done several interviews over the past few days. The stations have even started interviewing "talking heads". I am not happy about some of the interviews because I was misquoted once, and another time one of my statements was taken out of context.

If this keeps up, I will discontinue doing interviews.

Our family still supports the actions of the Williamson County District Attorney's and Sheriff's Offices.

Wednesday, November 15 through Monday, November 20

For the moment the media has pretty much gone away now that the Williamson Country District Attorney's Office has dropped the murder charges against Michael Moore. This is just a formality to retract the plea bargain charge. The media says the D.A. may now go after a capital murder charge against Moore. The D.A. assigned two prosecutors to the Moore case. They are the same two prosecutors who handled the Christina Moore murder trial.

Janet and I are scheduled to meet with the prosecutors on Tuesday November 21. I'm not sure how much they will be able to tell us. I suspect most of the information they know will have to be held until the Michael Moore trial. Maybe they can at least give us an idea of when Moore will be charged.

The Austin American-Statesman published an in-depth story on Michael Moore on Sunday. I keep finding out more and more information on his past. He has pretty much been a career criminal since he was 13-years-old. It's sad how one person can cause so much grief to our family, Christina Moore's family, and even Michael Moore's own family. The article may be read here.

Tuesday, November 21 through Thursday, November 30

Janet and I met with the Williamson Country DistrictAttorney and the two prosecutors assigned to Rachel's case. The prosecutors are the same people who prosecuted Michael Moore for the murder of Christina Moore.

The District Attorney's Office cannot give any timeframe for when and if Michael Keith Moore will be charged and tried for Rachel's murder. They have a lot of work ahead of them.

As I have stated many times, I cannot and will not disclose any information which might hinder Rachel's case. We know people are interested and want to know "inside information", but that's not going to happen. I will share what I can, but it will mainly deal with our family's search for answers and what we go through day by day. That is one of the main reasons I started this journal almost five years ago.