Georgia Leah Moses
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Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today I am discussing the case of Georgia Leah Moses. Georgia was only 12 years old when she was murdered and discarded off the side of the highway in Petaluma, California in 1997.

Every system designed to protect Georgia failed her, and after seeing almost no progress in her case in over 20 years, her sister Angel has stepped in to change that. This case was brought to my attention by Lauren Norton at The Fall Line, Uncovered.com, and John Lorden.

Once I dug into the story and what's happening now, I knew exactly why. Angel was only 7 when Georgia died. She trusted that the police were doing the right thing for the case for a long time. But last year, she decided to advocate for Georgia publicly. How could I not help?

Georgia's case has been vastly misrepresented and underrepresented in the media. Most of the articles outside of this new attention garnered by Angel were just small blurbs about a troubled teen who fell victim to a dangerous lifestyle. But that's not who Georgia was, and that's not what happened at all.

She wasn't a rebellious teenager who fell into prostitution as so many outlets reported. Georgia was a beautiful soul. She was geeky, she was caring, and she transformed the lives of those around her, even at the young age of 12. And as we know, 12-year-olds cannot be prostitutes. They can only be trafficked. Georgia was abused and seen as expendable by someone, but none of that was her fault.

In this episode, you will hear a lot from Angel, as well as her advocate and friend Maria. We will honor Georgia's memory in a way that very few people have, and we will focus on renewed hope for finally finding the person who killed Georgia. This is the case of Georgia Leah Moses.

Georgia Leah Moses was born on January 7th, 1985 in New York. She had two brothers and a little sister named Angel. In the early 90s, Georgia and Angel moved to California with their mother, Ida, while their two brothers stayed behind in New York. Eventually, they settle in Sonoma County. According to both Angel and Maria, who spent a good portion of their childhoods in the area, Sonoma County wasn't all that exciting.

It's basically filled with vineyards and farmers. It wasn't exactly the beachy, surfer type of vibe you might think of when you hear the word California, but definitely had more of a small town feel. Unfortunately for Georgia and Angel, things were pretty tough for them growing up. Their mother was diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia.

Angel describes her as simply being unable to show up for them, even though she wanted to. This led Georgia and Angel to being in and out of the care of Child Protective Services quite a bit. When they were with their mother Ida, the family bounced between houses a bit and spent some time at a family shelter in Petaluma in 1991. With the assistance of this shelter, Ida, Georgia, and Angel found housing in Ronert Park, but would eventually lose that housing as well.

By the spring of 1997, they moved in with Ida's new boyfriend, 50-year-old Ed Pope, in Santa Rosa. Georgia was only 12, but she shouldered much of the responsibilities around the house. She even learned how to create a budget to ensure that the bills were paid and their bellies were full. Georgia wasn't made to do this, or even necessarily asked. She just did it. That's just the kind of person Georgia was.

Here is Angel elaborating more on what Georgia was like. So Georgia was, she was that big sister that did not feel like a big sister. Like, she definitely felt like a mom to me, but she felt like a best friend because everything she did was just so...

You know, she rarely got angry with me. Everything she did was to motivate me, keep me safe. She was super diligent about my well-being and making sure that I was just good. She enjoyed dancing. Like, that was her thing. She loved to dance. And she just loved to have fun. You know, she always was joking, always just being silly, you know, which...

It's just so amazing that you have this 12 year old who has so many burdens that she willingly took on. But from how she expressed herself and how she viewed life, you couldn't even you wouldn't see it. You know, like she kept those separate.

So the burden she internalized and then the love she showcased. So, um, cause I spoke with many of her friends, um, recently over the past year and, you know, she would be there like therapist, so to speak. And they all have the same story of, you know, if they were going through something, she was there to encourage them. She was there to, you know, just listen. And it's like, um,

how she was with me, she was like that with everybody else. And I didn't know that until, you know, I started asking questions and they're like, man, like she just, she really cared for us, you know, stood up to bullies for, you know, people that were getting bullied. And like, if she saw anything that wasn't right, or she felt like anything wasn't right, she made it her mission to step in and make it better. And I just look back to when I was 12 and I'm like,

man, like there's definitely things that I was aware of, but just to like step up and take the adult role in everything, it was just like, I don't think I would have been capable. You know, like I feel like certain people are just, that's just part of their purpose. And with my sister, I feel like her purpose was to make our lives easier during the time she was here.

In all honesty, she really took on the mother role in the family for that time frame. And, you know, if we needed groceries, she went and got them. If we didn't have food in the house, she would, you know, go get food. She would do the laundry, pay the bills. Basically, she just she was my mom. And looking at my mom's condition back then, I was like,

I feel like she really didn't have a choice because my mom really wasn't in her right mind at that time. But she did have a choice. You know, like she could have easily just been like, OK, let me just go have fun. Let me, you know, just not be responsible. But that wasn't in her. She made sure at the very least that I was OK. My favorite memory is her, I guess, teaching me how to swim.

Because, you know, I thought I was going to die for real. We're at this little water park and I had...

came down the water slide in a tube and I flipped out of the tube. And so I'm just like in the middle of the water and I felt I was drowning. I was drowning. And so my sister was at the end of the pool on the outside. And I was like, I can't swim. I can't swim. And she's like, yes, you can. I was like, I'm drowning. She's like, either you swim or you drown, pick one. And like the conviction in her voice was,

made me believe that I could swim and I didn't know what to do and so she was just you know motioning the doggy paddle and so like instantly it was like it transferred from her demonstration to me doing it and I swam to her and I hopped out the pool and she's like so what do you want to do you want to go or you want to stay and I was like I'm about to go swimming and I jumped back in the pool and after that I loved swimming and what was so profound about it was you know

How in a split second, something that seems so traumatic can bring so much life. You know, something that I thought I couldn't do became something that I loved. And I wind up, you know, teaching other people how to swim. And it was that experience that gave me that confidence to do that. At just 12 years old, Georgia had the empathy to care for her sister, mother, and their household.

Unfortunately, the newest member of the household, Ed Pope, wasn't exactly a father figure to Georgia. Ed Pope was a convicted pedophile. Unfortunately, around March of 1997, he did try to harm Georgia. According to Angel, one day, Ed followed Georgia into her room, locked the door, and then she heard Georgia scream for him to stop. Thankfully, he did. But he ended up kicking Georgia out of the house after this.

Angel just remembers Georgia hugging her and kissing her and explaining that she couldn't live there anymore. Georgia moves in with family friends, but stays close to Angel visiting her nearly every day. Even when Angel, Ida, and Ed are evicted and move across town, Georgia found a way to make it back to Angel as often as she could. According to Angel, these friends that Georgia was staying with led her to being put into sex trafficking.

Georgia also ends up dropping out of Mountain Shadows Middle School, telling them that she just had too many responsibilities at home to continue her education.

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On Wednesday, August 13th, 1997, Georgia spent most of the day at her friend's house, doing typical teenage stuff. They talked on the phone, they listened to music, and they drank a ton of soda. Angel remembers seeing her sister that night. She says it was dark, and they were walking towards their house when a car pulled up. Angel got excited, but Georgia told her to run ahead. Georgia hands the man in the car her pager, and eventually he hands it back.

After this, Georgia walks Angel home, does her hair, tucks her into bed, and she leaves. Angel says that she begged Georgia to take her with her that night. Georgia, of course, refused, but said that she'd come back for her. Unfortunately, she never did. At approximately 10pm, Georgia is back with her friend when she gets another page. Georgia uses her friend's phone to return the call, and she makes plans to meet with an unidentified man at the 76 gas station.

This was at the corner of Dutton Avenue and Sebastopol Road. The plan was to attend a party that night. Georgia asked her friend to ask her mom if she could come with her, but her mom said no, so Georgia planned on going to the party alone. Georgia was last seen getting into this man's car at the gas station. Not long after this, Georgia does call her friend to say that she wouldn't be back that night. This is the last anyone ever heard from Georgia Leah Moses.

There would be no search for Georgia. No dogs, no large groups of volunteers, and no helicopters. Georgia's mother assumed that she was fine in her new living situation, so she wasn't reported missing. It would only be by chance that her remains were found nine days later.

On August 22nd, 1997, around 2pm in Petaluma, California, Caltrans worker Glenn Hayes was fixing a broken guardrail off of Highway 101. This is when he discovers Georgia's body, nude in a grove of trees just off the road. She was badly decomposed at that point.

When the coroner received Georgia's body, he thought that she was an adult. Standing at 5'4 and weighing 120 pounds, Georgia certainly looked well beyond her years. So the first few reports about Georgia being found described her as an African-American female between the ages of 18 and 40.

No one had any idea that this woman was actually 12-year-old Georgia Leah Moses. According to Angel, on the same day that Georgia's body was found, the police came to her home to do a welfare check. This was prompted by a tip they received a few months prior that a convicted sex offender was living with children at the residence. During this visit, Angel told the officers that Georgia was missing.

This is when a missing persons report was filed for her. Angel was also removed from her mother's custody again. So on that day, I guess it was a health and welfare check. And it was two police that came to the house and they were basically just asking me,

you know, what was going on in the house. It was really directed towards my mom's boyfriend. And they were, you know, asking me if he was messing with me inappropriately. And at some point during the conversation, I stopped them and asked them, you know, why aren't they asking about Georgia? Because my sister regularly checked up on me. And

At that point, it had been out of the norm for the timeframe she had checked up on me. And I felt like, you know, that's why they should have been there was to talk about her. And so when I mentioned my sister, they had...

proceeded to go back and talk to my mom about, hey, who's this other girl your daughter's talking about? Where is she? And based off, you know, those series of questions, they did the missing persons report and then proceeded to remove me from the home. Around this same time, an anonymous tip came in that the body found could be Georgia's. Finally, on August 26th, Georgia was identified using dental records.

Although her remains were very badly decomposed, they were able to determine that it was a homicide. Her cause of death was strangulation, and she had been sexually assaulted. Her official time of death was estimated to be sometime between the night of August 13th, when Georgia was last seen, and the morning of August 14th. But Angel says this is just an estimate. They don't really know exactly when she was killed.

At this time, seven-year-old Angel was still in the custody of Child Protective Services, so it wouldn't be her mother that broke the news to her that Georgia was murdered. Instead, it was one of the many caregivers at her facility. After she received the news, Angel was left alone in her room to process that her big sister, her biggest protector in this world, was gone. Georgia's family didn't have money for a funeral, but the community pulled together and there was a service held for her.

Angel and Ida did attend, but they didn't know that Georgia wasn't buried that day. It wouldn't be until the year 2020 that Angel discovered the coroner kept her body for about another year to conduct further testing. Shortly after this service, Angel was placed with a foster family. Angel has no memory of being questioned about Georgia's case.

At this time, all the public really knew about Georgia's case was how she died, where she was found, and the description of the man she was last seen with. According to Detective Russ Davidson from the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office, the person Georgia met with that night was someone she knew, someone that she would page and meet with occasionally. This person was described to be a 6 foot 3 inch tall African American male who was about 24 to 30 years old.

200 pounds, and had a short fade haircut, slight mustache, and was driving a small four-door white car. They also believe he may have been from San Francisco. At the time, all officials really told the news was that they were classifying this as a suspicious death, saying that hopefully at some point they would have all of the pieces to the puzzle. By early 1998, Angel moved to the state of Georgia to be cared for by her aunt.

Her mother, Ida, moved to Georgia as well. This isn't a story where no one cared that Georgia was murdered. The community cared. With the help of the organization Sonoma County Women Against Rape and Georgia's Friends, a memorial site and garden was constructed where her body was found. Volunteers took turns going out to the site with jugs of water, just to ensure that the flowers planted in the garden took root and would be there for some time.

There were some articles written about Georgia and her murder. Granted, not as many as some other cases in the area. But her murder did get some media coverage. The problem was how she was being depicted. Instead of simply writing compelling articles about Georgia's life and death, the headlines often just mentioned that she was the forgotten girl.

No one was talking about what a bright light Georgia was. No one was talking about how much responsibility she took on when she really didn't have to. And no one was talking about how her murderer needed to be found. The article is typically told more of a cautionary tale, that of course this troubled teen who was interested in older men became a sex worker. Poor Georgia Lee Moses. Which of course wasn't even her correct name.

That's right. They didn't even get her name right. Neither did the police or coroner. It seems that who Georgia was, down to her actual name, was getting lost. They did it, the coroner, the police, the detectives, all of them did not, one, they didn't even ask my mom what her name was. And then they also didn't pull any type of document, official documents, to confirm Georgia's

What her name was and what makes it so much more of a stinger is she hasn't been remembered as Georgia Moses. Like if it was just, oh, Georgia Moses, Georgia Moses, it wouldn't really be as much of a slap.

But she's been remembered as Georgia Lee Moses. Like anytime you see her name, you see the full name, even down to Tom Waits making a song, Georgia Lee. So to have her whole death, you know, for 24, 23 years, be in memory of my sister in the wrong manner, it just adds further to the lack of due diligence.

You didn't ask my mom. You didn't pull any documents. You know, her gravestone also has Georgia Lee. So, you know, to some people, they're like, oh, it's just the name. And it's like, no, one, that's her name. That's her identity. Two, it's an identity that has become who she is and who she was. You know, when you have a Jane Doe, they don't have a name.

Every aspect of that name, once you find it, matters. My sister name matters. It's really unfortunate because even though my mom, you know, had her mental issues going on back then, you know, that was still her child. And if they would have had a conversation, like a thorough conversation, there would have been certain tidbits of information that they would have known. And they didn't. You know, they just...

Didn't care about what she had to say. And, you know, it's like, man, you guys really you didn't drop the ball. You basically like just had this combustion where it no longer exists because it's night and day from the narrative that was painted then to what the reality is today.

In these early years of the investigation, noticeably absent were articles about the sketch of the man Georgia was last seen with being released, articles about updates in the investigation, or even articles about Ed Pope being arrested and his home being searched.

It's possible that some of these pieces were lost over the years and never digitized in databases like newspapers.com, but most of the information I found about the actual investigation were just blurbs in articles or directly from Angel herself. Honestly, it wasn't until talking to Angel, watching her videos, and reading her blog posts that I began to understand Georgia's story in a more complete way.

But again, Angel was only seven at this time, and life had to go on whether she liked it or not. In 1998, Georgia was finally buried, without her mother's knowledge, so she and Angel didn't attend. Georgia's burial plot and headstone was graciously donated, but it still adorns the wrong name. Georgia Lee Moses.

By the year 2000, Georgia's memorial off Highway 101 was adorned with a new angel statue crafted by two firefighters. It was mounted in concrete to ensure that no one could take it like they had the birdbath that was placed there before. However, after some new construction in that area, the entire site was eventually moved to City Hall. There was also a $15,000 reward raised for information about Georgia's murder. The case seemed to be at a standstill.

No arrests were made, and as far as I could find, there were no other searches or persons of interest declared publicly. In 2006, a group home for foster children was opened in Georgia's memory in Santa Rosa. This was done by a woman named Leah Rowley. The community was moved by George's murder, but again, there just didn't seem to be any tangible progress in the case.

Of course, we need to talk about the systematic failures in Georgia's case. Like we saw in the Relisha Rudd case, Georgia Leah Moses was absolutely failed by the agencies that were funded to protect her.

We know that she was in and out of the custody of Child Protective Services. We know that the tip about Ed Pope living with children came in well before Georgia was murdered. We know that Georgia literally told her school she had too many responsibilities at home to be able to continue her education. And we know that the media failed her as well. How did Georgia Leah Moses slip through so many cracks? I had to talk to Angel about this. Okay, so...

I feel like I'm empowered because, you know, when you go through the struggle, you learn the struggle. So my family was somewhat at the mercy of the systems. My mom had her health issues and my sister being 12 took on the burden of trying to have the best life that we could have. And with that,

There's a lot of, you know, predators that notice. And so I feel like my mom's condition in conjunction with my sister being 12 and taking on those burdens, there should have been a lot of, those are red flags. And you would think people would notice those red flags and do something. And the fact that a lot of people noticed, a lot of entities noticed and they didn't do anything,

That played a really big role in my sister's death. Back to when my sister was kicked out, shortly after, within that next month, I don't know who gave the tip, but somebody alerted the DA and they started to file paperwork to go investigate our house and look into the

my mom's boyfriend who was a convicted sex offender. And for whatever reason, they didn't, they actually waited until August, which was when they came to my house. By that point, it was way too late. My sister's school at the end of the school year, she was in sixth grade and she told them that she wasn't coming back. She basically told them she was dropping out because she needed to take care of my mom and take care of me. And the school, um,

Didn't do anything about that. You know, there's even an article where the principal was quoted saying, yeah, you know, she said she stayed with different cousins and we weren't able to verify that information, but they didn't report that. Even with the CPS, we had constant run-ins with them where we were, we were removed from the house, but given right back. So yeah,

Those failures were paramount to my sister constantly being put in a situation where at 12, it was her against the world. And then we go to today and those systems are still failing. You know, just what it takes to...

do the investigation to give information and not have the information reciprocated to say, Hey, maybe you should look here. Maybe you should consider this. Maybe, you know, did you do this at that point in time? And it really feels like they're starting from ground zero. And it's like, at what point do you stop failing and you start doing what needs to be done?

The media is one of my biggest thorns in my side. And I feel that I feel that way because for years it was hard to even look up what was going on with my sister because, you know, the police, they have,

their system. And I tried to, you know, be abiding by that system. So I wasn't, you know, if they told me something, it's like, okay, I'll wait until, you know, some time passes or you say, hey, we can talk. But the media, what for me was the only way I could get an update or go back in time and say, okay, this is what happened and try and piece it together.

And every time I would Google my sister and read a story, they took that time to highlight my sister's life, to be judgmental, to get the facts wrong, and really just do a terrible job at saying, hey, this child was murdered and nothing's been done about it. And so knowing that the media was

picks and chooses when they decide to tell the story correct, it really created a battle between us because, you know, I hold my sister to my heart and I'm not going to allow them to use my sister to check the block for whatever narrative they're trying to push. And so it brought me to a point where it was like, okay, well, if you're not going to tell her story right, then just don't tell it.

Because I have a right in my sister's story, you know, and if you're not going to do what's needed to help bring healing, help bring change, help solve her case and or just share her story, then just don't do it. In 20, almost 24 years, my sister hasn't had the story that she deserved.

I wish they would have focused on who she was as a person. There's like no stories that tell about, you know, her just being a carefree person that loved life, that loved people, that, you know, loved having fun. You know, even in the midst of her taking on all these burdens, she was a happy child, you know? And then the fact that, hey, her murderer is still out there.

Oftentimes we have these stories where, you know, oh, there was this girl, she was in a situation and she was a troubled teen. And, you know, her demise were not even unfortunate. They don't even give her the due diligence to say like this traumatic situation happened that should not have happened. And it's like, how do you read my sister's story? She was 12. She was murdered. She was left behind.

On the side of the road, probably to never be found. And that doesn't compel you to want to get answers. You know, like I don't understand how a human cannot feel moved to let the world know who this child was and figure out who her killer was.

I definitely feel like she was judged. And it's super unfortunate because out of all the people that should have been that bad kid, that was my sister. My sister should have been the bad kid. She didn't have any parental guidance. You know, we didn't live in the best of areas, but she still was good. She still cared for anybody. You know, like she was like that needle in the haystack.

It's unfortunate that they judged the situation and got it completely wrong. Because if you talk to any of her true friends, they're like, man, she was so special. Like at 12, she made such an impact on people's lives because despite her circumstances, she was that person that she knew she was. Not that her circumstances said she was.

I read a lot of, I mean, I haven't recently just because it's so, you know, it's so raw right now, but I read a lot of stories about, you know, people that go missing and, and children that are murdered. And cause it's, unfortunately it's just a terrible statistic today, but you know, I'm like the things that were said about my sister, aren't said about all kids that were in similar circumstances. Yeah.

So to pick my sister and her story to paint this narrative that is incorrect, you know, I do feel like race did play a part in that. I try not to throw the race card out there because I do understand people of every race are being murdered. Children of every race are being murdered. But in that one specific incident,

I do feel like race played a factor, that she was this poor Black girl that was caught up in the life and it ended a certain way. And that's just not the truth of the story. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Ibotta. Are you planning your dream vacation but dreading the cost? With

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She would join the military, get married, settle in Texas, and have three children. Up to this point, Angel assumed that the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office was doing everything they could to help get justice for Georgia. But in October of 2020, Angel met Maria, and they formed a very strong bond, and in my opinion, a pretty stellar plan to finally get this case moving.

So last year, it was about October, Maria had reached out to the Facebook page and she sent this long message. And I was at work with my husband and so I got the notification and she didn't have a profile picture. So it was already kind of like weird. It was just like words, like her little, you know, picture without it being an actual face picture. So I'm like...

Because I was already getting like messages where people would give me information. And so I was like, I really don't feel like going through this right now. And so when I saw how long it was, even before I saw how long it was, my heart was just like doing that thump. And I was like, oh my goodness, like what, what is this? And so I get a glimpse of it.

I open it and I just do this scroll and it kind of just like rolled all the way up the screen. And I was like, I am not about to read all this right now. Like my brain does not even want to know what this lady has to say. And I knew it was a lady because her name was Maria. And so I told my husband, I was like, babe, I don't know what it is about this message, but I don't know if I can read it. I might have to have you read it because I'm feeling wonky. Like, I don't know what to expect from it. And so he's like, well, you want me to read it? I said, well, I'll look at it in the morning.

And, uh, ironically that same day, somebody else had messaged me wanting to do a candlelight visual for my sister. And so I was just like already, you know, on edge. So I finally read it. And basically she's like, Hey, you don't know me. I didn't know your sister, but you know, I'm from Sonoma County. My dad was a part of the sheriff's department back then. Um,

I have a background in entertainment. I don't know if I can help you. I don't know how I can help you, but I'm here if you need help. That was the extent of it. And so I sat there and I was just like, this is so weird because like, I've never had a message like that. Like it was therapeutic in a sense, you know, like, huh. Okay. I wasn't, I was tripping. Like I was scared for no reason. And so I,

I messaged her back and then we wind up talking on the phone and I was just getting the feel for her, you know, because I had to vet her. And she was just so pure hearted, you know, and I felt so much peace and, you know, letting her help however she felt necessary. And so the person that wants to do the candlelight visual wind up setting a date for November 7th. And, you know, at first I wasn't going to go.

And I told her, I was like, yeah, I'm not going to go. She's like, okay, well, you know, we'll just monitor social media, whatever. And so it was about a week beforehand. And I was like, you know what? I have to go. Like, I really don't want to go, but I need to be there. I haven't been there in 23 years. Like, I need to go back. And she's like, okay, well, I'll be there too. And I was like, you don't have to, but okay.

And so I fly in to San Francisco, but I had to lay over somewhere. And she's like, OK, I have about three more hours to go before I get there because she was going to pick me up from the airport. And I was like, OK, not really thinking about the whole thing, whatever. So she picks me up from the airport and I got her some food and she's like, oh, my gosh, thank you, because I'm starving.

And I was like, how long was your drive? And mind you, we still had an hour to go from San Francisco to Sonoma County. And she's like, oh, well, in all will be seven hours. And I was like, okay.

Say what? Like you're driving seven hours one way, a turnaround because it was just a two day, like two day thing to pick me up from the airport and be at this candlelight visual for somebody that you don't know. We just met and you're like so cool about it. You're like warm hearted and giggly. Like it was just amazing.

a cool weirdness, you know? And then she was pregnant. Like she was in the early stages of being pregnant. And so I was like, I don't know what this is, but there's something about you that is just meant to be in my life because it was, it was just so effortlessly like the whole, our, our whole relationship was just so different, you know? And when it comes to my sister, um,

I don't share that with just anybody. And she was like, you know, I can help post to social media. She created the art movement where people started painting pictures. She's helping with the podcast. And like I told you, when we first started, you know, I listened to a clip of it. Well, the rough cut of it last night. And I was in tears, you know, because it was exactly what I envisioned. And I,

I was like, man, like, I don't know who you are, Maria, but whoever you are, God placed you in my life at the right time. And you in mine, sweetie. And you in mine. You guys are so sweet. Maria, what compelled you to help? What compels you to sit here while you have a two-month-old and interview with me for two and a half hours at this point? Like, why do you do what you do? Yeah.

Well, so when it happened, I was a year behind Georgia in school and I actually went to their school. Um, and, um, when it happened, uh, my father was working for the sheriff's department at the time, and it was actually just a couple of months before he retired, which I didn't know until my mom told me that, uh, just maybe a month ago. Um, and, uh,

You know, unfortunately, before I was able to really talk to my dad about a lot of the details, he passed away. But I did get to have one conversation with my dad. And this was this was like probably right after the candlelit vigil. And and I just told him, you know, hey, this is what we're doing. And you remember this case? And he said, I could never forget it.

I could never forget it. And, you know, to me that stood out because I remember the day she was found and I didn't know that's what it was at the time. But my dad came home real somber and he just hugged me and he hugged my sister who, you know, neither one of us really, she's two years older than me and neither one of us really connected with what was going on. But he just,

He was not the same for a few weeks after that. And then after he retired, you know, there was this big sense of relief of not having to go to calls like that ever again, you know? And so when I got to tell him, like, this story has never sat right with me. And I called my niece, who is just a few years younger than me, before I ever reached out to Angel. And I said, I don't know why, but

And Georgia Lee Moses, like her face is in my head all the time and her name keeps popping up in my life. And I texted my sister and I was like, I don't know why, but I feel like I need to reach out to her sister. I just discovered that her sister exists and I feel like I got to reach out to her. So my sister and my niece kind of hyped me up to make that email, write that email.

And so I did. And then when she was really receptive to it, I just, I felt a sense of relief. So then when I went back to my dad and I talked to my dad right around Thanksgiving and I was telling him what we were doing and he said, he warned us, you know, the sheriff's department isn't going to like that. And, and they're, they're not going to like that you're my kid because the reason he retired wasn't exactly, they didn't part ways on a nice, he retired because he was sick.

It just wasn't good, him retiring in that way. And so he goes, you know, the sheriff's department, they're not going to like that. They're not going to like that my kid is holding their feet to the fire. And I was like, well, do you want me to not do this? Because what if it comes back on you, you know? And my dad doesn't swear at all. And am I allowed to swear?

Absolutely. Okay. So, so my dad, my dad never swore. He, the most he would ever say is like, God damn it. You know, and it was just like, you know, a stubbed toe or like a, Oh, I'm so frustrated. Like, this is all I can think to say. But he goes, what was his exact wording? I said, well, dad, you know, I'm going to probably ruffle a few feathers and I'm going to be talking to some dangerous people and I'm going to be talking about some dangerous people and, and I'm going to be,

probably throwing a lot of your buddies under the bus. And he goes, you know, honey, fuck them. And I was like, really? And he goes, they're not doing their job. Fuck them. And I'm like, well, okay. And honestly, you know, my dad died a week later after that conversation, it was pretty unexpected. And so, you know, looking back on that conversation, um,

and cracking up about it all the time. When I'm up at three in the morning and I'm listening to sound bites and I'm like, all right, I got to get this in order and this in order. And the sound is not perfect. And I'm not a sound engineer. That's I've never claimed to be. So the first episode is a bit, but we do, we better equipment now. But really that conversation with my dad is why the three in the morning stuff doesn't really bother me too much because it reminds me all the time

That even the guys that would never say a bad thing about someone on their team, in their squad, you know, is saying, no, baby, you got to do this. And your friend needs you. And that's it. You know, it's weird, you know, because in the police department, there's this camaraderie.

And my dad was very much part of that camaraderie. And even after his retirement, he would never say a bad thing ever about someone in uniform. So that's kind of a driving force of like, all right, well, even he thinks they did a shitty job and he couldn't let it go. And then I have Angel on the other shoulder, you know, my dad on one shoulder or on the other shoulder. And I just know that prior to meeting her,

I was lost. I was lost. I was lost for purpose. I was lost for excitement. I was lost. And so when she accepted me and she allowed me to care about her and to care about something and to care about Georgia, really, that in and of itself could fly me to the moon, you know? And that's just those two things together and knowing that there's a bigger reason behind it

And it's not just holding people's feet to the fire. It's doing something meaningful outside of yourself for someone you love. I know that was a long clip, but I have to say it's one of the most beautiful, interesting, and compelling stories of an advocate and family member getting together to help get justice for someone that I've ever heard.

Everything about their relationship just feels so genuine. And you can tell that they are in this for the right reasons. So, Angel and Maria got to work getting the records and hounding the police for answers. We had to get an outside agency to put a little pressure on law enforcement to share information.

certain reports with us. And then as far as the school goes, we had to have a team of bulldogs go after them to get all the paperwork because they told me when I first called that they couldn't give me any information at all because I wasn't her family. So I got Angel's permission and as Angel's advocate,

Went back to them and share that. And they said, Oh, sorry, we don't keep records that long. Well, we send these bulldogs in and then they, and I love those women. They were fantastic. And they would be proud that I'm calling them bulldogs. But they went in and they pulled all of their records. So clearly they,

That was a lie. But at first they told them that they don't keep records past 20 years. And so they were like, okay, well give us the paperwork that tells, you know, shows when it was authorized to be destroyed, who authorized it, the whole nine. And they quickly retracted that statement and was like, oh, we have it. We'll get it over to you. Yeah, actually it's right here. Amazing how that happens. Um,

I mean, I wish it was less common, but my first question is, why aren't the police getting those school records? Because the police, honestly, in my opinion, don't care. And I second that opinion so much. They have literally done the bare minimum. And I say this all the time because I do have a lot of respect for the police. Up until last year, I really felt like

my sister case just wasn't solvable, you know, that they didn't have enough information. It was just one of those cases that until it breaks, it breaks. And that wasn't the case. And just from me, you know, pressuring them like, okay, Hey, I know you say he's going to call, but you didn't call. Hey, can we talk about this? Like just seeing how they treated me as my sister's sister, um,

I quickly realized that this isn't an unsolvable case. This is the police not taking it seriously. And once I really started digging and, you know, finding information and relaying that information back, I would follow up on it.

And that information was like, it never existed. I'm like, hey, did you check into this? Hey, did you follow up here? And it was always like, oh, what was that information? What was it? Even down to what we mentioned, the person of interest, it's been almost 24 years. And not only did people back then give you certain names, but those names are still coming up.

And in 24 years, you still haven't checked them off the list. Not, oh, we've already cleared them or, you know, no, we're looking at other people. But, huh, who is this person? How did you know them? And I'm like, at the very least, you should have it in your file because a lot of people gave you that name.

So for me to give it to you like four times in a six month timeframe and I bring it up again and you're like, okay, so what about this person? Like you have amnesia. I'm like, if I got to put on the badge, I'm taking yours because there's a lot of information that is standard in solving a murder. And a lot of people are bringing you those tidbits of information that

And you're choosing to not even take a note. Like I know TV, a lot of it is a little bit stretched, but my goodness, like you don't take note of who gave the reward money. So now we have to start over because that 15,000 that was initially donated, you guys don't know who did it. You don't take notes of who,

who people of interest were. You don't follow up on phone records. You don't follow up on, you know, they didn't even know that she wasn't living at home. Like that would have been a simple conversation. I mean, one conversation with your mother would have cleared that up entirely. I still, I still love the, I still love law enforcement. You know, like, I feel like if something happens at my house, if I don't handle it, I'm gonna call 911, you know, but I'm my first form of defense. Well, my husband and then me, but yeah,

You know, just how my sister's case has been handled, I really don't have any faith in them. And I'm trying to, you know, tread lightly because I feel like there's certain things that need to be done. And I don't want to, you know, cause ruckus where it backtracks whatever progress that could be made. They're lacking a lot of competency.

In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dear. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In addition to trying to help put together the pieces of this puzzle together through records, as Angel briefly mentioned earlier, yes, they have created a podcast.

It's titled They Called Her Georgia Lee, and the first episode is out right now. I specifically scheduled this episode to launch on the same day as their podcast, because I really want to encourage you guys to listen to it.

I and every other person with a microphone can tell you about Georgia. These stories are totally different when they come from people who actually knew the victim. Of course, with this episode launching on the same day that They Called Her Georgia Lee premieres, I haven't been able to listen to it. But there's just something that I find to be incredibly special about the people who actually knew the victim coming together to tell the story. So please take a moment to give their podcast a listen.

Here is Angel and Maria talking more about the podcast. So last year, you know, Maria, she worked in entertainment for a long time. I'll just say a long time. And, you know, we were just talking about telling my sister's story because there were so many things that were mistold. And then there were so many things that were coming to light. And, you know, it was just like, man, like,

If anybody's going to do it right, it has to come from me, you know, because I have a lot of knowledge about what happened and I care. And fortunately for me, Maria felt the same way. She cared and we talked about it and she's like, hey, you know, let's do a podcast. And I'm not going to lie. My version of doing a podcast was literally like,

We talk, upload it. You know, like she really has been hitting the ground running with making sure that it's a presentable product, you know, but it was just like, man, like,

We were just like, if anybody's going to tell the story, it has to come from us. Because one, we care. And then there were so many elements to my sister's story that were never shared. So many elements that required more than just one interview. So we got a plan together. And then when the name thing came up, it really just was like, yeah, we got to do Georgia right. We have to tell her story in its entirety, as factual as we know it.

And so, you know, we've been working on it for a while. And, you know, she was pregnant and had a beautiful baby. And so that, you know, it stopped time a little bit. But I feel like it was meant to come out now because when the first episode drops, it'll be one day before her 24th death anniversary. So we picked the day.

Originally, we were supposed to have the podcast come out a couple months ago, but like Angel said, life sort of got in the way of that. And I don't know if you can hear him, but that's life. And so we selected the day really strategically to be the 12th, to be the day before the 24th anniversary. Because what we want to do with her anniversary is no longer...

put it out there as this is the anniversary of the day that a child was raped and left on the side of the road and taken from the world. That's not the image we want for people to have when they think of Georgia and when they think of that 24th anniversary. What we want them to have is this vibrant, beautiful person was stolen.

And we're going to celebrate her on this day. And we're going to celebrate her on this day because that's what we should have been doing. We should have been celebrating her all this time. Yeah. And, and, you know, back to what we were saying about, you know, the families being the voice, um,

that's what it is, you know, and really just seeing stories, the stories that I did not like over the years, it was just like, man, like what's missing? Like we were missing, you know, nobody interviewed us. And when, um,

I really was like, okay, I'm going to take the social media and try this thing out. I had no idea there was already an established system. And so I created a website just so I could tell my sister's story how I knew it should be told. With that, it's like, okay, now there's so much more. And you could write, I could write all day, but I write long.

And it's like, what better way to tell Georgia's story than to say it, not say bits and pieces, not say, you know, the part that the world already knew, but to say her whole story. So we have my brothers, we have my mom, we have her friends, you know, just what should have been done 24 years ago. We're doing we're doing now, you know.

This is pretty much where George's case sits today. In addition to the podcast, Angel is in the process of trying to move George's body to Texas, and she hopes that she'll be able to get additional testing done on her remains at that time.

Angel and Maria couldn't tell me everything about the investigation, but they are doing everything in their power to find answers for Georgia, and to pressure the police to further the investigation as well. I can only hope that this new podcast will be a huge help in these areas. Before I get to our call to action, like I do in all of my interviews with families, I asked Angel if there was anything she wanted to make sure you guys knew. I want my sister...

to be remembered, one, as Georgia Leah, but to also be remembered as a child that cared for the world when she didn't have to. So many stories don't humanize her, you know? And I'm like, at the very least, my sister deserves to have the respect of acknowledging who she was and who she chose to be despite everything

what life said she should have been. I've never met anyone like her. At 12, I've never met anyone like her. And to see how diligent she was. I literally did not know the craziness of life that I had. And looking back, I'm like, man, I was super naive. But my sister made sure that

at the very least, if she could help it, that life was going to be okay. And it wasn't just for me, it was for everybody around her. And that's who she was. She was love, she was light, she was happiness. And like Maria said, that's not gone, it still exists. And I'm really trying to shift that

narrative from, oh, she was a murdered child who succumbed to her circumstances and, you know, all the negatives to what can we focus on that matters? You know, of course, top priority is putting a killer or killers behind bars. But even after that's done, even after that's done, we still have to exist. And my sister wanted life to be happy.

So what I have to focus on is, well, how do we make life happy? We focus on the people that matter. We focus on the things we can control. You know, we focus on doing our part to be better and to do better because that's what Georgia did. Which brings me right to our call to action. Of course, I asked Angel how we could help. Pushing the reward because I feel like

And if enough people start looking at that 25 with three zeros and a comma after the five, it may just motivate them to say something to say, Hey, I saw her at 1am. So like, you know, just cause if we can fill in the pieces, um,

then everything else will fall in line. But right now there's so many pieces that aren't accounted for where it is speculation, you know? So the reward, anonymous tips to Sonoma County, send an email to us, the whathappentogeorgialead.com. But just say something like, I want to scream it, but I don't want to wake up the house. Say something like,

I don't understand how people can live amongst other people, see the evil that happens, know the evil that happens and not say anything.

If you were in Sonoma County, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Ronehart in 1997, around August 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, any time around that time, and you were at that gas station, near that gas station, at that party, around that party, if you were friends, if you heard chatter, if you heard something that was like, oh my goodness, like, why would they say that? Or how would they know that?

Say something. Say something. Because if it was me and I knew something, I would talk. No questions asked. So please share Georgia's story and reward information. Please listen to They Called Her Georgia Lee. And please, if you know anything about the murder of Georgia Leah Moses, please speak up. In addition to the email that Angel provided, you can also call the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office at 707-

You can also fill out the silent witness form at sonomashriff.org to stay anonymous. As a reminder, the man Georgia was last seen with was described as approximately 6 foot 3 inches tall. He was an African American male in his early to mid-20s. He weighed about 200 pounds and had a short fade haircut and slight mustache. He was driving a small four-door white car.

Georgia Leah Moses was a 12-year-old African-American female. She had black hair that was braided at the time of her death and brown eyes. She was 5'4 and weighed approximately 120 pounds. The night she went missing, she was wearing jeans, a white shirt, and a white nylon windbreaker. As always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney. For more information about the podcast, to suggest a case, to see resources used for this episode, and to find out more about how to help the cases I discuss, visit voicesforjusticepodcast.com. And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and review the show in your podcast player.

It really does help more people find the podcast and these cases in need of justice.