Trial in 1984 Joplin murder case to begin Wednesday

The capital murder trial for Paul A. Moses, 68, charged with the August 11, 1984, murder of Frances Ramsey, 62, Joplin, is scheduled to begin Wednesday before Judge David Mouton in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Moses had been on the run for nearly three decades when California authorities captured him after he applied for Social Security benefits.

From the Jan. 2, 2014 Joplin Globe:

Ramsey’s body was discovered inside the unoccupied half of a duplex at 2337 S. Main St., about 14 blocks from her home in the 900 block of South Main Street.

A woman who lived in the occupied half of the duplex learned that she had been the victim of a burglary when she returned home about 10:30 a.m. and found her television missing. She reported the crime, and a responding officer spotted the body when he peered through a hole in a wall into the half of the duplex that was undergoing remodeling.

The victim had suffered blunt-force trauma to her head. 
DNA evidence led to the filing of a forcible rape charge against Moses in 2014, but the murder charge is the only one in this trial.

Moses is being represented by public defender Larry Maples.