Tyria Jolene Moore

Far From Home

Tyria Moore is from Cadiz, Ohio, hometown of Clark Gable. She went to school at Harrison Hills Vocational School where she was a C student. She left because the town was too small for her to be an out lesbian.

Lover of Aileen "Lee" Wuornos

Tyria Moore met Lee Wuornos in a South Daytona lesbian bar called Zodiac, in 1986. The two were together for four years. In the end, Ty said, "We were more like sisters than lovers."

Family of Ty

Tyria's father was a well-respected carpenter and brick mason. She had one sister and three brothers.

Life with Lee

Lee Wuornos and Tyria Moore lived a nomadic life, travelling from one seedy motel or apartment to another. Tyria worked from time to time cleaning motel rooms, but mostly she was content to let Lee support them through prostitution.

Did She Know Lee Was Killing?

Yes, Tyria strongly suspected that Lee had killed more than one man. She came home with cars and other items that did not belong to her. She asked Lee not to tell her too much because she did not want to be an accessory to her crimes.

Ty Leaves Lee

Ty went to visit her family for Thanksgiving 1990. A few months later, Aileen Wuornos was arrested in January for an old warrant. The police suspected Wuornos was the person they wanted for a rash of killings in Florida, but they needed some way to convict her. That's where Tyria came in.

The Police Find Tyria Moore

The police found Tyria Moore at her sister's house in Pennslyvania. They brought her down to Florida to try to get Lee to confess to the killings.

Ty Turns on Lee

Aileen Wuornos loved Tyria Moore. In a letter she said, "Your (sic) my left and right arm, my breath, I'd die for you." If Ty had loved Lee, she did not show it in the end. She agreed to try and manipulate Lee into confessing the murders for the police.

Ty Turns on the Guilt

Over the course of three days, Moore and Wuornos talked on the phone many times while police taped the conversations. Over and over Lee told Ty how much she loved her and missed her. Ty never once said she loved Lee. What she did do was cry and carry on and say she was afraid the police were coming for her to get Lee to confess to the murders.

Love Turns to the Witness Stand

The last time Tyria Moore saw Lee Wuornos was when she testified against her in court. She did not even look Lee in the eye. She never attempted to contact Lee while she was in jail, nor sent her any letters.

Christina Ricci portrays Moore in the movie Monster. Moore looked nothing like Ricci. She had red hair and was a big-boned, overweight girl.

Not much is known of Tyria Moore since the execution of Aileen Wuornos.

For more about the Wuornos trial and to see a photo of Tyria Moore here is an article from the News Journal Online.