Two people walked into a Wichita fire station on September 16, dropped off a suitcase, and told firefighters there was a body inside. Inside was Lorretta Moody, 67, a great-grandmother who had been reported missing. Police are calling it a homicide, and nobody has been arrested.
What Actually Happened at That Fire Station
According to the New York Post, two individuals physically carried a suitcase containing Moody's body to the fire station and told staff what was in it. They did not flee anonymously into the night. They showed up, handed over a dead woman in luggage, and apparently said so out loud.
Wichita police have since interviewed both people. The investigation is ongoing. No charges, no arrests, no public naming of suspects as of the Post's reporting. The Wichita Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on the case's status.
She Had Already Been Reported Missing
KAKE reports that Moody had been reported missing to police before her body turned up at the fire station. That detail matters. Someone in her life knew she was gone before the suitcase arrived anywhere.
The timeline between when she was reported missing and when her body was brought to the station has not been publicly established. Police have not disclosed a cause of death or a suspected motive. What they have confirmed is the homicide classification, which means investigators believe someone killed her.
Her Family Is Trying to Give Her Back Her Dignity
Her granddaughter Alexis Trotter spoke to KWCH, and what she said was both heartbreaking and completely clear-eyed. "This is just evil. There's no other word for it," Trotter said. She is right.
Trotter asked that people remember Lorretta Moody as who she actually was, not how she was found. "She wouldn't want to be known as the person who showed up in a suitcase at a fire station," Trotter told KWCH. "She would be wanting to be known as the loving person that she was, a loving grandmother and a loving great-grandmother."
Trotter described her grandmother as "spunky" and "full of life," someone for whom family was everything. She loved her grandkids and great-grandkids. That is who Lorretta Moody was. The suitcase is how someone else chose to treat her.
A Family Left Waiting for Justice and Struggling to Pay for a Funeral
As of the Post's reporting, a GoFundMe set up for Moody's funeral costs had raised just under $800 of a $5,500 goal. Let that sit for a second. A family is crowdfunding burial expenses for a woman who was murdered, stuffed into a suitcase, and dropped at a fire station, while the people responsible walk free.
Trotter told KWCH that her family wants accountability. "We want to get the people who did it, and whoever did it, I hope they come forward and realize this isn't something that should just be normal, everyday life," she said. "She's a human, and she was somebody's family member. She was somebody's blood."
That last line should not have to be said. It should go without saying. The fact that Trotter felt she needed to say it tells you everything about what kind of cruelty her family is processing right now.
The Dingo Take
Two people knew exactly where Lorretta Moody's body was. They put it in a bag, drove it to a fire station, and handed it over. That sequence of events is so staggering in its audacity that it almost reads as a confession delivered in person, and yet, as of this writing, no one has been charged with anything.
The Wichita Police Department has confirmed interviews with both individuals. What they have not confirmed is any arrest, any charge, or any public identification of who these people are and what their relationship to Moody was. The investigation is "ongoing," which is the official way of saying we are not telling you anything yet. That may be strategically sound police work. It is also cold comfort to a family trying to scrape together $5,500 to bury their grandmother.
Lorretta Moody was 67. She was spunky, her granddaughter said. She was full of life. She loved her family. She deserved to grow old surrounded by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who clearly adored her. Instead, her family is on GoFundMe and waiting by the phone for news about an arrest that has not come. If you know anything about what happened to her, Wichita police need to hear from you.
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