Melissa Moore, 14: Youngest victim 'loved life, loved people'

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Melissa Moore made new friends easily.

On Saturday morning, that spirit may have led the 14-year-old to the small blue house on East Republican Street that became the site of the second-biggest mass slaying in Seattle history.


	Moore

On Monday, Kyle and Kelley Moore of Milton identified their daughter, a ninth-grader at Columbia Junior High School in Tacoma, as one of those killed in the Capitol Hill massacre.

Moments later, the King County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that Moore was the youngest of the shooting victims. She died of a shotgun wound to the chest and a gunshot to the head.

Kyle Moore said the last time he saw Melissa was when he dropped her off at the Narrows Bowling Alley in Tacoma. There, she met up with two carloads of older friends for the trip to the Seattle rave.

After they arrived, Melissa lost touch with the friends she came with, Kyle Moore said. But she made new friends -- including 15-year-old Suzanne Thorne, one of the other shooting victims.

Moore, Thorne and another teen friend of Thorne's decided to go to the after-party. As it wound down early Saturday, Moore and Thorne sat outside on the porch. They may have been waiting for their ride home, said Kyle Moore.

Instead, Kyle Huff approached, and apparently met two of his first victims.

Melissa Moore was a sweet and generous-minded girl, her parents and a close friend of hers said, with a love of rap and R&B music, the Mariners and Seahawks, and Disney World.

"She loved life, loved people," said Kyle Moore, a truck driver. "If you treated her right, there wasn't a bad person in the world."

Kyle and Kelley Moore and Melissa's brother Cameron went to Capitol Hill directly after getting the news from the Medical Examiner's Office confirming what Kyle said he already felt in his gut.

They laid tokens of affection near where the murders took place, including photos of Melissa and an Easter basket with flowers in it.

Seattle rave promoter James Winn was also at the house because he knew each of the victims, he said, and wanted to pay his respects. He said he had met Melissa at two previous raves.

"She was usually quiet, but when she was having fun, she was loud," said Winn. "You could hear her across the room."

Longtime friend Crystal Jade of Fife said Melissa would do anything for a friend. Just last year, she offered to help Jade's family move into a new house, she said.

"She was just a kind, sweet girl," said Jade. "She was always there for you if you needed help."

See our ongoing, complete coverage.

Soundoff (Read 103 comments)
Tell us what's on your mind.

P-I reporter Sam Skolnik can be reached at 206-448-8334 or samskolnik@seattlepi.com.

Add P-I Local headlines to