Man charged with two slayings in Logan neighborhood

The man who killed 19-year-old Devaughn Smith was portrayed in uncommon terms: He was a giant, the size of an offensive lineman.

At 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds, Siegfried Moore certainly matched that description.

Detectives checked him out and learned that the big man had been to the hospital several times this month for injuries, which they found were a puncture wound and a collapsed lung.

Just as noteworthy, he lived doors from the scene of another stabbing, at a coin-operated laundry. Owner Huan Mo, 53, was found dead in the office by her husband and son.

The two homicides happened a week apart, on Aug. 4 and Aug. 11, the crime scenes a few blocks away in the city's Logan neighborhood.

Late last week, detectives got a search warrant for Moore's home, in the 4700 block of North 15th Street, where he lived with an elderly woman.

Inside, they found bloody clothes and shoes, a bloody knife, a screwdriver, cash, and "a lot of evidence that was taken from the Laundromat robbery," said Capt. James Clark, commander of the Homicide Unit.

Moore, 51, was charged Thursday with two counts of murder, robbery, and other crimes after, police said, DNA linked him to the crimes.

"He's like a 6-foot-6, 300-pound predator that we're very happy to get off the streets," Clark said.

The items from Moore's home were turned over to the police Forensic Science Division just before the weekend, with a rush put on the results.

Forensic scientists Rachel Wiegand, Deanna Ferriola, and David Hawkins isolated blood splatters on Moore's shoe and reported the presence of DNA from each victim.

"All three analysts worked through the night," said Joseph Szarka, the forensic laboratory manager.

Moore knew both victims, Clark said, and he frequently washed his clothes at the laundry, which sits in the triangular island where Belfield Avenue cuts through 15th and Wyoming Avenue.

The laundry remained shuttered Thursday, the parking lot deserted. A half-dozen neighbors on Moore's block said they didn't know him or have any knowledge of the crimes.

Clark said Moore had "some type of relationship" with Smith, but he would not elaborate.

Smith was killed about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 4 in the vestibule of his cousin's apartment building in the 4800 block of North Camac Street. Smith lived two blocks south on Camac.

Detectives said they believed that Moore had tried to rob Smith and that a violent struggle had ensued. During the fight, Smith managed to turn the knife on Moore, stabbing him in the stomach, Clark said.

Mo, who lived in South Philadelphia, also appeared to have put up a struggle, said Clark, who previously described the crime scene as "gruesome."

Mo was killed Aug. 11 sometime before the laundry's normal closing time of 8 p.m. Her husband and teenage son went to the laundry when she did not return that night.

Clark said Moore had sought treatment several times for a stomach wound and collapsed lung. He was checked into Albert Einstein Medical Center last week, and is still being treated there, Clark said.

Detectives were alerted to Moore - a large man with injuries - through a citizen's tip, Clark said.

He did not know how Moore had explained his injuries when seeking treatment, but medical personnel did not contact police.

Moore has been ruled out as a suspect in any other homicide, but detectives are checking other robberies and stabbings in the Logan area to see if he could have been involved, Clark said.

Although Moore had a violent criminal history, including 2005 convictions for aggravated assault and resisting arrest, Clark was at a loss to explain the killings.

"He's got a bad drug problem," he said. "It could have been anything that set him off."