KWCH - Kansas News and Weather - Bill Moore's Preliminary Hearing Delayed Until August

Bill Moore's Preliminary Hearing Delayed Until August

Bill Moore's preliminary hearing has been continued until August 13th. 

Judge John Sanders granted the motion during a hearing Monday afternoon. Attorneys spent part of the afternoon discussing how to share files and evidence in the case.

Butler County Attorney Jan Satterfield says she has ten hours of tapes of Bill Moore's interview with sheriff's investigators.

She also says Moore was not a suspect in the case or a person of interest until recently.

Satterfield says she hesitates to having an open case file with defense because there were several other suspects investigated over the last 4 1/2 years and her case file has a lot of private information on those suspects.

Attorneys will continue discussing these issues in a meeting scheduled for June 15th.

Prosecutors in Butler County charge a Benton man with first-degree murder in the death of Carol Mould.

Bill Moore appeared in an El Dorado courtroom Friday afternoon. Bail was set at $250,000. Moore also received a court-appointed attorney. Investigators say Moore killed Carol Mould at her home in 2004.  Moore will be back in court June 1st.

For almost five years, Doug Mould's wondered who killed his wife Carol.  He says although he's waited for this day, he feels for the suspects family.

"There's another family who's anguish and grief has just begun. I would ask all of those who have been diligent in their prayers for me, to add the Moore family to their prayers as well has Mr. Moore himself," said Doug Mould.

Mould says Moore looked vaguely familiar in the courtroom. He assumes his wife knew Moore because she volunteered at their children's school. He says Moore was also involved in their son's Boy Scout troop. He says Moore wasn't a scout master, but he did some work while their oldest was in scouts. Mould says that was during the time of Carol's murder.

Carol was found dead inside their Benton home in September of 2004. She had been badly burned. Autopsy results showed she had been killed, but it couldn't identify how.

Mould says given what's happened, his children are doing quite well. Mould was once considered a person of interest himself in the case. He says there were times he didn't care if he lived or died, but he had to keep going for their three kids.

He says with prayers and a lot of support, they've survived. "Still most painful to me is that Carol is not here to see her children grow up. She would be immensely proud of who they are and what they've done," he said.

Mould says he doesn't believe in closure and they'll never get over the murder, but he and his children hope to move on. "If this case comes to fruition and if Mr. Moore is convicted, it will be a huge step in allowing the kids and myself to move forward in our lives."

Original Story 5/21/09

By Kim Hynes (BUTLER COUNTY, Kan.)

Five years after a Benton woman was found murdered, a suspect is arrested in the case. Carol Mould was found burned inside her home in 2004.

Around one o'clock Thursday morning, Butler County deputies arrested a 55-year-old Benton man. The arrest happened at the man's home, six miles from the Mould's. He was booked into jail on first degree murder. Eyewitness News has confirmed the suspect works for Cessna and was a Boy Scout leader from 2002 through 2006.

Eyewitness News knows the name of the suspect. However, we have chosen not to release his name until he is formally charged on Friday.

Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy isn't releasing many details about the arrest. He won't say what led them to the suspect, only that it wasn't a tip from the public. He says the investigation will continue while the county attorney puts her case together. Thursday afternoon, deputies searched the garage of the suspect.

Murphy woke up Mould's husband Doug to tell him the news. Mould says it came as a huge shock but it finally gives the family closure. Mould plans to make an official statement after the court hearing Friday.

When Mould's body was found, her body had been set on fire. At first, police thought she died because of the fire. The next day, authorities said they found more than one fire in her home, none of which caused her death. That's when investigators shifted their case more toward a homicide. Her body was so badly burned, an autopsy could not determine her cause of death.

Since Mould's murder, the Butler County sheriff's department has followed hundreds of leads in the case. They interviewed several person's of interest, including Carol's husband Doug. In 2007, the sheriff cleared Doug Mould.

Eyewitness News is following the story. Look for updates here as they become available.