On September 13, 2006 the body of college student Mindy Morgenstern was found drenched in Pine Sol.
Tonight’s episode of Dateline “Who Killed Mindy Morgenstern?” looks into Mindy’s horrific death.
Mindy’s friends Toni Baumann and Danielle Holmstrom found her body when they came by her apartment complex to check on her. Toni’s screams got the attention of Mindy’s neighbor Robert Linz, who checked Mindy’s pulse.
Mindy had been strangled by a belt and stabbed in the neck. There were two knives used in her murder, and one had broken off in her throat. There was no evidence of sexual assault.
Detectives set their sights on Robert because he was a neighbor and had scratches, which might be defensive wounds.
There were other suspects like Toni’s boyfriend James Robinson, who Mindy didn’t like. She was trying to convince Toni to stop dating James, which may have given him a motive to retaliate against James.
There were other suspects like a customer at the restaurant where Mindy worked who made her feel uncomfortable and her ex-boyfriend’s dad.
Weeks later, the DNA results pointed in a completely different direction, but still in the building. Another one of Mindy’s neighbors, Moe Gibbs’s, DNA was found under her fingernails.
Police were able to match him because he DNA was in the system from a sexual assault case from 2004. He had recently changed his name from Glen Dale Morgan Jr. to Moe Gibbs.
The name-change had been to distance himself from a past murder charge. He had previously served five years in jail for a drive-by shooting.
Moe was a correctional officer at the local jail and was living in the apartment building with his pregnant wife and stepdaughter.
When he was called into the police station for questioning he had scratches on his hands. He admitted to police that he had been in Mindy’s apartment the day of the murder helping her carry laundry and other things.
He denied murdering Mindy, was arrested because of the DNA evidence. After news of his arrest spread female inmates at the jail he worked at came forward with complaints of sexual assault.
One claim of sexual assault allegedly occurred the morning of Mindy’s murder.
His cellmate Jeremy Leopold testified against him, revealing that Moe had confessed to Mindy’s murder to him.
Moe’s defense team argued in court that the DNA from under Mindy’s nails had happened because he had helped her with her laundry that day.
The jury didn’t buy Moe’s defense and found him guilty after 27 hours of deliberation. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Mindy had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (M.S.) but she didn’t let the illness hold her back from life.
