DISTURBING CHILD EXPLOITATION CASE ENDED IN SHOCKING SUICIDE MAY
LAST CALL HIT TOO HARD AT NOW-DEFUNCT SPORTS BAR FEBRUARY Shawn Black, 42, met his tragic demise at an unlikely location — his restaurant job. Found unresponsive at The Roost Sports Bar & Café early one morning, the Pinal County Medical Examiner later confirmed he succumbed to acute alcohol intoxication the night before. Black, a staffer at the establishment, was discovered lifeless before 9 a.m. by first responders. This haunting episode left questions hanging like an empty glass on a quiet bar counter as The Roost — which closed for good last month — was completely mum about the suspicious death.
A child pornography investigation took a dark turn when 37-year-old Brian Moehr, arrested for possessing explicit videos of minors, died by suicide four days after bailing out of jail. The case began with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023 linking Moehr to a file uploaded from his Maricopa address. Police uncovered additional explicit material in Moehr’s cloud storage, leading to his arrest at his Desert Passage home. After being booked and released, he was found dead in Maricopa County, having jumped in front of a train.
WHEN SWIMMING ON THE JOB WENT WRONG MARCH
Day labor turned deadly when a landscaper tending a Rancho El Dorado property drowned in the backyard pool. Found unresponsive just after 4:30 p.m., the man was rushed to a nearby hospital but couldn’t be saved. Authorities ruled out foul play but faced delays identifying him, citing complications with his likely non-resident status. At the time of publication, his identity was still a mystery.
Most watched youtube video of 2024 on the InMaricopa channel
convicted felon who was not allowed to possess a gun, told cops in the body camera footage. He claimed people shot at him out of a moving silver pickup truck — a claim that has never been substantiated. Police found bullet holes in neighbor Dante Scudella’s car with a spent bullet in the front seat. Months after the shooting, Scudella told InMaricopa he was “living in fear” and that he “would have been killed” if he had been in the driver’s seat. Despite Harris, a convicted felon and career criminal with more than 70 criminal charges on his record,
admitting to firing off a few rounds, MPD officers did not arrest nor lodge charges against him that night, although they did seize his handgun. But the habitual offender didn’t stay out of trouble for long. In December that year, Harris was jailed on unrelated charges of threatening to murder his stepson. Then, in March 2024, he was nabbed again on charges of beating his wife, attempted auto theft and resisting arrest.
SKYDOVE WITHOUT A PARACHUTE APRIL
APRIL 765,000 VIEWS RUNTIME: 35:08 This viral InMaricopa.com video of body camera footage
A serene morning took a tragic turn when 45-year-old Allen Kay Sackett of Florence lost control of his backpack-style paramotor, crashing near Murphy and La Brea roads in Maricopa. The early-morning crash left authorities baffled, and the cause still remains a mystery. Sackett’s family was notified of the accident, which brought no collateral harm but highlighted the risks of personal flight devices. Officials continue to investigate what led to this ill-fated airborne adventure.
from July 25, 2023, which was released by the authorities nine months later, shows the cops’ confrontation with then-47-year-old Shawan Harris after he disturbed the silence in the streets of Senita with gunfire. “I felt my life was in danger, so I fired back,” Harris, a
BACKYARD MYSTERY WITH A SERRATED TWIST APRIL
It was a grisly discovery in the Maricopa Meadows when a landlord found 24-year-old Makaiel Thomas dead in the back yard, a knife still lodged in his abdomen. His body, already decomposing, showed signs of a single stab wound and 11 partially digested pills in his stomach. With no security footage, no forced entry and a toppled ladder nearby, the circumstances surrounding Thomas’s death remain baffling. Was it suicide, murder or a freak accident? Medical examiners couldn’t say, labeling the case “undetermined.” Meanwhile, police promised a meticulous investigation to unravel the truth, but they have since closed the case, dooming it to remain a mystery forever.
InMaricopa.com | January 2025
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