Adam Moss: Mass Murder in Sioux City, Iowa

It was August 30, 2001, and Donna Stabile stood at the front door of the Aguilar home, reading the note.

It read, “Me and the kids went to Sioux Falls. Too much stress.” Donna thought that it was a little strange.

Donna ran a day care out of her home, and regularly watched Leticia Aguilar’s five children – Claudia, 12, Zach, 11, Larry, 9, Lisa, 7, and Michael,6.

Every weeknight, she would drive over and pick up the children from their Sioux City, Iowa home at about 4 p.m. At 9, Donna would drive them back and drop them off.

Leticia was a single mother and worked hard, doing the best that she could with whatever she earned. A year before, she had moved out of her tiny, cramped apartment and into a modest home.  It wasn’t fancy, but it was a definite upgrade from where they had been living.

Leticia had met Donna when she and some other members of the Cornerstone Faith Center had been preaching in the neighborhood. Donna was more than happy to help watch the kids.

Recently, Leticia had taken a new job that paid more than she had been making. She had also started dating someone new, and the kids had told Donna that they really liked him.

For some reason, Donna decided to try the front door. It was unlocked. Pushing it open, she stepped inside to the living room. The room was in a shambles. Clothes were everywhere and the television set was missing.

Donna knew right away that something was wrong.  Leticia kept her house extremely clean. Even with five children, everything was kept in its proper place. Having such a mess was completely out of character for her.

She left, but returned a short time later with Leticia’s sister, Yolanda Garcia. They started to look around the house more, and Donna began to make her way up the stairs.

As she neared the top of the stairs, she could clearly see into the bedroom where the girl’s slept. They were there, lying face down. She knew instantly that they were dead.

Turning, she went down the stairs as fast as she could. She told Yolanda that that had to get out of the house right away.

They immediately called the police and reported what would soon become known as one of the worst crimes in Iowa history.

—

Ron Fish hadn’t come in to work that day. His sister, Sailye Atlas, sent one of the employees to go over to his house and check on him.

Ron and Sarilye had co-owned Ben Fish Tire Co. for the past twenty years. It was not like him to miss work, and she wanted to make sure that he was alright.

Founded by and named after their Russian-born grandfather when he had immigrated to the area in 1915, the company had served the people of Sioux City for generations. Ron had been born and raised in Sioux City, leaving only briefly to attend the University of Minnesota. Not long after, however, he had decided to return home and work for the family business.

He was known as being a polite and intelligent man who was dedicated to his business. Ron always seemed to be happy and would help ease the stresses of his workers by laughing and joking with them.

Ron lived in a nice home in an upscale neighborhood. He was also very social and was rarely at home, preferring to be out and about. He had lived alone since he and his wife had divorced several years before.

There were some who didn’t agree with his lifestyle, however.

Ron was openly gay, and people had spray-painted derogatory names on the outside of the business and on his car. He didn’t let it bother him, though.

Still, what if something had happened to him? Worried, Sarilye sent Paul Yanacheak, one of her employees, to check on her brother.

Around 5 p.m. on August 30, 2001, Yanachaek pulled up in front of Ron’s house. When he walked up to the front door, he saw that there was blood on the outside. Cautiously, he made his way around to the back door, which was wide open.

Yanachaek went into the home, looking for Fish. He found Ron in the foyer, lying face down with a knife still stuck in his back. Yanachaek called the police.

The crime scene was brutal. There was blood everywhere, so much that it was literally running out the front door. Fish had been stabbed and bludgeoned to death. A knife was found still lodged in Fish’s back, and a claw hammer had been found on the floor of the sitting room.

An empty can of beer was found on an end table in the TV room, along with several cigarette butts left on the floor. Blood was found on the floor of the master bathroom, along with bloody fingerprints in the foyer.

Authorities had just begun to work the crime scene at Ron Fish’s home when, about a half hour later, they received a phone call about a multiple homicide in another part of Sioux City.

Donna Stabile and Yolanda Garcia had just called about Leticia and her children.

When they entered the Aguilar home, even veteran officers were horrified by what they saw.

All five of the children had been bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The killer had slit Leticia’s throat and beaten her in the face and head with a hammer. It seemed that they had been killed sometime earlier in the week.

Joe Frisbie, the chief of police in Sioux City, described it as being “…one of the most heinous and brutal homicides I’ve ever witnessed.”

Neighbors told police that Leticia mostly kept to herself, but the children often played in the backyard or in the street in front of the house. Earlier in the week, neighbors noticed that the house seemed unusually quiet. School officials had also noticed that the children hadn’t been coming to school, which was very unusual for them.

A school truancy officer had been sent to the home. However, when they saw the sign, they felt it explained the absences and they left.

As they made their inquiries, one name came up again and again: Andrew Moss.

Moss was Leticia’s new boyfriend, and police also discovered that he was friends with Ron Fish. Moss had even worked at Ron’s company for a while.

The problem was that although authorities wanted to talk to Moss, they couldn’t find him anywhere. Ron’s car was missing, and if Adam really had been the killer, then it was very possible that he had stolen it. They issued an arrest warrant for Adam for the stolen vehicle.

Over the next several hours, over half of the Sioux City police force followed up on tip after tip on Moss, chasing him all over the city. They quickly realized that he was actively running from them, lending to their suspicions that he had something to do with the murders. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and federal agents soon joined in the manhunt.

Around noon on August 31, 2001, authorities found Moss hiding in a shed near the Economy Motel in Sioux City. He was arrested and taken into custody. The citizens of Sioux City breathed a sigh of relief as an announcement was made that he had been caught.

The next morning, Adam Moss was indicted for the murder of Leticia Aguilar, her five children, and Ron Fish. Standing in front of the judge, he said little, staring at the floor and avoiding eye contact with everyone around him.

In the meantime, news about the death of the Aguilar family had spread around the city.

Leticia and the children had been very well-liked. The children were known as being extremely polite and well-behaved. Claudia, the oldest, attended sixth grade at West Middle School and wanted to grow up to be a singer. Her sister Lisa had wanted to be a professional model.

Funeral services were held at the Cornerstone Faith Center, where 900 visitors came to pay their final respects. Six white coffins were displayed in the front of the church as the pastor talked about the family.

Others, choosing not to go to the funeral, left flowers, stuffed animals, and cards outside of the Aguilar home instead.

While the city mourned, authorities began to build their case against Adam Moss.

A lifelong resident of Sioux City, Moss had first been arrested in 1992 at the age of fifteen for juvenile delinquency. Now 23, he had been arrested 25 separate times for charges ranging from criminal mischief to various drug-related offenses.

He often failed to appear for his court dates and had been fined by the court on multiple occasions.

In April, Moss’ ex-wife, Patricia Caudillo, had a paternity test performed to prove that her daughter belonged to Moss. The results were positive, and the Department of Human Services began proceedings to take child support from him.

On July 13, his ex-girlfriend, Jill Marie Irby, accused him of domestic abuse and got a restraining order for him.

Moss met Leticia Aguilar while they were both working at a local box manufacturer. Although she was older than him, the two started seeing one another. According to people close to the family, the children really liked Moss and he seemed to treat them well.

By all appearances, Moss seemed to be trying to put his life back together and do better for himself.

Then, the week before the murders, things began to go sour.

Moss quit his job and applied to be seasonal help at a local candy factory. He was granted a final interview in the hiring process, but never showed up for it.

Jason Moss, Adam’s younger brother, filed domestic violence charges against him around the same time. Jason claimed that his brother had mental issues and struggled with drugs and had made several threatening phone calls to him.

Crime scene technicians carefully went through both houses, collecting fluids, blood samples, and other evidence to build the case against the killer. Of particular interest was anything that may contain DNA evidence, such as the cigarette butts and beer can found at Ron Fish’s home.

While the authorities worked, Moss was held in an isolation cell at the Woodbury County Jail. He was considered a suicide risk and was placed under a round-the-clock suicide watch.

On September 10, 2001, Moss plead innocent to the seven murders he was accused of. Over the next few weeks, the defense and prosecution engaged in the usual legal maneuvering as they moved toward the inevitable trial date.

Then, on September 25, 2001, a handwritten letter made its way to Judge John D. Ackerman, the judge who would oversee the upcoming trial. In it, Moss pled guilty to premeditated murder in all seven murders.

His attorney tried to talk him out of it, but Moss ignored his advice, making it clear in his letter that his lawyer had strongly advised him not to enter the guilty plea. However, Moss’ mind was made up. Ackerman sentenced Moss to seven consecutive life sentences, starting at that moment.

For the next several years, he was imprisoned at Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, Iowa. Then, on June 26, 2013, Moss was found dead in his jail cell. He had tied a bed sheet to a wall vent and used it to hang himself.

During the time that he spent in prison, Moss would only say that he had committed the murders; he never once confessed a motive for the crimes. Whatever motive he had during that week in the summer of 2001 Adam Moss took with him to the grave.

 

Sources

Multiple murders stun Sioux City. The Daily Nonpareil, 8/31/2001

Authorities say boyfriend killed woman, 5 children. The Des Moines Register, 9/1/2001

Linck, Michele. Fish was co-owner of Ben Fish Tire. The Sioux City Journal, 9/1/2001

Hupp, Staci. Fish nice, but his life made him a target. The Des Moines Register, 9/2/2001

Koehler, Mike. Evidence paints graphic picture of crime scenes. The Sioux City Journal, 9/6/2001

Hupp, Staci. Police study items found in Fish home.  The Des Moines Register, 9/5/2001

Koehler, Mike. Murder suspect Moss faces bond of $7 million. The Sioux City Journal, 9/2/2001

Thompson, Kate. Thousands express sympathy. The Sioux City Journal, 9/3/2001

Hytrek, Nick. Prayer service celebrates slain family. The Sioux City Journal, 9/4/2001

Siebert, Mark. Lawyers may look in houses, court says. The Des Moines Register, 9/7/2001

Thompson, Kate. Moss’s mother says she thinks drugs were behind the killings. The Sioux City Journal, 9/2/2001

Koehler, Mike. Crime scene technicians confront horrific scene.  The Sioux City Journal, 9/2/2001.

Hytrek, Nick.  Moss pleads innocent to 7 murder charges. The Sioux City Journal, 9/11/2001

Hytrek, Nick. Moss pleads guilty. The Sioux City Journal, 9/26/2001

Murderer Adam Moss Found Dead in Jail Cell. Siouxlandnews.com