‘Just senseless.’ Mother looks for justice after Tri-Cities daughter’s murder

Alyssa Moore was always willing to listen and help people.

That’s what makes the 18-year-old’s murder even more baffling to her mother, Misty Knox.

“It’s just senseless,” she said. “I just want to know why. What could she have possibly done. It’s unreal to me. I just pray for justice. I don’t want any other families to feel this kind of pain.”

Moore, who grew up in Grandview and had family in Kennewick, was one of four people killed in the Tri-Cities in the span of two weeks recently.

No one has been arrested in three of the deaths, including hers.

Moore was near the corner of Kent Street and Seventh Place in Kennewick when she was gunned down. People calling 911 reported hearing up to four gunshots in the area before police found her.

Kennewick detectives are still working the case and don’t have any new information to release at this point, Lt. Jason Kiel told the Tri-City Herald last week.

But they are serving search warrants and pursuing leads, he said.

Knox said officers have been good about talking with her family, though they haven’t been able to share much information.

Her daughter was born in Sunnyside and raised in Grandview with her grandparents, while Knox worked on her problems with drugs. She’s been clean 13 years now and had an active role in her daughter’s life.

“It’s been the best 13 years of my life,” she told the Herald. “She always told me how proud she was of me.”

Knox said Moore — who has five sisters and three brothers — always had a big heart and a love of music from a young age. By the time she was 9 or 10, she was writing and performing her own music and raps.

She planned to go to Seattle to pursue a music career, family members said.

And she was also looking to become more involved in her church.

“She was just a beautiful kid,” Knox said. “She didn’t get a chance to be an adult.”

As detectives continue to look for Moore’s killer, other Tri-Cities police agencies are searching for answers in three more murder cases.

Body found

Hector Cortez Ballardo’s body was discovered dead at 10:45 a.m. on Sept. 14 by a U.S. postal worker making her deliveries near Bofer Canyon and Bateman roads east of Interstate 82.

Ballardo, a 33-year-old laborer, was born in Mexico but had lived in Kennewick for 27 years, according to his family.

A GoFundMe campaign organized by his brother, Luis Esquivel, described it as, “The worst news any family can receive.”

So far, the fundraising effort to help with funeral costs and other expenses has raised almost $4,400 of an $8,000 goal.

Detectives have not released publicly how Cortez Ballardo died, but believe it was a homicide.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office otherwise has been quiet about the details of the killing since Cortez Ballardo was found. A department spokesman said in September they were concerned that releasing details could affect witness statements.

Kennewick shooting

On Thursday of the same week, Jaden Quintero, 23, was killed on the 200 block of South Washington Street in Kennewick.

Jaden and Nathan Quintero previously made headlines after they were charged with killing George Garcia Thacker in Pasco.

The brothers claimed the 2015 shooting on West River Street, not far from the cable bridge, was in self defense.

Older brother Nathan Quintero took responsibility for it and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He is serving a 16-year, 2-month prison sentence.

Jaden Quintero took a plea deal for rendering criminal assistance for his part in delaying his brother’s capture by police.

It’s unknown whether Thacker’s death was connected to Jaden Quintero’s murder on Sept. 16.

Quintero had appeared in Mental Health Court just two days prior and was trying to get into residential treatment.

He entered the specialized court in May after being charged in Benton County with allegedly putting a relative in a choke hold during an argument. He had been highly intoxicated at the time, prosecutors said.

Kennewick police have not released any new information into his death. Several people called 911 that night and reported hearing up to six gunshots in the area.

A GoFundMe campaign started by Quintero’s sister said Quintero had been innocently walking down the street when he was shot numerous times. His survivors included a baby boy.

“Jaden was led to the path of parenthood and was well on his way to making a life change,” says the fundraiser, which has brought in nearly $3,400 of its $5,000 goal.

“Those around him would say he could light up a room and had an infectious smile.”

Bus driver stabbing

On the Friday of the same week that Moore was killed, Richard “Dick” Lenhart, 72, was stabbed by a man who boarded the Pasco school bus at Longfellow Elementary School in Pasco.

Lenhart opened the doors for Joshua Dian Davis, 34, who got on the bus and asked if it went to Road 100. After Lenhart said it didn’t, Davis went to leave, then turned around and allegedly stabbed the driver in front of a busload of children.

Davis faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the Sept. 24 killing. He’s being held on $1 million bail.

The case has been paused while a state psychologist determines whether Davis is competent to stand trial.

Lenhart — a driver for the Pasco School District for six years — was remembered one week ago with a parade of school buses in Pasco and people lining 10th Avenue up to Longfellow Elementary.

Supporters and the buses — which came from across the region and state — carried messages of encouragement and the number “4,” the number of Lenhart’s bus route.

Police have said they do not believe there is any connection between Lenhart and Davis, or that the two knew each other.