The granddaughter of a Kansas great-grandmother found dead in a suitcase at a Wichita fire station is demanding justice and remembering the victim as a vibrant family woman.
Alexis Trotter spoke to KWCH after her grandmother Lorretta Moody, 67, was identified as the body discovered on Sept. 16. Two people had carried the suitcase into the fire station and told firefighters a body was inside, police said. Authorities have interviewed those individuals, but no arrests have been announced and the investigation continues.
“This is just evil. There’s no other word for it,” Trotter told the outlet.
Trotter said her grandmother would hate to be remembered only for the grim circumstances of her death.
“She wouldn’t want to be known as the person who showed up in a suitcase at a fire station,” she said. “She would be wanting to be known as the loving person that she was, a loving grandmother and a loving great-grandmother.”
Before the discovery, Moody had been reported missing to police, according to KAKE. The case is being investigated as a homicide.
Trotter described Moody as small in stature but full of energy and devotion to her relatives.
“[She] loved all of us grandkids, her great-grandkids,” Trotter said. “Family was everything to her. She was spunky, I’d say, for a little person. She was full of life.”
The grieving granddaughter made clear that accountability matters to those Moody left behind.
“We want to get the people who did it, and whoever did it, I hope they come forward and realize this isn’t something that should just be normal, everyday life,” she said.
“She’s a human, and she was somebody’s family member. She was somebody’s blood.”
A GoFundMe campaign created to cover Moody’s funeral expenses had raised nearly $800 toward its $5,500 goal as of the most recent reporting.