Cynthia Worthy’s Murder and the Backpage.com Shutdown

Cynthia Worthy, a 23-year-old Detroit woman, was stabbed to death in August 2015 after arranging a date through Backpage.com. Jerome Moore, a 26-year-old from Oak Park, Michigan, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Cynthia Worthy murder case and was sentenced to 30 to 45 years in prison.¹

What Happened to Cynthia Worthy

Worthy was last seen around 3 p.m. on Friday, August 14, 2015, at her home in the 3200 block of Cortland in Detroit. She had arranged to meet a man at 5 p.m. that afternoon through Backpage.com, where she had previously listed advertisements for escort services. When she did not return, her sister reported her missing.²

Her body was found on the evening of Monday, August 17, in an alley off the 4000 block of West Davison on Detroit’s west side.³ The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office determined she had died from multiple stab wounds to the chest.⁴ Her white Chevy Trailblazer was recovered a few blocks from the home of the man police would charge with her murder.⁵

How Investigators Identified Jerome Moore

Detectives traced Worthy’s phone activity to Jerome Moore. Cellphone records showed Moore’s number was the last Worthy had called before her death, and location data placed her near Moore’s residence in the 10300 block of Dartmouth in Oak Park in the predawn hours of August 15.⁶

Prosecutors said DNA matching Worthy was later recovered from Moore’s family home, from a vehicle belonging to Moore, and from items connected to him. Cadaver dogs also detected her DNA in Moore’s bedroom, on his shoes, in his basement, and in the trunk of his car.⁷ Moore was arrested in Oak Park on August 20, 2015, and initially charged with first-degree murder.⁸ Early reports of a second person in custody were incorrect; the Detroit Police Department said that information had been released prematurely and only Moore was arrested.⁹

Guilty Plea and Sentencing

At a preliminary hearing on November 6, 2015, Detroit Police Sergeant Michael McGinnis testified about the cellphone evidence, and Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Christina Guirguis argued that Moore had “lured” Worthy to his home and “deliberately stabbed her.” Defense attorney William Winters argued the evidence was circumstantial and objected to binding Moore over, but the judge ordered him to stand trial on the first-degree murder charge.⁶

On March 9, 2016, Moore pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for dismissal of the first-degree charge.¹⁰ On March 23, 2016, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Mark Slavens sentenced him to 30 to 45 years in prison. “It’s completely senseless what took place here,” Slavens said.⁷

Worthy’s mother, Priscilla Harrison, addressed the court. The family wore green, which Harrison said “represents healing and hope.” She told the court, “Cynthia was our joy,” and said the family was “still healing.” Worthy’s father, Shawn Willis, had spoken earlier about his daughter’s efforts to leave escort work. “We had finally convinced her to stop and she enrolled in school. She was looking for jobs, she was on the right track,” Willis said.⁹

A Second Conviction in Prison

Three months into his murder sentence, Moore attacked a clinical social worker on June 30, 2016, during a therapy session at the Macomb Correctional Facility in Lenox Township. He pinned her to her desk and attempted to sexually assault her before three psychologists and a corrections officer physically restrained him.¹¹

A Macomb County Circuit Court jury convicted Moore of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, and assault of a prison employee. Judge Jennifer Faunce sentenced him to 25 to 50 years in prison. In 2021, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel of Judges Deborah Servitto, Mark Cavanagh, and James Robert Redford upheld the convictions.¹¹

The Backpage.com Connection

Worthy’s killing became one of the more prominent cases cited in criticism of Backpage.com, which was then the dominant online marketplace for adult-services ads. By July 2015, the month before her death, Visa and MasterCard had stopped processing payments for the site, and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey had publicly called on Backpage to shut down its adult section after another woman was killed.⁴

The federal government seized Backpage.com on April 6, 2018.¹² CEO Carl Ferrer pleaded guilty that month to conspiracy to facilitate prostitution and money laundering, and three other principals, Michael Lacey, Scott Spear, and John “Jed” Brunst, were convicted by a federal jury on November 16, 2023, of multiple counts of promoting prostitution and money laundering. Prosecutors said the operation had earned more than $500 million.¹³

1
CBS News Detroit. Man Gets at Least 30 Years for Killing Woman He Met on Backpage Date
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Detroit News. Police: Detroit Woman Missing Since Last Week
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WDIV ClickOnDetroit. Detroit Woman Reported Missing After Meeting Online Date Found Dead
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HuffPost. Cynthia Worthy Dead Detroit Backpage
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Detroit News. Man Charged in Killing of Woman From Escort Site
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Detroit News. Backpage Slaying Detroit
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WDIV ClickOnDetroit. Man Who Admitted to Killing Detroit Woman He Met on Backpage Sentenced
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Fox 2 Detroit. Man Charged After Backpage.com Date Murder
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Fox 2 Detroit. Suspect Arrested for Backpage.com Murder of Detroit Woman
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Detroit Free Press. Oak Park Man Sentenced in Backpage Murder
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Oakland Press. Convicted Murderer Attacked Female Therapists at Macomb County State Prison
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California Office of the Attorney General. Attorney General Becerra Announces Shutdown of World’s Largest Online Sex Trafficking Marketplace
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U.S. Department of Justice. Backpage Principals Convicted in $500M Prostitution Promotion Scheme