This week’s Grave of the Week is Frank Alexander Moyer, Jr. Alex, as he was known, was born in 1930. He served in Korea, lived in Exeter, and owned the U.S. Stamp and Coin Shop in Visalia. He passed away October 6, 1979.
Unfortunately, more is known about Alex’s death than his life. He never married and was survived by his father in Santa Barbara and a sister in Kansas. On October 6, 1979, Mr. Moyer was killed in his coin shop by a man who scheduled a meeting with Moyer under the guise of wanting to buy gold and silver coins. Mr. Moyer was shot, and the coins were stolen.
His body was discovered October 7. There were no leads or suspects until Visalia PD spoke with Fresno PD and learned a similar murder had occurred prior in Fresno. A man set up a meeting with coin dealer James Bibee. Bibee was shot at the meeting with the same caliber gun as Moyer and Bibee’s coins were also stolen. The main suspect in the Bibee murder was a man named David Stone.
Visalia police eventually gathered enough circumstantial evidence to arrest Stone for Moyer’s murder. The Visalia District Attorney charged Stone with murder and robbery. The robbery charge was dismissed at a preliminary hearing, but Stone was held and tried for murder. The majority of evidence against Stone was circumstantial and the District Attorney used a little-known law that allows evidence from an uncharged crime (in this case, Bibee’s murder) as a way of connecting another crime. Bibee’s murder and Moyer’s murder were similar enough for the DA to use the facts of Bibee’s murder to connect Stone with Moyer’s murder. Stone was never charged for Bibee’s murder.
Stone was convicted but appealed. The appellate court overturned the conviction, not on the use of Bibee’s murder weapon, but because of, of all things, a Mr. Coffee Pot. When Moyer was found on October 7, it was noticed that his coffee pot was empty but had coffee grounds and evaporated water stains in the bottom of the pot. It was noted initially that the coffee pot was still on but later, no one could prove whether the coffee machine was on or off. The appellate court concluded that defense counsel did not investigate the coffee pot enough. The theory was that Stone killed Moyer in the early morning of October 6. However, if the coffee pot had been turned on that morning, as alleged by the DA, then the coffee machine should have burned out completely. If, however, the coffee pot had been turned on later in the day, it might have resulted in the type of empty pot that the police observed when they found Moyer’s body. If the pot had been turned on later in the day, someone, possibly Moyer, was in the shop to turn on the pot and he wasn’t killed in the morning.
Countless time and money was spent on experts to test how, and how much, a Mr. Coffee Pot will run and how the water will evaporate when left on and left off.
Despite all of the effort put into determining the evaporation rate of coffee, the defense still didn’t present the coffee evidence at the second trial. Stone testified in his own behalf and his testimony convinced the jury he was guilty.
Stone was sentenced to life and served his sentence in Soledad Prison. Later, during his subsequent appeals, which were denied, two documents were found allegedly signed by the prosecuting attorney and one of the detectives investigating the case. Both documents indicated the DA and detective knew Stone was innocent but doctored and hid evidence to secure a conviction. These documents were proven fraudulent, and it appeared as though Stone and his appellate attorney created the documents and the story surrounding them. Stone died in prison.
The DA who prosecuted the case later became a Superior Court judge in Tulare County. He wrote the book “Murder in Visalia: The Coin Dealer Killer.”
If you happened to know Alex Moyer, please share any stories of his life here. It would be nice to remember Alex’ life more so than the way it ended.
Message if you know anyone who should be featured on Grave of the Week. Please include any information about the person’s life and where the grave is located.
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