A murder case which went cold for a decade before an arrest was made came to an end in 2024, 15 years after a victim was killed as she slept peacefully in her home.
Judge Bart Stanley sentenced Marty Lynn Judd, 56, to 26 years in prison in December for the 2009 murder of Rebecca Mooneyham, who was shot through the living room window of her residence on Lawson Mill Rd. Aug. 28, 2009.
Judd was convicted Oct. 2 by a six-man, six-woman jury which deliberated for over three hours before returning the guilty verdict, closing a four-day trial. In addition to the second-degree murder charge, which drew a 24-year sentence, Judd received an additional two years for possession of an illegal weapon, as an AR-15 rifle was found at his home in 2019 which had been converted to fire in fully automatic mode.
“It’s relief, and it’s a sense of closure,” Mooneyham’s daughter, Lisa Davis, said after the conclusion of the October trial. “You can’t really move past something until you get a conviction, so now maybe our family can move forward with some healing, close this door and move forward.
“We just want to thank everyone for their prayers, all the law enforcement and DA’s office for everything they’ve done, and anyone who’s had a hand in this. They’ve all worked diligently on it, and we really appreciate them.”
During Judd’s sentencing hearing, members of the Mooneyham family were able to come forward and address the court with their own statements on how the 2009 murder impacted their lives.
“When Marty Judd murdered Becky, he did so much more than just take her life,” Phillip Mooneyham’s statement, read by his daughter Devoni Barkes, said. “He took innocence from my family, my neighborhood and even this county. Becky is more than just a murder victim; she was a mother, a grandmother, a wife, a sister, a friend, a Sunday school teacher, a singer and so much more. Marty Judd didn’t just take Becky’s life. He took memories that our grandchildren will never get to make with her.”
A decade after the murder shocked the county and baffled law enforcement, new information came to light in 2019 resulting in the arrest of Judd, who lived in the same part of the county and allegedly had a history of ill will toward Mooneyham. During the trial, prosecutors inferred a case involving Mooneyham’s son and allegedly stolen motorbikes – a case which went into the juvenile court system but was eventually dismissed – could have served as motive for the murder as they contended Judd’s humiliation over losing the case boiled over into homicidal rage.
While recalling that potential cause of bad blood between Judd and Mooneyham presented during the trial, Stanley noted “If that was the reason, it was beyond stupid.”
