ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
A 5-year-old girl whose father is accused of repeatedly stabbing his estranged wife and fleeing with the girl returned home Monday and into the arms of anxious family members.
Alexis ``Lexi'' Moore, a kindergartner, was flown from Miami to Richmond two days after her picture was broadcast on Saturday's episode of ``America's Most Wanted.'' She was accompanied by a Henrico County police officer.
Wearing a pink-and-blue dress, she looked dazed but calm as her aunt carried her through the airport.
Lexi's father, Michael E. Moore, is wanted in Henrico County on charges of malicious wounding. Lisa Moore was stabbed 33 times March 22. Michael Moore also faces a federal warrant of unlawful flight.
Moore remained at large Monday afternoon and is considered dangerous, authorities said.
Lisa Moore, 26, is recuperating under an assumed name in a Richmond-area hospital and should be released later this week, said Sgt. Bob Loving of the Henrico County Police Department. Lexi was taken to see her mother on her arrival.
Lisa Moore has a hole in her esophagus and is being fed intravenously, said her twin sister, Kim Martin of Houston.
Lexi's grandmother, Lynne Davis of Buckingham County, said Lexi will be spoiled for the next few days. ``Anything that she wants is what she will get,'' she said.
Lexi had just been named ``student of the week'' at Shady Grove Elementary School when she vanished, her family said.
As Lexi arrived at the airport, a boy whose mother declined to give their name gave Lexi a stuffed bear and some candy. The boy's mother said he did not know Lexi ``but he just wanted to give her something.''
The attack on Lisa Moore apparently was prompted by the pending divorce from her husband.
The two, separated for 10 months, had visited Lisa Moore's attorney earlier in the day to work out custody arrangements for Lexi, officials said. They began arguing when Lisa Moore went to her husband's home later in the day to drop Lexi off for the weekend.
Moore then allegedly took off with Lexi. A desk clerk at the Days Inn on Plantation Road in Roanoke County said a man fitting Moore's description and a young girl checked in March 23 and checked out about noon the next day.
When Moore got to Miami, he met a man who offered him a place to stay and a job in construction, authorities said.
The program drew 160 calls, four of which led police to the home north of Miami where Moore, 23, had been staying. Moore got away before police arrived, leaving Lexi behind unharmed, officials said.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB