Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of murder. Please take care while reading.
On December 8, 2025, a Texas court sentenced 54-year-old Cynthia Ellen Ming to 50 years in prison after she entered a guilty plea in the fatal 2022 shooting of her neighbor. A crime she said she committed while “bugged out” after an electrocution.
On the night of September 7, 2022, Ming broke into the home of her neighbor, Angie Melissa Moore, in the 400 block of Whispering Avenue in Lacy Lakeview, Texas, near Waco. According to police affidavits, Moore called 911 shortly before midnight to report an attempted break-in. She warned the dispatcher she had a gun and would be forced to use it in self-defense.
According to the Texas news outlet, KWTX, officers arrived within minutes to find Ming naked and covered in blood, leaving Moore’s home. A Taser proved ineffective, and she was eventually detained. Inside, deputies discovered Moore lying on the floor in a large pool of blood. First responders pronounced dead at the scene.
The alleged dog-killing incident
According to statements Ming made while being treated at a hospital for lacerations she reportedly suffered during the break-in, she admitted grabbing Moore’s shotgun and shooting her in the head after alleging that Moore had killed her dog.
Perhaps more alarming, though, was Ming’s admission that she “then drank her blood.” Hospital records from her treatment corroborated that disturbing statement.
In her own recounting, Ming told experts she had been “electrocuted” by a live wire in her home just before the killing, causing her to feel disoriented and “bugged out.” According to the evaluation report, she said, “The last thing I remember” is the light fixture that shocked her.
Ming’s mental health history is extensive. Court records show prior diagnoses including borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type.
Ming is “Satan’s puppet,” Moore’s family said
The victim’s family described Moore as a beloved mother with a 16-year-old son, whose life was shattered by the killing. During the sentencing hearing, Moore’s parents delivered emotional victim impact statements, describing Ming as “a force of pure evil” after years of what they called “harassing” behavior.
Moore’s son, now orphaned, had a song he wrote about his mother’s death read aloud in court: “She was Satan’s puppet… She shed my mother’s innocent blood,” the lyrics said.
Ahead of her trial, in early December 2025, Ming entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, prompting at least three psychological evaluations to assess her competency and mental condition at the time of the crime.
Under the plea agreement, Ming admitted to the lesser charge of murder to avoid a potential capital murder conviction, after previously entering a not guilty by reason of insanity plea.
But the prosecution’s expert, Dr. Lee Carter, concluded that despite her mental illness, Ming was sane at the time of the murder and capable of understanding right from wrong. Prosecutors offered a 55-year plea deal, which Ming initially rejected, seeking the insanity defense at trial.
Ultimately, however, she accepted a 50-year sentence for murder. She will be eligible for parole only after 25 years, but prosecutors cautioned that’s “unlikely” given the brutality of Ming’s crime.
Published: Dec 10, 2025 06:22 am