Arlington slaying suspect hoped to sit in on cops’ interview with man he coached on lie

Police do not, as Dalvin Moore learned belatedly, routinely allow a homicide suspect to sit in the corner and observe as they question witnesses.

Moore went two weeks ago to Arlington Police Headquarters with a man he expected would lie and convince homicide detectives to steer their attention away from Moore as they tried to determine the assailant in a killing.

The man told police, beyond Moore’s earshot, that Moore coached him to say that Moore was not inside a BMW the man owned when it was parked at a convenience store or when shots were fired from it nearby.

Two days after the killing on Feb. 10 in which Trendon Spiller was killed, Moore and the man arrived at the police office because Moore believed that he would be able to sit in the interview room as detectives questioned the man, according to an affidavit supporting Moore’s arrest written by Arlington police Detective Richard Coleman.

Moore wanted to be sure that the man, whose name Coleman did not include in the affidavit, would lie.

Instead, as Moore was excluded from the interview, the man told police that he was in the BMW’s front passenger seat as Moore fired on an Audi from a rear window as he sat in the back of the car.

Police arrested Moore on suspicion of murder.

Also arrested on suspicion of murder in the case was Moore’s brother, Kahleigh Crittenden, who was taken into custody in Fort Worth on Thursday. Police allege Crittenden drove the BMW as Moore opened fire.

In the minutes before he was slain, Spiller, 21, and another person had encountered Moore and Crittenden outside a convenience store. It was Moore’s 27th birthday, and Moore and Crittenden went to the store from a birthday party.

A man, who was a passenger in the Audi that Spiller drove from the store, told police that they realized they were being followed by the BMW they had seen at the store. The passenger said that as Spiller drove in the 600 block of Cousins Lane, the men in the BMW drove into the opposing lane and passed the Audi. A person in it began shooting into their car, and Spiller was struck.

The Audi passenger said he fired at the BMW as it drove away.

The man moved Spiller to a passenger seat and drove to a residence on Cousins Lane. Spiller was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Coleman also interviewed Moore.

Moore initially said that he was not inside the BMW at the convenience store or at the time Spiller was shot. He admitted that he was inside the car while it was parked at the store after Coleman told him he had a video recording that showed that. Moore ended the interview by invoking his right to remain silent.