The case began with a late-night 911 call from a home near the Allegan and Van Buren county line.
CHESHIRE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A late-night shooting inside a rural Allegan County rental home has led to an open murder charge against Jennifer Dana Moore in the death of her boyfriend, Joseph Wayne Worley.
The April 22 shooting took place on East Baseline Road, near 36th Street and close to the Van Buren County line. That location has become an important part of the case because the home sat in a quiet township area, neighbors said the couple had recently moved in, and the emergency response pulled several agencies to a scene that first reached police through Moore’s own 911 call. She is accused of killing Worley, 52, with a revolver. The charge has not been proven in court.
Deputies were sent to the home shortly after 10 p.m. after Moore called dispatchers and said, “I just shot my boyfriend.” When Allegan County sheriff’s deputies arrived, they saw Moore outside on the porch, according to court records described in reports. Police said she then went back into the home. Officers kept sight of her from outside and saw enough through a window to know another person was down inside. The affidavit said Moore was crying and told deputies, “I shot him” and “I killed him.” Officers ordered her out before they entered the house.
Inside, deputies found Worley on the floor near the kitchen and living room area. He had a wound to the back of the head and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later described the injury as a single gunshot wound. A black revolver was found on the kitchen counter, according to court records cited in reports. The home was then treated as a homicide scene, with sheriff’s detectives, Allegan City Police, Michigan State Police, medical responders, the state police crime lab and the county medical examiner’s office tied to the investigation. Officials have not released every lab result or autopsy detail.
The setting inside the home became part of Moore’s interview with detectives. She told investigators the couple had returned from dinner in Paw Paw and began arguing. She said Worley became angry over a comment, flipped over a couch and went into a bedroom, locking her out. Moore said she tried to get him to open the door. When the door opened, she grabbed a gun from the bedroom. Police said a bullet hole was later found in a bedroom television, a detail investigators viewed as consistent with a gun going off in that room before the fatal shot.
The account then moved from the bedroom toward the kitchen. Investigators said Moore admitted that she pointed the revolver at Worley’s back while he was walking away. She also showed detectives a firing motion with her hand and called it “like Doc Holliday.” The old gunfighter reference drew public attention after the court documents were reported, but the legal weight of the statement comes from what police said it showed: Moore had the weapon raised and aimed before Worley was struck. Moore told detectives the gun fired by accident because the revolver had no safety, and she said she did not intend to shoot him.
Authorities charged Moore with open murder, and she appeared by video for arraignment in 57th District Court. Prosecutors asked that she be held without bond. Magistrate Meredith Beidler granted that request, citing the seriousness of the charge, danger concerns and flight risk. The court also noted Moore’s lack of local ties. The ruling meant Moore would remain jailed while prosecutors prepared for the early hearings that decide whether there is enough evidence to move the case closer to trial. Open murder leaves the degree of murder to be sorted out later in the process.
The case has drawn attention in part because the facts reported so far combine an immediate admission with a later claim of accident. Moore reported the shooting herself. Deputies said she made statements at the scene that she had shot and killed Worley. Detectives later recorded her account that she did not mean to fire. Prosecutors will likely focus on the act of pointing the revolver, the location of the wound and any forensic evidence about distance, angle and movement. Defense arguments, if raised in later hearings, could focus on the lack of intent and Moore’s claim about the weapon.
Worley was identified in public reports as a 52-year-old man who shared the home with Moore. His obituary described him as a devoted father, a master electrician and nuclear technician who held supervisory roles. It said he enjoyed the outdoors and was known for being determined and committed. Those biographical details have no bearing on whether Moore committed the charged offense, but they help explain the loss behind the police file. The case record centers on the night of April 22, while family and friends are left with the wider story of Worley’s life.
The next steps listed in public reports were a May 7 probable cause conference and a May 12 preliminary examination. Those dates were set to determine how the case would move forward in district court. No later hearing outcome was found in the reports reviewed. The latest available public account leaves Moore in custody without bond and the investigation still described as active.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.