58: She Went to Meet Her Divorce Lawyer… Then Was Stabbed 11 Times | Aliza Sherman

In March 2013, Aliza Sherman was brutally stabbed outside her divorce attorney’s office just two days before her long, bitter divorce trial was set to begin. For more than a decade, her murder remained unsolved, and suspicion swirled around the people closest to her. But when investigators finally made an arrest, the man accused of orchestrating her killing was not who anyone expected.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Annie Elise?

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• 1:23Speaker 03

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• 1:28Speaker 04

  She was viciously stabbed over 10 times, with her body left bleeding on a public sidewalk.

• 1:36Speaker 05

  I mean, he just disappeared, the trail just disappeared, from what I understand, at one point.

• 1:43Speaker 04

  The case grew cold, mired in sorrow and unanswered questions.

• 1:51Speaker 06

  Texting her, creating alibis, deleting videos, apparently.

• 1:56Speaker 04

  No signs of robbery, just pure, calculated violence.

• 2:03Annie Elise?

  On Sunday, March 24, 2013, a 53-year-old mother of four drove into downtown Cleveland for what should have been one of the last steps before finally putting years of trauma behind her. She had been dealing with a long, messy divorce, and in just two days, the trial was supposed to finally start. So that afternoon, she parked outside her attorney's office, sent him a text message letting him know that she had arrived, and she waited for him to come, open the door, and let her inside. However, the door never opened. So after standing outside in the cold for several minutes, she eventually gave up and started walking back toward her car.

• 2:45Annie Elise?

  However, as soon as she turned around and took a few more steps, someone attacked her on the sidewalk, stabbing her 11 times before then disappearing completely into downtown Cleveland. Now, for years, the investigation seemed to go nowhere. Detectives chased leads, the public pointed fingers, but it felt like it was at a standstill. Then, more than 12 years later, the case took a turn that almost nobody saw coming. Today, we are talking about Eliza Sherman. Hey, guys. My name is Annie Elise. This is 10 to Life. Hit that like button, hit the subscribe button, and let's jump right in.

• 3:37Annie Elise?

  Really quickly, before we get started, wanted to let you know that our fall merch collection is officially on sale. And you guys have been asking, you know that at the start of my episodes, sometimes I say, "I hope you're having a nice day, but I'm about to ruin it. It's officially on merch." Also, lots of seasonal stuff, lots of spooky stuff, our classic "Make It Make Sense" with the eyes in a hoodie version, lots of stuff, so you can grab all of it while it lasts. It's at annieelise.com. Quantities are limited, though, and the merch shop is going to be closing very soon, so put those orders in now, whether it's for you, a gift, holiday gift, whatever. You can go shop now, annieelise.com.

• 4:17Annie Elise?

  Eliza Sherman was born in September of 1959, and she was raised in a small house in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Now, where she was raised was mostly a Jewish neighborhood. Her parents were actually Holocaust survivors. They left Europe so that they could build a new life together in America. And after having three boys, they then finally welcomed their first daughter, Eliza. Eliza and her siblings had a pretty modest childhood. Her father worked incredibly hard to provide for their family while her mother was doing everything that she could do to take care of them, even hand-making their clothing sometimes. And that upbringing really shaped the one thing that everyone remembered about Eliza. She had an incredibly kind heart.

• 4:59Annie Elise?

  She was always caring, and that compassion, it only grew stronger the older that she got.

• 5:05Speaker 07

  She was always, even as a little girl, always, always looked out for other people. She was the type of person that, that, that if she saw someone that was kind of having a down day, she'd go out of her way to give them, to make them feel better. I know that, like, if, if we had, if someone gave her a lollipop, she'd make sure that I got one, and I'd make sure that she got one. The best thing that I can remember about her is if, that she always, she was always out there trying to make someone feel better about, about themselves. If they were, if they were feeling bad, she'd, she'd find a way to twist it and turn it, make it into a positive. And when you walked away from Eliza, you felt, you felt a lot better than you did before you started.

• 5:45Annie Elise?

  And it was that caring nature that eventually led her into nursing. She graduated from nursing school in 1981, and then she got a job working at Mount Sinai Hospital. She worked there for a few years, absolutely loved it, and nursing really came naturally to her, because she honestly just liked taking care of people. Then, in 1982, she married her husband Sanford Sherman. The two of them went on to have four children together: Joshua, Jennifer, Jason, and Jeremy. The Four Jays. Now, when the kids were young, Eliza decided to step away from her nursing career. She wanted to stay home, she wanted to raise her children, and she always said that her children were her greatest accomplishment. She even once wrote in a Facebook post, "When I look at them, I know I contributed something

• 6:30Annie Elise?

  wonderful to this world." All of Eliza's kids said that she was the nicest, most genuine person that you could ever meet. It didn't matter whether she had known someone their entire life, or had just met them five minutes earlier. She was the kind of person who would literally give you the shirt off her back if she thought you needed it, which I know that that is cliche and sometimes gets said for a lot of people, but that truly was her character.

• 6:55Speaker 05

  I would just say, in general, she was someone who, whether she had known you her whole life, or met you five seconds ago, she was willing to give you the shirt off her back and help you. I think she was one of the few people I've come across on this earth that genuinely did things out of the goodness of her heart with zero expectation of anything in return. And it's something I try to keep at the forefront of my mind every single day and just make it a part of how I live and interact with people in this world.

• 7:30Annie Elise?

  Now, from the outside, life looked pretty good. The family lived in a five-bedroom home in Beechwood, Ohio, which is a suburb of Cleveland. They had a big backyard, had friends and relatives over all the time. Her son Jason described it as a home that always seemed full of people and full of life. But behind closed doors, things weren't nearly as picture-perfect as they seemed. Jason said that, growing up, he remembered that his parents would argue all the time. Now, as a kid, he didn't really think much of it, because the truth was, it was all he had ever known. It wasn't until he got older that he realized that it wasn't normal for parents to be fighting as often as they were.

• 8:11Speaker 05

  I mean, no household is perfect. Like, everything I just said makes it seem like we're some sitcom show. Like, my parents never really got along that well. They argued a lot. Like, I have lots of memories from when I was a couple of years old, just like, my parents arguing. You know, I just assumed that was normal, and it was probably not till I was...

• 8:31Annie Elise?

  Older that I realized like not all of my friends' parents do things like that. Police records also show that the local cops had actually responded to the home 22 different times over the years, all of these calls being for domestic disturbances. Yet despite all of that, Eliza didn't want to go the divorce route. Family was everything to her and she wanted to make the marriage work. So no matter how difficult things became, she just really kept trying to hold everything together. And while she stayed home with the kids, her husband Sanford worked as an ophthalmologist in Cleveland. However, in 2004, he retired and he closed his practice. And at that point, he was only 48 years old, so relatively a young age for retirement, right?

• 9:14Annie Elise?

  But after he did that, and after years of Eliza spending, you know, time in the home and raising the children, she was finally able to return to the career that she loved. He was now tapping in in the home life. So she was able to go back and have her career. So she got a job at the Cleveland Clinic and she was working in the IVF surgical department at the Beechwood Campus. Then she transferred to the main campus in September of 2006. And according to her family, going back to nursing, that is what changed everything. Because working at the Cleveland Clinic, it gave Eliza way more than just a paycheck. It gave her her confidence again. It gave her a sense of independence. And maybe, most importantly, it gave her the opportunity to step away from what had become an extremely toxic environment at home.

• 9:59Annie Elise?

  And as time went on, she started to realize that she deserved more. She had really had tried hard to make things work, but nothing was getting better. So she finally found the courage to do something about her situation, a way out of the nightmare that she felt that she was living in. So she filed for divorce. The divorce proceedings officially began on June 20th, 2011. However, they were anything but simple. Court records paint a picture of a marriage that had completely fallen apart. I mean, there were allegations of constant verbal abuse, ongoing arguments over money, over the children, and also claims that Sanford had at least one affair during the marriage and had spent quite a bit of money on erotic dancers.

• 10:42Annie Elise?

  By 2013, the couple had next to zero interaction with one another. It was a very contentious divorce. But despite the fact that they were in the middle of this bitter divorce, they were still living under the same roof. Eliza had moved into a downstairs bedroom, but neither one of them wanted to leave the house. They both worried that by moving out, it could be interpreted by the court as abandonment and that it could ultimately affect the outcome of the divorce. Because sometimes when that happens, if someone willingly leaves the home, you can pose the argument legally of abandoning the children, the home, the responsibility, the mortgage. And so if you're trying to split assets and you're already in a very messy divorce, sometimes those things only get messier.

• 11:25Annie Elise?

  But after nearly two years of legal battles, the end finally seemed to be in sight. And the divorce trial was scheduled to start on March 26th, 2013. And really, look, a lot of divorces don't go to trial, right? Because people usually come to some sort of mutual agreement, or they go to mediation, they figure it out before it even gets that far. So I mean, the fact that their divorce was going to trial, that really just gives you a good indication of how truly bad this marriage was and how much, you know, hatred and toxicity and disagreements the two of them had. Three days before the trial was supposed to start, on Saturday, March 23rd, Eliza had met with her divorce attorney Gregory Moore.

• 12:07Annie Elise?

  They were meeting to review some last minute things and get ready for the upcoming proceedings. Then later that night, after their meeting was over, Gregory reached out and told her that he had found something else that he thought she needed to review, or I should say, they needed to review together. So he asked her if she could come back the following day, which she of course agreed, and they decided to meet at 2:30 PM on Sunday afternoon. Then Eliza asked if they could push it back to 3 o'clock, which only 30 minutes, not a huge thing though, but after that, there was another delay, and then another, and then another. So eventually, the meeting got pushed to 4 PM, then again to 5 PM. But here's the thing, those last two delays, they weren't because of Eliza.

• 12:52Annie Elise?

  Gregory was the one changing the plans now. And he never really gave a reason as he kept pushing back. However, she was flexible with the time because she knew that this meeting needed to happen. They were getting ready for trial after all. So when Sunday rolled around, she arrived at the law building around 5 o'clock in downtown Cleveland. Because it was a Sunday evening, the building was locked though, and most of the businesses inside were closed. Gregory, like I had talked about at the top of this episode, had told her to meet him at the door so that he could let her into the building, so she sent that text message letting him know that she had arrived and to come open the door. Then a little while later, he texted back saying he was there too. But Eliza didn't see him. So she texted him back again, saying, okay, well, come unlock the door.

• 13:36Annie Elise?

  Yet then, she got no response. So she waited outside for about 10 minutes, standing in the cold, expecting the door to open any second. And then eventually, she decided, you know, I've waited long enough, I'm gonna walk back toward the car, wait a little longer there, stay warm and see what happens. But what came next, she could have never imagined. Now, it was around 5:26 PM, and out of nowhere, just steps away from her lawyer's office, someone attacked Eliza on the sidewalk, stabbing her 11 times before running away. She had wounds to her face, her neck, her right ear, and several wounds to her back. And as she laid there on the ground after the attack, there was nobody else around. I mean, remember, this was a Sunday evening in a business park.

• 14:21Annie Elise?

  The offices were closed, the streets were quiet, and what would normally be a busy part of downtown Cleveland during the week, it was almost completely empty on this day. However, thankfully, one person did hear her screams and they came rushing and running to help. His name was Kenny Shepherd, and he worked in the same building as Eliza's lawyer. So once he heard her screaming, he came running downstairs, rushed outside, and that's when he found her lying face down on the sidewalk. He turned her over onto her back, and at first, he actually thought that she had been shot. That's how much blood there was. He had no idea that she had been stabbed, though.

• 14:58Speaker 04

  I just kinda saw her laying there, uh, like she just gave up. So I instantly ran to the door. And as soon as she heard that door open and heard my voice, that's where she kinda came back and that's where, you know, I jumped into action. And she was laying stiff in a, you know, kinda like a sleeping position, face down. And when she turned over, I saw the severity of the situation. There was a lot of blood all over the place. And I wasn't sure what was done, I wasn't even aware it was a stabbing, I was thinking she was shot.

• 15:33Annie Elise?

  So he asked Eliza if she was okay, but she couldn't answer him. She just kept screaming, "Help me, help me." And honestly, just imagine being Kenny for a second. You hear someone screaming, you run outside thinking, okay, maybe somebody fell, maybe they got hurt, but instead, you walk into something like this. You have no idea what happened. This person is on the ground, you think that they've been shot, and they can't tell you anything. It would be horrifying. Now, at the same time, another thought crossed his mind. Whoever had done this could very well still be nearby. He had no idea if the attacker had already taken off, or if they were maybe hiding nearby somewhere. Yet, instead of worrying about himself, Kenny focused on helping Eliza.

• 16:17Annie Elise?

  So he immediately called 911 and asked for an ambulance. While he was waiting for the first responders, Kenny even ran out onto the street looking for anything that might help investigators later through this investigation, maybe a weapon, footprints, you know, any clue that could explain what had just happened. But there was nothing. So he went back to Eliza and he stayed with her by her side until the police and paramedics arrived. When officers got there, Kenny told them everything that he knew, which really wasn't much, and he explained that because it was the weekend, the only way into the building was by using an employee ID badge. So after giving investigators his information, there really wasn't much else he could do. So he ended up going back to work.

• 16:59Annie Elise?

  Meanwhile, Eliza was rushed to the Metro Health Medical Center. But despite every effort to save her, she was pronounced dead at 6:14 that evening. And at that point, her family still had no idea what had happened. Her daughter Jen was in graduate school at the time, and she had spent most of the day studying. She had last heard from her mom through a text around 2:55 in the afternoon, when her mom told her that she was on her way to meet with her attorney after the original appointment had been delayed. Now, as the evening went on, Jen started trying to get ahold of her mom, but she of course wasn't getting any response. And she just had a gut feeling that something was not right here.

• 17:40Annie Elise?

  And after a while, that feeling got so strong that she actually left her house, still wearing pajamas and slippers, and started driving around through different neighborhoods, checking everywhere that she thought her mom may have gone. Then, after searching for a little while, she got a text from her 17-year-old brother Jeremy, and he said that the police were on their way to the family home. Now Jeremy lived there with Eliza and her, you know, soon-to-be ex-husband Sanford, and he told Jen that the police wouldn't say why they were coming, only that they were coming and that they needed to speak with the family in person. So Jen, of course, hurried back to the house and she waited in the driveway with Jeremy. Then, when the officers arrived, before they could even say anything, Jen asked, "Is my mother dead?"

• 18:25Annie Elise?

  The officer looked at her and said, "I'm sorry to say that your mom was killed."

• 18:30Speaker 05

  I remember just...

• 18:33Speaker 05

  Being in shock. I mean, on the one hand, you know, she had said to me so many times, you know, that she was worried and if something ever happened to her, make sure, you know, the truth was brought to light and, but it's, it's a feeling that's really hard to put into words. I just was screaming.

• 18:53Annie Elise?

  After that, Jenna and Jeremy had the heartbreaking job of calling their other two siblings to let them know what had happened. And of course, everyone was devastated. Eliza's funeral was held on Thursday, March 28th, in the middle of Passover week, which is one of the most important Jewish holidays of the year. So friends and family, they traveled from all over to celebrate her life. Even people from the community who had never met Eliza came so that they could pay their respects. And it really just showed how deeply her story had touched the city. What started as this tragic loss of a mother, nurse, and friend, it became something that the entire community was mourning together. However, one of the most heartbreaking details involved her mother.

• 19:38Annie Elise?

  She was really sick at the time and she was hospitalized in Florida. So her brothers decided to wait until after the funeral to tell her. They wanted to make sure that she was well enough to handle the news. But when they finally sat down and told her that Eliza was dead, she said she already knew, which nobody knows how that happened. Her family kind of just chalked it up to mother's intuition, just that gut feeling, that innate feeling you get. But it was still a devastating situation, obviously. So as Eliza's family continued to grieve, a team of investigators worked on finding her killer. In the hours after the murder, police had set up a perimeter all around the crime scene and started documenting everything, every piece of evidence.

• 20:21Annie Elise?

  Every single detail was photographed, marked, collected. But almost immediately, detectives ran into another major problem, the location. Now, normally after something like this happens, investigators go door to door, talking with neighbors, asking if anyone heard or saw anything unusual, you know, the normal. But this wasn't, you know, the normal, run-of-the-mill investigation. But this wasn't a neighborhood. It was downtown Cleveland on a Sunday night in a business park. There weren't homes nearby to canvass. Most of the businesses in the area were closed. I mean, other than Kenny, the man who ran up to help her, there weren't really any other witnesses to interview, which meant that the investigators were starting this case with very little to go on.

• 21:06Annie Elise?

  Over the next several days, detectives searched everywhere that they could think of. They checked rooftops, garbage cans, even sewer drains along the route that they believed the attacker may have taken after leaving the scene, just hoping to find something, maybe the murder weapon or anything else that could point them in the right direction. But they came up empty. Police searched for days and they never found the knife that was used to stab and kill Eliza. But then, two days later, on March 26th, investigators finally caught what they hoped would be their first big break, because they found surveillance footage. Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that new customers who bundle and save with Progressive, save hundreds. Because switching your home and auto insurance

• 21:50Annie Elise?

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• 23:37Annie Elise?

  Two days after Eliza was murdered, police found surveillance footage from the front of the building. It showed someone in a dark-colored hoodie and jeans running up behind Eliza right before the attack. It also showed that same person running away afterward. Now, it was broad daylight, but no one was around to step in. And whoever was responsible, they had disappeared without a trace. And at that point, police had no idea who this person in the video was. They didn't release the video to the public yet, but they announced a $2,000 reward through Crime Stoppers. They were offering this for any information that would lead to an arrest, hoping that somebody would come forward. And just over a week after the award was announced, on April 9th, 2013,

• 24:20Annie Elise?

  Eliza's family and friends came together at the scene where she was killed. And this was for the very first of many "Justice for Eliza" rallies. They raised an additional $23,000 in reward money. But another two weeks passed and investigators still had no leads in identifying the person in the surveillance video. So at that point, they decided it was time to release it to the public. Now, the part that they released was very limited and it only showed the person running, not the actual murder or the approach. And like I said earlier, it showed someone wearing a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, running away from the area right after the attack. But the frustrating part was that you couldn't actually identify anything about them.

• 25:04Annie Elise?

  You couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, what race they were, or really any distinguishing features. Their face, hands, and pretty much their entire body was completely covered. I mean, people did call in tips after the video was released, but unfortunately, none of them led to a suspect. And from there, the case very quickly lost momentum. Before long, it had stalled completely.

• 25:27Speaker 05

  We continue following all new developments in the murder of a Beechwood woman. We just spoke with Cleveland Police, who tell us they are still looking for a suspect. Eliza Sherman was stabbed to death behind the Galleria in downtown Cleveland on Sunday. The coroner's office said today she was stabbed 11 times. We know that surveillance cameras in the area captured the attack. That video is now in the hands of Cleveland Police. Sherman was the mother of four and a nurse at the Cleveland Clinic. She was stabbed to death after leaving her divorce attorney's office.

• 25:58Annie Elise?

  So as the investigation dragged on and with no arrests, a lot of people naturally started looking at the person closest to Eliza, her estranged husband, Sanford. I mean, considering everything that we talked about earlier, the years of alleged abuse, the contentious divorce, and the fact that their trial was literally supposed to begin within just two days after Eliza was murdered, it's not surprising that a lot of people had questions. But there was also something else that neighbors started noticing. People who lived across the street from the family said that in the weeks after her murder, he seemed to just disappear. One neighbor even called the police, asking if they knew where he was and why they weren't more concerned. According to her, they said that Sanford wasn't considered a suspect, though,

• 26:43Annie Elise?

  so they weren't really worried about where he was or what he was doing.

• 26:46Speaker 05

  And then Sanford was still living across the road from us for months after the murder. And I noticed like for weeks, he wasn't coming and going. I mean, we literally look into his driveway. So we can see when he comes out, when he goes in. And I noticed that he wasn't there. And I called the detective and I said, "Do you have any idea where Dr. Sherman is?" You know, "He could have just fled the country." She said, "Why should we, why should we care? He's not a suspect." And I said, "If you don't think he's a suspect, I don't know what you're doing on your job." You know, like, "What are you thinking?" She didn't care. She didn't care if he was in Europe.

• 27:32Speaker 05

  And for weeks, he was not here. It's incomprehensible. To, you know, any murder, the first suspect is going to be the spouse.

• 27:43Annie Elise?

  Now, of course, that did not stop the speculation. Rumors continued to spread all throughout the community. And a lot of people became convinced that Sanford had something to do with her murder. After all, the timing was more than suspicious. They were just about to have their divorce trial when she was attacked. But while the public's attention was focused on Sanford, another investigation was going on behind the scenes. And on the morning of April 24th, 2014, it completely exploded into the open. The FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Cyber Crimes Unit, and also the deputies from the local county, all raided the offices of the Safford Law Company,

• 28:27Annie Elise?

  the law firm of Eliza's divorce attorney, Gregory Moore. Now, by that time, Gregory wasn't working at the firm anymore. But it turns out that a few months earlier, he had been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly calling in a bomb threat to the county courthouse in July of 2012. Prosecutors said that Greg called three county employees and told them that a bomb was going to explode inside this courthouse. So the building was, of course, evacuated and searched, but nothing was ever found. So police believed that Gregory had made the bomb threat up for a very simple reason. He wasn't prepared for court that day and didn't want his court proceedings to happen. So investigators believed he used this fictitious bomb threat to delay the proceedings.

• 29:12Annie Elise?

  Kind of like pulling the fire alarm at school because he didn't study for a test, which, what an insane thing to do because what is the oath that lawyers take? I don't know. I mean, I know doctors take an oath, but wouldn't lawyers also take an oath of like ethics, right? And like, this is one of the most unethical things that you could do. And like, I don't know, it just blows my mind. Then, in January of 2016, just two months before the third anniversary of Eliza's death, Gregory was indicted again. This time, because of three different bomb threats that he had made to other courthouses. But this time, the charges weren't just related to the bomb threats. There were also charges related to Eliza's murder. In total, he was indicted on 16 charges,

• 29:57Annie Elise?

  seven of them being tied to Eliza's investigation, including tampering with evidence, telecommunications fraud, possessing criminal tools, two counts of forgery, falsification, and also obstructing official business. Now, they weren't murder charges, but they were the very first criminal charges that anyone had faced in relation to her case. Which you might be wondering, okay, well, where did all of these charges come from? Like, what's going on? How is he being charged with all of this, yet not for her murder? Well, as investigators dug deeper into what happened the day that she died, they uncovered something very odd. Phone records and key card data showed that Greg had left the Safford Law Office about an hour before she was attacked. But remember, he had been texting her,

• 30:42Annie Elise?

  telling her that he was at the front door, waiting to let her inside. And it turns out, he wasn't. He was never at the front door in the first place. And those same records showed that wherever he went, he didn't return to the building until about an hour after police had responded to the scene. So while he was texting and calling Eliza, asking why she hadn't shown up for their meeting, the investigators say he wasn't even there. Basically, though, there wasn't enough evidence to say that he outright murdered her, but there was enough evidence to say that he knowingly used his phone to deceive her. And then, he continued to use his phone to call and text her, despite the fact that cops said he knew that she was already dead. And they alleged that he did that, all in an attempt to create a false narrative,

• 31:26Annie Elise?

  as though he was trying to find Eliza and just couldn't get a hold of her. Gregory initially pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. But by May of 2017, he accepted a plea deal, and he pleaded guilty to three of them. Two related to the bomb threats, and one connected to the case.

• 31:43Speaker 02

  Greg, can you say anything about Eliza? Or why did you lie to officials about the case? Can you say anything, Greg? Attorney Greg Moore refused to answer our questions as he walked into a Cuyahoga County courtroom Tuesday for sentencing.

• 31:57Speaker 04

  All right, we're here in case number 603895, the State of Ohio versus Gregory Moore.

• 32:04Speaker 02

  Prosecutors say Moore lied to Cleveland Police homicide detectives before and after his client, Eliza Sherman, was stabbed to death outside his office in 2013.

• 32:16Annie Elise?

  He essentially lied to them and claimed that he was at work in his office that day. When Eliza notified him that he was there, he said that he went down to the lobby and looked outside and did not see her. And we know that that is absolutely false because he was not in the building that day.

• 32:33Speaker 02

  Moore was also accused of calling in bomb threats to local courts to avoid hearings on other unrelated cases. He told the judge, he is remorseful.

• 32:43Speaker 04

  I apologize to my great family that's behind me, my wife, my parents, my in-laws, my 18-month-old son. He was the one bright shining thing throughout this year. I apologize to all those that have been or could have been hurt as a result of my conduct.

• 33:05Annie Elise?

  Now, the charge tied to Eliza's case was a misdemeanor count of falsification. This was about his whereabouts on the day that she was murdered. So he was sentenced to six months in jail, three years of probation, and 350 hours of community service. Then, about a month later, the Ohio Supreme Court suspended his law license, which, like, great, that's the least that should happen, right? I mean, if this lawyer is calling in bomb threats to courthouses, like, 100% yank his license. So by the end of that year, Greg had resigned from practicing law altogether. But even after all of that, Eliza's murder still wasn't solved. Years went by with no arrests, no new surveillance footage, no DNA to work with, and no real answers.

• 33:49Annie Elise?

  The investigation had essentially come to a standstill. But that didn't stop people from calling the police, just demanding answers, insisting that someone needed to be held accountable. Then, in 2021, eight years after Eliza was killed, there was a glimmer of hope. The Cleveland Police Department asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, better known as the BCI, if they would take over three cold case homicide investigations. And Eliza's was one of them. Now, with newer technology available, BCI went back and they looked at all of the evidence that had been collected the day that she was killed. Specifically, they tested a watch and a wristband that she had been wearing, both of which had blood on them.

• 34:33Annie Elise?

  And sure enough, new DNA testing confirmed that the blood, yes, it did belong to Eliza, but it also revealed something that the investigators didn't know before. There was also DNA from an unknown male. There was also a tip about someone that they had never looked into at all very much, her now ex-husband Sanford. Now, it turns out, at one point in the investigation, a tip had been called in that Sanford once admitted to a nurse in Florida that he had killed Eliza. BCI found out about the tip when they took over the investigation. So with all of this information, they decided, okay, yeah, it's worth looking into. The report came into the Crime Stoppers tip line in 2022.

• 35:15Annie Elise?

  However, the tipster was not the nurse who supposedly heard the confession. It was someone who had heard the story from someone else, so a lot of hearsay elements. Regardless, though, BCI agents traveled to Florida to interview the nurse. Yet she said Sanford had never made any statement about killing his wife. Investigators also interviewed Sanford himself, and he repeatedly denied having anything to do with her murder. In fact, he told investigators, "I pray to God you resolve this. You have no idea how this hurt me. I want closure for me, my kids, and my wife. I never said that I did this." So after that, BCI officially closed out the tip, and they concluded that the alleged confession never happened.

• 35:58Annie Elise?

  But then, in July of 2024, things took another turn. Sanford died at the age of 68 years old. Now, more than 11 years had passed since she had been murdered, and still, no one had been arrested. And now, the man that so many people suspected over the years was gone. So people were starting to wonder if there would ever be any real answers in this case. Then, suddenly, after more than a decade of waiting, the case took a turn that almost nobody saw coming.

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• 38:26Annie Elise?

  On May 2nd, 2025, a team of U.S. Marshals traveled to the Bushy Creek area of Round Rock, Texas, which is about 20 miles north of Austin. And they had a warrant for Gregory Moore's arrest, her attorney. According to the Ohio Attorney General, Gregory was in Texas visiting his father, who was on hospice at the time. So he was arrested, and he was taken into custody and charged with 10 felonies. One count of aggravated murder, one count of conspiracy, six counts of murder, and two counts of kidnapping.

• 38:59Speaker 04

  We begin with breaking news tonight. We've learned that charges have been filed, one of Cleveland's most high-profile cold cases, the murder of Eliza Sherman 12 years ago. We've learned that the man charged was her divorce attorney.

• 39:13Speaker 05

  He's 51-year-old Gregory Moore. Take a look there. Our Cia New Yorker is here with new developments that we've been learning on this. Cia, this is just an incredible break. Yes, and many say a long time coming. Now, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office tells three news that U.S. Marshals arrested Moore late this afternoon in Austin, Texas. We're told he's facing six counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count each of aggravated murder and conspiracy.

• 39:42Annie Elise?

  According to investigators, Gregory had orchestrated a plan to deceive Eliza, to lure her to his law office, kidnap her, and then cause serious physical harm to her. All in an effort, not because he was hired by the ex-husband, or he hated Eliza, or anything like that, but much like the bomb threats, all in an effort to delay the divorce trial that was scheduled to begin just two days later. Which, can you believe that being such a bad attorney? That you're so unprepared for court, that you're calling in bomb threats, now you're planning a kidnapping, you're planning a murder, all of these things just because you're not prepared for trial? That's your motive? His motive was to make sure that she never made it to court?

• 40:24Annie Elise?

  I mean, maybe get a new line of work, guy. Like, what are you talking about? And as a lawyer, wouldn't you understand the repercussions of your actions? Like, it's just bizarre to me. Like, okay, you're gonna have to delay it. You know what? You know what I should do? I should kidnap her. Then we won't be able to go to court. You know, I should call in a bomb threat. Like, what are you thinking? And what's especially interesting is that the indictment left open the possibility that Greg did not act alone. Investigators alleged that he may have conspired with at least one other person, although that individual was not named in the indictment and has never publicly been identified. The indictment also laid out what prosecutors believe really happened that day.

• 41:06Annie Elise?

  They alleged that Gregory specifically arranged for her to meet him outside of the law office, then delayed the meeting through a series of text messages, all to keep her waiting outside of that locked building. And according to prosecutors, he knew exactly where she was the entire time, because he was the one directing her movements. Investigators also alleged that he used his electronic key card to open the building's front door around 3:51 PM that afternoon. He didn't return to the building until 7:30 PM that night, two hours after she had already been attacked. Prosecutors further alleged that he used a law firm-issued mobile hotspot to send text messages to Eliza while his work phone was off-network,

• 41:51Annie Elise?

  thinking it would be less traceable. Then, even after she was attacked, investigators said that he continued texting and calling her at least nine more times, all to create what they described as "false evidence." Evidence that he had no idea what happened, just like we talked about earlier with his first indictment in the case. So Greg was extradited back to Ohio, and he was arraigned later that month on May 24th, 2025. Now, for Eliza's family, it was the first major movement in the case in years. In fact, it had been nine years since Greg was last indicted, back in 2016. And now, he was finally facing murder charges. Just a few days after he was extradited back to Ohio on May 28th, he appeared in court for his bond hearing.

• 42:36Annie Elise?

  And during that hearing, Eliza's family spoke about what the last 12 years had been like. They talked about living all that time knowing that someone was responsible for her death, but not knowing who or whether anyone would ever be held accountable. And then, to learn that the person now accused wasn't just her attorney, but someone prosecutors say may have planned the entire thing just to avoid going to trial? I mean, talk about senseless. It was heartbreaking.

• 43:03Speaker 06

  Your Honor, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Jennifer, and I am here today as the daughter of Eliza Sherman, who was brutally taken from us in a crime that has devastated our family and the community. Greg Moore stands before this court, charged with the kidnapping and murder of our mother, his own client, a woman who trusted him, a woman who was, he was duty-bound to protect and advocate for. Instead, he allegedly betrayed that trust in the most horrifying way imaginable. If a person is capable of such calculated violence

• 43:45Speaker 06

  against someone he had a professional obligation to defend, one must ask, what else is he capable of? We are not just speaking about an alleged crime. We are speaking about a man who, when under pressure, has reportedly turned to criminal behavior in the past. This is not just a matter of personal betrayal or professional misconduct. It is a threat to public safety. It is a threat to the moral fabric of our society. We need to ask ourselves, what kind of society do we want to be? Given what we know of his past behaviors and actions, Greg Moore needs to remain in custody and behind bars.

• 44:29Speaker 06

  Just imagine what he could do to someone with whom he shares no obligation, no professional relationship, no personal history. If he could do this to our mother, then none of us are safe. Your Honor, I beg, no, I implore you. We have waited for 12 excruciating years. Please set the maximum bond possible. Greg Moore is reckless, unpredictable, and capable of taking extreme measures to fulfill his evil agenda. We cannot take that risk.

• 45:08Annie Elise?

  Gregory pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, and the judge set his bond at $2 million. Then, less than a month later, the court set his trial date for March 30th, 2026. But then, in a move that caught a lot of people off-guard, Greg posted his $2 million bond on July 3rd, and he was released from jail. However, there were some very strict conditions. He wasn't allowed to leave the state or the country. He couldn't travel to certain areas where Eliza's family members lived, and he wasn't allowed to possess any firearms. He had to surrender his passport, and every move he made would be monitored by GPS. But of course, the story did not end there. Because after Gregory was released, almost immediately,

• 45:53Annie Elise?

  the defense started challenging the evidence, and they were not holding back. Remember the watch and the wristband that BCI tested after taking over the case? The one that had blood from both Eliza and an unknown male? Well, Gregory's attorney asked the court to have that evidence tested again. They wanted both pieces of evidence sent for an independent lab for another round of testing, and they argued that the unknown male DNA that was found on those items didn't match Gregory. They also asked for access to his cellphone. It had been seized years earlier during the 2014 search of his law office, and they wanted to conduct their own examination with a digital forensics company. Then, there were also the recorded jail calls between Gregory and one of his attorneys

• 46:36Annie Elise?

  while he was in a Texas jail waiting extradition back to Ohio. According to the defense, when Gregory asked for a private way to speak with his attorney, he was told that his only option was to use the jail phone, or to have no communication at all. Which, I don't know how true that is, I also don't know how legal that is, don't think you can say you only can use the jail phone, but if you only can use that, even though jail calls are recorded, I would imagine they're inadmissible then, and privileged? I don't know. But his attorneys argued that those conversations should have been protected, which the prosecution actually agreed. So the judge ordered that the recordings be permanently destroyed. But with all of the legal battles involved in this, just like Greg I'm sure hoped, the trial kept getting delayed.

• 47:20Annie Elise?

  That was nothing compared to what came in next. Because in a surprise move, the defense shifted gears entirely. Instead of focusing on Gregory, they argued that investigators had made him their target way too early on. And by doing so, they said, they had overlooked the real perpetrator. Someone they had new information on, and someone investigators should have looked more closely at. Sanford Sherman, the now-deceased ex-husband. Gregory's defense argued that the investigators hadn't turned over all of the evidence in the case, and they accused them of misleading the court. They asked the judge to order prosecutors to hand over all of the investigative records, including search warrants and all materials related to Sanford Sherman, saying he had

• 48:05Annie Elise?

  been considered a suspect early on in the investigation. They argued that prosecutors had "selectively presented evidence," claiming that they focused more on information pointing toward Gregory while leaving out evidence that could easily point to someone else. And one of their biggest arguments was the alleged confession we talked about earlier, the one that the BCI had looked into at that Florida hospital, which they ultimately deemed was, you know, nothing and a dead end. But then the defense brought up something that really shook things up. It turned out that one of Sanford's longtime friends claimed that years before Eliza was murdered, Sanford had asked him, more than once, about how to commit the perfect murder.

• 48:48Annie Elise?

  Now, there are a few different versions out there as to how investigators came into this information. Some claim that it came out as part of a civil lawsuit that was filed by Eliza's family. Others say that the friend just came forward with the information. But regardless, according to the defense, the friend said that Sanford asked questions about this, how to get away with killing someone without being caught, how to hide in plain sight, things like that. And the advice that he allegedly received? Sounds eerily familiar. Don't use your own car. Don't use a gun because people will hear it. Wear clothing that covers your entire body, including your face and your hands. So the defense argued that the conversation?

• 49:30Annie Elise?

  It strangely matched the way that Eliza's killer carried out the attack.

• 49:34Speaker 04

  On top of that, we have the testimony, sworn testimony of Larry Schenker. Larry Schenker will testify today. He's been subpoenaed to testify today. And we know from his past testimony, he has stated that on multiple occasions, probably more than four, maybe less than 10, walking on the beach, that Sanford Sherman would ask, "How can I, how can a perfect murder be committed?" He kept asking that question, how to do it.

• 50:15Speaker 04

  He kept saying, "Eliza Sherman will never get a penny from this case." He told them that, he told multiple witnesses. We know from police records that he was, that the police had to be called out to the house many times. We know from emails, that Eliza was scared, terrified. That Eliza's friends were terrified of Sanford. And we know that he kept asking, "How can I commit, how can a perfect murder be committed?" Larry, having some knowledge of this given his profession, gave the answer that's completely consistent with this case.

• 50:57Speaker 04

  You don't use a gun, you make too much noise. You cover your face, so you can't be seen. You wear puffy clothes, so you can't be identified. You don't utilize a vehicle, so you can't be tracked. That was the advice given to Sanford. It seems to be the perfect method that was used in this case, schooled by an expert.

• 51:25Annie Elise?

  They also said that Sanford owned military-grade knives, that he had viewed Eliza's retirement accounts too shortly after her death, checking in on the finances, how much money he was gonna have. Also pointing to the fact that he gave inconsistent statements on where he was when she was murdered. And because Sanford had died before the murder charges were ever filed, he could no longer be questioned or cross-examined about any of it. And as the defense tried to put the speculation back on Sanford, they filed motion after motion to bring pieces of the investigation into question, or get whatever they could thrown out. Everything from the secret grand jury proceedings that led to Gregory's indictment, to his cellphone data and location information, all of it, which they said had been obtained with invalid search warrant.

• 52:09Annie Elise?

  But then, things got even more complicated. On May 1st, 2026, Eliza Sherman's family filed that civil lawsuit that I mentioned earlier, and it was against Gregory and Sanford Law, his law firm, reiterating what prosecutors had been alleging, that Gregory never even intended to meet with Eliza that afternoon. Instead, he deliberately pushed the meeting back through text messages, knowing that she would be standing outside that locked office building waiting for him. Then, while she was waiting, the lawsuit alleges that either Gregory or someone working with him came up from behind and carried out the attack. But here's where it gets even bigger. Because according to the lawsuit, the firm knew that Gregory had engaged in deceptive

• 52:54Annie Elise?

  behavior before, including allegedly calling in those bomb threats to get out of court appearances. Yet, for whatever reason, they continued allowing him to represent clients. The lawsuit also claims that a voicemail Eliza left for the law office on the day that she died was later deleted, and that the surveillance footage from the building wasn't saved or may have even been destroyed. And furthermore, that they had helped him avoid getting caught by giving him new phones and never turning older devices over to the detectives. Really just saying, not only should Gregory be held accountable, but his law firm also should be equally held accountable. Then, literally, the next day, Gregory's defense asked the judge to dismiss the criminal case entirely.

• 53:36Annie Elise?

  They argued that prosecutors had waited too long to bring the murder charges against him, and that his right to a speedy trial had been violated. Because so much time had passed, important witnesses had died, evidence had been lost, and opportunities to investigate other suspects had disappeared altogether. For example, Gregory's father had passed away, as had Gregory's former secretary, both of whom had worked on Eliza's divorce case. The defense argued that Gregory's secretary could have testified that Gregory was in fact prepared for the divorce trial, which would in turn ruin the prosecution's theory that he planned the entire murder because he wasn't ready to go to court. On top of all of that, they argued that physical evidence had gone missing.

• 54:17Annie Elise?

  Surveillance cameras were no longer available, and certain phone records that they believe could challenge the prosecution's timeline could no longer be recovered. Yet, in another twist, as if there aren't so many twists and turns in this case, on July 31st, 2026, Gregory's defense team gave the judge a sealed envelope with information from the cellphone that he used at the time of Eliza's murder. Prosecutors had never seen the download of this phone, because his original lawyer only recently gave it up. So now, the extraction from the phone that he was using when Eliza was killed? That's going to be reviewed by a special team to determine what information could be helpful. And because apparently this case couldn't get any messier, one of the attorneys representing

• 55:02Annie Elise?

  Eliza's family then had to withdraw over a potential conflict of interest, because he had previously represented Gregory. Which like, how many issues in a six-month period can you count? I can't even keep up. So now, after more than 13 years, her family is still waiting for justice. What started as a Sunday afternoon meeting before a divorce trial turned into one of Cleveland's most talked-about unsolved murders. For years, people wondered if the person responsible would ever be identified. Some people believed that it was her ex-husband Sanford, others suspect Gregory, and for more than a decade, there just weren't many answers. Now it will be up to the jury to sort through all of it.

• 55:44Annie Elise?

  Now, as always, Gregory Moore is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, so I will continue following this case as it moves forward, and I will let you know of any major developments. But I am curious to know what you think. I mean, is it possible one of them is only responsible? Could they both have been working together with an arrangement to split the money? And, I mean, I wouldn't put it past Gregory, he seems shady, I don't know. But more than anything, I hope that Eliza's family finally gets the answers that they've been waiting over 13 years for. So thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. Let me know your thoughts, and we'll see what happens with this case. All right, guys, until the next one, stay safe. Bye.

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