Juan Pablo Aleman, a 40-year-old Hispanic man who worked in construction, was killed in his north Columbus, Ohio, apartment in early 2023. On the morning of January 9, police responded to a call about a shooting at an apartment building in the 500 block of Riverview Drive. Inside, they discovered Mr. Aleman, who had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and detectives immediately began a homicide investigation.
Investigators would later determine that the shooting had occurred
two days earlier, on the evening of January 7, 2023. According to court records, two women had arranged via text messages to visit Mr. Aleman’s apartment to perform a private dance and have sex for money. At 7:20 p.m. that night, one of the women texted him, "We here." The women, identified as Stephanie Moore and Amira Reid, arrived with two unidentified men, one of whom was armed. About 15 minutes later, video surveillance captured four people running away from the apartment.
For over a year, the case saw few developments. A breakthrough came when a confidential informant told police that Moore had admitted to going to the apartment with Reid and two men. On June 17, 2024, investigators recovered Mr. Aleman's stolen cellphone, and a forensic examination revealed the text messages from the day of the murder, corroborating the planned meeting.
The new evidence led to arrests in the summer of 2024. On June 27, members of a U.S. Marshals task force arrested Amira Reid, age 20, in Toledo. She was charged with murder, aggravated murder, robbery, and tampering with evidence. Less than two weeks later, on July 11, Stephanie Moore, also 20, turned herself in to Columbus police. She was charged with murder and robbery. The two men who accompanied them to the apartment have not been identified.
On March 20, 2025, Stephanie Moore pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Juan Pablo Aleman. Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Carl Aveni sentenced her to serve 15 to 20 years in prison. This sentencing was the latest development in the case as of March 2025.
