In the fall of 2018, the life of 30-year-old Jedidah Iesha Moreno came to a violent end on the Yakama Reservation in Washington. Her death on September 30, 2018, was the grim culmination of a turbulent series of events that began just days earlier. Moreno, a Black/African American woman, found her fate intertwined with the disappearance and murder of another young woman, Rosenda Strong.
According to court documents, on or around October 5, 2018, at a residence in Wapato known as the "House of Souls," an argument erupted between Moreno and Strong, which resulted in Moreno shooting and killing Strong. In the aftermath, Moreno sought assistance in disposing of Strong's body, which was placed in a freezer and later dumped. This act set in motion a chain of events that would lead to her own demise.
The following day, October 6, 2018, Moreno was involved in another altercation at a location referred to as the "Estrada Ranch" in Wapato. After an argument with Andrew Norris Zack, during which she fired a gun and injured his hand, a man named Uriel Balentin Badillo was called to the scene. Badillo located Moreno and, after a stop at the "House of Souls," she was forcibly restrained. Bound with a cargo strap and duct tape, she was placed in the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala. Badillo then fired a. 45 caliber pistol into the trunk multiple times, striking Moreno. Her body was later moved to another location on the Yakama Nation by two juveniles, one of whom fired additional shots into her body.
On November 28, 2018, a citizen discovered Moreno's remains and alerted law enforcement. The investigation that followed, led by the FBI and the Yakama Nation Police Department, unraveled the complex and violent circumstances of her death. The investigation led to the indictment of several individuals in connection with both Moreno's and Strong's murders. Joshawa Max Estrada was sentenced to 100 months in federal prison for his role as an accessory after the fact in Moreno's murder. Other defendants who pleaded guilty to charges related to the case include Andrew Norris Zack, Jamaal Antwan Pimms, Kevin Todd Brehm, Uriel Balentin Badillo, and Michael Lee Moody.
