The Dateline episode “Family Business” investigates the death of Roberto Ayala. The 42-year-old worked for a family farm, the Moore Brothers farm in Colusa County, California which is worth tens of millions of dollars. Ayala was killed when a bomb exploded in a rice field irrigation pump. Ayala’s 7-year-old son was with him but survived. The boy had to run two miles to get help. In 2013, Paul Moore, 53, was convicted of killing Ayala (first-degree murder on circumstantial evidence). Even though Paul Moore was the “sole inheritor of the Moore family fortune,” he was forced to work under Ayala, the foreman on the farm.
Paul Moore insisted it was his cousin Peter Moore who killed Ayala. According to The People v. Paul Roger Moore, Peter insisted that his grandfather wanted him to run the farm — but as with Paul, Peter’s hope to assume a managerial position on the farm had not materialized. Both Moore men had physical problems that stood in the way of potential success outside the farm. Paul tried construction work, but had to give it up after a back injury. Peter did landscaping (a sod business) for 21 years but later “had his stomach removed and lost almost 50 pounds.” When Peter was charged with Ayala’s murder, Peter testified that Paul was “severely depressed” and he was afraid Paul was suicidal. Dateline airs Sundays at 7pm on NBC, right before America’s Funniest Home Videos.
