Dateline: Family Business - 5 harrowing details about Roberto Ayala's murder, revisited 

Dateline features the horrific and strategised murder case of Roberto Ayala, a 43-year-old farm worker, who was killed for working efficiently in the Moore brothers' rice farm and gaining the trust of their father and uncles. The case highlights how jealousy and hatred can lead someone to kill. The Moore brothers, Paul and Peter, found a common enemy in Roberto, as his opinions were often trusted by the farm owners (their fathers).

However, Peter once threatened Roberto, it was Paul who strategically executed the murder by planting a bomb in the field that looked like ordinary farm equipment. The incident, which first looked like an accident, was discovered to be an act of murder. Read on to know 5 harrowing details about the case, as shown on Dateline.

Here are the 5 harrowing details of Roberto Ayala's murder as shown in Dateline

Roberto was working on Moore's farm for almost 19 years and had gained the trust of the owners. He used to be accompanied by his 7-year-old son Fabian in the field. It was Fabian who witnessed the blast and ran miles for help, but his father died right after the explosion. Here are the 5 harrowing details of the case, as shown on Dateline.

Roberto Ayala Was Murdered in Front of His 7-year-old Son

Roberto was taken to a rice field under the guise of fixing an irrigation pump. The bomb planted by Paul Moore detonated while Roberto worked, killing him instantly in front of his young son, Fabian, who then had to run nearly two miles to get help. This deeply traumatic experience haunted the boy and became a key emotional element in the case.

“I yelled his name out, and he wasn’t answering,” Fabian Ayala told Dateline. “So… I’m gonna go and try and get help.”

The Bomb Was Designed to Look Like a Routine Electrical Device.

The explosive device was carefully designed to look like normal farm equipment. Roberto, who has been a farm worker for years, trusted what he saw and was exposed to the explosion. This made the act not only premeditated but chillingly deceptive. The explosion caused massive shrapnel injuries and electrocution severe burns.

Jealousy for a worker fueled the Crime

Paul Moore, a member of the Moore family who owned the farm, viewed Roberto, a loyal employee, as a threat to his position in the family. Being a loyal worker for years for the farm owners, Roberto has carved a respectable place for himself in their eyes. Despite working on the same farm, Paul felt that Roberto, an outsider, received more respect than he did from his own uncles. This warped resentment led Paul to see murder as a solution to a perceived personal slight, as shown in Dateline.

Paul Moore tried to Mislead Investigators with Fake Confession Letters

After the murder, two anonymous letters were sent to authorities, both confessing to the crime. One included a detailed diagram of the bomb, which matched the actual device placed by the attacker. According to reports, these letters are meant to divert the investigation, but when the officers combed through Paul's place, they found the same stamp used in those letters. This linked him directly with the murder. Moreover, the officers also found forensic evidence against him.

A Trusted Worker Betrayed by Those He Served for Nearly Two Decades

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Roberto, indeed, was a loyal worker of Gus and Roger Moore, as per Dateline. He was not just an employee—he was considered family by some. Therefore, the murder features a dysfunctional family that caused someone's life, purely out of envy and bitterness, which underscores the profound betrayal at the heart of the crime.

Paul is sentenced to jail and first-degree murder. He is serving his days in Avenal State Prison in Kings County and is under imprisonment without parole. Moore is around 60 now. Ayala's family got compensation of $20 million as well as $44,800 in workers’ compensation payments, as per Dateline.

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