July 09--A 51-year-old Southeast Portland man was arraigned Wednesday on murder and arson charges in the February 2011 death of Jeremy Purcell.
Purcell, 37, died of carbon monoxide poisoning after Portland firefighters pulled him from a burning garage at 9905 S.E. Yukon St. on the morning of Feb. 11. An autopsy also showed Purcell had cuts and abrasions on his head.
Mark Lyle Moore Sr. was arraigned on two counts of murder and three counts of first-degree arson in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
According to court documents, Purcell was allowed by homeowner Dwayne Richardson to occasionally sleep in the detached garage. Later, Richardson told police he asked Moore and Ervin Golden to get Purcell out of the garage.
"They weren't supposed to ... kill anyone, they were just supposed to get the dude out of my ... garage," Richardson told investigators.
Richardson said he drove to his house with Moore and Golden in a pickup -- which they parked around the corner -- early on the morning of the fire and then left to buy a pack of cigarettes at a nearby convenience store. When he returned, the truck was gone; his mother called him seconds later on his cell phone to tell him his garage was on fire.
Portland fire investigators determined that the fire had been deliberately set.
A witness later told detectives she saw Moore and Golden running from the detached garage around 7 a.m. on the morning of the fire.
According to court documents, Ervin Golden was indicted by a Multnomah grand jury in June 2013 in Purcell's death. A witness told grand jurors that Golden knew Purcell and suspected him of stealing his car, a gun, meth and watches and that Golden was looking for Purcell.
Golden's case is pending, according to court records.
Moore was arrested July 2 on unrelated identity theft accusations.
--Stuart Tomlinson
Copyright 2014 - The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
