Victim of Tillman’s Corner motel shooting ran fake prostitution scam, officer testifies

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A woman who died from a fatal gunshot at a motel room last month was a “scammer” who posed as a prostitute to cheat people out of money, a police detective testified Tuesday.

The shooting occurred on Feb. 2 at the Days Inn in Tillman’s Corner. Mobile police Detective Julius Nettles testified that Eric Maurice Moseley Jr. fired into the motel room, striking Melissa Cody. Her husband, Jason Cody, returned fire and injured Mosley’s foot, according to the testimony.

Moseley, 35, watched the proceedings in court from a wheelchair.

Mobile County District Judge George Zoghby determined prosecutors had presented enough evidence to send the murder charge to a grand jury.

Nettles said during cross-examination that the victim and her husband were from out of state. He testified that Jason Cody told investigators that his wife would suggest on online profiles that she was a prostitute and agree to meet men at motels for sex. The investigator testified that Cody would collect the money up front and then find some way to separate herself from the man she was swindling.

“For example, she would go to the room, maybe, with a keycard knowing the keycard did not work,” Nettles said.

Then, Nettles said, Cody would say that she had to go to the office to get a new keycard but never return.

Prosecutors allege that Moseley tracked Melissa Cody down to her room out of anger over getting swindled. Nettles testified that Cody was in the bathroom of the motel when Moseley fired at her with a shotgun from the doorway. But defense attorney Jeff Deen maintains that his client shot in self-defense and that Jason Cody shot first.