Offender Record · OFF-2026-124
Blanche Taylor Moore (photo from the Radford University biography)
Blanche Moore
Also known as Blanche Kiser, Blanche Taylor, Blanche Kiser Taylor Moore
Sex
Female
Race
White
Born
1933
Custody
Incarcerated
States
NC
Custody
Incarcerated at North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women · #0288088
Custody record at the facility
Sentenced to death by lethal injection on January 18, 1991. Housed on death row at NCCI Women in Raleigh since November 16, 1990.
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Summary of the record
Blanche Taylor Moore was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1986 arsenic poisoning death of her boyfriend, Raymond Carlton Reid Sr., in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was sentenced to death in January 1991 and remains incarcerated on North Carolina's death row. Moore is also suspected of poisoning three other individuals: her father Parker Kiser (died 1966), her mother-in-law Isla Taylor (died 1970), and her first husband James Taylor (died 1973). She was charged with additional counts of murder and assault with a deadly weapon in those cases, but those charges were dropped following her death sentence.
Documented Arrests, Charges and Convictions
Dispositions are shown exactly as the cited records report them. Pending charges are updated when a court acts; a record with no remaining conviction or pending charge is removed from the site.
Offense date Oct 02, 1973, Burlington, North Carolina
First-degree murder
Alamance County Sheriff's Office, North Carolina · Alamance County Superior Court · Arrested Jul 18, 1989 · Charged (pending) Charged (pending) · Sentence: Charges dropped
James N. Taylor, Moore's first husband, died on October 2, 1973, at age 45. His death was initially attributed to a heart attack. Exhumation in 1989 revealed arsenic levels 60 times higher than normal. Prosecutors dropped murder charges after Moore was sentenced to death for Reid's murder.
SourcesTwo more bodies to be exhumed in arsenic probe; Blanche Taylor Moore remains on death row after 25 years; Blanche Taylor Moore
Offense date Oct 07, 1986, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
First-degree murder
Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, North Carolina · Forsyth County Superior Court · Arrested Jul 18, 1989 · Convicted Convicted · Sentence: Death by lethal injection
Raymond Carlton Reid Sr., a Kroger manager and Moore's former boyfriend, died on October 7, 1986, after prolonged arsenic poisoning. He became ill on January 1, 1986, after Moore served him homemade potato soup. Moore visited him repeatedly in Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem and hospital staff testified she fed him food including homemade banana pudding. Autopsies revealed arsenic levels 30 times higher than normal.
SourcesBlanche Taylor Moore remains on death row after 25 years; Female Serial Killer Blanche Taylor Moore; Blanche Taylor Moore
Offense date Apr 21, 1989, Alamance County, North Carolina
Assault with a deadly weapon
Alamance County Sheriff's Office, North Carolina · Alamance County Superior Court · Arrested Jul 18, 1989 · Charged (pending) Charged (pending) · Sentence: Charges dropped
Reverend Dwight Moore, Moore's second husband, whom she married on April 21, 1989, became severely ill five days later. Toxicology tests revealed he had 20 times the lethal dose of arsenic in his system—the highest level ever found in a living patient at that time. He survived. Prosecutors dropped the assault charge after Moore was sentenced to death for Reid's murder.
SourcesTwo more bodies to be exhumed in arsenic probe; Blanche Taylor Moore
Pattern and Background
Victim counts and the pattern of the offenses as stated by courts, agencies and the cited reporting. Suspected counts are what officials have said publicly, not a finding of this site.
1
Victims convicted
0
Victims confessed
3
Victims suspected
Active years
1966–1989
Victim profile
Family members, Partners or spouses
Stated motive
Financial gain
Range from home
local
Marital history
Married, Widowed, Divorced
Children
2
Places Lived, Worked and Frequented
Each place and date range comes from a cited record. Dates marked approximate are as reported. Know a place that is missing? Use Edit record under the photo; a moderator reviews it before it appears.
NC
Concord, North Carolina
approx. 1933 – 1942 · Birthplace
Burlington, North Carolina
approx. 1942 – 1973 · Family home during childhood and early marriage
Burlington, North Carolina
1954 – 1985 · Kroger clerk, later head cashier
Burlington, North Carolina
1973 – 1989 · Residence following first husband's death
Durham, North Carolina
approx. 1980 – 1985 · Brief stint working at Kroger
Alamance, North Carolina
Jul 18, 1989 – Jul 18, 1989 · Arrested by law enforcement
Raleigh, North Carolina
Nov 16, 1990 – present · North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, death row
Timeline
Feb 17, 1933
Blanche Kiser born in Concord, North Carolina.
1952
Blanche married James N. Taylor.
1954
Blanche began working as a clerk at Kroger.
1959
Blanche promoted to head cashier at Kroger; her mother filed for divorce.
Sep 18, 1966
Parker Davis Kiser, Blanche's father, died at age 62; exhumation in 1989 revealed elevated arsenic levels.
Nov 25, 1970
Isla Taylor, James Taylor's mother and Blanche's mother-in-law, died at age 83; exhumation revealed elevated arsenic levels.
Oct 02, 1973
James N. Taylor, Blanche's first husband, died at age 45; exhumation revealed lethal arsenic levels.
1979
Raymond Reid and Blanche Moore began a romantic relationship after years of working together at Kroger.
1985
Blanche filed sexual harassment lawsuit against Kroger; two house fires occurred; settled out of court for $275,000.
Jan 01, 1986
Raymond Reid became severely ill after Blanche served him homemade potato soup on New Year's Eve.
Oct 07, 1986
Raymond Carlton Reid Sr. died at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem after prolonged arsenic poisoning.
Apr 21, 1989
Blanche married Reverend Dwight Moore.
May 13, 1989
Reverend Dwight Moore was hospitalized; toxicology tests revealed 20 times lethal dose of arsenic in his system.
Jul 18, 1989
Blanche Taylor Moore arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Raymond Reid and James Taylor, and assault with a deadly weapon in the poisoning of Dwight Moore.
Aug 1989
Bodies of Parker Kiser, James Taylor, Isla Taylor, and Raymond Reid exhumed; autopsies revealed elevated arsenic levels in all four bodies.
Oct 21, 1990
Trial of Blanche Taylor Moore opened in Winston-Salem in Forsyth County Superior Court.
Nov 14, 1990
Jury found Blanche Taylor Moore guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Raymond Carlton Reid Sr.
Nov 17, 1990
Jury sentenced Blanche Taylor Moore to death.
Jan 18, 1991
Judge sentenced Blanche Taylor Moore to death by lethal injection; prosecutors dropped murder charges in cases of James Taylor and assault charges in case of Dwight Moore.
Nov 18, 2012
According to Radford University research, Blanche Taylor Moore was still alive and in prison.
Sources
Solve the Case is never the original source. Each item below is the public record a statement on this page rests on, with an archived copy where one exists.
Other government record · Wikipedia ·
Blanche Taylor Moore“Blanche Taylor Moore is an American convicted murderer and a possible serial killer from Alamance County, North Carolina, awaiting execution for the fatal poisoning of her boyfriend in 1986.”
News report · Hell Horror ·
Female Serial Killer Blanche Taylor Moore“Blanche Moore was found guilty on November 14, and the jury wanted to give Blanche the death penalty sentence on November 17. The presiding judge sentenced Blanche Moore to die by lethal injection on January 18, 1991.”
News report · CBS 17 ·
NC's Blanche Taylor Moore: Oldest woman on death row in U.S. turns 90“Moore is housed at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. For more than 30 years Blanche Taylor Moore has claimed she is innocent and should not be on North Carolina's death row.”
Offender registry · My Crime Library ·
Blanche Taylor Moore Women On Death Row“BLANCHE K MOORE, Offender Number: 0288088, Birth Date: 02/17/1933, Current Location: NCCI WOMEN”
News report · Washington Times ·
Blanche Taylor Moore remains on death row after 25 years“Twenty-five years ago last month, a Forsyth County jury found Blanche guilty of first-degree murder in the 1986 arsenic-poisoning death of Raymond Reid, her longtime boyfriend. She was 57 when the same jury sentenced her to death on Nov. 16, 1990.”
Other · Radford University, Department of Psychology ·
Radford University serial killer biography: Moore, Blanche Taylor“Blanche (Kiser) Taylor Moore was born in Concord, North Carolina on February 17, 1933, and is suspected of poisoning at least four people with arsenic between 1966 and 1989.”
News report · UPI ·
Two more bodies to be exhumed in arsenic probe“Moore, 57, is in the Alamance County Jail charged with murder in the 1973 arsenic poisoning deaths of her first husband, James N. Taylor, and a former boyfriend, Raymond C. Reid Sr. She also is charged with assault with intent to kill in the April poisoning of her present husband, the Rev. Dwight Moore.”
Discussion
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