New charges have been brought against a Columbus woman who was arrested for kidnapping last week.
Misty Rhoden Moore, 28, was charged with statutory rape Monday afternoon by the Lowndes County Sheriff”s Office.
“The investigation continued, and we were able to find further evidence that the relationship was more than we were first able to verify,” said Detective Tony Cooper, the lead investigator on the case.
That evidence includes receipts from a hotel in Tuscaloosa, Ala. where Moore stayed with Trevor Whaley, 14, with whom she left Columbus on July 5.
Moore, of 2152 New Hope Road, had been living with Whaley”s parents, Thomas Whaley and Tracie Janes, while she was separated from her husband. They asked her to leave, and she took the boy with her. The pair apparently were traveling consensually until Trevor Whaley called home the next day and asked to be picked up at a Walmart in Tuscaloosa.
Moore already faced charges of up to life in prison for the alleged kidnapping. The statutory rape charge carries and additional maximum of up to 30 years.
Moore is still in custody. Her bond is set at $500,000, and her court date is Nov. 8.
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