An Eastville area couple was indicted Monday by a Northampton Grand Jury on counts of second-degree murder in connection with the death of their 4-month-old son in 2024, according to reporting from our partners at Shore Daily News.
Along with second-degree murder charges, 46-year-old Ivan Ray Ross III and his girlfriend, 34-year-old Ashley Marie Moore, of Fox Court, were also indicted on three counts each of abuse and neglect. The abuse charges are related to the deceased baby, his twin, and another young sibling, Shore Daily News reports.
Court documents did not have a confirmed date of the child's death, but said it was believed to have occurred between Aug. 29 and Nov. 18, 2024, Shore Daily News reports.
The Northampton Sheriff’s Office and the Eastville Police Department began investigating the death after police responded to the Fox Trailer Court to assist EMS with a report where the child had difficulty breathing.
He was pronounced dead taken at Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital.
In court records, a magistrate noted, “Autopsy report showed severe dehydration and blunt force injuries, amongst other results for the four-month-old baby boy.” On another document, a magistrate wrote, “medical examiner found little food in stomach, dehydrated, cracked ribs,” Shore Daily News reports.
The abuse and neglect indictments allege Ross and Moore “willfully omitted or refused to provide … necessary care for a child’s health or permit serious injury to the life or health of a child,” Shore Daily News reports.
Ross and Moore were arrested months later in July 2025. Their charges were certified in December, and both are currently out on bond, Shore Daily News reports.
The two other children are now living with a relative and are not being identified because of their age and the circumstances.
Records show Ross is a native of the Shore and Moore is originally from Delaware.
A trial date has not been set, Shore Daily News reports.
This story is brought to you through our news partnership with Shore Daily News.
