A 74-year-old Maryland man faces felony manslaughter charges after he fired a rifle at what he believed was a deer in a Delaware field, and struck a 39-year-old mother of five who was walking with companions and two children.
Walter Moorhead of Salisbury, Maryland, was hunting from a ground blind, a camouflaged, low-profile structure, in an open field near Ellendale, a small town in central Sussex County, Delaware, on the evening of September 18 when he fired the fatal shot. Santos Maria Chilel Soto, 39, of Georgetown, Delaware, was walking through the same field with a man and two children at approximately 7:40 p.m. local time when the round struck her, USA Today reported.
Delaware State Police troopers responded to the scene and attempted to provide life-saving medical care before Chilel Soto was transported to an area hospital. She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Authorities arrested Moorhead after determining he fired the shot. He was charged with manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and three counts of reckless endangerment, one count, it appears, for each of the three companions who were walking alongside Chilel Soto when the rifle discharged.
Moorhead was arraigned by Delaware's Justice of the Peace Court and released after posting a $43,000 cash bond. The Delaware State Police Homicide Unit is continuing to investigate.
State police said Moorhead had been "hunting deer from a ground blind" when he believed he saw a deer and fired. That characterization comes from the preliminary investigation; no independent verification of Moorhead's mental state at the time of the shooting has been made public.
Delaware State Police identified the victim on September 20 as Santos Maria Chilel Soto. Breitbart reported that Chilel Soto was a Guatemalan mother of five children. Her family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral costs and the expense of transporting her body back to Guatemala.
The fundraiser page described the family's situation plainly:
"Maria's family is now facing the overwhelming pain of this sudden loss while also trying to make sure she is laid to rest with dignity."
A separate appeal on the fundraiser noted that the shooting "has placed a heavy financial burden on the family at a time when they are grieving deeply," the New York Post reported.
Several basic facts remain unreleased. Authorities have not disclosed whether Moorhead held a valid Delaware hunting license, whether deer season was open at the time, or whether he had legal permission to hunt on the property. The distance between his ground blind and Chilel Soto when he pulled the trigger has not been made public. The caliber of the rifle has not been identified.
The names of the man and two children walking with Chilel Soto have not been released. Police have not said whether any of them were physically injured. Their relationship to the victim has not been disclosed.
No attorney for Moorhead has made a public statement, and no next court date has been announced. Authorities asked anyone with information to contact the Delaware State Police or Delaware Crime Stoppers.
A 39-year-old woman walked through a field on a September evening with children at her side, and she never came home. Whatever the investigation ultimately reveals about Moorhead's intent, the law demands that a man who fires a rifle verify what he is shooting at, and five children now have to grow up without their mother because that standard was not met.
