Jason Moody, bassist with Maine metal band Seize The Vatican, was found dead after an apparent attack in his hometown in November 2018. Now, new information suggests that his murder could have been captured on Facebook's Messenger app service.
Local police arrested 29-year-old Donald Gallek on November 16th 2018 on suspicion of the murder, five days after Moody's body was found. Now, Bangor Daily News is reporting that a newly released court affidavit suggests that the attack was accidentally recorded on Facebook video live while his phone was in his shirt pocket.
The affidavit also detailed that Gallek and Moody became embroiled in an altercation after a domestic incident involving Gallek and Moody's girlfriend took place at Moody's home. Moody had asked Gallek to leave the property and was walking him to a nearby apartment where he could stay the night when the fight broke out.
Gallek had used the Messenger app to call a friend while the pair walked between apartments, and apparently sent an accidental video request to the same friend a few minutes later when he put the phone in his pocket after allegedly being stuck by Moody.
The woman is said to have told police that seconds prior to the phone switching from voice to video mode, she heard “what sounded like someone hitting Galleck and heard him say something to the effect of ‘What the fuck? You just hit me!’”
According to the affidavit, once the Facebook call switched to video, the woman said that “she saw Galleck turn and face the male and punch him once in the face... At that point, the other male put his hands up and said he was sorry and he was drunk.”
But “Galleck hit the male twice more, knocking him to the ground,” according to the affidavit. “Once on the ground, Galleck grabbed the victim by the throat and bashed his head off the ground seven times.”
The woman described witnessing Galleck continuing to bash the victim’s head into the pavement until “[s]he stated the victim appeared to be unconscious. Galleck then fled the scene and appeared to jump a fence.” The woman then ended the call, according to the affidavit.
Galleck pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday and his trial has been set for March. If convicted of murder, Galleck will be facing a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
It is not yet clear whether the video was retained by Facebook or if it's been made available to the authorities.
After Moody's death last year, Seize The Vatican took to Facebook to share a statement in which they paid tribute to him as "our bassist, our friend, and most importantly, our brother... Jason was a phenomenal bassist, and an even better friend. Rest in Power, Brother. We'll meet again at Odin's table." See the full statement below.
Posted by SeizeTheVatican on
