Autopsy reveals woman was strangled
JANESVILLE — Neighbors who knew Traci Moyer say she was a kind, hardworking person who had struggled in marriage but was trying to move on with her life.
On Sunday, neighbors were grappling with the loss of Moyer, whom police say they found strangled to death early Saturday inside a home at 315 W. Racine St., where her estranged husband, Kristofer Carlisle, lived.
"She was a get-along, go-along person. She worked hard, and she'd do anything for you. She'd give you the shirt off her back. It's a shame what happened to her," said Michael Buggs, a neighbor who said he knew Moyer and Carlisle for years.
Police have not made an arrest in Moyer's death, but they are treating it as a homicide.
An autopsy Sunday morning showed Moyer died of "ligature strangulation." Few other details were available late Sunday.
Janesville Police Sgt. Chad Pearson said late Sunday no one had been arrested in connection with Moyer's death. He said the death remained under investigation, but police have a "person of interest" in the case.
Police still had not spoken with Carlisle, who police say was found unconscious and in "medical distress" inside the West Racine Street home at about 3 a.m. Saturday when officers forced their way into the house and discovered Moyer.
Carlisle on Sunday still was hospitalized at Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center, Janesville, with undisclosed medical problems. His condition had improved on Sunday from critical to fair, a hospital supervisor said.
Police have not said whether they suspect Carlisle of being involved in the murder of the 46-year-old Moyer, but Deputy Chief Dan Davis said Saturday police believed there was no threat to the public of a suspect on the loose.
Police on Saturday morning found Moyer after one of her daughters and a neighbor found Moyer's car running in the driveway at Carlisle's house early Saturday but couldn't get into the house, according to police and neighbors.
Moyer, 46, had filed for divorce from Carlisle in November, according to online court records. Police and neighbors said Moyer and her two teenage daughters apparently had moved out of Carlisle's house and into an apartment in Janesville in recent weeks.
It's not clear why Moyer was at the house, but a neighbor said coworkers of Moyer at a Walworth factory said they became alarmed when she did not show up for work on the third shift Friday night.
Pearson said police still were trying to learn where and when Moyer was last seen alive and how long she might have been at the Racine Street house before she died.
It's not clear whether Moyer was killed Friday or early Saturday.
Neighbors indicated Carlisle, 54, is a former member of the military, and he had an apparent history of physical disabilities.
Carlisle had legally changed his name from Thomas Moyer II in 2010.
Police said there was no history of problems at the house. Neighbor Cheryl Gent said she knew Moyer was planning a divorce.
Gent said she knows Carlisle as a person who seemed to prefer isolating himself and his family from others.
Another neighbor, Bob Costello, said he had enjoyed talking about military life with Carlisle, but Costello said he had a falling out with Carlisle during a house party a few years ago. He said he doesn't have much contact with Carlisle now.
Meanwhile, police on Sunday finished investigating the Racine Street house as a crime scene and allowed family back inside, Pearson said.
The Gazette observed family members Sunday afternoon removing garbage bags and other items from the house and loading them into vehicles. The house had blinds drawn in the windows, and someone had left a bouquet of flowers on the sidewalk outside.
A man, a woman and a teenage girl at the house declined comment, telling a Gazette reporter they weren't ready to speak publicly about Moyer's death.
