Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and in the case of an actress who played a killer in an indie horror film and was later convicted of manslaughter, the two were eerily similar.
Friday’s episode of NBC’s “Dateline” covers the case of Aisling Tucker Moore-Reed, who was charged with her uncle’s death shortly after she finished portraying a killer in a local horror film. The episode, “Killer Role,” first premiered in 2020, but is being broadcast again as a classic “Dateline” case.
Who is Tucker Reed?
Aisling Tucker Moore-Reed, who also goes by the pen name Tucker Reed and stage name Wyn Reed, is an author who has contributed to HuffPost and Cosmopolitan. She also co-wrote a book series with her mother and sister.
In 2018, Reed landed a starring role in “From The Dark,” an indie horror film in which she played a character who shot and killed another person in self-defense, according to the Daily Mail. Her co-stars told the outlet they were impressed by her ability to portray panic and fear in the fictional scenarios, but they later learned she may have had real-life experience with what she was acting out.
Shortly after filming wrapped, Reed was arrested for the 2016 death of her uncle, Shane Moore, and charged with second-degree murder, per the Medford Mail Tribune. Her co-stars learned Reed had previously been arrested in connection with his death and charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter.
What happened to Shane Moore?
In 2016, Reed accused her uncle, Shane Moore, of assaulting her and took out a restraining order against him, per The Washington Post. In June of that year, Reed was at her grandmother’s house with her grandmother and mother when Moore approached the front door. Reed allegedly shot and killed Moore as he entered the house.
Moore had allegedly made threats against the family, per The Washington Post, and Reed, her mother and her grandmother say that Reed killed Moore in self-defense. She was charged with first and second-degree manslaughter shortly after the shooting but released on bail, per the Daily Mail.
In August 2018, police viewed video footage of the shooting from Reed’s phone, which led them to rearrest her in September 2018 and charge her with second-degree murder, the article said. In May 2020, she received a sentence of six years and three months in prison. She remains behind bars.
Kelly Moore, Reed’s mother, told The Washington Post the family had given police the footage because they hoped it would prove her innocence.
“My daughter didn’t do anything wrong,” Moore said. “I was there, and she did not do anything wrong.”
The “Dateline” episode on the case investigates Moore’s claims, and NBC correspondent Keith Morrison told Entertainment Weekly the case is “complicated.”
“This is a young woman who was used to getting her way and who would complain when things wouldn’t go exactly as she wanted them,” Morrison said.
Where can I watch tonight’s episode of ‘Dateline’?
“Killer Role” will re-air Friday at 7 p.m. MST on NBC. The full episode is currently available on NBC.