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Call to second church makes hoax likely
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- Authorities now believe a call placed Thursday to a Homosassa church by a man threatening to kill his wife was a hoax, after a second call was made to another church in Inverness. The story in both calls was the same: A distraught young man, recently unemployed, was angry at his wife and wanted to shoot her, said Ronda Hemminger Evan, spokeswoman for the Citrus County Sheriff's Office. The calls also ended the same way: the sound of gunshots, or something like gunshots, ringing out before the phone line went dead. The pastor of the second church, First Baptist Church of Inverness, reported the phone call to a deputy Friday morning, Evan said. According to the report, a man called First Baptist Thursday afternoon and told pastor Babb Adams his story. Adams attempted to soothe the agitated caller, and the call ended peacefully, Evan said. But then the phone rang again. This time, a woman was on the line, Evan said. She began to ask the church's receptionist several questions about religion. So the receptionist handed the phone to Adams. "When he picked up the phone, it was the gentleman who called earlier, and again he said he was going to kill his wife," Evan said. This time the call ended with six sharp bangs, but Adams told the deputy they did not sound like gunshots. Adams, reached Friday night by telephone, said he preferred not to comment on the call until the police investigation was complete. Evan said the offender or offenders could be prosecuted in criminal court. This time, authorities did not try to track down the location of the shooting. But on Thursday, more than 20 deputies, detectives and rescue workers rushed to a location off Grover Cleveland Boulevard in Homosassa in an attempt to find the mystery man who had called First United Methodist Church of Homosassa. That call was remarkable for its level of detail: The man told a trustee at the Homosassa church he was 22, recently fired from McDonald's, formerly of New Jersey and upset with his wife because he found $800 that came from her prostituting. He told the trustee, Jack Cooley, his name was Patrick Moore and he lived off Grover Cleveland. After some coaxing, the caller said his address was 8172 S Alena St. There was no such address in Citrus County, although a match was found in Hernando County. Hernando authorities checked the house and found no sign of a disturbance. Citrus sheriff's deputies checked every lead, calling all local McDonald's restaurants to search for a Patrick Moore and running a check on his name. But they kept running into dead ends. Cooley said if the man who made the call was playing a joke, he worked very hard to make it sound realistic. "He had a good story and he acted out very well," he said. "It wasn't like he had a prepared script. He listened and responded." When asked what the caller or callers' motivation might be, Evan replied, "If only we knew."
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