McKinney business owner starts reward fund for Alicia Moore's family

When McKinney business owner Mark Cobb learned of Alicia Moore's murder, it didn't take long for him to begin brainstorming ways to help find the Greenville student's killer.

Moore went missing on Nov. 2, when the 16-year-old was last seen getting off of the school bus. A construction worker found Moore's body in a trunk by the side of the road on a remote stretch of highway in Van Zandt County, about 40 miles away from Greenville, on Tuesday.

"She got off the bus on Friday, they found the body on Tuesday and ID'd her on Thursday," Cobb said. "I cannot imagine them not finding somebody quickly. It was 3:25 p.m. in broad daylight. Someone saw something."

News of her death hit close to home for Cobb since Moore's aunt is one of his employees. This is why Cobb - along with the help of Greenville Chrysler - has put up a $15,000 reward for information that will lead police to the arrest and conviction of Moore's killer.

"I've got three young daughters and oh my gosh, there's no telling what I'd do," Cobb said. "This family, they have all these expenses they can't afford at this point. I think we've now got a good bulk of those covered but it's going to get much bigger."

Jessica Byrd works with Cobb as a teacher Kids R Kids in McKinney. Byrd has been working at the learning academy in west McKinney for about a year and in that short amount of time, has made quite an impression on Cobb and the rest of the faculty and staff.

"She drives from Greenville to McKinney so that tells you something," Cobb said. "She's a great employee."

As soon as Cobb heard Moore's body had been discovered, he began brainstorming ways in which he could help. Cobb sent his former boss, Eugene Knies at Greenville Chrysler, a text that night wanting to talk about it.

What he heard next was too good to be true. Knies offered to match Cobb's pledge and add $5,000 more.

In addition to the reward money, Cobb also set up a second bank account on Thursday for a memorial fund for Moore's family. Once again, Cobb's pledge (this time $1,000) was matched by his friends and fellow business owners.

"I knew who to call and that's what I got," Cobb said. "My concern now is that these people need closure on this. It's also unfortunate that they have to bury this beautiful young girl."

The Greenville Police Department's investigation is widening but the department is not giving much information as to the specifics of the investigation. As of Friday, they had not identified any suspects but are talking to people with ties to the girl.

Cobb said he hopes the reward money will encourage someone with information to step forward in order to let Byrd and her family find the closure they need.

"Kids are obviously very important to me and when I see a travesty like this, especially one that hits close to home, I'm going to do what I can do," Cobb said. "We want word to get out mainly about the reward so we can find whoever did this crime. We also wanted her to know where we stand as my business. She's an integral part of what we do. I just want to help her family out as much as I can."

Cobb set up the Alicia Moore Memorial Fund with the American National Bank of Texas under account number 3100014491 for those wishing to contribute to the fund.

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