The mother of Unique Harris handed out fliers with her daughter’s photo for years, hoping for a miracle after the 24-year-old disappeared from her D.C. home over a decade ago.
A man was convicted on Friday of killing her, though her body has never been found.
Isaac Moye was found guilty of second-degree murder after jurors began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon.
Harris’ mother, Valencia Harris, grinned and whooped with joy as she left court.
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“All I could think was, ’Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord,'" she told News4.
“There are no words to sum up having to turn a predator into my prey. Because I told him, ‘You made my daughter your prey and now you are mine.’ And I meant every word then and I still mean it now. So here we go: Guilty! Guilty!” Valencia Harris said.
In October 2010, Harris disappeared from her new apartment in the 2400 block of Hartford Street SE. Her family said she never would have left her two children. The family feared she had been harmed when they saw she left her glasses behind; she was legally blind.
One of Harris’ sons, then 11 years old, said in 2016 that he remembered his mother putting him to bed the night she disappeared.
“The last thing I remember from her was her telling me good night and that everything was going to be OK,” he said.
Prosecutors laid out a circumstantial case against Moye. He was an acquaintance of Harris and had been wearing a GPS ankle bracelet that placed him in her apartment for hours before she disappeared. He went to a wooded area in D.C. after leaving her home.
Prosecutors said Harris spent hours on the phone with her boyfriend in front of Moye and that Moye was jealous.
“He meant to punish her for not choosing him. She paid with her life,” a lawyer said.
A former cell mate of Moye's told authorities that Moye had told him about a missing girl. He reportedly said officials would never find her because he did it “the right way.”
Moye’s defense attorney argued that prosecutors did not prove Moye was involved in Harris’ disappearance and did not present any evidence on how she may have been killed. The lawyer said police botched the investigation and failed to look into other possible suspects or gather critical evidence such as cellphone records. He argued police arrested the wrong man.
Moye was arrested in December 2020 and charged with second-degree murder.
Derrick Butler was in court supporting the family earlier this month. The body of his sister, Pam Butler, was never found but prosecutors were successful in getting a conviction.
“These guys or people that’s doing these things have got in their heads ‘No body, no case, no body, no evidence.’ Well, D.C. is leading the pack in taking people to court where they don’t have bodies,” he said.
In October, a man was convicted in the disappearance of Olga Ooro, who vanished from her D.C. apartment in July 2020. Her body also has never been found.
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CORRECTION (June 23, 2023 3:50 p.m. ET): A previous version of this story said Harris had three children; she had two.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
