APPOMATTOX — The last of five co-defendants charged in a Lynchburg area man’s October 2020 slaying was sentenced to 60 years in prison Thursday, the most extensive punishment handed down in all the combined cases prosecuted over the past year.
Enrico Andre Moss, 32, was found guilty in January of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of Carlos Levell Rose, whose remains were found by law enforcement inside a burned GMC Yukon off State Park Road near Holliday Lake State Park. In early January, a jury also convicted Moss of one count each of abduction, arson, conspiracy to commit abduction for money or benefit, conspiracy to commit arson, concealing or altering a dead body, conspiring to conceal a body and destruction of property.
Moss, who didn’t testify at trial, continues to maintain his innocence. Appomattox County Commonwealth’s Attorney Les Fleet described Moss as the ringleader who orchestrated the planned abduction of Rose in Madison Heights.
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Fleet described Rose’s murder as one of the most horrible and horrendous cases he’s prosecuted in his 23-year career. Moss and two other men took Rose at gunpoint in Amherst County and in the course of the abduction, Rose was shot to death and the group drove his body to Appomattox County and lit the fire in attempt to conceal the crime, according to prosecutors’ evidence.
“Mr. Rose’s body was so consumed by fire it took DNA to determine who he was,” Fleet said.
Mik’Tavis Elonta Naeshu Green, of Prospect; Keyanta Ke’Shaun Robinson, of Lynchburg; and Artenna Kainna Horsley-Robey, of Lynchburg, also were arrested on the same charges as Moss. Green and Robinson, whom Fleet said were the triggermen in Rose’s death, also each were charged with using a firearm in commission of a felony. Green and Robinson was sentenced to 25 years active prison time; and Horsley-Robey received a nine year sentence.
Moss was the only co-defendant to go to trial. Horsley-Robey testified at his Jan. 11 trial she had a sexual relationship with Rose, her godfather.
Horsley-Robey testified Moss was highly upset about the relationship when he discovered text exchanges between the two. Prosecutor Kia Scott said at the trial Rose, a well-known marijuana dealer in Lynchburg, met up with Horsley-Robey at a Lynchburg parking lot near the James River and she got into his vehicle.
Horsley-Robey “lured” Rose to Madison Heights on a spot near the U.S. 29 Bypass; and Moss, Green and Robinson descended on Rose’s vehicle and seized him, prosecutors have said. Horsley-Robey testified she and Moss rode in Moss’ vehicle behind Rose’s Yukon that Robinson drove with Green also in the vehicle while Rose was held at gunpoint.
Green and Robinson both said they shot Rose after he went for a gun, Horsley-Robey testified. Moss told the two “you did what you had to do” and the four co-defendants drove in the two vehicles, eventually reaching the state park. Horsley-Robey testified at Moss’ direction, she contacted his brother, Montel Shaquille Croner, who brought two cans of gasoline used to set Rose’s Yukon on fire.
Horsley-Robey recently was sentenced to nine years in prison. Green and Robinson each received 25-year prison sentences. Croner received a 10-year suspended jail sentence and supervised probation for his role in the fire.
Fleet has said Green fired the first shot into Rose’s head and the second shot to the victim’s chest came shortly after from Robinson’s gun. Rose was dead before the fire, with the cause of death being gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to the autopsy’s findings, Fleet said.
Sheila Rose Anderson, Rose’s mother, testified at Moss’ sentencing hearing Thursday of the impact the murder has had on the family.
“Mr. Moss, you killed my son. You killed my family,” Anderson said to the defendant. “You planned all this. This was premeditated.”
Anderson said Moss should have pleaded guilty like the others and spoke of the trauma the two-day jury trial put her thorough. She described her son, who was 45 at the time of the murder, as a loving family man and the stress took her eyesight; she is now legally blind.
“He was a good human being. He would have done anything for his family,” Anderson said, directing more comments at Moss. “You just don’t realize how you tore my family apart.”
Moss’ sister testified Thursday he is a hard worker who was general manager of a North Carolina restaurant and he was always there for her when she needed. She said Moss is innocent and she feels sorry for the Rose family.
Fleet credited the Appomattox County Sheriff’s Office and various local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for their team effort in bringing forward a strong case, a big part of which he said involved tracking phone records and GIS to track the two vehicles’ movement that night.
Moss was the one “leading that parade” the night Rose was killed, Fleet said. “He was clearly giving the orders,” Fleet said.
Fleet said Moss has had a pattern of criminal activity since he was a juvenile and in 2010 was found guilty of shooting at an occupied vehicle at a gas station in the town of Appomattox and other firearms-related charges, as well as conspiring to assault an inmate while incarcerated in 2022.
“He doesn’t care who he hurts or how he hurts,” Fleet said.
Judge Andy Nelson sentenced Moss to 125 years and suspended 65 years. Fleet said because of Moss’s extensive criminal history sentencing guidelines called for more prison time than the two shooters.
“It may not have been him who pulled the trigger but he’s the one who got it initiated,” Fleet said. “Because of his actions he’s earned every single one of those years.”
Jason Anthony, Moss’ attorney, argued against Moss getting more prison time than one of the two shooters who told law enforcement he should have shot Horsley-Robey as well.
“I don’t think that’s equitable,” Anthony said. “For that person not to get more jail time than Mr. Moss is problematic.”
Anthony filed a motion for another evidentiary hearing for Moss based on interviews with law enforcement, which Nelson denied and described as a tactic by the defendant to avoid sentencing.
Nelson said the court finds Moss was the primary instigator in the unfolding of events that led to Rose’s murder and took charge.
“There’s no question in the court’s mind you were the mastermind of this,” Nelson told Moss.
