Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part article about the murders of Lisa Heather Mora and Harpal Singh. Wednesday marks the fifth anniversary of their murders and the main suspect, Lisa’s husband Omar Mora, remains at large. Omar Mora’s current location is unknown. The investigation started as a dual one between Warsaw Police Department and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department since one murder took place in the city limits of Warsaw and the other took place in the county. To streamline efforts, WPD and KCSD decided to run all media inquires through Prosecuting Attorney Dan Hampton’s office and KCSD Detective Jon Tyler. At the time of the murders, Hampton was the chief deputy prosecuting attorney while Tyler was a month away from becoming a detective. Now that he’s the lead detective for the case, Tyler said that not only is it his responsibility as a member of law enforcement to track down Mora, he feels compelled on behalf of Lisa’s family and two children. “As a father myself, I want to give the family their wish. I want to see him arrested and prosecuted,” Tyler said. A segment about Mora appeared twice on the show “America’s Most Wanted.” A reward of $10,000 has been offered. Tips have come in and been checked. “One person swears they found him on Facebook,” said Tyler. “Another woman swears she saw him across from her in the produce aisle at Walmart here in town.” Mora’s truck was found July 23, 2007, in the 2300 block of West Montana Street in Chicago. It’s a side street located right off the Kennedy Expressway. The truck is believed to have been parked there the night of May 23. The truck had a ticket on it when the Chicago Police Department had it towed. Where Mora parked, cars are given 30 days to move then given a grace period of another 30 days after being ticketed. Mora’s truck wasn’t flagged because it was properly plated and meter maids, not CPD, handled the ticketing, so access to a criminal database wasn’t available. So where did Mora go after he dropped his car off north of the Bucktown neighborhood on Chicago’s north side? A week after the murders, Lisa Mora’s family opened a safe that belonged to Omar Mora. In it were two wallets, with credits cards, his passport, his green card, a checkbook and an address book. No money was found in the safe. Police initially reported that Mora had family in the Chicagoland area. Tyler said he didn’t know if any of his family had, at any point, aided or harbored Mora. “America’s Most Wanted” lists Chicago as a possible location, along with Mexico and Indiana. But police know he could be anywhere. One tip led police to North Carolina. Another tip had Mora working at a convenience store in Ohio. The Big Break? Perhaps the closest Mora has come to capture was a couple of years ago. An informant in Mexico had set up a meeting. Hampton and Tyler couldn’t recall whether it was with a police officer or a bounty hunter. But the informant was meeting to give what he said was Mora’s location. But before the informant could give the location – on his way to the meeting – his car was struck by a semi and he was killed. It’s unknown whether the informant was credible. But those sorts of things have frustrated law enforcement. “It’s just a matter of time,” said Hampton of Mora’s capture. The confidence comes in the form of an arrest warrant for Mora in Mexico. Nearly 3.5 years after the murders, in a joint effort between the U.S. and Mexico, the warrant for Mora was finally issued in Mexico. But as Tyler points out, even if Mora is in Mexico, having him detained by police may be an issue. “The borders are porous at best,” said Tyler. “Also there are parts of Mexico where law enforcement simply won’t go.” Tyler pointed to Mexico’s political instability and the increased power of drug cartels making things like capturing and extraditing someone like Mora more difficult. “It’s not essentially uniform (in Mexico) like it is here,” said Tyler. “I’m fairly certain that if I call a department in the United States I’m going to talk to someone competent. That’s not the case (in Mexico).” In the meantime, a file with Omar Mora’s name on it sits in a filing cabinet in the Kosciusko County Circuit Court’s office with an arrest warrant on charges of two counts of murder. Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan He can be reached at 574-267-3111, Ext. 246.
