South Carolina man admits killing neighbor and allegedly made memorial pamphlet with victim's name: 'RIP Oscar'

A former police officer in South Carolina has pleaded guilty to killing his neighbor after investigators found ample physical evidence linking him to the crime, including bloodstained clothing and a memorial pamphlet in his home with “RIP Oscar” and ” You should love your neighbor.” ” was written on it, authorities said.

Justin Rawlins Moody, 43, was sentenced Monday to 34 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder shortly before his trial began in Greenwood County, attorney David Stumbo said in a statement.

48-year-old Oscar Rubio's girlfriend found him dead in his Ware Shoals home in May 2023, shot in the head and chest, officials said.

Neighbors told officers who responded to the shooting that Rubio and Moody had recently argued and said Moody had borrowed money from his neighbor in the past. Moody refused to leave his house to get deputies until someone he knew arrived.

When Moody spoke to investigators, he said he did not kill Rubio but knew an extraordinary amount of information about what happened, Stumbo said.

Officers then asked him how he knew so much, and Moody “claimed he was God and could hear other people's thoughts,” Stumbo said.

Officers found the gun used to kill Rubio in Moody's bedroom, blood splatters on pants hanging on a kitchen chair, boots in Moody's home that matched a clear bloody footprint in the victim's home, thousands of dollars in cash, the Rubio's, and keys to his vehicle – as well as the memorial pamphlet that read “RIP Oscar” and “You should love your neighbor,” prosecutors said.

Under South Carolina law, a murder sentence must range from 30 years to life in prison and be served day for day, meaning Moody is ineligible for parole, officials said.

“This is an absolutely senseless act of violence,” Stumbo said in a statement. “I cannot say enough about the outstanding work that law enforcement investigators and our prosecutors did to put Justin Moody behind bars for virtually the rest of his life.”

According to South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy records, Moody worked as a police officer for at least six different agencies in South Carolina beginning in 2006.

He worked in Laurens County for four years, Greenville County for a year and Richland County for nearly three years during two stints before apparently permanently leaving law enforcement in October 2018, according to his records.

Neither agency reported that Moody was fired or said he should not be hired anywhere else, the filings show, although one agency was upset that he left after less than five months and took a job at another agency.