Leonard Moser, 45, took his own life after being stopped by police in Warren County. Watch video
Leonard Moser's life ended Friday night in a car on the side of the road in Warren County. Authorities say he turned a shotgun on himself after being stopped by police.
Leonard Moser (Facebook photo) The 45-year-old is a suspect in the shooting death of Lisa Menzo Santoro, a 47-year-old mother of four whose body was found that afternoon in her car inside the garage of her Palmer Township home less than 7 miles away.
The investigation is incomplete, but Northampton County First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck on Saturday said authorities are confident Moser, who had a failed relationship with the victim, was the only suspect.
"It's tragic," he said. "(Palmer police) have been working around the clock. We're confident we have the guy who did this."
On Monday, Moser had been served a protection-from-abuse order from Menzo Santoro, according Northampton County Sheriff David Dalrymple.
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Moser was a Phillipsburg native living in Easton, according to his Facebook page, which contains selfies showing off his muscular build.
In high school, he was known on the gridiron for the Stateliners. Express-Times archives show that as a defenseman he helped push Phillipsburg to a 21-12 win over Easton in the 1989 Thanksgiving Day football game.
But there was more.
Moser worked for a time as a guard at the county juvenile jail. In 1998, when Moser was 27, he admitted to sexual contact with an 18-year-old female inmate and was sentenced to at least 60 days in the county jail.
From The Express-Times archives:
Leonard Moser on trial in Warren County court in 1998. (NJ Advance Media file photo) The report also said Moser had a record as a juvenile for an assault.
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On Friday, police stopped his vehicle on Dumont Road in Greenwich Township about 6 p.m. -- about two-and-a-half hours after Menzo Santoro's body was found. From a distance, they ordered Moser out of the car, Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke said Friday.
"He didn't get out of the car," Burke said. "Because there was some concern about whether he had any kind of weapons, my understanding is they backed off and we activated the tactical team to come and approach the vehicle. When they did that, that's when they determined he was deceased."
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.