A Baldwin man who worked as a jitney driver will serve the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced Thursday for killing a Pitcairn man he drove for.
Darrel Hardy, 33, was found guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, a firearms count and reckless burning following a jury trial in March.
Allegheny County Police said Hardy had driven Zack “Bud” Moore, 28, on the night of July 7, 2018, to a bar in Homestead and then another bar in the Strip District.
Later, they stopped at two after-hours clubs.
Moore’s body was found near Dixon Avenue and East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard in North Versailles early July 8 with a gunshot wound to his head, police said.
Based on the blood found at the scene, detectives believed Moore had been shot inside a car and pushed out.
A short time later, investigators learned of a vehicle fire on the South Side. When officers arrived, they found a 2017 red Chevy Malibu rental car that Hardy had rented.
Inside the burned-up car, detectives said they found the soles of Moore’s melted shoes in the passenger seat, as well as the clothing Hardy could be seen wearing the night before in the clubs. The clothing had blood on it.
For Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Moore’ mother, Tonia Copeland, submitted a victim impact statement saying how much she missed her oldest son.
“My heart hurts so bad until the pain is so overwhelming I have no physical ability to do anything,” she wrote.
Copeland said that her son welcomed Hardy into the community when others didn’t, and that Moore always looked out for the underdog.
In addition to life without parole, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Randal B. Todd ordered Hardy to serve an additional four to eight years.
