Waitsburg Woman Faces Murder Charges

WAITSBURG – A Waitsburg woman has been formally charged with second-degree murder for the stabbing death of her boyfriend, Marcus J. Allessio, 25.

Leslie Melgar Moreno, 25, of 206 Wheatland Drive in Waitsburg, is accused of fatally stabbing Allessio on Dec. 28, 2018. She was arrested and charged the following day.

According to court reports, Walla Walla County Dispatch received a call from Moreno at approximately 3:35 p.m. on Fri., Dec. 28. Moreno allegedly told dispatchers that her boyfriend had a knife wound, was unconscious, and that she was driving him to Walla Walla. Dispatch requested that Moreno pull over at the weigh station between Walla Walla and Waitsburg, where medics and law enforcement met her.

Deputies were unable to find a pulse and medics transported Allessio to Providence St. Mary Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. On arrival at the scene, deputies found Moreno sitting atop Allessio in a Toyota Highlander. A large knife was on the driver’s seat floorboard. Moreno’s 4-year-old daughter was also in the vehicle.

Moreno allegedly told officers that she had been sleeping on the couch when Allessio began assaulting her and threatened her with a knife. Officers noted that Moreno had a black eye, a swollen jaw, and a split lip.

Moreno said Allessio went outside to the vehicle with the knife, and that she tried to take the knife away because he had a history of being suicidal. Allessio was stabbed during a struggle for the knife and Moreno grabbed her daughter, called dispatch, and headed to Walla Walla.

After consulting with Prosecutor Jim Nagle and Child Protective Services, and interviewing Moreno’s daughter and Allessio’s mother, Moreno was released with her daughter.

After later viewing security footage provided by a neighbor, officers elected to arrest Moreno on murder charges, according to the probable cause report. Moreno was arrested in Walla Walla and her daughter was left in the care of a friend.

Moreno is currently being held in the Walla Walla County Jail on $250,000 bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Walla Walla Superior Court on Jan. 14, 2019.