Hannah Hayhurst's father speaks about Daniella Moore plea deal, sentencing

EUREKA, Calif. — In the last five years, Robert Hayhurst has faced multiple tragedies more brutal than many people will ever see in their own lives.

In 2019, Hayhurst's 19-year-old daughter Hannah was brutally murdered and disemboweled by 43-year-old Daniella Moore.

"She pretty much dissected my daughter," Hayhurst said.

Hayhurst's wife Lynn took their daughter's death particularly hard, and after a year of anguish, she too passed away just over a year after her daughter. Hayhurst said she died "of a broken heart."

"She cried every single day for the rest of her life," Hayhurst said.

But through all of the pain and heartbreak, Hayhurst continued on each day with the hope that ultimately he would help get justice for his daughter.

"I have spent the last four years of my life with basically only one focus, and that was to survive to get to trial to have justice for my family," Hayhurst said.

But when Moore unexpectedly took a plea deal in February, Hayhurst's fight for justice became a moot point.

"I feel devastated. I feel like I've let my entire family down," Hayhurst said.

Hayhurst was never in support of the plea deal offered to Moore by Humboldt County District Attorney Stacy Eads because it would prevent the case from going to trial and being heard by a jury, and therefore any potential for a harsher sentence would be off the table.

This is especially upsetting for Hayhurst, as he believes the case could have won in trial.

"I think we would have gotten a conviction. It might have killed me, but we would have got one," Hayhurst said.

Moore was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after taking the deal. An additional torture charge was removed as part of the deal, significantly reducing the sentence to what it may have been if Moore was found guilty by a jury.

"I really hated to see the torture charged dropped, because Hannah wasn't the only one tortured and I'm still tortured to this day," Hayhurst said.

Next week, Hannah would have turned 23, Hayhurst said.

"I plan on going to her favorite spot at dawn was when she liked to go there -- the lookout point at King Salmon -- and I will leave one red rose for Lynn and one white rose for Hannah," Hayhurst said.

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