Hannah Hayhurst's friend, lead investigator in her case speak on Daniella Moore sentencing

EUREKA, Calif. — Almost four years since 19-year-old Hannah Hayhurst was brutally murdered and disemboweled, her killer Daniella Moore appeared in front of a judge last week to face justice at long last. But whether or not that justice was served depends on who you ask.

"I just think that we were totally robbed by the system," Hayhurst's friend Skyer Myers Payne said. "It's unfair to say the least. The justice system failed us in my opinion."

After unexpectedly taking a plea deal in February, Moore was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Hannah Hayhurst and the assault with a deadly weapon of Misty Miller, another woman Moore attacked the night she murdered Hayhurst.

"I think that [the District Attorney's Office has] made a a very thought-out decision as far as the sentencing, but really, I don't know if I can speak to what's fair," Sgt. Corrie Watson, the lead investigator on Hayhurst's case, said.

On July 4, 2019, Eureka Police Department (EPD) officers were dispatched to the Hilfiker parking lot in Eureka where Hayhurst was found deceased with multiple stab wounds and disembowelment, among other fatal injuries.

"I can't overemphasize the brutality of the crime scene and some of the evidence we found," Watson said. "It was awful."

At the scene, officials also found evidence linking Moore to the scene, and within hours, Moore was captured and detained.

"There was a lot of obvious evidence -- some blood evidence that was visible on her person and clothing," Watson said.

Initially, Moore pleaded not guilty of the murder, torture and assault charges by reason of insanity, which could have allowed her to serve any prison time in a mental facility, if a jury were to find her honest.

"I held on to the fact that she was going to have justice no matter what," Myers Payne said.

But before the case could make its way to a jury, Moore changed her plea to guilty of murder in the second degree and assault with a deadly weapon, preventing the case from going to trial and judged by a jury.

Were the case to have gone to trial, there is a possibility that Moore would have been given a harsher sentence for charges that were dropped in the plea deal.

North Coast News reached out to Humboldt County District Attorney Stacy Eads, but she was unable to meet for an interview.