KOLR 10 Investigates SPS bus attacker’s frightening past

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – KOLR 10 Investigates has learned Trent Moore, the man behind bars for attacking a Springfield Public Schools bus on April 3, was the subject of multiple complaints from neighbors that didn’t result in any action until after Moore pried open the doors of a middle school bus and sent 13 middle schoolers running in fear.

A paper trail shows multiple people tried to stop the non-compliant sex offender before the bus attack ever happened.

Moore’s previous kidnapping conviction

KOLR 10 Investigates also tracked down the teenage victim Moore kidnapped several years ago. She’s grown up, moved away, and says based on how her case was handled, she’s not shocked to hear Moore is in trouble again.

“I lived my whole entire life in fear,” said Richardson.

Richardson lives on the west coast now, abruptly picking up her life in Springfield and moving thousands of miles away once she realized her attacker was walking free.

Richardson worked with Moore – the suspected school bus attacker – at Steak ‘n Shake. Court documents show that’s where he kidnapped the 17-year-old after a shift on the night of Aug. 2, 2019.

Court records indicate Moore took her to a remote area outside Springfield where Richardson says he held a gun to her head and threatened to kill himself if she didn’t have sex with him.

Eventually they ran out of gas and she got help from an employee working a Casey’s pizza counter who called 911 after she slipped them a note.

Her case went to trial and Moore was convicted of kidnapping and sexual misconduct, which were both misdemeanor offenses. He got probation and didn’t serve jail time for those crimes until he violated it.

“For someone to get a slap on the wrist and be invited back into society after committing such a heinous act is awful and it doesn’t keep anyone else safe,” Richardson said.

Middle school bus comes under attack

Richardson was at work on April 3, 2024 when she got the call from her sister that something bad happened back home again.

Her attacker was arrested for breaking into a Pershing middle school bus with more than a dozen kids on board, assaulting the driver, and stealing the keys before engaging in an 8-hour standoff with police at his family’s Brentwood home.

Amy Hunsaker-Williams lives in the neighborhood with her family.

“Am I worried that something like this could happen again? Of course. Am I worried that things could happen inside of a school? Yes,” said Hunsaker-Williams.

She says she still feels like the Brentwood neighborhood is a safe place to raise a family and is relieved that the recent incidents all involve one man.

Complaints against Moore leading up to the bus attack

Springfield Public Schools confirms the scheduled Pershing bus stop is at the intersection of Cambridge and Barnes, about 500 feet from Moore’s home down the block and just over the tree line from nearby Field Elementary School where families say Moore had been harassing them in the weeks prior.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Office confirms one of its detectives was investigating complaints that Moore had been bothering families at the park on school property, which would be a felony violation as a sex offender.

Detectives were gathering evidence to support a case against Moore when the incident involving the bus happened on April 3. The sheriff’s office says it wasn’t until two days after that on April 5 that Springfield Public Schools sent the detective video evidence showing Moore on SPS property.

A spokesperson for the school district declined to comment on the specific timeline but pushed back against the idea SPS was slow in responding to complaints about Moore – saying school police were prompt in writing reports and sharing evidence with the sheriff’s office.

“Do not let him get out on just probation because he has abused it again and again and again,” said Richardson.

Amy Hunsaker-Williams/Lives in Brentwood neighborhood:
“I think we are on high alert in case that should happen. Right now we are feeling a bit safer.”

Last September Moore’s mother called the police for help when he showed up at her house and acted like he was going to hit her.

The reporting officer said Moore insulted them, called them profanities, and was as uncooperative as he could manage while in handcuffs.

The prosecutor told KOLR 10 Investigates that Moore’s mom moved out of state and decided not to pursue trespassing charges.

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