Michael Moser was returning to Palm Springs from Los Angeles following a successful business trip.
After a long career as a luxury brand executive, Michael Moser had started his own venture in men’s accessories. Just after 6 p.m. on March 24, 2022, he called his husband, Michael Rudder, and told him he was on Interstate 10. However, he needed to use a restroom, so he stopped at an outlet mall in Cabazon, and took the opportunity to charge his car at the Tesla supercharging station there.
Within 45 minutes, Michael Moser was dead in a pool of blood.
From Leasing Containers to Tiffany’s
Born and raised in the quaint town of Frankenmuth, Mich., Moser was the middle son, with older brother George, and younger brother Thomas. His father, E. George, and mother, Frances, owned a grocery store which also housed the town’s post office.
After graduating from Eastern Michigan University, he landed in San Francisco and started working at Trans Ocean Leasing (TOL). While he was successful at leasing containers, it wasn’t the best career fit. Ginger Woolf, who also worked at TOL and became Michael’s friend for 40 years, tells the story about what happened next: “One day, maybe after a year at TOL, he answered a newspaper ad for a sales position at Tiffany’s. He got it! Nobody who knew him was shocked at all. He was charming and wonderful with customers.”
He was at Tiffany’s for 11 years, before moving on to senior leadership positions at Ralph Lauren, ESCADA, Montblanc and Chanel. Finally, he was recruited by Harry Winston—one of the most renowned brands in the fine-jewelry world—as their vice president of U.S. retail.
During this time, Michael met Michael Rudder, an entrepreneur. They moved to Newport Beach and were married in 2015. Soon thereafter, Rudder became ill, and faced a cascade of debilitating diseases—a heart attack and pacemaker, brain cancer and Parkinson’s. In 2017, Moser moved them to Palm Springs, a place they loved with a convenient airport, where they would make the most of the time they had left together.
A Thursday Night in Cabazon
Between the indictments and arraignments, including testimony and materials available through the Superior Court of California in the County of Riverside, we know what happened on that Thursday night in Cabazon.
A Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy officer responded to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets at approximately 7 p.m. A witness had heard a loud pop that he believed to be a gunshot. Another witness found Moser in the bathroom and contacted a security officer, who then contacted the police. A third witness, a doctor, couldn’t find a pulse on Michael.
On security camera footage, officers saw Moser, apparently on his phone, cross in front of a vehicle and into the mall. The vehicle then turned around and came back into view; two people then got out and followed him into the mall restroom. About a minute and a half later, they were seen running back to the vehicle and then heading westbound.
After hearing the “pop” noise, a witnesses saw two men run out of the bathroom and up the stairs into the parking lot. The witness said one of the men appeared to have blood dripping from one of his hands.
Other security cameras in the area helped investigators identify a grey SUV. The registered owner of the vehicle was identified as Reginald Trice, an 18-year-old from Victorville. After a month-long investigation, Trice was arrested in the slaying of Michael Moser. Investigators later determined that two childhood friends of his, 19-year-old twins Emanuel and Elijah Burt, were also involved.
During the investigation, Trice stated that he saw Moser and thought he was wearing a “Rollie,” slang for a Rolex watch. Trice reportedly said, “Once you see something you like, you get it.” Trice got out of the car and followed Michael into the restroom along with a fourth person (later identified as a minor). Michael allegedly resisted; Trice had his gun out during the fight—and went off. The minor was behind Michael and got hit in the hand by the same bullet that had struck Michael in the chest.
Trice said, at some point, that all Moser had to do was “give it up.”
Friends, Family and Media Support
Michael’s murder received a lot of early media attention. An early headline in The Desert Sun stated: “‘A really exceptional human being’: Husband of Cabazon shooting victim remembers love of his life.”
On April 22, 2022, police arrested Trice in Victorville. He was held without bail and charged with crimes including murder and attempted robbery. Four days later, the Burt brothers were arrested in Las Vegas.
On May 20, friends and family met at my home in Palm Springs to celebrate Michael’s life. More than 50 people attended, with another 100 mourners on Zoom. Father Greg Goethals, who led the celebration, told a story about meeting Moser years ago in San Francisco, and spoke about the many dinners he shared with “Michael and Michael.” A friend of Moser’s for more than three decades, Father Greg made the keen observation that at some point, he had become “a part of the permanent planets that circled around the bright star—Michael.”
My wife, Rhonda Beran—Michael’s best friend—and Woolf remembered how Moser was obviously no “container guy” and transitioned with ease over to Tiffany’s. They noted that Moser always made people feel special—effortlessly and naturally.
Another friend, Lee Ann Monfredini, said one of their traditions was to chat whenever one of them was in a car driving on a business trip. “The day before he died, it was a Wednesday, and we were both traveling in our cars, and we talked for a solid hour,” she said. “Now I am so grateful for that hour.”
It was clear that Michael Moser had touched so many lives. His husband, Michael Rudder, made a simple, tearful statement at the end: “Thank you for coming and saying goodbye to my husband.”
Justice Delayed
Michael Moser’s family and friends, of course, wanted justice and closure. That would not happen for more than three years.
After the initial coverage, almost nothing was reported in the local media for a year. On May 23, 2023, KESQ News Channel 3, in a piece headlined “Palm Springs luxury executive murder case heads to trial, husband speaks out,” reported that a trial was expected to start on July 9. But that did not happen. Then a KESQ report on Oct, 20, 2023, headlined “Trial set for trio accused in deadly robbery in Cabazon,” said a late November trial date had been confirmed—but that also did not happen. Instead, a continuance—one of many—was allowed by the judge.
The Desert Sun on Jan. 19, 2024, published an article announcing another delay: “The latest, Thursday, at the Banning Justice Center, is the third hearing in a row concluding without a trial beginning as the defense says they have not been provided with all the evidence in the case.”
That was the last coverage that Moser’s death and the trial of the men involved in his murder would receive in 2024 from The Desert Sun and KESQ.
One of the reasons for the constant delays is that the Riverside County justice system is understaffed and overwhelmed.
A Dec. 11, 2022, editorial in The Desert Sun reported a backlog of 2,800 criminal cases in Riverside County—and many charges were simply being dismissed. Why? The simple answer: “There weren’t enough judges available to try the cases as quickly as the Constitution requires.”
California Penal Code 1050 starts with: “The welfare of the people of the State of California requires that all proceedings in criminal cases shall be set for trial and heard and determined at the earliest possible time.” It goes on to say that continuances can be granted to a defendant or prosecution because one side needs more time to prepare for trial; illnesses; witnesses not being available; defendants needing more time to retain (or change) a lawyer; or a conflict of interest arising.
For Trice, there were eight “continuance pursuant to PC 1050” motions filed in 2022, by my count. In 2023, there were five trial dates vacated along with 13 continuances (filed by the public defender and/or the district attorney). In 2024, there were five trial dates vacated, and another nine continuances allowed by the judge. A jury trial was scheduled for early 2025, but another continuance was granted on Feb. 10.
California Penal Code 1050 starts with: “The welfare of the people of the State of California requires that all proceedings in criminal cases shall be set for trial and heard and determined at the earliest possible time.”
The three adults were originally prosecuted as co-defendants, but one of the twins, Emanuel Burt, faced a lesser charge, as he was not involved in the actual murder, On Nov. 1, 2024. Emanuel Burt pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit a crime. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
Michael Rudder, Moser’s husband, weak and confused, had a letter read into the record as a victim impact statement at that time. That’s the only bit of justice he would live to see regarding the death of his husband: He died on April 4, 2025. The physical challenges of his diseases and the emotional costs had finally taken him.
Several months later, a judge accepted a plea deal between the prosecution and Elijah Burt on a crime of voluntary manslaughter. On Aug. 8, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
That meant only Trice would go trial. At a hearing on June 24, Judge Jorge Hernandez listened as one of the defendants’ lawyers asked for another continuance. At one point, the judge quipped: “This case is older than my mother, and she has been dead for 20 years.” Regardless, another new trial date was set.
On July 10, a jury was sworn in, and Trice’s murder trial finally started. The prosecutor offered 23 witnesses and more than 100 exhibits over 13 days; the defense had no opening statement and called no witnesses. The jury announced its verdict on Aug. 1: Trice was convicted of murder, attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Trice, now 21, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 10. On that day, it will have been 1,296 days since Michael Moser was murdered.
Daniel Seymour and Rhonda Beran hosted Michael Moser’s celebration of life at their Palm Springs home.
Bless you for honoring your friend’s life and keeping this story relevant. It should concern every Riverside County resident or visitor.
It has been over 1,300 days since my friend was murdered, and still no justice has been delivered. An innocent life was taken, and his husband spent the rest of his days fighting to hold those responsible accountable. Yet the Riverside prosecution office continues to fail us. Justice delayed is justice denied.
I remember Michael well from the 31 years I lived in San Francisco. He was exceptionally handsome and charming, and impossible to miss in any crowd. What is never talked about is how he left Tiffany & Co. Some time in the 1980s San Francisco’s Tiffany branch dismissed all the gay men who were working there at the time. It was something all of us in the gay community were aware of, but it was not talked about in mainstream media. There was so much AIDS hysteria that it seemed almost logical that this should have happened.
I was a juror on Reginald Trice’s trial. I am appalled by the lack of media coverage during and following this trial. Thank you for providing the date of sentencing as I would like to attend.