Same Name, Different Fate
PAGE 5
In 2005, Wes wrote the other Wes Moore a three-page letter and mailed it to him at the Jessup Correctional Institution. The letter started with a simple introduction:
"Dear Wes: Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wes Moore, and I learned about you through articles in the Baltimore Sun. ... The coincidence of us having the same name was what initially caught my attention. But it was the other details that drove me to want to learn more."
The day after he mailed the letter, Wes says he thought he'd made a mistake. "I wasn't sure how he'd react," he says. "I thought, in retrospect, even after I wrote the letter I thought my questions seemed odd."
To his surprise, Wes received a response from the other Wes Moore one month later. "He first just thanked me for reaching out to him. He said, 'When you're in here, you think people don't even know you're alive anymore,'" Wes says. "He said how much it meant for him to receive that letter, and then he just began to rattle off answers to the questions I asked."
Wes learned more about this convicted murderer's mother, brother and children. Over time, the first letter sparked dozens more.
"Dear Wes: Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wes Moore, and I learned about you through articles in the Baltimore Sun. ... The coincidence of us having the same name was what initially caught my attention. But it was the other details that drove me to want to learn more."
The day after he mailed the letter, Wes says he thought he'd made a mistake. "I wasn't sure how he'd react," he says. "I thought, in retrospect, even after I wrote the letter I thought my questions seemed odd."
To his surprise, Wes received a response from the other Wes Moore one month later. "He first just thanked me for reaching out to him. He said, 'When you're in here, you think people don't even know you're alive anymore,'" Wes says. "He said how much it meant for him to receive that letter, and then he just began to rattle off answers to the questions I asked."
Wes learned more about this convicted murderer's mother, brother and children. Over time, the first letter sparked dozens more.
NEXT STORY
