At a service plaza on the Ohio Turnpike, Gulam Moonda and his family stopped for drinks and snacks. Investigators would come back to the surveillance footage to see who was holding his wallet. On the recording it was in the hands of his wife, Donna. Later that evening, after someone shot Gulam on the shoulder of the turnpike, Donna described a gunman taking his wallet. [1] [4]
Andre Carrotflower · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The image does not show the identified shooting location or the vehicles involved. This is a different plaza from the Portage County stop in the case.
The stop near Exit 161
Gulam, a doctor, had left western Pennsylvania that day with Donna and her mother, Dorothy. It was May 13, 2005. The family’s stop was recorded at 6:04 p.m. Around the same time, a phone belonging to Damian Bradford was using the tower nearest that plaza. [1] [4]
Margaret Luzier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Image source · Public domain · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
What Bradford said he’d agreed to
Donna met Bradford in group treatment, and they began a relationship. Bradford told jurors she asked him to kill Gulam and offered him a share of the money she expected to inherit. He described other ideas they’d discussed before settling on the turnpike. By the time he told that story in court, he’d pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Investigators had records from before that bargain that they could check against him. [1] [2] [4]
Bradford said he followed the family’s car and pulled in behind it when it stopped near Exit 161. He took the wallet and shot Gulam. Dorothy was there. Investigators recovered Gulam’s wallet, cards and driver’s license scattered along the turnpike. The government argued that taking the wallet was part of a plan to make the shooting look like a robbery. [1] [4]
Carol M. Highsmith · Image source · Public domain · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Putting two trips together
Toll records put vehicles at particular points on the road. Phone records showed contact and the areas from which calls connected. The footage showed Donna holding the wallet during the stop. Each could check a part of Bradford’s account. To decide whether Donna had helped arrange the killing, jurors had to weigh his testimony about their agreement alongside the things other people and machines had recorded. [1] [4]
Bradford’s original federal sentence was 210 months. In 2007 a jury convicted Donna of murder for hire, interstate stalking resulting in death and two firearms offenses. She received a life sentence. The Sixth Circuit affirmed in 2009. In 2023 Bradford received a separate federal sentence for violating supervised release after a later Pennsylvania prosecution. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Case brief
Ohio Turnpike · 2005
- Recorded outcome
- Donna Moonda convicted in federal court and sentenced to life. Damian Bradford pleaded guilty and testified. His later revocation arose from a separate matter.
Key moments
People in this case
- Damian Bradford
Pleaded guilty in the killing of Dr. Gulam Moonda
Photo at source · CBS Pittsburgh · published photograph - Donna Moonda
Convicted in Dr. Gulam Moonda’s murder
Photo at source · CBS Pittsburgh · labeled case photograph with Damian Bradford
Look closer · 9 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. Photographs, historical reproductions and original illustrations are individually labeled. Open the notes for each image’s source, credit, and limitations; setting photographs do not depict crime scenes.
The wallet changes meaning
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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Possession at the plaza gave investigators a check on the robbery story.
The footage does not record the roadside attack.
Three kinds of travel evidence
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The records made it possible to compare the timing of the two vehicles.
The record does not trace each car continuously.
Bradford’s testimony
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The jury could compare the cooperating witness with earlier records.
An incentive to cooperate does not establish accuracy.
Handsets versus words
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The phones helped relate communications to people.
Billing and tower data do not record the words exchanged.
Visiting the shoulder
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The trial court used safer alternatives to a site visit.
The appeal addressed trial management.
Separate judgments
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The two people had distinct federal outcomes.
The later revocation is not a new sentence for Gulam’s killing.
Blue Heron Service Plaza on the Ohio Turnpike in Ottawa County
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The image does not show the identified shooting location or the vehicles involved.
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Blue Heron Service Plaza on the Ohio Turnpike in Ottawa County. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The image does not show the identified shooting location or the vehicles involved. The Portage County stop in the case was at a different plaza.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The image does not show the identified shooting location or the vehicles involved. This is a different plaza from the Portage County stop in the case. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Andre Carrotflower · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Shenango River in western Pennsylvania
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Read the evidence notes
The Shenango River in western Pennsylvania. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Margaret Luzier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Image source · Public domain
Public art outside the Seiberling Federal Building in Akron
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Read the evidence notes
Public art outside the Seiberling Federal Building in Akron. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Carol M. Highsmith · Image source · Public domain
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
Follow the locations
Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- United States v. Donna Moonda · Sixth CircuitTrial record, wallet, phone and toll evidence, sentence and affirmance.
- United States v. Bradford · Western District of PennsylvaniaOriginal plea, 210-month sentence and release history.
- Justice Department · Bradford revocation sentenceTen-year federal revocation term consecutive to separate state sentence.
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · United States v. MoondaOfficial copy of the 2009 opinion, including the service-plaza footage, phone records and verdict.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 388 words