Walter Moorhead waived a preliminary hearing after police said he mistook Santos Maria Chilel Soto for a deer.

GEORGETOWN, Del. — The criminal case against a Maryland hunter accused of fatally shooting a 39-year-old Delaware woman after mistaking her for a deer has moved forward without a preliminary hearing, sending the manslaughter prosecution toward Delaware Superior Court weeks after the shooting drew scrutiny from the victim’s family and community supporters.

Walter Moorhead, 74, of Salisbury, Maryland, waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Sussex County Court of Common Pleas on Sept. 25, according to local court reporting. The hearing would have allowed prosecutors to present evidence supporting the charges at an early stage of the case. Moorhead’s attorney, Michael Abram, told the Delaware News Journal that the defense decided to waive the proceeding because it believed the hearing could become a “circus.” The waiver was not a guilty plea and did not resolve the charges. It instead allowed the felony case to continue toward Superior Court, where a grand jury could consider an indictment.

The prosecution stems from the Sept. 18 death of Santos Maria Chilel Soto of Georgetown. Delaware State Police said she was walking through an open field near South Old State Road, north of East Robbins Road in Ellendale, with a man and two children when Moorhead fired a rifle from a ground blind. Police said Moorhead believed he was aiming at a deer. The shot struck Chilel Soto. Troopers were dispatched to the field at about 7:40 p.m., provided emergency medical care and arranged for her transportation to a hospital. She was pronounced dead there. State police later publicly identified her after notifying relatives.

Court documents reported by local news organizations provide a more detailed account of what investigators say happened before and after the shot. According to the probable-cause affidavit, Chilel Soto and the others were walking closely together when a loud gunshot was heard and she fell. Her partner told investigators that he applied pressure to her wound while calling 911. Before first responders arrived, a man carrying a flashlight approached the group while apparently looking for the deer he believed he had shot. Police later identified Moorhead at the scene, took him into custody and brought him to Delaware State Police Troop 4 for questioning.

Investigators said Moorhead acknowledged that he had been hunting in the field and had fired the shot. According to court records cited by WHYY and the Delaware News Journal, Moorhead told police he had been watching what he believed was a doe through the scope of his rifle. He said the animal moved, causing him to reposition himself and the gun before he fired. Police said the shot instead struck Chilel Soto. The account remains part of the state’s evidence and has not been tested at trial. The charges against Moorhead are allegations, and no court has found him guilty.

Delaware State Police charged Moorhead with felony manslaughter, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and three counts of first-degree reckless endangering. The reckless-endangering counts correspond to the other people who police said were in the field with Chilel Soto when the rifle was fired. Moorhead was arraigned after his arrest and released after posting $43,000 cash bond. State police assigned the investigation to the department’s Homicide Unit and said the case remained under investigation after the initial arrest.

The circumstances of the hunt also became an important part of the investigation because the shooting occurred before Delaware’s regular general firearm deer season. State regulations listed the 2026 general firearm season as beginning in November, although archery and crossbow seasons were already open in September. Police spokesman Raushan Rich later told the Delaware News Journal that Moorhead was hunting under an active crop-damage permit. Delaware’s deer-damage programs allow qualifying agricultural properties additional opportunities to harvest antlerless deer when animals are damaging crops, and some levels of the program permit hunting beyond the normal firearm-season calendar.

That permit status answers one of the early questions raised after the shooting but does not decide the criminal case. The central issue for prosecutors remains the circumstances under which Moorhead fired and whether his conduct meets the legal standard for the offenses charged. The probable-cause affidavit says he used a scoped rifle and repositioned after the target he believed was a deer moved. Investigators recovered a rifle equipped with a scope at the scene, according to WBOC. Authorities have not publicly released every piece of physical evidence or a complete reconstruction of the shot, and the evidence presented in future court proceedings could add to or change the public account.

Questions also arose about the time of the shooting. Police placed the report at approximately 7:40 p.m., while family members gave news organizations an earlier time for the start of their walk. The Delaware News Journal reported that sunset that day was about 7:05 p.m. and that ordinary deer-hunting hours extend to one-half hour after sunset when the relevant hunting rules permit it. Publicly available reporting has not established whether the precise timing of Moorhead’s shot will become a contested issue in the criminal case. His crop-damage authorization also means the legality of the hunt cannot be determined simply by comparing the date with the general firearm-season calendar.

As the criminal proceeding developed, Chilel Soto’s relatives and supporters began focusing public attention on both the circumstances of the shooting and the woman who was killed. Family members told WHYY that she was a mother of five who was originally from Guatemala and worked cleaning homes. Her sister, Yolin Chilel Soto, described her as a woman known and loved by many people in the community. Her partner said what began as an ordinary family walk ended with the rifle shot. Community members later gathered outside the Georgetown courthouse as Moorhead’s case was scheduled for its preliminary stage.

Some relatives have publicly questioned how Chilel Soto could have been mistaken for an animal in an open field. Those concerns do not themselves establish criminal liability, but they reflect the questions that have followed the shooting since police announced Moorhead’s arrest. The family has called for a thorough investigation, and supporters carried signs seeking justice outside the courthouse. State police and natural-resources authorities have examined the circumstances of the hunt, while the criminal charges focus on Moorhead’s alleged conduct when he fired the rifle.

Moorhead’s decision to waive the preliminary hearing means those questions were not explored through witness testimony at that proceeding. A preliminary hearing generally addresses whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to move felony charges forward rather than whether a defendant is ultimately guilty. By waiving it, Moorhead allowed the case to proceed without requiring prosecutors to publicly present their evidence at that stage. Abram said the defense’s decision was based on its assessment of the proceeding, and the waiver should not be interpreted as an admission that the allegations are true.

The case now centers on the next steps in Delaware’s felony court process. Reporting after the Sept. 25 waiver said the matter would move toward Superior Court and could be presented to a grand jury for possible indictment. No trial verdict has been reached, and the publicly reviewed sources do not establish a final disposition of the case as of Nov. 7. Delaware State Police have continued to describe the fatal shooting as an active homicide investigation while Moorhead faces the manslaughter, firearm and reckless-endangering allegations arising from Chilel Soto’s death.

Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.