Every Town - Houston, TX - Double Morris Murders

Episode Date: August 27, 2021

It’s not uncommon for two people to share the same first and last names – and the only detail that doesn’t make their birth certificates identical is the difference in their middle names. Did you know that Hollywood actor Chris Evans shares his name with an equally popular English TV and radio personality? Two different “Michelle Williams’” made it big in show business – one as an Oscar-nominated actress; the other as a former member of the chart-busting singing trio “Destiny’s Child.” And American Adam Scott makes waves as a TV comedian while an Australian Adam Scott was the world’s number one-ranked professional golfer in 2014. But what are the odds that two women sharing the same name, physically resembling each other, and living in the same county would both suffer the same tragic deaths just four days apart from each other?💥 Watch This Episode On Youtube Here: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries💥 Exclusive Content Here: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 💥 More Creepy Podcasts From Us: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579💥 Contact Us [e-mail]  Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Every town has a dark side. Today we head to Spring Valley Village, which is in Harris County in Houston, Texas, where we check out Mary H. Morris and Mary M. Morris and their mysterious deaths that happen within days of one another in October of 2000. It's not uncommon for two people to share the same first and last names, and the only detail that doesn't make their birth certificate. identical as the difference in their middle names. Did you know that Hollywood actor Chris Evans shares his name with an equally popular English TV and radio personality? Two different Michelle Williams made it big in show business. One as an Oscar-nominated actress, the other as a former member of the chart-busting singing

trio Destiny's Child. And American actor Adam Scott made a woman. waves and TV and film, while an Australian Adam Scott was the world's number one ranked professional golfer back in 2014. But what are the odds that two women sharing the same name physically resembling one another and living in the same county would both suffer the same tragic deaths just four days apart from one another? Hi, I'm Andrew Fitzgerald and welcome to this week's episode of Everytown. Today I'm taking you to Spring Valley Village, an enclave of Houston, Texas, where since

October of 2000, the mysterious deaths of Mary Henderson Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris have remained unsolved for 20 years now. Was foul play involved, or did coincidence just play its part? Was each murderer an isolated case, or were they somehow linked? In a city with a population under 4,000 back in 2000, two ill-fated Mary Morris's met an untimely demise within just four days of one another, and justice for both of them remains elusive to this day. 48-year-old Mary Henderson Morris, and 39-year-old Mary McGinnis Morris, didn't know each other, despite having nearly identical names and living in the same village outside Houston,

Texas. Both were loving wives and mothers, had many friends and were dedicated professionals in their respective fields. Both had curly brown hair, soft, rounded faces and brown eyes, sturdily built, and both seemed to enjoy life. Mary Henderson's daughter, Marilyn Blaylock, described her mom as one of the nicest people you'd ever want to know. She acted like she was 20. She was always going somewhere. She was always doing something. She never missed a day of work. Likewise, Mary McGinnis's sister, Stephanie, remember that Mary lived life to the fullest. She was just very outgoing, very bubbly. She was like an angel, very joyful, always happy, making people laugh. But the parallels in the lives of the two Marys from Houston, chillingly extended until the

end of their lives. Both suffer the same violent deaths. There were many similarities between the women, but there was one striking difference that many believes the answer to why both Marys were murdered. While Mary H. appeared to have been killed by a total stranger with a complete absence of physical evidence, Mary M's murder may have been a hit with more than one suspect connected with the case. But before we go into these gory details, let's explore the individual lives of each Mary Morris. The older Mary was the first victim of a brutal crime.

Mary Morris had been a happy woman with a stable life. Although she separated from her first husband, Jim Henderson, with whom she has a daughter, Marilyn, the two remained friends. Through personal ads, she later met. Jay Morris, eventually marrying him in 1995. They built their home on a Baytown, Texas ranch near Houston. Both were blessed to find happiness in their second shot at marriage,

and Mrs. Mary H. Morris's world was a perfect balance of a great family life and a successful banking career. She had risen to the position of a loan officer during her 15-year tenure at Chase Bank, located at the intersection of Katie Freeway and Campbell in Houston, Spring Valley. Mary's work was intellectually and financially rewarding, and she was well-liked and respected by her colleagues. So it came as a shock to many when her life was cut short at a time when she was at her peak personally and professionally.

While Mary Henderson's last years on Earth were marked with stability, her death is proof of life's harsh unpredictability. In another remote area outside of Houston, the life story of a second Mary was unfolding at the same time. In 1998, Mary McGinnis Morris left West Virginia to work for the Union Carbide Corporation, an American company that produces chemicals and polymers. She was hired as the medical director overseeing several clinics of the company,

which was headquartered in Houston, Texas. Prior to transplanting there, Mary M. was living a rose-colored life with her husband of 17 years, Mike, and her 16-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. While Mary settled into her new environment, learning to love her job and making new friends in Houston, her marriage to Mike began to sour. He was unable to secure gainful employment,

which created financial pressures that strained. the couple's bond. Mary was the family's breadwinner, and perhaps it was too much for Mike's ego to handle. And then allegations of infidelity rocked their union. They often argued and Mike believed Mary was having an extramarital affair. When he confronted her and her partner, Mike believed their denial and went on to try to resolve their marital woes. Friends and family, however, suggested that the conflict,

between the couple continued because Mike kept on being distrustful towards his wife. His suspicions may have been justified because Mary had confided to her sister, Stephanie, that she had fallen in love with someone else. But she was never going to leave Mike. She was trying to make her marriage work. But after they had gone through three or four marriage counselors, it had gotten to the point where she would have asked him for a divorce, Stephanie later disclosed.

Mary Ann's new job was smooth sailing for the first two years, but that took an unpleasant turn in early 2000. Union Carbide hired a temporary nurse, Dwayne Young from Kemma, a city near Houston. The male nurse joined Mary's staff in tension soon started brewing between them. Dwayne complained about Mary to her superiors, questioned her authority and acted hostile towards the senior nurse. The life of the second Mary in our story was swiftly besieged with problems at the home front

due to her deteriorating marriage with Mike and stressful work issues brought upon her by her disgruntled co-worker Dwayne. These circumstances figured prominently during the investigation into Mary's death, and I know the burning question in your mind, Did Mike or Dwayne have something to do with her murder? Or was it someone else connected to the death of Mary M. Morris's namesake, Mary H. Morris. Let's leave no room for confusion. So I'll detail first how Mary Morris, the bank loan officer, met her untimely death.

As per her daily routine, Mary H. left her Baytown Ranch for work at 6 a.m. on October 12th of 2000. Her supportive husband Jay walked her to the car and watched as she turned from their driveway in the direction of her regular gas station. He expected Mary to refuel, then had to chase bank. Part of Jay's routine, while his wife kept herself busy assessing and approving bank loan applications, was to check on her via phone call several times a day. But on that particular Thursday in autumn, His calls ended up in Mary's voicemail. At about 10.20 a.m. that day, firefighters received reports of smoke billowing from an isolated drainage site,

but they dismissed the call as burning leaves and declined to investigate. Four hours later, Jay received a call from Mary's supervisor, who didn't identify herself, asking to speak to Mary. Jay simply answered that his wife was at the bank. When Mary had not called me back, I didn't think it made any sense, Jay said. He eventually called Chase Bank and was surprised to hear Mary hadn't reported to the office that morning. Her distraught husband then called the police and his stepdaughter Marilyn, who accompanied him in tracing Mary's steps.

They realized that she had forgotten her cell phone at home that morning. They began to speculate that she had gotten into trouble, perhaps a car accident. By 5 p.m., as Jay was filing a missing persons report with the sheriff's department, a deputy received a call about a deserted and burned car discovered by someone off-roading in an isolated drainage area, just three miles from the family's ranch in the opposite direction of Chase Bank. The charge Chevy Lumina was later identified as Mary's car, but it took three days for forensic scientists using her tooth fragments to confirm the remains. belonged to her.

Mary's body was burned beyond recognition, which made it difficult to determine exactly how and what time she died. No one could account for where she was between when she left home at 6 a.m. and when the fire was reported at around

10.20 a.m. The investigation raised the suspicion that the perpetrator stole Mary's wallet and wedding ring before dousing her car with flammable liquid and setting it on fire. Despite some missing valuables, police couldn't consider robbery as the motive for killing Mary H because all of her other jewelry had been left behind. However, the Harris

County detectives were certain Mary was murdered despite the lack of an established motive. But there was a bizarre and intriguing twist that's worth noting. The day after Mary H. Morris was found charred to death, the Houston Chronicle received an anonymous phone call with a cryptic message that said, they got the wrong Mary Morris. Could there be another Mary Morris, the real target of the crime? The message, of course, didn't make so much sense at first, but the plot thickened four days later on October 16th. After Mary Henderson Morris was laid to her final resting place on October 16th, her daughter Marilyn inquired with the medical examiner's office about retrieving her mom's remaining jewelry. She got a weird reply. The items would be released together with her mother's

remains. Marilyn was shocked and remembered thinking, that's impossible. We just had the funeral, yet they told me they still had Mary Morris's body. Upon checking the corpse at the morgue, Maryland identified it as a different woman than her mother. The body at the morgue was that of Marilyn McGinnis Morris, the nurse practitioner, who had been viciously shot to death in her car, not far from where Mary Henderson-Morris' burnt body had been found days earlier. October 16th, the day of her murder was a typical Sunday for the working wife and mother. If there was one person who knew Mary M's,

flurry of activities that day, it was her close friend and Union Carbide co-worker, Lori Gemmell. Before Mary did her Sunday errands, like going to the post office and purchasing items at a grocery store and a drugstore, she dropped by her work to administer a flu shot to Lori. Mary seemed fine that Sunday, and she was only going to stay a couple hours at the clinic, and then she was going to go home, Lori recalled. But at Mary's last stop at the Eckerd Drug Store at US-290 and West Little York, she called Lori to say she'd spotted someone who was giving her the creeps.

Hello. Mary recognized the suspicious person as an associate of Dwayne, the new staff nurse she was at odds with. However, Mary's tone sounded matter of fact and not scared, as Lori attested. Before ending that call, Mary said she'd go back to Union Carbide to log out of the computer system before heading home. Twelve minutes after ending her phone conversation with Lori, Mary frantically called up 911 according to Detective Wayne Coleman of the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

We're not releasing the content of that tape. It covers the attack that happened to Mary. and anybody that's ever heard that tape has just had their blood chilled listening to it. It's a very chilling, disturbing call, the detective declared. Mary M. didn't come home that October 16th night and she was reported missing by her husband Mike who also informed their family and friends of Mary's disappearance.

The following morning, they got a devastating update from the police. A tow truck driver had found Mary dead inside her company car, a 2000 Dodge Intrepid on West Little York near Eckert, in the opposite direction of Union Carbide. The location was less than 25 miles from the secluded woodland where the body of Mary the bank loan officer was burned on October 12th. The blood splattered passenger door of Mary M's car was open with the keys found outside. There she was lying inside with a single gunshot wound to the head.

At first glance, the bubbly and outgoing woman's murder appeared as though it could have been a suicide, but her ripped clothing and bruised wrists proved otherwise. Forensic tests later confirmed Mary had been shot with the gun she carried with her that was registered under her husband's name. Its placement could indicate it was a suicide, but her defensive wounds were clear evidence of a struggle, and it appeared as though she'd been gagged. Mary's wallet had not been stolen and the only item her husband reported missing was a ring

she regularly wore. An investigation into Mary M's murder was immediately underway and police first focused on her co-worker Duane Young, whose intense hostility towards her may have been a motive for murder. Two weeks before she died, Mary had asked her husband to provide her with a gun for protection. This was prompted by her dispute with Dwayne. Mike got her a gun, taught her how to use it, and hid the gun under the driver's seat of Mary's car. Then on October 13th, Mary found a disturbing note

written on a desktop calendar at her Clear Lake Clinic. It said, death to her. The next day, the shaken medical director, reported the incident to her superiors who allowed her to take leave that day. When Dwayne entered the management office later that afternoon for his time car to be signed, he was told he was about to be fired. He made a scene by banging on the windows and demanding to see Mary.

During the aftermath of the murder, Dwayne vehemently denied any involvement in Mary M's death, but declined to elaborate in an interview because he was prohibited by a court order sought by Union Carbide from speaking publicly about the case. Of course, other people close to the victim were considered suspects too, and Mike Morris became the suspect of the investigation during which his behavior aroused police suspicion. He refused to be interrogated without a lawyer,

echoing a friend's advice that he should take an attorney with him, not because he had anything to hide, but just to have somebody familiar with the procedure. Mike also declined to take a polygraph. test, reasoning that I was on anti-anxiety medications, I was on antidepressants. I wasn't really sure that the polygraph examination that they were talking about could adequately compensate for all those conditions. Despite Mike's hesitancy to speak, authorities were able to find information which revealed more intriguing details than anyone

had ever expected. Detective's suspicions that Mike Morris had a hand in his wife's slang was anchored on these discoveries. First, Mary M. held a $700,000 life insurance policy, courtesy of Union Carbide, and Mike was the beneficiary. Jobless and unhappy in a troubled marriage, it could have been a motive for Mike to get rid of his wife and free himself from financial woes. Second, Mary's car doors automatically locked when the car was put into gear, suggesting the person who attacked her had access to the car. It was Mike who installed the gun underneath the driver's seat two weeks earlier, and no one

else knew about it except for the couple. Third, months after Mary's death, Mike's daughter, Katie, was seen wearing the ring stolen from Mary at the crime scene. When confronted with this discrepancy, Mike claimed he'd found the ring at home after his wife's murder and had simply forgotten to inform detectives. All these incidents, however, were circumstantial evidence. What the detectives found is the most curious evidence against Mike Morris was a four-minute call he had made to Mary's cell phone two hours after she desperately contacted 911.

So who was Mike talking to on Mary's phone hours after her death? Mike told detectives he was watching a movie with Katie at the time and his call never reached Mary. He said he kept ringing her phone hoping that she would answer his call but she didn't. On the contrary, Mary's phone records indicated Mike's call was completed lasting four minutes. It was the final incoming call ever answered. answered by Mary's phone. The incident raised yet another question as Detective Coleman

wondered why Mike's call was charged in Mary's phone bill if no one answered it. I don't accept that Mike made this phone call and that the phone rang for four minutes. It's not possible. The question is, who answered the phone on the other end? That's what the big question is, and what did they talk about for, four minutes. Mike wouldn't explain the confounding call he allegedly made and firmly denied any involvement in his wife's ghastly murder. I had absolutely nothing to do with the arrangement of Mary's murder. It's a hurtful insinuation. It's absolutely untrue. He lamented. Police theorized that

Mike was calling the hired hitman who had killed Mary and the cold-blooded killer was supposed to answer her cell phone to confirm the job had been completed. But just like in Duane Young's case, the circumstantial evidence against Mike wasn't strong enough to nail him as the culprit. The leads fizzled out, and Mary McGinnis Morris's death was likewise left in the cold. The murder of Mary Henderson Morris was without a suspect, while Mary McGinnis Morris's had at least two. Yet both cases have remained cold.

gathering dust for over 20 years. Many want to know if their deaths were connected, and if so, what was the motive in killing them under quite similar scenarios? Speculations ran that a hitman was hired to kill Mary the Nurse, but erroneously went after Mary the bank loan officer on October 12th. And then upon realizing his slip-up, he hunted down his original victim four days later.

Police haven't found solid evidence to tie the murders together. They haven't made any arrests and are convinced that the killings weren't a result of mistaken identity, but rather a coincidence. The theory which some members of both Morris families disagree with. Marilyn, Mary H. Morris's daughter said, the more I look at pictures of the other Mary, the more I begin to think that it must have been a mistaken identity. They look extremely similar, and the fact that they both were brutally murdered, there had to be a connection.

There must have been mistaken identity. The possibility horrified Mary M. Morris's sister, Stephanie. If by chance this was someone who was hired to kill my sister, it is a very sad thing that they got the wrong person. My heart has to go out to Marilyn and her stepfather. The deaths of the two beloved Mary's continue to torment their respective families. It is also their deaths that have strangely connected the two Morris families who continue to seek the truth that remains elusive today. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown.

Tune in next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. And who knows, maybe your town will be next.