Every Town - Suspicious Death Of Emilie Morris - Sappington, MO

Episode Date: January 15, 2022

Emilie Morris from Sappington Missouri was 15 years old track star but her 29 yr old Coach James Wilder wanted more from his promising mentee. 17 Years later, Emilie Morris had a suspicious death that rocked the entire state of Missouri. Was it a murder? Tune in to find out the details of the Suspicious Death Of Emilie Morris.🥇 Watch This Episode with like.....visuals! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-65deH2Xj8🎉 Patreon (videos too hot for youtube) -  https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries 🎧 More Podcasts, we got you - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1235579 Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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side. Today we head to Sappington, Missouri, where we check out the story of Emily Morris and the suspicious death of a sexual abuse victim. In the mid-1990s, a special bond developed on Lindberg High School's running track in Sappington, Missouri. He was then a 29-year-old trusted coach of the school's cross-country team, and she was his 15-year-old potential star athlete. Emily Morris, considered him a competent mentor who brought out her athletic prowess, as well as a reliable confidant of her juvenile secrets. But coach James Wilder III, or simply known as Jim, apparently wanted more from his promising mentee that led to an illicit sexual affair. It took Emily 17 years to unlock Pandora's box, but just as justice was within her grasp,

Emily's story pulled off a surprising and tragic twist. Hi, I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, bringing you another episode here on Everytown. We've come across numerous sorted stories of young girls who endured sexual abuse at the hands of male predators hiding in an authority's cloak. Emily Morris from St. Louis County, Missouri, was one of those victims whose vulnerability was taken advantage of by her running coach Jim Wilder. For years, she buried the scars of her sexual abuse that dragged her to the pits of darkness.

And when she finally broke her silence in 2013, it should have led her to a path of redemption, but alas, it resulted in Emily's suspicious death that may have silenced her case forever. Hands down, any mother would take pride in having a daughter who delivers more than what's expected of her. Joan Morris felt deeply that way about her eldest daughter, Emily, who at 15 years old in 1996, showed great promise not only in her scholastic performance, but also in her extra-curricular endeavors. Particularly, Emily was being trained and groomed to hold high the banner of the cross-country running team of Lindbergh High School, a public schooling gem of St. Louis County, which at one time was the largest high school.

in all of Missouri. It's been named a National Blue Ribbon School and ranked in Missouri's top 10 best public high schools. Emily excelled as a student athlete there. She was fast, she was beautiful, she was intelligent. Whatever sport she tried, she excelled at effortlessly, Joan had said of Emily. The teenage girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, clear skin and warm blue eyes, was also an artist like her father who was into oil painting. As an honor student, Emily thought of herself as a nerd, but her mom recalled that as a kid, Emily was crazy, funny, fast, and sharp.

She could have been a stand-up comedian. When she was on her game, her timing was perfect. The daredevil side of Emily would surface whenever she was riding her bike or on her rollerblades or even in the trampoline in their backyard. Joan picture her daughter saying she was very innocent and thought life was fun. Emily's sporty vibe and athletic skills were undeniable, and one charismatic teacher considered seriously her potential to become a member of the school's cross-country running team.

Enter James Wilder III, Emily's middle school math teacher, and the coach of Lindbergh High's cross-country running varsity squad. When Emily joined the team in 1996, neither she nor her family had anticipated that it would maneuver the course of their lives into an ugly direction. Jim Wilder was married with one kid, was 13 years older than Emily when he became a part of Lindbergh High School in 1995. He'd also been teaching physical education at sparing middle school since 1993, which is part of Lindbergh High School in 1995. which is part of Lindbergh school district in Missouri. The young and handsome coach soon became popular in school, and even Emily's mother, Joan, had positive words about him.

As coach of the Lindbergh Lady Flyers, Jim was Mr. Wonderful, Joan recalled. He showed dedication to the team and personally invested in his athletes. Joan further said he was sincere. He would look you straight and look you straight and the eye who would talk to you. She credited his tireless coaching of Emily in becoming an exceptionally good runner, often earning the best times on her team. Undoubtedly, Emily excelled her sport, while Jim was in his best element as the team's coach. They complimented one another, and were able to establish an effective rapport as a coach and athlete tandem. The Morris family thought

Jim loved and revered Emily. Their bond is meant to. tormentee became closer and tighter by the time Emily entered her junior year in the fall of 95. He would open up to Jim about boys in her social life, and he would give her advice. But as the trainer and athletes spent more time together during and after practice and on out-of-town official team trips, it appeared that Jim also wanted to be Emily's life coach, especially in private matters. Soon the rumor mill began churning out stories and sightings of Jim and Emily's alleged prohibited affair. But first, a heads up. The details of this story may not sit well with your senses, so I appeal for your discretion.

Are you familiar with the chicken game? If not, then it's a supposedly playful test of how far a guy could go or how far a girl would let him go by running his hand up her leg and further. You see, it's a game that's quite physically intimate, which can tickle the imagination. The so-called chicken game became unforgettable for Emily Morris, as it opened an opportunity for Jim to initiate his sexual agenda involving his young protege.

It happened while the team was training and playing capture the flag at Borer Park, about two miles from Limbert High. Emily had forgot her workout clothes that day, so she was relegated to the sidelines. She approached Coach Jim, who was standing behind a tree and told him about a boy who wanted her to play chicken. One can only guess what went on in Jim's supposedly more mature mind, but he then asked Emily if she wanted them to play chicken together. What happened next was something anyone wouldn't have expected at all. In the middle of a public park, Jim started sliding his hand up Emily's leg and stomping at her thigh. When she called him a chicken, he went higher, placing his palm on her crotch over her jeans.

Jim swiftly pulled away when Emily's fellow athletes ran past them. After their practice, Jim brought Emily home at her parents' request, and the Morris house was empty that afternoon. Jim wanted to go further beyond playing chicken, and he did cross the line. In the living room, on a blue ottoman, their first sexual encounter took place. The 29-year-old married school figure,

removed Emily's pants and underwear, and performed oral sex on her. After a few minutes, Jim asked if Emily wanted to stop, and she did. After doing the inappropriate act, They went to the backyard and jumped on the trampoline as if nothing had happened. The whole park incident took a special page in Emily's teenage journal, and in it, she wrote that her most unforgettable high school moment was Boreer Park. Bok, Bok, Bok, Bac.

Between Capture the Flag, Chicken. It read like a harmless inside joke to someone unaware of the context, but more than a decade later, it was considered a red flag of the sexual abuse the teenage girl had gone through, courtesy of her highly regarded coach. At 16 years old, Emily was one year under the age of consent in Missouri at the time. Despite this, though, their indiscretion didn't end after the Bore Park incident. One time a passerby caught Jim and Emily in a compromising situation in the men's bathroom of a park. In another instance, while they were driving around town together, Jim spotted his co-teacher.

So he told Emily to get down and pushed her head into his lap. The wrestling room at Limburg High was also another scene of their crime. The unlikely couple would meet privately there. But when another teacher, administrator, would approach, Emily jumped and hid into a box of uniforms. Then there were the state cross-country competitions, such as the one held in Missouri's capital city of Jefferson, when Emily was a junior, unwinding,

after a day of grueling tournament, the team went to see a mystery thriller movie starring Brad Pitt. But the other team members were oblivious, but a real-life thrilling moment was taking place inside the theater as Emily was servicing Jim with a pleasurable handjob over his track pants, despite another coach sitting beside Jim. After that, Emily was compelled to perform oral sex and other sex acts, but without intercourse, on the school's grounds. For a young, inexperienced girl, suddenly corrupted by a man she trusted, Emily thought of their situation as a top-secret relationship.

But any secret has its way of creeping out of a crack, surprising its keepers, and the people surrounding them, just like Emily's family. It was just a matter of time before Coach Jim and Emily were tossed into tabloid celebrity-like status as the nasty rumors about their inappropriate affair became widespread. Emily had confided about this matter to only one teammate, but others were also aware of it. One of them was Christine Lieber, Emily's classmate, who later became one of her closest friends. Christine said, everybody in school knew what was going on. Parents and other cross-country people had seen them in the woods.

None of us thought there was anything wrong with that. It was what he'd always done. But would school authorities have the same stance? Eventually the issue reached Lindbergh High School principal David Skilman's knowledge. During the spring of Emily's junior year in March of 96, Mr. Skilman then requested a meeting with Emily's parents to discuss information he'd received and investigated regarding an appropriate behavior between Coach Jim and the morning. Morris's daughter. Joan was incredulous, when told by the principal that Emily had been accused of having an affair with a teacher. A meeting with Mr. Skillman then immediately ensued, attended by the Morris couple, Emily, and Jim, who both showed up with emotionless faces at the

roughly 30-minute meeting. When asked, impressed for the truth about their rumored illicit relationship, Jim and Emily swore nothing had happened while maintaining stone faces. After Mr. Skillman supposedly conducted a complete investigation, he found that the reliable coach was a positive influence on his athletes. So in the end, Mr. Skillman and Emily's parents concluded that the rumor had been invented by someone jealous of Emily's success on the cross-country team. Joan asked Mr. Skillman for a letter exonerating her daughter, and she got one. But state experts on child abuse underscored that a principal, was required by law to notify the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division

of any suspected abuse. If Mr. Skillman did make a report, the Morrisses never knew about it, which made them wonder. What could have been different for Emily if Lindbergh officials had properly investigated when these warning signs first started? We can surmise that the case was swept under the rug, perhaps to contain the controversy before it worsened. But did they succeed in doing so? Emily graduated from high school in 1997 and wrote this entry in her scrapbook. I admire Coach Wilder for his warm heart and compassionate ways. His ability to be both an incredible coach and a great friend.

After a decade had passed, Jim Wilder had become such a beloved coach that he earned special recognition from the Missouri House of Representatives, complete with a banquet held in his honor. However, the issue involving Jim and Emily never truly died down because it kept haunting them like a ghost from the past. The positive words Emily wrote about her coach may have given an impression that all's well that ends well between them. But in a more secret journal,

Emily wrote more cryptic poems about a torturous forbidden love. Was she alluding to her experience with Jim? It was Emily's family that saw firsthand how she was adversely affected by that experience. She wasn't the funny, carefree, and outgoing Emily that they knew. She turned angry, secretive, self-conscious, and irrational, and that reflected in her confusing behavior. She had difficulty finishing tasks, refused to wear bathing suits, and spent time crying over mundane things like her bangs. Andrea, Emily's sister, six years her junior, said,

I wish that I had someone telling me or my mom at that time. This is what's happening. She needs help. They saw therapy for Emily, but she still kept to herself. Even some of her high school friends wondered why she suddenly turned away from them. It signaled the start of Emily's darkest period as she started pursuing a Bachelor of arts and English degree at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. Her college years were marred by her worsening low self-esteem, so Emily ended up battling depression and suffering from bulimia.

These were serious issues to contend with for a young lady who had to grapple with being taken advantage of sexually as an adolescent. Mrs. Morris admitted that getting Emily through college was just a mess, but her family's unwavering support enabled Emily to earn her college degree. In retrospect, many years later, Emily traced or blamed, to say more aptly, her boutly, her bout with bulimia to the times Jim criticized her figure back in high school. His body shaming, when as far as telling Emily to get liposuction, after finishing college, Emily continued to suffer in silence until her life pivoted to a positive path when she got married in 2007 and became a mother of two.

She had finally found bliss taking care of her own family, that the memory of Jim didn't bother her anymore. In 2008, Jim was arrested over alleged sexual contact with another female student that time. Emily knew there was truth to the allegation. but she opted to stay out of it to keep the peace within her family. She didn't want to get involved and relive her own painful memories all over again. Unfortunately, though, Jim was exonerated in February of 2009 because of a lack of credible evidence, according to the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office.

Cleared by prosecutors and social services, Jim then returned to his job at Limburg High, saying the experience was an absolute nightmare. He said, you're just walking down the street and it comes out of the blue. The turn of events sickened Emily, who once again fell into depression and alcoholism in the subsequent years. In 2012, she got divorced from her husband, who was granted full custody of their children. The remnants of her past haunted her again, and Emily decided to come clean about it before she became an irreparable wreck.

It was in 2013 when 34-year-old Emily Morris mustered up enough courage to hurl her own allegations against Jim Wilder that had happened 17 years earlier. Now an alcoholic whose efforts to get better through medication, therapy, and rehab weren't successful. Emily finally disclosed to her family what truly happened between her and Jim while she was in one of her drunken moments. She'd blame them for not doing enough to stop it. Suddenly, Emily's downward spiral made more sense to her mom Joan.

She said, Her drinking literally had everything to do with the fact that she hated herself. She hated who she was. She hated the thing she had done. She wanted to annihilate herself. But confusion set in, and Emily hesitated to go after Jim because she didn't want to ruin the life of the man she once loved. The tough mother in Joan knocked some sense into Emily's head.

I said, Emily, he's ruined your life. Joan recalled. She told Emily to think of her own daughter, who was then seven years old, and imagine a teacher grooming and abusing her. And that just lit a torch. Other factors strengthen Emily's resolve to make Jim accountable. A therapist encouraged her to do it as a part of healing. The daughter of Emily's close friend,

was part of a soccer team that Jim was training, and it alarmed Emily. Then she was also upset by the way Jim treated things between them and their occasional talks through the years. The last time they'd spoken, Jim was so ignorant and pleased about what had happened between them before. Emily wrote to a friend, honestly, it truly has taken me this long to have enough guts to say something. I've gone through a lot of personal things. I've gone through a lot of personal that were a spin-off of this happening, really awful relationships, eating disorders, etc. I just didn't care about myself. I finally have gotten to the point where I just can't do that anymore.

On June 17, 2013, Emily Morris went to the St. Louis County Police Department and did a tell-all confession to local detectives. As part of the investigation, police asked her to have a secretly recorded conversation with Jim to see if he would confess to their sexual relationship. Emily agreed and told Jim that her new therapist had encouraged her to revisit their past. She wanted a phone conversation, but Jim insisted on a personal meeting as he feared his phone calls were being traced. On a rainy afternoon, on July 2nd, the two met at the St. Louis Galleria Mall parking lot, and the incriminating, 87-minute recorded conversation happened inside Jim's car.

The mighty recorder was wedged in Emily's sports bra. She was advised to let Jim lead the talk, and they reminisced about Border Park and the game of chicken, which Jim called electric. In all the instances, they were nearly caught in their clandestine acts. He denied grooming her, insisting Emily was the persuasive one. He said that he wanted everything to stop and had felt close to a heart attack as his concerns grew over their relationship.

Then Jim admitted to Emily that we did something that wasn't right according to our laws these days. You know I'm not a creeper. I didn't creep. I was just so frustrated, so horny. At the end of their conversation, Jim told Emily, I always want you to know that I was there to protect you, not harm you. Before turning over the tape to the detectives, Emily went to her mother's house and wept for hours. She came back and cried and cried and cried. She was worried about ruining his life, Joan said.

In August of 2013, Jim Wilder was then arrested in charge with six counts of second-degree sodomy but was released on bond while awaiting trial. The court hearings had been set and then delayed many times. Emily believed the case was nearing its close and that Jim and the prosecutors were negotiating a plea deal. Her case against Jim had seemingly given Emily a new lease in life. She worked as a server of Buffalo Wild Wings, spent more time with her kids and friends,

worked out regularly, and lessened considerably her drinking. Clearly, she was getting better, but it all proved to be short-lived. as Emily, her family and friends, the authorities, and the prosecutors who were expecting justice would soon be served, a most unexpected tragedy struck them. On November 4, 2014, Emily was found dead, faced down on her bedroom floor with a large trash can pulled over her head. She had died from asphyxiation from the plastic bag lining the trash can, but the county medical examiner was unable to determine how she died, making it. Emily's death, suspicious.

Investigators found one of her apartment doors unlocked, and it was unclear how she got into the position she was found in. They suspected Emily was drunk at the time of her death, but the odd types of her revealed her alcohol level was less than 0.05%. And to put that into perspective, Missouri's legal limit for driving is 0.08%. Her family neither believed that she accidentally or purposefully asphyxiated herself. because Emily was claustrophobic. The Morris family faced another blow,

a one-two punch, as Andrea called it. When at Emily's funeral, days after her death, they learned from a detective that the sodomy charges against Jim Wilder had been dropped. They didn't even know that was a possibility. But what about the recorded admission of Jim about his sexual relationship with the underage Emily in the mid-90s?

The prosecutor ultimately stated that they needed Emily's testimony in order to win the case, and they could no longer obtain that since she was dead. The Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires defendants to be given the right to confront their accusers. An accuser's death also makes statements made outside of court more complicated to be used as evidence. When the charges against Jim were dropped, his court records were also sealed. Baldwin police officially closed the investigation on Emily's dubious death in January of 2015

without an identified suspect. Jim's employment contract with Limburg High School had been terminated in 2015, yet he still has his teaching license, which the Morrises find wrong. Moreover, he isn't registered as a sex offender. Frustratingly, Jim has emerged as the victor, for he continues to live live, life as a free man. In the last 16 months of her life, Emily got fulfillment working on her case against Jim Wilder. She had found herself again and gained back her dignity. She said, at first I doubted myself and was scared to death, but I now realize I'm not only freeing myself

but saving other girls. It's a blessing, and I know I've done the right thing. Emily, it was confident that she would reach the finish line with her biggest victory yet, Jim Wilder's conviction. Sadly, though, life wanted Emily to run a different course, one that's devoid of a triumphant finish. 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. Because who knows, maybe your town will be next.