TX TX - Two women named Mary Morris slain, Harris County, 12 & 15 Oct 2000

[branmuffin]

Strange case. I'm not sure why LE won't release a part of the 911 call. LE have probably already compared the voice to any original suspects (husbands, co-worker, etc) and came up negative. No one really wants to hear the violent last minutes of someone's life, but it's a clue. I've heard some horrible 911 calls, usually domestic based violence.

 

[LadyL]

Omg, I just saw the comments under the unsolved mystery article. The sixth one down by ‘anonymous’, but says her name is J. Says MM had found child on her husbands computer and planned to divorce him. Hmmm.... Of course, who knows if it’s legit. :/

Also someone claiming To be the POI / coworker that MM was having problems with, has made several comments. Who knows.....

'J' needs to be careful with accusing people of stuff online. Especially since at least one of them is probably a murderer and the other one definitely has a screw loose.

 

[sds71]

This case reminds me of an episode of Monk.
Two women named Julie Teeger were murdered.

so this kind of thing happens...occasionally?
Right Name, Wrong Victim: Trio Held Over 2006 Killing

 

[lonewanderer]

This case reminds me of an episode of Monk.
Two women named Julie Teeger were murdered.

so this kind of thing happens...occasionally?
Right Name, Wrong Victim: Trio Held Over 2006 Killing

Aside from Monk, this also happened in the TV Series "Fargo", when I man killed the wrong person with the same name.

Without even reading the article, I am pretty sure the 2006 killing is of Daniel Ott, a mistaken identity in Cleveland Ohio, with a different Daniel Ott (you beat me to it but here's my link: Police: In mistaken identity murder of Ohio man Daniel Ott, witnesses were afraid to talk about suspect Joseph Rosebrook - CBS News)

One last thing, there was also an extremely bizarre murder with a man named Chuck Morgan. A reporter named Don Devereux was worried for his life after learning a lot more about the situation. Oddly, his neighbor that lived directly across the road was murdered in what is highly suspected as a mistaken identity (mistaking his neighbor for Deveraux). They drove the same model cars, and had other things in common with (house numbers I think) that could have easily tripped up a would-be hit man. Anyways, Deveraux himself was murdered not too long afterward.

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Re: this case of the two MM's being killed within days of each other - I don't think it's a coincidence & definitely feel that one of the two (probably the first one) was a case of mistaken identity. They looked too much alike (though not identical) & with the same exact name, I can easily see an alleged "hit man" screwing up & killing the wrong one, then killing the right one three days later.

The 2nd MM (the 39 year old) was probably the target, and the first one (the 48 year old) was probably killed by mistake. Horrible that this would happen to one person, let alone two.

As far as suspects, the two mentioned (re: their connections to the 39-year old) are both possible. Hopefully the families of both women will get justice at some point.

 

[lonewanderer]

With the new information alleged about the Angela Hammond case, it could possibly be another example of abduction (and likely murder) due to mistaken identity. According to some new information, Angela Hammond was not the intended target, but a different Angela with a similar age and description was the target due to some sort of revenge/extortion against her father.

Now, I know its a baffling question to ask "how could you possibly kill the wrong person"? One quick answer for me is about the quality of the "hitman". One thing I have noticed from the true crime podcasts and documentaries is that the "hitman" tends to be a total doofus that someone pays next to nothing (like $500) in order to carry out the hit. There are several reasons for that including not leaving a money trail and having a potentially easy fall guy if the whole murder for hire plot backfires. Killing the wrong target out of complete incompetence is one major risk when hiring such poor quality.

 

[Deleted member 287549]

Exactly! I believe a lot of us (including myself) have seen many TV shows/movies with tough-as-nails, confident, and extremely competent hit men (or women)/assassins who are depicted as doing a difficult "job" very cleanly & neatly, and leaving very little (if any) trace of themselves for any investigators to find, etc.

However, I strongly suspect that in reality, a "cheap" hit-person could (and does) make serious mistakes.

 

[tarnishedhalo]

Why would the hubby of second Mary not allow police to talk with the daughter? I'd put my money on him.

 

[morf13]

On tonight's recording session of Citizen Detective podcast, we have a really perplexing mystery on our hands. Two different women named Mary Morris murdered in the Houston, TX area within 72 hours of each other. Are their cases connected in some way, or is it a bizarre coincidence? We need your help investigating the 'Mary Morris Murders'. We are scheduled to be joined by one of the victim's daughters who provides an inside look at the case from her perspective.

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[Tower]

This case has always fascinated me. Forgive me for being so dumb, but it seems strange to me, even though the ladies look very much alike with the same name, how the first could be mistakenly murdered?

Wouldn’t even an incompetent hit man plan to tail her on the way home from work or a location where she was known to be? Would he just look up Mary Morris in the (now old school) white pages, go to the wrong woman’s address and follow her until he had an opportunity to kill her?

This would make more sense if the first victim was listed in the phone book and killed in her home. While maybe the true target had an unlisted address. Did hit men really just get a name and then look the person up in the phone book? But who knows how a hit man operates.

Jmo

 

[Richard]

It is indeed a strange pair of unsolved murders, which are very likely connected.

However, I have to say that coincidences DO happen. Back in 1992, one evening I was driving home through a rural area when I came upon the scene of a 2 vehicle accident. I was the first on the scene and provided some assistance. When police arrived, I briefed them on what I knew, and when they spoke with the two men involved in the collision it was learned that both men had the same first and last names.

 

[rob525]

I don't know if I buy the mistaken identity /hitman theory totally. Sure, it is possible but would a hit man at the very minimum know his intended victims home and work address? The first MM was murdered between home and work and her car was three miles from her home. Certainly, someone could probably hire some tweeker for a couple hundred bucks to kill someone, but there seems to be some level of planning that went into the first killing at least. One thought that struck me was what if the first murder was done to cover the second? Not a mistake, but someone poor attempt at trying to make it look like , perhaps, a serial killer to throw investigators off the track. Maybe the coworker sought out another woman of the same name ( Mary Morris would not be a hard name to find in a town as large as Houston)? Just a thought that came to mind, probably far fetched though.

One final thought. The second Mary recognized someone in the drug store that scared her enough to make a 911 call. Would she fear her husband that much, on sight, even though she had asked him for the gun? Would the husband hire a hitman that his wife A.) knew and B.) knew was a hitman that was after her? Seems like the co-worker is the logical suspect for the guy she spotted in the drug store. While the husbands actions may seem strange to some, I do think many people would do the same thing.

 

[morf13]

In this brand new podcast episode you will hear directly from the daughters of BOTH Marys, and they set the record straight on some things and share things that have previously not been discussed.