The Mary Morris Murders

 Some of you may be familiar with the murders of Mary McGinnis Morris and Mary Lou Henderson Morris in the Houston, Texas area in 2000. It's been awhile since there's been a write-up, plus some new information seems to have come to light which might bring new perspectives. Here are some typical stories that are told about each killing and then relay information that has recently been mentioned on The Prosecutors podcast.

Mary Lou Morris

Mary Lou Henderson Morris was a 48 year-old bank loan officer in Baytown, Texas, a city outside of Houston. She lived with Jay, her second husband, and had a daughter from her first marriage. She had a passion for horses and gardening, and apparently had beautiful rose bushes that she took a lot of pride in.

On the morning of October 12th she left to go to work as usual but never arrived. Later that day an ATV driver found a burnt-out car about three miles from her home. Inside was Mary, burned so badly that her cause of death couldn't be determined. From all accounts she had no enemies, so friends and family were baffled and devastated by the murder.

Mary McGinnis Morris

Mary McGinnis Morris was a 39 year-old nurse practioner in Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Three days after Mary Lou Morris was killed, Mary McGinnis Morris was found badly beaten and shot to death in her vehicle. She was last known to be alive leaving an Eckerds drugstore. While there, she called her friend, Laurie Gimmel, and told her that a strange man was following her. According to Laurie, Mary said she would return to work to log out of her computer and then head home.

Unfortunately, she never made it home. Somewhere in the 9 minutes between ending the call with Laurie and dialing 911, she was brutally killed. Her murder was recorded during the 911 call. Due to its nature, the call has never been released, but the police have remarked that it is very chilling. Of note, supposedly she did not refer to anyone by name in the call. Instead she only referred to the assailant as “they".

The two Marys looked similar, with shorter dark hair and similar builds. They also drove similar cars. This has led people to speculate that it was a hit gone wrong, with the first Mary being mistaken for the second. The theory seemed to be bolstered when someone called into the Houston Chronicle and said "They got the wrong Mary".

While Mary Lou didn't seem to have many obvious enemies, Mary McGinnis seemed to have a few suspects in her life.

Mary McGinnis reportedly had a coworker, Duane, with whom she clashed continuously. They had an acrimonious relationship, which supposedly culminated in Duane turning over the pictures in Mary's office and writing "death to her" on some paper on his desk. He was soon fired, and not surprisingly he became a suspect after Mary was killed.

Mary also seemed to be having some issues with her husband, Mike. He had recently accused her of having an affair and supposedly had a large life insurance policy out on her. The day of the murders he was with his daughter at the movies, but he called Mary's cell phone around the time of her murder. He claims he let it ring for 4 minutes hoping she would pick up, but the phone company shows the call as completed, which means someone did in fact answer the call. Mike maintains this was a glitch.

The usual narrative in this case is that a hit was taken out on Mary McGinnis, and the hitman mistakenly killed Mary Lou first. Both wedding rings were reportedly missing, which many point to as a classic sign of a hit. There has been mention that Mary McGinnis' ring did eventually show up and is in the possession of her daughter.

But is it possible these two events were completely unrelated, and instead of one murderer getting away scot-free, there are actually two people who got away with murder?

Reconsidering the official narrative

A piece of misinformation I see repeated frequently is the proximity of the murders. Some articles have even gone so far as to say or imply that Mary McGinnis was killed almost down the street from where Mary Lou was found. Instead, they were killed in Sugar Land and Baytown respectively. For those of you unfamiliar with Houston, they are essentially cities on the opposite’s sides of Houston, and require about a 45 minute drive without traffic to go from one to the other. While both are in the same metroplex, I don't think most people would consider them close to each other.

The Prosecutors podcast has recently interviewed a few people close to the two cases, and some interesting new information has come to light.

As a side note, I will try to remain neutral when summarizing the interviews, which are themselves not, recorded. Instead the hosts of the podcast recap the interviews they had with the individuals below, who didn't appear directly on the podcast for various reasons. You can probably read between the lines of the interviews, but please remember you are just hearing one side of the story. Also, not everything mentioned has been included, but I tried to include the most relevant pieces without reflecting my own opinion.

Mary Lou Morris Case Interview

Marilyn Blalock is Mary Lou's daughter, who at the time of the murders was already an adult. She spoke at length about some facts of the case which seem to be largely unreported.

She described her mother as a lovely person, who enjoyed riding and taking care of her horses. In fact, she used horse manure to fertilize her roses, which apparently were quite beautiful.

The day of her mother's death, her stepfather, Jay, called her to tell her that her mother seemed to be missing. When they heard about a suspicious car fire, they both decided to go together to check it out.

 

According to Marilyn, Jay didn't seem to be in any rush to get there, and when they came to an intersection, Marilyn was prepared to turn in the direction of the highway, which is where they heard the fire was located. Instead, Jay insisted they continue on a rural road that didn't head to the highway, and Marilyn acquiesced, as Jay was more familiar with the area. Soon they came across the burnt-out car with police all around it and their fears were confirmed.

Interestingly, Mary was found in the passenger seat, and the car had burned so hot and quickly that police determined a typical accelerant, such as gasoline, couldn't have been used. Instead, they suspect manure was used as the accelerant, which could burn hot enough and quickly enough to cause the damage that occurred.

Also interestingly, Mary and her car were found in the opposite direction of her work, where she was supposedly heading.

Due to its condition, Jay scrapped the car soon after receiving it back from police. According to Marilyn, the cops never searched it for Mary's wedding ring, so it's possible it fell off or was destroyed by the fire.

Mary's phone cards were found a few days later in Galveston, Texas, about an hour away. Strangely enough, her family said the purse they were found in did not belong to Mary. Her wallet was never recovered.

Sadly Marilyn claims that after the murder her once-close relationship with her stepfather soured, and they now no longer speak.

Mary McGinnis Morris Case Interviews

Mary's coworker, Duane, was also interviewed for the podcast and gave his side of the story. According to him, his relationship with Mary was not contentious at all. Instead, they were actually friends and had traveled together by car for business trips. He says he left his job voluntarily when his position came to a natural end. He also claims to have no knowledge of the photo incident or death threats.

He did mention that he reported Mary for allegedly doctoring reports, but according to him it didn't seem to damage their relationship significantly. After he left the company they had no contact.

Since the murders, he has been actively involved with trying to get the case solved, as he says he wants the real killer caught so suspicion would be lifted off him.

Another person interviewed was Laurie Gimmel. Laurie was Mary's close friend at the office and appears in the Unsolved Mysteries episode. She was the last known person to have contact with Mary, as she was the one on the phone with Mary when she mentioned a creepy man following her. Laurie says Mary identified the man as someone that she once met through Duane, although she didn't know his name. Unnerved, Mary then told her that she was going to return to work to log out of her computer and go home for the day.

Curiously, the story about a caller phoning the Houston Chronicle to say "they got the wrong Mary" comes from Laurie. The hosts of The Prosecutors podcast contacted the Houston Chronicle to try to confirm this, and were able to speak to people who worked there at the time and would have knowledge about this. They denied that there was ever such a call or information. Laurie maintains that someone did indeed tell her this information.

Also interestingly, Mary and her car were found in a secluded road between the Eckerds she had just left and Laurie's house, which was about a 5 minute drive away. Laurie was supposedly unfamiliar with the road even though it was so close.

Conclusion

It has now been 21 years since Mary Lou and Mary McGinnis were killed and no one has ever been arrested or charged for the crimes. Hopefully there can still be a break in the case and justice can finally be served for both women.

Questions for discussion

Do you think both crimes are related?

Was a hitman involved?

If not, what do you make of the missing ring and the phone cards found in Galveston?

What do you think of the fact that Mary Lou Morris was found in the passenger seat and possibly had manure used as an accelerant? Does this mean she knew her killer? Would a hitman or carjacker force her to the passenger seat or just make her drive?

What do you make of Mike Morris's 4 minute phone call?

Do you think Duane is telling the truth?

What of the Houston Chronicle story Laurie claims she was told? Is her story about the suspicious man Mary claims was following her true as well?

Is there any significance to the word “they“ said on the 911 call?

Sources

https://unsolved.com/gallery/mary-lou-mary-mcginnis-morris/

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Mary_Morris_and_Mary_Morris

https://prosecutorspodcast.com/

www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/amp/Two-Mary-Morris-slayings-remain-unsolved-1637059.php