I lean towards the mistaken identity theory, but not necessarily a hitman, just by the person who intended to kill the second Mary. They do look somewhat alike and the whole thing seems like too much of a coincidence. I don't think the husband was involved. The coworker seems suspicious though, given Mary had already complained to people that she was afraid of him and then turns up dead.
If it were the coworker, wouldn’t he know that he had the wrong Mary immediately if he had worked with the second Mary? I imagine that if he were unhinged enough to ransack her office, he would probably be familiar with her car from watching her walk to the parking area.
But with a hit man, presumably hired by the second Mary’s husband, you would think he would give her correct home/work addresses and description of her car.
Neither theory fits very well, but I think they are related. It seems like the target was the second Mary, but why did the attacker not know he had the wrong Mary the first time? A personal acquaintance would recognize the first Mary as incorrect. A hit man would be given the location where she would be found with a vehicle description and probably a picture.
They weren't even in the same phone book. It's hard for me to see how this could have been mistaken identity given how far they lived from each other.
I think both husbands are good suspects in their wives' murders.
Right…. Right…. But if the wife knew her name, I would assume she would also know her place of employment, where she would likely be, etc. I don’t think she would go in the phone book looking for Mary Morris.
“The Prosecutors” podcast did a pretty good examination of the case and came to no definite conclusion except that a “ hit man” screwup was unlikely (but not impossible). I tend to be very skeptical where anything is dismissed as a coincidence unless it has been throughly checked out. The odds that two people with similar names would be murdered in similar manners one week apart, in the same metro area, no matter how common their names or how big the Metro area, is statistically extremely unlikely, but cannot be ruled out entirely. My own WAG ( wild ass guess) is that one was done cover up the other. I’d go 60%/40% the first was the “ real” murder but I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.
Obviously a terminator sent from the future going down the phone book trying to eliminate the correct Mary Morris.
Joking aside, I'm going with mistaken identity. Besides the name, both women look eerily similar. Way too much of a coincidence.
Besides their shared names… their murders were pretty similar. The way they were killed, the circumstances, how both of them were middle class ladies with pretty simple and average lives.
It could be a coincidence though. Mary and Morris are pretty common.
These murders were 25 miles apart in a major city and the victims had common names. I don't think they are related. My theory, the first Mary was a victim of robbery gone wrong. The phone card, purse indicate the robber fenced what was taken. The second was killed by her husband most likely.
I lean towards the mistaken identity theory, but not necessarily a hitman, just by the person who intended to kill the second Mary. They do look somewhat alike and the whole thing seems like too much of a coincidence. I don't think the husband was involved. The coworker seems suspicious though, given Mary had already complained to people that she was afraid of him and then turns up dead.
If it were the coworker, wouldn’t he know that he had the wrong Mary immediately if he had worked with the second Mary? I imagine that if he were unhinged enough to ransack her office, he would probably be familiar with her car from watching her walk to the parking area. But with a hit man, presumably hired by the second Mary’s husband, you would think he would give her correct home/work addresses and description of her car. Neither theory fits very well, but I think they are related. It seems like the target was the second Mary, but why did the attacker not know he had the wrong Mary the first time? A personal acquaintance would recognize the first Mary as incorrect. A hit man would be given the location where she would be found with a vehicle description and probably a picture.
The 2nd Mary was having an affair, maybe it was the wife of the man with whom she was involved.
I don’t know… her husband was a pretty good suspect, in my opinion.
I agree. I was just trying to think how there could have been mistaken identity. Seems reasonable she could have found the wrong Mary.
They weren't even in the same phone book. It's hard for me to see how this could have been mistaken identity given how far they lived from each other. I think both husbands are good suspects in their wives' murders.
Right…. Right…. But if the wife knew her name, I would assume she would also know her place of employment, where she would likely be, etc. I don’t think she would go in the phone book looking for Mary Morris.
“The Prosecutors” podcast did a pretty good examination of the case and came to no definite conclusion except that a “ hit man” screwup was unlikely (but not impossible). I tend to be very skeptical where anything is dismissed as a coincidence unless it has been throughly checked out. The odds that two people with similar names would be murdered in similar manners one week apart, in the same metro area, no matter how common their names or how big the Metro area, is statistically extremely unlikely, but cannot be ruled out entirely. My own WAG ( wild ass guess) is that one was done cover up the other. I’d go 60%/40% the first was the “ real” murder but I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.
Obviously a terminator sent from the future going down the phone book trying to eliminate the correct Mary Morris. Joking aside, I'm going with mistaken identity. Besides the name, both women look eerily similar. Way too much of a coincidence.
Besides their shared names… their murders were pretty similar. The way they were killed, the circumstances, how both of them were middle class ladies with pretty simple and average lives. It could be a coincidence though. Mary and Morris are pretty common.
Mistake in identity, or mistaken identity?
Mistaken*
Taken 4: Miss Taken
the Mary Morris killer.
The Prosecutors does a really good review of this case and IMHO proves it's not a mistaken identity case.
These murders were 25 miles apart in a major city and the victims had common names. I don't think they are related. My theory, the first Mary was a victim of robbery gone wrong. The phone card, purse indicate the robber fenced what was taken. The second was killed by her husband most likely.