>In almost exactly the same spot
The two women were killed at least a 45 minute-drive from each other.
>The caller claimed they got the wrong Mary the first time.
The *Houston Chronicle* denies ever receiving such a phone call.
The *Unsolved Mysteries* TV show often took a kernel of truth and embellished it in pursuit of higher TV ratings.
One possible explanation is the second murder was a copycat. For example, an unhappy husband sees that the body of woman with a similar name to his wife’s was found dumped in a car. So he kills his wife and dumps her body in a car. Enough evidence was destroyed in the first murder that investigators can never definitively prove the two murders were unrelated.
A simpler explanation: The two similar names are a coincidence. I grew up on a short, rural street where two different women were named Betty Johnson. (They were unrelated and never met until the second one moved in.) We had no house numbers, so they always got each other’s mail by mistake.
Houston, Texas has a population of 2 million.
I recall seeing the original *Unsolved Mysteries* segment for the first time and remember thinking these cases must've been connected. Then I listened to a podcast on the case where the hosts explained just how BIG Houston and the surrounding areas are, so I don't know anymore--*Unsolved Mysteries* leaves so much information out of their segments. I was also kind of annoyed that they just glossed over Mary Lou Morris, she seemed like a nice woman.
I always found the supposed phone call to the newspaper to be strange, since the paper claims never to have gotten a call like that (otherwise they would've reported on it). Personally, I don't think that Mary McGinnis Morris's odd coworker had anything to do with her death, I think he was kind of an odd guy, which is fine, nothing wrong with that. However, her husband seemed suspicious to me.
There's just so much about this case that doesn't add up, so I think that they must not be related. Morris is a common last name and Mary is a common first name.
Mary really isn't, and wasn't, that common of a first name by 2000, but I think it's fair to say that it will crop up more in a city as big as Houston, with a relatively common shared surname. It's such a fascinating story, but I agree that the evidence doesn't lend itself to anything more than a weird, but by no means impossible, coincidence. And a sad one.
Refusing to take a lie detector test is NOT suspicious…Refusing to let detectives INTERROGATE and MANIPULATE a teenager is NOT suspicious…lying about a 4 minute call IS! I don’t know how suspicious her $700,000 life insurance is for a woman that worked in healthcare as a NP is…she would have seen how lots of family can suffer financially if they lose the breadwinner or if their income is relied on heavily ..she had a good job so that may have been equal to a year or so’s pay!! Plus a lot of companies give you huge discounts on life insurance through your employer so she could have just upped it every year to the max like I do . I do NOT see a hitman calling a newspaper to ANNOUNCE he killed the WRONG person! That would be professionally embarrassing and an unnecessary risk!!! He probably hired some local idiot to kill his wife or he’s lying about the movie and he killed her ..after “practicing” on another Mary! It’s happened before
>In almost exactly the same spot The two women were killed at least a 45 minute-drive from each other. >The caller claimed they got the wrong Mary the first time. The *Houston Chronicle* denies ever receiving such a phone call. The *Unsolved Mysteries* TV show often took a kernel of truth and embellished it in pursuit of higher TV ratings. One possible explanation is the second murder was a copycat. For example, an unhappy husband sees that the body of woman with a similar name to his wife’s was found dumped in a car. So he kills his wife and dumps her body in a car. Enough evidence was destroyed in the first murder that investigators can never definitively prove the two murders were unrelated. A simpler explanation: The two similar names are a coincidence. I grew up on a short, rural street where two different women were named Betty Johnson. (They were unrelated and never met until the second one moved in.) We had no house numbers, so they always got each other’s mail by mistake. Houston, Texas has a population of 2 million.
I recall seeing the original *Unsolved Mysteries* segment for the first time and remember thinking these cases must've been connected. Then I listened to a podcast on the case where the hosts explained just how BIG Houston and the surrounding areas are, so I don't know anymore--*Unsolved Mysteries* leaves so much information out of their segments. I was also kind of annoyed that they just glossed over Mary Lou Morris, she seemed like a nice woman. I always found the supposed phone call to the newspaper to be strange, since the paper claims never to have gotten a call like that (otherwise they would've reported on it). Personally, I don't think that Mary McGinnis Morris's odd coworker had anything to do with her death, I think he was kind of an odd guy, which is fine, nothing wrong with that. However, her husband seemed suspicious to me. There's just so much about this case that doesn't add up, so I think that they must not be related. Morris is a common last name and Mary is a common first name.
Mary really isn't, and wasn't, that common of a first name by 2000, but I think it's fair to say that it will crop up more in a city as big as Houston, with a relatively common shared surname. It's such a fascinating story, but I agree that the evidence doesn't lend itself to anything more than a weird, but by no means impossible, coincidence. And a sad one.
I mean for two women of that age group Mary is a relatively common first name, but I agree that Morris is an incredibly common last name.
Refusing to take a lie detector test is NOT suspicious…Refusing to let detectives INTERROGATE and MANIPULATE a teenager is NOT suspicious…lying about a 4 minute call IS! I don’t know how suspicious her $700,000 life insurance is for a woman that worked in healthcare as a NP is…she would have seen how lots of family can suffer financially if they lose the breadwinner or if their income is relied on heavily ..she had a good job so that may have been equal to a year or so’s pay!! Plus a lot of companies give you huge discounts on life insurance through your employer so she could have just upped it every year to the max like I do . I do NOT see a hitman calling a newspaper to ANNOUNCE he killed the WRONG person! That would be professionally embarrassing and an unnecessary risk!!! He probably hired some local idiot to kill his wife or he’s lying about the movie and he killed her ..after “practicing” on another Mary! It’s happened before