True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Stories Part VI

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?