On the night of September 28, 1879, around 8:30 p.m. Esther and Charles Morris were going to bed in their home in Decatur, Michigan
A woman who worked for the Morris's, Jennie Bull, was sleeping upstairs and knew nothing until the next morning. A more recent article from 1987 stated Jennie heard Charles arguing with a man, it scared her, but she didn't hear anything else. Older articles that came out at the time contradict this and state that even though Jennie's room was directly above where Esther was murdered she heard nothing.
The next morning Jennie woke up to find the couple dead. Shortly after sunrise when she told a farmhand as soon as he arrived about their deaths. Another article states it was the handyman who first found Charles when he came over.
Charles was laying on the front porch he had died from a shot to the neck and one to the chest. Esther was laying in a closet and was shot three to four times she was shot in the arm and chest. At her time of death, she was pregnant.
It's believed that it had happened around 9 p.m. the night before. A young man who lived near them saw a man on a horse wearing a funny hat between 9:30 and 10 pm.
Someone must have knocked on the back door and it brought Charles to wake up and answer. This was where he was shot to death. Esther was in the sitting in the sitting room as evidence of a bullet in the wall. She ran and tried to hide in her bedroom closet where she was found dead. Charles's revolver was found on the ground it was believed that she dropped it in the panic of hiding from the killer.
Robbery wasn't a motive of the murder as nothing was stolen except for a horse the killer road off with. The horse was found a few days later in South Bend, Indiana. The horse seemed to be in a jaded and exhausted. It was bearing an unrecognizable branding on the left rear flank.
It's believed that it had happened around 9 p.m. the night before. A young man who lived near them saw a man on a horse wearing a funny hat between 9:30 and 10 pm.
Someone must have knocked on the back door and it brought Charles to wake up and answer. This was where he was shot to death. Esther was in the sitting in the sitting room as evidence of a bullet in the wall. She ran and tried to hide in her bedroom closet where she was found dead. Charles's revolver was found on the ground it was believed that she dropped it in the panic of hiding from the killer.
Robbery wasn't a motive of the murder as nothing was stolen except for a horse the killer road off with. The horse was found a few days later in South Bend, Indiana. The horse seemed to be in a jaded and exhausted. It was bearing an unrecognizable branding on the left rear flank.
The family believed that Charles knew the murderer as he didn't answer the door with his gun.
There were suspicions on a handyman that was previously fired by them. He never confessed to it and he had to leave the town because of the accusations. The police tried to beat a confession out of him, but he never did. There were no witnesses to the crimes. So it was never known who really committed the crime. This crime will never be solved.
SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Detroit Free Press
St. Joseph Herald
The True Northerner
The Herald-Palladium
There were suspicions on a handyman that was previously fired by them. He never confessed to it and he had to leave the town because of the accusations. The police tried to beat a confession out of him, but he never did. There were no witnesses to the crimes. So it was never known who really committed the crime. This crime will never be solved.
SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Detroit Free Press
St. Joseph Herald
The True Northerner
The Herald-Palladium
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