Kill the Ones You Love (15 page)

Gabe said, “Maybe two.”

“This is not going to show up at a robbery scene?”

“No, no, no, no, no.”

Coady asked, “So your adventure through the country has been crime free?” Coady and Troutner already knew about the two robberies.

Gabe shaded his answer. “Harmless. I've hurt nobody. Nobody has been hurt with the gun. I've done no damage. I've done nothing to anybody, except tell them I love them.”

Coady said, “Where'd you get your money? That's expensive traveling around.”

Gabe replied, “Begging. Jessica was very humble and I was too. I'd go over and say, ‘Hey, bud, I'm hurting for gas and I'm trying to get a job, heading south.' Usually to truckers. You know, guys that have been traveling and probably have secrets of their own. You look them right in the eye and you'll probably see what they're seeing. And they say, ‘Yeah, I got some money for you.' Not a lot. Spend enough time at the gas station and ask enough people to get gas, and off you go.”

Then Gabe said, “Specific questions? Shoot it. Go straight to the point. You guys got questions or anything else out there that you want to know. I'm gonna tell you.”

Coady asked, “When you guys left that night in Oregon, who drove?” Coady already knew that Jessica had driven away from the Eschlers' home.

However, Gabe lied to him, straight-faced, and said, “I drove.”

“Um, does Jessica even know the people who gave you the car?”

“No, not really.”

“She had never been there before?”

“No, not to that house. Those people were at our wedding, like seven or eight years ago.”

Troutner asked, “If we hadn't caught up with you today, where do you think you would have ended up in the next few days?”

Gabe replied, “I really knew you were catching up, so I don't know.”

Troutner said, “Something going on down South?”

And Coady added, “Family or something in Florida?”

Gabe answered, “No. You know what? We talked about possibly going on a road trip with Doug, and said, ‘Hey, where would you like to go?' And that was hypothetical. We even thought about staying here. I thought about finding a place for Jessica and Kalea, and seriously was thinking about turning myself in, finding an environment where I could walk straight into a police department, hands on the table, and say, ‘Gentlemen, my name is Gabriel Christian Morris. Let's talk about what I've done.'

“And I'd tell them, ‘You probably want to put some cuffs on me and put me in one of these rooms and let's have a chat.' You know, I almost did that in San Diego. But I didn't feel comfortable that Jessica—well, Jessica does what I tell her to do, because I'm intimidating. I mean, if you've got a guy who just shot two people, and he told you to get in a car, you're going to get into the car. That type of woman is going to get into a car, especially if you've got a four-year-old girl. You're terrified—wouldn't you be? So that's the case with her.

“Because when you hear that girl's story, man, she's an honest girl. Who is ever talking to her, she'll tell them everything. She's as clear about things as I am. And I truly believe that Kalea is more than most parents can handle. People put their kids in day care, and they're not there intently listening to what they say. So Kalea is going to end up in day care or with some parents who give her Ritalin because she is so much. That girl is insanely bright, insanely fast, insanely quick on the take. Very aware of what's going on around her. And she listens. And I meant that ain't LSD or smoking some weed. That's a girl praying to God, and guess what, man? You've got . . . you've got spiritual something in there—”

Coady interrupted and said, “Speaking of kids, there's going to be a CPS worker talk to you. Just who can call for Kalea and that sort of thing.”

Hearing about Child Protective Services, Gabe said that was fine.

Troutner added, “Our priority's been her this whole time. They're coming up with a safety plan for her, and she's going to be taken care of.”

Gabe said, “You guys are fantastic. I would really like, no joke, and this ain't no bullshit. . . . It's probably going to sound crazy comin' from the main suspect, but the gentleman who made that stop on me, and commanded me back, I mean he was fan-fucking-tastic. He did not treat me roughly. He knew I was complying. He paid real attention. He was conscientious. While he was giving me the command, he had control of a lot of edgy dudes. He was calming people down while giving me directions, had dogs barking, had me on the ground, had me completely under control, was talking to me, talking to you guys. That guy was a pro.”

Coady answered, “There are a lot of good people here.”

Gabe wistfully said, “I wish I could have gotten a job here ten years ago.”

All Troutner had to say to that was “Hmm.” Then Troutner added, “You know there's no allegations or suspicion of you guys doing anything wrong with the child. But you're both in custody, so we have to come up with a safety plan. We already talked to your wife and she said it was okay if her parents came and picked up the child, for the time being. She'll be with someone that you guys trust and everything.”

To this, Gabe said, “If Jessica feels that's the solution, then that's the solution.”

After that, Gabe was led away to a jail cell. For Coady and Troutner, it must have been one of the most memorable interviews they had ever conducted.

CHAPTER 26

Around that same time, Judy Ward was being interviewed by Investigator Bill Fugate. Fugate was an OSP detective and he told Judy, “We're getting a lot of details here and just want to let you know that we're just trying to get a better light from talking to you and your boyfriend.”

Judy corrected him and said that Doug was her husband. They just had different last names. Bill acknowledged that and added, “We're just trying to piece this all together. You're here as a witness, not a suspect, and you're free to leave whenever you want.”

The first thing Fugate wanted to know was how Judy first came in contact with Gabriel Morris. She told him that she'd known of Gabe since September 2009, when they first “met” on the game Perfect World. They, of course, hadn't met in real life, only on the Internet. She said she had checked her log on that; the last time they had been on the computer to each other was on January 26, 2010.

She explained, “It was in a game and I sent him two e-mails, one the first week and one a couple of days after he didn't log in, after January twenty-sixth. It was, like, ‘Where'd you go? What happened?' And he replied on the day before Valentine's Day, so that made it February thirteenth.”

Fugate asked, “Why did he say he was coming to Virginia?”

Judy answered, “He just said he was visiting people he knew on the game.”

Fugate asked, “Was it your belief he came here because he was attracted to you and hoping for a relationship?”

Judy replied, “I wasn't looking for a relationship with him. After thinking about it, after putting the pieces together—we had a relationship in the game. We'd talk in the game, and we had a relationship in the game, and you can actually get married in the game. But we never did. We did spend a lot of time in the game doing stuff, and he got to know me and what I thought. Yeah, there was an attraction.”

Fugate said, “He knew you were vulnerable to him?”

“Yeah, I think he just knew I was vulnerable and would allow it.”

Fugate added, “Was it pretty soon after they arrived here? It's like he really tried to stay close to you, waiting for an opportunity.”

Judy replied, “I didn't feel that he was pressuring me into anything. I never felt that, up until the last two days. I feel sorry for Jessica because he affected me this much in just one week, and he's been with her for years. And I think she's scared. Like he has a way of using his beliefs and your vulnerabilities. It gets to you, and I didn't see that until Monday, and I started piecing it together. I got used by him.”

Fugate asked, “On the week that they were living there, did Jessica pick up on his attraction to you? Was that causing a problem with her?”

Judy responded, “She knew, but she didn't say anything. It didn't seem like it bothered her. She just went her way.”

Fugate asked if Jessica would just stay in the other part of the house when Judy and Gabe were together. She answered, “Yeah, yeah. She was either downstairs cooking or was with Kalea or doing whatever. But she knew we spent time alone. Most of the time we spent alone was just talking. And it was mostly him trying to tell me that I could be like him. I kept telling him that I couldn't, because he is such an extrovert and I'm not. He's just wild and animated.”

Fugate asked, “Was it causing a problem with you and your husband, or anything like that, because—”

Judy interrupted him and replied, “Gabe was always, always, always around me. So I never got a chance to talk with my husband in private, hardly at all. And even then, Gabe was only steps away.”

“Was it because he was attracted to you?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“And you had a relationship?”

“Yes.”

 

 

Fugate wanted to know if Gabe ever used his real name and not his “game name.” Judy said that he had. “Around the time he told us about killing his mom, he said that his name was Gabriel Christian Morris.”

Fugate wondered if Judy or Doug ever searched Gabe's name on the computer. She said they had not done so and added, “I don't know if Gabe ever searched his own name. He used the blue tower computer. And there was Internet access on there.”

Fugate asked if either Gabe or Jessica ever used phones at her house. She said she never saw them do so. Asked about wallets or purses, Judy said she never saw Gabe with a wallet or Jessica with a purse.

Judy spoke about a sixteen-year-old girl whom Gabe knew online. Judy said this girl lived in the Central time zone. Then Fugate asked how many times Gabe talked about killing his mom. Judy said it had only been one time.

Judy then added, “Jessica was right there and Kalea was right there too. Jessie said that she heard it (the gunshots). He interrupted her and said that she had seen the bodies. She went, ‘Yes, that's right.' She just changed from saying that she heard to agreeing with him, like ‘Yeah, I saw.'”

“Okay. When she said she heard it, what do you assume she meant by ‘I heard it'?”

“I assumed that she meant she heard the gun, the gunshot, or shots, but she just heard it. And right after that, he interrupted her, like, in an aggressive manner, like she said something wrong. She never did talk very much, and when she did, it was always to agree with him.”

“Tell me about the conversation where he said he shot her and then shot him.”

Judy said, “The whole time he was talking about it, he wasn't saying it, like being serious. Like sitting down and saying this is what I did. It was like storytelling. Like fiction or fantasy. So I never believed him. Then I think he just changed the subject. And with Jessie, she always seemed like she was scared. And there were tears she was trying to hide. And I think he was trying to convince her that her mom was evil.”

Fugate wanted to know if looking back now, Judy could see how manipulative and off center Gabe was.

Judy replied, “Looking back now, nothing makes sense. Him wanting a place to stay, that does make sense.”

Fugate wondered if Judy thought it was odd that no one in Gabe's family had a cell phone. He said, “In America, every thirteen- or fourteen-year-old has a cell phone.”

Judy said, “Hindsight is the best sight.”

“So looking back, you can honestly say something's up here. Do you think, looking back now, do you think Jessica was aware why they were on the run?”

“Right.”

“So you think she was following him when he told her—”

“I think she was just following him. I think she was scared and has been scared for years, however long they've been together. I think that she loves him and she wants something that he won't give her—which is loving her. He even told me, he can't give her what she wants. He can't give her a kind of loving relationship that she wants.”

CHAPTER 27

All of the events in Virginia, of course, were very important to Detective Daniel Looney, the lead investigator on the case for CCSO. He related later, “I got a call from a detective from the Prince William Police Department in Virginia. Once Gabriel Morris was arrested, I went back to Virginia and helped in the search and seizure concerning the vehicles. In the trunk of Fred Eschler's Ford Taurus, I found a shoulder holster, a nine-millimeter Beretta, binoculars, five loaded magazines for the Beretta and shotgun shells. The front license plate of the Taurus had been removed and placed in the trunk. There was also a license plate stolen off a vehicle from California in the trunk.

“Inside the vehicle was a phone book of the Detroit, Michigan, area and a map with some routes drawn upon it. These markings in red showed from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Colorado Springs and Denver, Colorado. Then two routes were marked in red, one being from there to Omaha, Nebraska, and the other one to Kansas City, Missouri. St. Louis, Missouri, was circled in red.” Gabe and his family had not gone that way. Instead, they had cut across Texas and Oklahoma.

“There was a route with blue ink to Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana, and then Detroit. From there, [there] was a route to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Dumfries, Virginia, was circled in red.”

While in Virginia during the search-and-seizure operation, Looney found a note in the Taurus. It was a message from Fred Eschler:
The holder of this note has permission to drive my car. Fred C. Eschler. 2/8/10.
A toll road receipt was found for February 14, 2010, for the Ohio Turnpike. And Looney also found a container of salvia, a plant that can cause hallucinations for a short period of time.

 

 

The Popes originally weren't sure which airport they would fly to on the eastern seaboard. Eventually they arrived in Dulles International Airport, near Washington, D.C., on the morning of February 23. From there, they headed to the Garfield police station in Woodbridge, thinking that Jessica and Kalea were being held there. A reporter, who happened to be there at the time, noted that Rita Pope said, “We need to see our daughter. We're her parents and we've just flown from Idaho.” Rita's hands were visibly shaking as she said this.

The Popes were told to go to Prince William– Manassas regional jail; but when they arrived, they were told by a jail employee that there was no visitation on Tuesdays. The Popes were distraught, after having come so far, but another employee intervened when this person found out they had flown all the way from Idaho. After showing their identifications, the Popes were allowed to see their daughter. Bill Pope said later, “She is not looking good, and she doesn't want to talk about anything involving Gabriel, unless an attorney is present.”

Bill added that it looked as if Jessica had lost thirty pounds since he'd seen her last. He was convinced that she had been forced to go along with whatever Gabe told her to do. Bill told a reporter, “He is a very cruel person. He probably told her that ‘if you try to make a run for it, I'll kill you and Kalea,' or ‘I'll kill you, Kalea and your parents.'”

The same reporter noted that Rita Pope burst into tears when she first saw Kalea running around, laughing and playing with officers. And Rita kept crying when she learned the officers had bought Kalea a Happy Meal from a local McDonald's. Rita said, “Yesterday we didn't know if we would ever see her alive again.”

Another person vastly relieved by the outcome was Coos County DA Paul Frasier. He knew very well this whole scenario could have had a much more tragic outcome. Frasier told reporters, “Mr. and Mrs. Morris will be held in custody there, on the warrants previously issued. When they will be returned to Coos County is not known, if they decide to fight extradition.”

Frasier and four Coos County detectives caught flights to Virginia. Just like the Popes, there was no straight shot directly to the area from Coos County. They had to make their way to Portland first and then a long flight cross-country to the East Coast.

 

 

All of this was, of course, big news in the Bandon, Oregon, area. On February 22,
The World
had the headline
COPS CATCH MORRIS IN VA.
The next day's edition had the headline
COUPLE WILL REMAIN IN VA.
The article got to the fact that both Gabe and Jessica would be able to fight extradition back to Oregon. This could slow down the process of getting them back there for a considerable length of time.

Just how long it could take was addressed by DA Frasier. He said that it could take weeks or even months if the Morrises fought extradition. Then Frasier added, “Everyone here is relieved that we've got them in custody. And the biggest thing is, nobody got hurt.”

As far as how Kalea was doing, a reporter spoke with Sergeant Kim Chinn of the Prince William County Police Department. Chinn said, “She's being entertained by police officers and eating snacks. She's cute as a button.”

A short time later, the newspaper got to the fact that DA Frasier originally didn't know that Fred Eschler's first phone call to him on February 9 about terrorists and dead bodies somehow had a link to a double murder in Coos County. The headline was
DA DIDN'T CONNECT
2 CASES
.

The reporter related that DA Frasier and Fred Eschler had known each other for years. The article revealed that both men had known each other since 1993, and both went to the same LDS church in the area. Not only that, Frasier's son Robert had dated Eschler's daughter Elizabeth in the late 1990s. Robert, eighteen, and Elizabeth, seventeen, both died in a car crash in 1999.

As far as Fred's original call to the DA's office about terrorists, Frasier commented, “It was kind of hard to swallow.” It wasn't until the bodies of Bob Kennelly and Robin Anstey were found, and evidence started pointing toward Robin's son, Gabriel Morris, that Frasier linked Fred Eschler's phone call to the crime scene.

Some in the community wondered if Frasier should or even could prosecute the case, since there was this situation with the Eschlers. Frasier let it be known that he didn't see any conflict of interest. In the past, he often had been involved in trials with people he knew, since the Coos County populace was not large. In fact, Frasier said that he had even prosecuted one of his wife's coworkers in a previous trial.

Frasier stated, “This case is nowhere near that level of contact. I do not believe my impartiality is going to be affected in any way in this case.” And as far as Gabriel Morris went, Frasier had not seen him in more than ten years, when Gabe was young and attended the same LDS church that he did.

 

 

Even though Jessica Morris had no charges filed against her, she was still being detained in a Virginia jail by the first days of March 2010. A spokesperson for the jail said that this did happen sometimes when a person was a material witness to a crime. One obvious reason was that Jessica had shown she'd been willing to flee a state. One thing Jessica already said she would not do was fight extradition to Oregon.

That was not the case as far as Gabe went. He let it be known that he would challenge extradition to Oregon. DA Frasier then took steps to request a governor's warrant. He said that this could be a complicated process that a defendant could challenge as it moved forward. In his twenty-five years of practice, Frasier had only dealt with this kind of thing once before.

In this request, the governor of Oregon would have to ask the governor of Virginia to have Gabriel Morris returned to Oregon to face charges on two counts of aggravated murder.

 

 

Jessica's future became more problematic after March 1 when she was back in Coos County. She had a six-minute hearing in which DA Frasier said he would be convening a grand jury and intended to indict her for aiding and abetting her husband in the crime. Frasier related, “She provided aid to her husband to avoid detection following the deaths of Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly.” Frasier stated in Judge Richard Barron's courtroom, “She helped Gabriel Morris get away.”

During the hearing, Jessica sat quietly in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit and listened to the proceedings as she brushed away tears. She wore glasses and seemed to be concentrating on every word that was spoken. It was obvious to those in the courtroom that she had lost a lot of weight.

On the premise that Jessica Morris might be indicted by the grand jury, Judge Barron temporarily assigned public defender John Meynink to be her attorney. Jessica's bond was set at $1 million.

At a press conference later, Frasier said, “I've got to keep her here. She has no ties to this community at this point. I need some substantial security to make sure she shows up if she were able to post bail.”

Even though the Popes were working to be granted custody of Kalea, she was still being held by CPS in Virginia. The Popes wanted to get her out of that environment as soon as possible and back to Idaho.

 

 

The grand jury testimony may have been kept secret, but just who would be testifying to them was not. The list included police officers connected to the case, the doctors who had done the autopsies, friends of Gabriel and Jessica Morris and even Doug Miller's mom in Virginia. She was not flown all the way out to Oregon, but rather was on a live video feed from her home state.

When it was over, the grand jurors agreed that Gabriel Morris should face the two charges of aggravated murder. They also agreed that Jessica should face a charge of hindering prosecution. If the charges against her went forward and she was found guilty, she could spend five years in prison.

It only took a few more days for Frasier to make a dramatic decision concerning Jessica Morris. He let it be known that if she testified against her husband in a trial, he would be willing to cut a deal with her. Even if she was just a material witness, she could be ordered by the court to stay in jail until the trial. Frasier said, “If she decides to be a cooperative witness, we might be able to work something out.” In other words, if she was cooperative, the deal could entail her being released from jail.

DA Frasier began studying just what aspects of marital immunity applied to this case. One thing covered would be statements that Gabe made to Jessica. She could not testify to those. But she could testify as to all the things that happened before the crime, during the crime and after it occurred.

Reporters wanted to know if the medical marijuana grown on Bob Kennelly's property had anything to do with the shootings. Frasier said, “There is a lot of speculation about that, but I can't tell you anything yet.”

And there was another new development by March 5. Kalea had been released by CPS in Virginia to the care of Bill and Rita Pope. They took the young girl with them back to Idaho. Just how long it would be before Jessica could be reunited with her remained very much in question.

 

 

It took less than two weeks for Jessica Morris to come to a decision about what she would do. Through her lawyer, she let DA Frasier know that she would testify against Gabe in exchange for the plea deal that Frasier had offered her.

On March 17, Jessica and her attorney, Carole Hamilton, sat down with DA Frasier, Detective Dan Looney and John Riddle, an investigator with the Oregon State Police. In order for a plea deal to go forward, Jessica had to answer all of their questions truthfully.

DA Frasier explained to her, “We're going to put you under oath to tell the truth. So if you'd raise your right hand, ‘Do you solemnly swear or promise that the statement you're about to give in this matter will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God, understanding it's under the pains and penalty of perjury?'”

Jessica said that she would.

Detective Sergeant Looney began by asking if Jessica remembered him. She said that she did and commented about the sixteen-hour plane rides back to Coos County, Oregon. Looney then related that he and the others were going to ask a lot of questions, and Jessica said it was good they were doing it that way rather than her just trying to do a narrative of what had happened.

The early part of the interview covered the events of February 8 and then the Morrises going over to the Eschlers' home. Jessica added, “Fred baptized Gabe, and he was really good friends with them. They had a daughter who died in a car accident, and Gabe was really good friends with her. One of the Eschlers' kids, we had gone to their son's wedding reception in Idaho.” Then Jessica got back to telling what happened at the Eschlers' house and the trip to Southern California.

The detectives asked her about the events there, and Looney wondered about Gabe getting money there. “Did the cash he gave you . . . Did that look like it came from a business or a bank?”

Jessica said, “There were one-dollar bills and [a] fifty. That was the biggest bill. It was mostly ones.”

“Did he rob somewhere?”

“I believe so.”

Then the questioning concerned the trip from Southern California to Arizona. Jessica spoke about being with some of her friends there, the robbery in Arizona and details about the route to Virginia.

Looney told Jessica, “I'm going to start asking you for more details. And I know some of it's going to be quite painful. But I need to know everything.”

And Frasier added, “We know a lot of stuff because we talked to a lot of people, and we're kinda testing whether you're giving us the whole story, so you need to be completely honest with us.”

Now the detectives got Jessica to speak about all of the events of the week before the murders, the actual shooting and then being at the Eschlers'. The questions and answers were much more detailed than the initial questioning. At one point, Looney asked about the events of February 8, “So, why didn't you guys just go up the driveway and talk to Bob and Robin?”