Kelly Morris Search Update

October 16, 2008

Kelly Morris is a 28-year-old mother of two who went missing from her Stem, N.C., home on Sept. 3, 2008

My plane landed in Raleigh, North Carolina, at about 11:00 a.m. today. I drove straight from the airport to Stem, so that I could view the Morris home, the location where Kelly's car was found and various other points of interest in the case. I've sent those photos off to an ID producer, who is currently putting together a slide show, which will be posted here soon.

Tim Miller arrived in the area at about 7:00 p.m. We met at a local hotel and then went out to dinner with Kelly's father, Pat Currin, to discuss the search effort. Pat mapped out the areas that have already been covered and we discussed various scenarios in the case. He is truly heartbroken over his daughter's disappearance and is desperate for answers.

Since day one, Pat Currin has single handedly headed up the search for his missing daughter. He has spent countless hours searching wooded areas, lakes and swamps and has even used his own plane to scout out specific areas of interest. Conducting those types of searches is a tireless effort, notwithstanding the fact that he is out looking for his own flesh and blood.

The rest of the EquuSearch team is currently driving the RV command center up from Texas and they are expected to arrive sometime tomorrow. They are bringing a drone plane - a remote controlled plane equipped with a high tech video camera; side scan sonar - to search the waterways; and search cameras that are designed to explore areas that we cannot physically explore - manholes, mine shafts, etc.

Every search comes with its own risk - alligators, snakes, etc. and this search is no different. The wooded areas here are littered with old mine shafts. Unfortunately, many of these have never been covered up and in some areas there are large holes in the ground (some big enough to drop a truck into) that are hundreds of feet deep. As a result, we have to be especially careful in everything we do out in the woods.

Tomorrow, Tim and I will be meeting with Pat again to continue mapping out the search grid. At this point, it looks like the official search will begin on Saturday. As soon as the command post is set up I will post the location here.

On the morning of Sept. 4, 2008, firefighters with the Stem and Providence fire departments were dispatched to fight a fire at the Morris's house, located at 3220 Tump Wilkins Road. The house and much of its contents were destroyed; however no one was home when the fire broke out. Scott Morris was allegedly at his towing business in Creedmoor and the couple's two young children, ages 8 and 5, were in school at the time of the incident. It was initially believed that Kelly was in Raleigh, where she worked for Nationwide Insurance; however, investigators soon learned that she never showed up for work that morning.

Kelly's car, a burgundy 2005 Honda Accord, North Carolina license plate TXP-5917, was later found abandoned in an undeveloped subdivision, less than a mile from her home. Inside the locked car, investigators found Kelly's keys, purse, and cell phone.

When questioned by police, Scott Morris allegedly told them that he had not seen his wife since the previous night.

"He was the last person to see her alive on Wednesday night (Sept. 3) at their home," Granville Sheriff David Smith told NewsObserver.com. "She was allegedly going to find a pet dog that had got outside, we think, between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m."

According to Smith, the dog later showed up without her.

On Sept. 12, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the state Bureau of Investigation conducted forensic tests at the scene of the fire which, according to Smith, have revealed that the fire was the work of an arsonist.

Investigators will not comment on whether Scott Morris is cooperating; however, Kelly's friends have openly criticized him for not getting involved in the search effort.

Anyone with information about Kelly or Scott Morris is asked to contact David Lohr at davidlohr@davidlohr.net. Anyone with information about Kelly's whereabouts is urged to call the Granville County Sheriff's Office at (919) 693-3213.

Discuss The Kelly Morris Case

Related Links:
Full Coverage: Kelly Currin Morris Case

Comments

[Loretta]

Take care all of you while searching. It's heartbreaking that Mr. Currin has taken on this gruesome task, but I suppose there's no way that he can't.

Out of curiousity, where are the Morris children living now? Anyone? We wish them the best under these circumstances.

[ladysheila]

Sympathy and HOPE is extended to Mr. Currin. It would be the most horrendous thing to have to look for your child. I just can't imagine what he is going through. David, you are very noble to be physically interracting in this endeavor, especially with the geographical difficulties I know will be encountered. My prayers will be for your all's safety and quick closure to this case. Maybe she will be found alive as the case with Miss Smart!

[denise]

Wonderful. Yet another murdering husband. How nice. Kelly's father should put his son-in-law's head in a vise and keep turning it until he reveals what happened to Kelly. Save a lot of time and painful searching.

[Sharon]

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sharon

[Wanda]

David posted:

The wooded areas here are littered with old mine shafts. Unfortunately, many of these have never been covered up and in some areas there are large holes in the ground (some big enough to drop a truck into) that are hundreds of feet deep. As a result, we have to be especially careful in everything we do out in the woods.
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With all due respect to your staunch victim's advocate position, you never seem above embellishing the details of any crime story. Your posts only reinforce the theory that "sex" sells. The more sordid the details, the more profits generated by the story. The bare naked truth doesn't make you famous or the publication company rich. It only fuels sensational rumors from a dehumanized and insincere audience.

YOU are the only journalist describing such lurid and horrible areas in Granville County. Why would LE hide such valuable information from area landowners and the many searchers drawn to finding Kelly - NO MATTER WHAT CONDITION?

Where are these mine shafts you mention? When were they created? When were they mined? When were they abandonned? Discovery Channel should broadcast the "dirty job" details so the locals will know as much as you do.

I am sure you will not publish this post since it does not give you praise and thanks. But if it even gives you pause, it was worth the time. This case is tragic enough.There is no need to supersize the possibilities of Kelly's fate. Her life and accomplishments stand out on their own. You know damn well that you have greatly exaggerated the conditions of the area. What did you hope to accomplish by doing so? Any response at all to this inquiry would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: There are some old wells that have not been properly sealed for safety. You can't drive a truck in them though and they don't "litter the area." Seriously, you did a great disservice to yourself, and Kelly's lovely life.

Kelly was a loving mother trying to do right in her life and in her community. She does not deserve to be remembered by strangers reading your blog as some domestic violence victim hidden in some backwoods burial plot. That is surely what you seem to be describing. It makes me sick.

Maybe you should adopt our motto and apply it to your writing: Esse Quam Videri.

For Kelly - Here's to the land of the Old North State, where the wheat grows strong and the strong grow great. Rest in Peace.

[Rosemary C.]

I think you did a good job on this story, and I only wish you were not so down on psychics so I could share with you the things I have picked up about this case, but since you and some of your readers have such a low opinion of psychics I think I will just let you and the others do it the old fashioned way, beat the brush and look in old abandoned wells, and wonder where the murder took place, and in what part of the house and in what direction was kelly taken to hide the body.
I saw a lot of this the other day and I could help but I think I'll just wait until you beat the brush and the trail gets cold then maybe I'll try to help, but I'll be reading your story and you are doing a good job on this and other cases you are writing about and i will keep reading you no matter what you think of psychics.

[Rosemary C.]

To Wanda from what you are saying abut old wells and where she died and etc. proves to me another Psychic that you and I could have no doubt solved the case by now if anyone cared to listen to us and treat us with respect and now call us snakes crawling out from under rocks the way non psychics and skeptics sometimes do.