High-Tech Equipment Utilized in Kelly Morris Search

October 18, 2008

Texas EquuSearch conducted an intensive search today for Kelly Morris, a 28-year-old mother of two, who went missing from her Stem, N.C., home on Sept. 3, 2008.

After dispatching searchers out to specific areas of interest, Tim Miller, myself and a handful of others went out to search ponds in and around the area of Kelly's burned out house. We used a small boat, equipped with side-sonar technology, to scan the bottom of the ponds for potential evidence in the case. (Two weeks ago, EquuSearch used the same technology to find a woman in Oklahoma, who had been missing for five years.)

We started off with a pond behind Kelly's house and branched out from there, until we had canvassed a total of seven ponds. The images taken from the sonar's memory card are currently being examined to see if anything of interest can be identified.

During the pond searches, we found a pair of rubber kitchen gloves discarded in a grassy area. We marked the find and brought in two cadaver sniffing dogs to examine them. The handler placed buckets, with air holes, over top of the gloves so that the dogs would not disturb any potential evidence. He then guided each dog around the buckets. Both dogs hit on the gloves, so the handler notified the sheriff's department. A deputy later came out and bagged the gloves for further examination.

We were initially intrigued by the find; however when the dog handler later questioned the property owner, we learned that he had recently lost the gloves in the woods when he was disposing of spoiled deer meat. He said that he had been wearing gloves because he had a fresh cut on his hand.The find turned out to be a dead end; however it did serve to show the effectiveness of the cadaver dogs, who had alerted to the smell of blood that had been left inside the gloves as a result of the property owners hand injury.

Following that find, we went back to the command center for a short break (between searching, take photos and blogging, I have been averaging 2 to 4 hours a sleep a night since I arrived in N.C.), during which time I was contacted by Dr. Maurice Godwin, President of Godwin Forensic Consultancy. Godwin said that he had grown up in the area and that during the 1980s he had worked as a police officer in Granville County. Godwin had read about the case here and was interested in using his Predator computerized system to identify specific areas of interest in the search. I put Godwin in touch with Tim Miller and within two hours Godwin's computer was able to identify a specific area of interest. Due to the sensitive nature of this information I cannot yet share that report; however I can say that Godwin is currently in route to the area and is expected to arrive sometime tomorrow.

While I was with Tim, searching ponds and other areas of interest, Gene Robinson, an EquuSearch team member, used a special camera to search several old wells and mines in the area. Gene was also going to use a drone plane - an electrically powered plane that is equipped with a high-resolution camera, however the weather conditions were not ideal for flying and that search was postponed until tomorrow.

NEW - Discuss The Kelly Morris Case

EquuSearch is still in need of foot searchers, ATV's and horse searchers, along with volunteers to man the command post. All volunteers are welcome. You must be 18 years old and present a valid photo ID. Plan to wear long pants, long sleeve shirt, have a walking stick, good walking shoes or boots and bug spray.

Volunteers are asked to meet at the command center, which is located at:

2816 Old Weaver Trail
Creedmoor, N.C. 27522

I will be flying out of N.C. tomorrow evening so that I can prepare for another trip to Orlando, Florida, to join EquuSearch for a second Caylee Anthony search. That search is set to begin on Nov. 8.

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."

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.

Scott Morris has since been name a "person of interest" in the fire and his wife's disappearance.

Anyone with information about Kelly or Scott Morris is asked to contact David Lohr at davidlohr@davidlohr.net. Anyone with information about Kelly's disappearance 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

Photo Credits: Kelly: Contributed; all others: Carla Lohr

Comments

[cb]

"We were initially intrigued by the find; however when the dog handler later questioned the property owner, we learned that he had recently lost the gloves in the woods when he was disposing of spoiled deer meat. The find turned out to be a dead end; however it did serve to show the effectiveness of the cadaver dogs, who had obviously alerted to the smell of blood from the meat"...David Lohr

David, doesn't this call into question the effectiveness of the cadaver dogs in the Caylee Anthony case? I thought that they were specifically trained to hit exclusively on human remains vs. animal remains?

[oregonmom]

"The find turned out to be a dead end; however it did serve to show the effectiveness of the cadaver dogs, who had obviously alerted to the smell of blood from the meat."

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but hasn't it been hashed over so many times in the Caylee Anthony case that cadaver dogs will ONLY hit on human decomp?

[DH]

Maybe I'm a little slow but the dog hits are right on the money. The property owner "had a fresh cut on his hand" that was his reason for wearing gloves. The dogs "alerted to the smell of blood that had been left INSIDE the gloves as a result of the property owners HAND INJURY" Seems pretty simple to me the dogs hit on the smell of human blood contained inside one of the gloves. I guess I'm having a hard time understanding why cb and oregonmom would misquote
a statement which clearly shows the dogs doing what they are trained to do.

[Marya]

DH - I believe the others were commenting on an earlier version of the article - it seems to have been updated to include further details in many sections - as I recall, it originally didn't detail the cut on the hand.

[ladysheila]

Fascinating!

[Paper Shredder]

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