The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
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http://www.nbc10.com/news/2889073/detail.html
Police: Dad Killed 4 Of His Own Children
Father To Face Murder Charges
POSTED: 11:45 am EST March 2, 2004
UPDATED: 5:53 pm EST March 2, 2004
A Philadelphia father is under arrest for the murders of four of his own children.
The children were all found dead in their beds over a nine-year span.
Police said they have always considered Robert Morris as a suspect, but it has taken them nine years to prove that he killed his tw
sons and his two daughters.
Police said the cause of death was asphyxia. They said Morris probably smothered them all with a blanket.
"I'm just happy that my kids will be able to re
st i
n peace now," said Damika Payne, the mother of two of the children.
Payne said she never thought the day would com
e when her ex-boyfriend, Robert Morris would be arrested for the 1995 murders of their two daughters.
"I'm just glad they caught him before he moved on to somebody else," Payne said.
Police arrested Morris early Tuesday morning at a house in the Manayunk area of Philadelphia.
The first two children, 5-month-old Lashai Payne and 18-month-old Shainara Payne, died together in their sleep on June 4, 1995. A medical examiner ruled that they had been suffocated, but at the time, no one was charged in their deaths.
The third, a 24-day-old baby named Robert Morris, died on Oct. 28, 2002. His death was first attributed to sudden infant death s
yndrome, then reclassified as asphyxia, based on a new look at the medical and circumstantial evidence.
"Asphyxia was determined in the first two killings of his two children found dead
toge
ther in a be
droom of Mr. Morris' home some years ago," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham.
"Mr. Morris was a suspect for some time now. Unfortun
ately in that case we couldn't prove what they call exclusive custody, which means there were other people present. As a result, we couldn't proceed," said Capt. Richard Ross, of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Police said they were able to crack the case because they received a tip after the fourth child died in December, helping them to put the pieces together.
Investigators also said the medical examiner's office does not track the death of children by their fathers. They track the death of children by the mother and that's why they could not put the pieces together in this case.
De
tectives and prosecutors spent several months reviewing the case, and considering whether the children might have had a genetic anomaly that caused their deaths, before deciding they had eno
ugh evid
ence to charge Morri
s, police said.
Morris was 18 when his two girls died in 1995. Their mother was 17 and still attending high school. The couple was living with the girl's 34-year-old mother.
Th
e children who died in 2002 and 2003 had a different mother.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/2889073/detail.html
Police: Dad Killed 4 Of His Own Children
Father To Face Murder Charges
POSTED: 11:45 am EST March 2, 2004
UPDATED: 5:53 pm EST March 2, 2004
A Philadelphia father is under arrest for the murders of four of his own children.
The children were all found dead in their beds over a nine-year span.
Police said they have always considered Robert Morris as a suspect, but it has taken them nine years to prove that he killed his tw
sons and his two daughters.
Police said the cause of death was asphyxia. They said Morris probably smothered them all with a blanket.
"I'm just happy that my kids will be able to re
st i
n peace now," said Damika Payne, the mother of two of the children.
Payne said she never thought the day would com
e when her ex-boyfriend, Robert Morris would be arrested for the 1995 murders of their two daughters.
"I'm just glad they caught him before he moved on to somebody else," Payne said.
Police arrested Morris early Tuesday morning at a house in the Manayunk area of Philadelphia.
The first two children, 5-month-old Lashai Payne and 18-month-old Shainara Payne, died together in their sleep on June 4, 1995. A medical examiner ruled that they had been suffocated, but at the time, no one was charged in their deaths.
The third, a 24-day-old baby named Robert Morris, died on Oct. 28, 2002. His death was first attributed to sudden infant death s
yndrome, then reclassified as asphyxia, based on a new look at the medical and circumstantial evidence.
"Asphyxia was determined in the first two killings of his two children found dead
toge
ther in a be
droom of Mr. Morris' home some years ago," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham.
"Mr. Morris was a suspect for some time now. Unfortun
ately in that case we couldn't prove what they call exclusive custody, which means there were other people present. As a result, we couldn't proceed," said Capt. Richard Ross, of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Police said they were able to crack the case because they received a tip after the fourth child died in December, helping them to put the pieces together.
Investigators also said the medical examiner's office does not track the death of children by their fathers. They track the death of children by the mother and that's why they could not put the pieces together in this case.
De
tectives and prosecutors spent several months reviewing the case, and considering whether the children might have had a genetic anomaly that caused their deaths, before deciding they had eno
ugh evid
ence to charge Morri
s, police said.
Morris was 18 when his two girls died in 1995. Their mother was 17 and still attending high school. The couple was living with the girl's 34-year-old mother.
Th
e children who died in 2002 and 2003 had a different mother.