WEBVTT 1 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.079 Welcome back to this month's Patreon exclusive Miniso. 2 00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:36.679 I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I'm Ashley, and we want 3 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.079 to wish all of you beautiful Patreon a safe and 4 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:44.240 happy holiday season. So let's dive right into this month's case. 5 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:50.880 April fifth, nineteen eighty five, Great Balls, Montana. After an 6 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.039 orderous place to a pizza parlor from a residential house, 7 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:57.640 one of their drivers, twenty three year old Morris Davis, 8 00:00:57.799 --> 00:01:01.640 makes a delivery to that address. Morris is fatally shot 9 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.840 eight times in his delivery while it is stolen, but 10 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:07.400 it would turn out the house was vacant and the 11 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.359 killer had broken inside to wait for Morris to arrive. 12 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:14.359 The case features some odd twists and turns, including an 13 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:18.159 unlikely series of events involving the potential murder weapon, but 14 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.400 the identity of Morris's killer remains unknown. 15 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.319 After that, the path went chilly. So on this month's 16 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:29.280 bonus minisod, we're going to be covering a disturbing case 17 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:33.359 from Unsolved Mysteries, the nineteen eighty five murder of Morris Davis. 18 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:36.439 This is a memorable story which has always struck a 19 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:39.879 chord with fans of the show, but unfortunately It's also 20 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.719 one of those dreaded segments which is currently not available 21 00:01:42.760 --> 00:01:45.840 for viewing on their official film Rise channel on Amazon 22 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.879 Prime or YouTube, and that's incredibly frustrating since the case 23 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:52.560 is still unsolved after all these years and could use 24 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:56.159 the additional exposure. The murder of Morris Davis is a 25 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:59.560 particularly senseless crime about a pizza delivery driver who was 26 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:01.959 assigned to deliver an order to what turned out to 27 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:04.799 be a vacant house, where he was ambushed and shot 28 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:08.000 several times. It became apparent that the crime was an 29 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.319 elaborate setup in which Morris was intentionally lured to this 30 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:14.759 address in order to be killed, but the motive remains unclear. 31 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:19.159 Since the pizza parlor employed multiple drivers, it's unlikely that 32 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:21.879 the perpetrator could have known for certain that Morris would 33 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:24.439 be assigned to make this delivery. He may not have 34 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:27.479 been specifically targeted and was simply in the wrong place 35 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.280 at the wrong time. But while robbery could have been 36 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:33.520 the motive, only a couple hundred dollars was stolen from Morris, 37 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.400 So why would the killer go to so much trouble 38 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:39.759 to do something like this. The investigation is headed in 39 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.639 a number of odd directions, and it's possible that one 40 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:45.560 of the reasons the original Unsaw Mystery segment is no 41 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.479 longer available for viewing is because it's spent a lot 42 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:50.840 of time focusing on a lead which turned out to 43 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.520 be quite controversial. But we'll share more details about that 44 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:55.280 when we get there. 45 00:02:56.719 --> 00:03:01.800 Okay, so this investigation is already pointing to the idea 46 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:05.560 that someone lured a pizza driver to this vacant house 47 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:08.919 to complete a burglary, but with the intention to also 48 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:12.520 complete a murder as well. But they couldn't have possibly 49 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.199 known that it would have been Morris that was coming 50 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:18.719 to deliver the pizza. So are there any leads or 51 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:22.520 evidence that show there's some way that Morris was actually 52 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.719 assigned to make this delivery, that someone at the pizza 53 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:28.639 parlor could have known to send him. Or do you 54 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.120 think someone just planned the crime and Morris happened to 55 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:33.400 be the one bringing the pizza. 56 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:36.080 Yeah, I think this was probably a random thrill kill 57 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:39.120 of some sort because he whoever did this probably didn't 58 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.599 even care which driver was sent. They just wanted to 59 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.240 kill somebody. Because the way this pizza place worked, it 60 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.639 sounded like, okay, we received the order it's ready, let's 61 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:49.960 give it to the first available driver, and it just 62 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.639 happened to be Morris. So I suspect that no one 63 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:54.439 could have known ahead of time that he would be 64 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:55.879 the one going to this address. 65 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:00.479 And you'd also wonder for the perpetrator. You know that 66 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:02.919 they can't carry that much cash on them. I mean, 67 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:06.039 if you think about someone who's delivering pizzas, maybe you 68 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:08.639 would make three or four stops before returning and dropping 69 00:04:08.680 --> 00:04:11.680 cash off back at the restaurant. So to me, it 70 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:14.360 almost feels as if the intent was actually the murder, 71 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.560 like you said, Robin, possibly a thrill kill of. 72 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.399 Some kind exactly because they should have known that he 73 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.720 was not going to be carrying that much cash on him. 74 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.120 And I feel like to get several hundred dollars that 75 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.000 is kind of a win there, because you don't know 76 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:32.319 how much pizza this person's going to be delivering, and 77 00:04:32.360 --> 00:04:34.639 it might only be a couple of different deliveries. And 78 00:04:35.079 --> 00:04:38.720 this is nineteen eighty five, so how much really could 79 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:41.319 a pizza cost. It's not like today where you can 80 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.560 get a couple of pizzas and it's like one hundred bucks. 81 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.120 You probably get like two pizzas for thirty bucks, so 82 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.079 they'd be lucky to get one hundred dollars. That feels 83 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:50.920 like a lot of work to put in for a 84 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.920 hundred bucks, unless it was, like you'd said, Robin, a 85 00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:58.120 thrill kill. Or this is somebody who had a substance 86 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.000 use disorder and they were looking for some kind of 87 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:05.759 easy mark and any amount of money would have been 88 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:09.600 worth it to feed their addiction. Our story begins in 89 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.000 Great Falls, Montana, in nineteen eighty five. Our central figure 90 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:17.319 is twenty three year old Morris Davis Junior, who works 91 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:20.000 as a delivery man at a local pizza parlor called 92 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.879 Howard's Pizza. At eight thirty four pm on the evening 93 00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:27.199 of April fifth, which happened to be Good Friday, the 94 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.319 establishment received an order for a pizza delivery to a 95 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:34.920 residential house on the northwest side of Great Falls. After 96 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:37.720 the pizza was made, it was handed over to Morris 97 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:40.639 for delivery and he left it around nine point fifteen. 98 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:44.560 After an hour and a half passed by, Morris had 99 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.879 still not returned, so another driver was sent out to 100 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:50.439 look for him and went to the address of Morris's 101 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:54.079 last delivery. When the driver entered the house, he was 102 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:57.519 shocked to find Morris's body near the front door. He'd 103 00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:00.560 been shot nine times with a twenty two calibi weapon. 104 00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:04.279 The police were called, and in a cruel twist of fate, 105 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.560 one of the paramedics who arrived at the scene was 106 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:11.600 Morris's younger brother, Cliff Davis, who entered the house and 107 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.600 let out a scream when he saw Morris's body on 108 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:18.040 the floor. Cliff accompanied his brother in the ambulance to 109 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.120 the hospital, but Morris was pronounced dead on arrival. 110 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:22.480 Oh. 111 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:24.600 I just got chills up and down my arms and 112 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:29.079 my neck. This is horrific. You have a young paramedic 113 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:32.000 who's called out to respond to a shooting, and when 114 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:36.199 he arrives it's his own older brother who's been executed. 115 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:40.240 He's been shot nine times. That seems like such overkill, 116 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:42.920 even for someone who's doing this for a thrill or 117 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.839 doing it as a robbery gone wrong. Nine times by 118 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:48.759 the second or third shot, I feel like you would 119 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:52.759 be confident that this person was deceased exactly. 120 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:54.959 And Cliff is one of the most the victim's family 121 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.360 members in all the cases I've covered, who I've helped 122 00:06:57.399 --> 00:06:59.959 most sorry for because I can't think of too many 123 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.759 others where a victim's family is summoned to a murder 124 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.720 scene and has no idea what to expect, because I'm 125 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:08.160 sure Cliff didn't know ahead of time that Morris was 126 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:10.480 going to be delivering to this address, so he wasn't 127 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.160 sure what he was getting when he was going in, 128 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.639 and then to see his own brother on the floor, 129 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:17.639 but to still maintain enough composure to accompany him to 130 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.319 the hospital and try to do his job. But I 131 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:22.519 can't think of too many other cases in which something 132 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:23.480 like this has happened. 133 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:28.000 And as you worked on cold cases with cold case investigators, 134 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:31.600 so I think you probably have a unique understanding of 135 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:34.439 what it's like for first responders when they come upon 136 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:38.600 a deceased individual, particularly a murder, and then to add 137 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:41.680 the other layers and nuance when you add in the 138 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:45.160 victim's family being one of those first responders, like, I 139 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:47.079 just can't imagine that type of trauma. 140 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.920 I can't either. I mean, the reality is is that 141 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:53.720 officers will tell you that they're trained in condition to 142 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.800 separate themselves, same with paramedics. I have to separate myself 143 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:01.600 from the situation, but that's not humanly poss if they're vulnerable, 144 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:03.959 and they're sharing how they actually feel when there is 145 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.639 a deceased individual, when there's a murder, when there is 146 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.160 someone who's hurting, or even the family that you're responding 147 00:08:10.199 --> 00:08:14.040 to is hurting, empathy takes over and there is a 148 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:16.439 connection to that case, whether you know the person or not. 149 00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:19.240 And then this is someone walking up and seeing their 150 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:24.439 big brother literally just riddled with bullets inside this vacant home, 151 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:27.680 the trauma that would come with that, where yes, I'm 152 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:29.600 supposed to be doing a job, it's supposed to be 153 00:08:29.639 --> 00:08:32.440 this clinical kind of task that I have, and then 154 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.080 I'm shocked with the idea that this is my brother. 155 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:37.799 And you know that Cliff was pretty confident that his 156 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:40.519 brother was deceased at that point or wasn't going to 157 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.039 be able to make it very long. So he's battling 158 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:46.000 that kind of please make this, Morris, please make this, 159 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:48.480 trying to do a job to save him, and then 160 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:50.799 realizing as they're getting to the hospital that his brother 161 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:55.440 didn't make it. I can't even express how much heartbreak 162 00:08:55.480 --> 00:08:57.799 that causes when you think about Cliff and Morris and 163 00:08:57.840 --> 00:08:59.759 what that dynamic would have been like. 164 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:05.080 So, based on the forensic evidence, investigators theorized that Morris 165 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:07.559 was shot when he first entered the house, but still 166 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.480 tried to make a break for it, but when he 167 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:12.720 ran outside, the killer fired another bullet into him, before 168 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.240 dragging Morris back into the house and shooting him additional times. 169 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:19.480 On the surface, it appeared that robbery might have been 170 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:23.200 the motive for the crime. Morris's delivery wallet, which contained 171 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:27.559 just under three hundred dollars, was missing, though strangely, Morris's 172 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:31.519 own personal wallet was left behind. However, whoever committed the 173 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:35.440 crime had orchestrated a very elaborate scheme. It turned out 174 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:38.240 the house Morris delivered to his vacant, and the killer 175 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:40.480 went to the trouble of removing a for sale sign 176 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.279 from the front lawne. Since the house did not have 177 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.399 phone service, the killer went to a nearby payphone to 178 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:49.200 place the order for the pizza before breaking into the 179 00:09:49.240 --> 00:09:52.360 house through the back door. He then waited for Morris 180 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.919 to arrive, shot him after he entered the house, and 181 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:58.279 then fled with his delivery wallet. Morris was filling in 182 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.919 for another driver who had originally been scheduled to work 183 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:04.399 that night, and since the pizza parlor employed several drivers, 184 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:06.840 the killer could not have known with one hundred percent 185 00:10:06.919 --> 00:10:09.960 certainty that Morris would be assigned to deliver this order. 186 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.480 By all accounts, Morris was a very well liked guy 187 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:16.080 with no known enemies, so it seemed like he was 188 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:18.679 not deliberately targeted and was just a victim of a 189 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:20.120 completely random crime. 190 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.919 Holy cow, when you say that this was a highly 191 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:29.080 orchestrated crime, you're not fibbing on that. He literally removes 192 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:32.440 a for sale sign from the front yard, makes a 193 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.320 point to get to a payphone to provide the address 194 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.320 to the pizza delivery people, and then once Morris comes 195 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.440 in and is shot, he tries to run, the shooter 196 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.879 shoots him again and then drags him back into the 197 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:49.159 house to continue to shoot him. At what point did 198 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.600 you just grab the wallet and run instead of having 199 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:59.000 these just overkill of poor Morris? You had already hurt him, 200 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:02.080 He was already run. It was a vacant house, It 201 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.080 wasn't registered to you, There was no phone associated with you. 202 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:07.879 Why would you have to kill the person? You got 203 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.120 the money, you injured the person, run, But this killer 204 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:13.759 said no, that's not enough. They actually were waiting for 205 00:11:13.879 --> 00:11:17.600 him to come with a home that they had targeted 206 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:20.320 because no one would know who was there. They used 207 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:24.799 the payphone. They then drag a shot wounded individual back 208 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:27.759 into the house to empty what seven more bullets at 209 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:31.320 that point into the body. It's wild. It just blows 210 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:32.960 my mind as so far as what would be the 211 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:33.960 motivation for this. 212 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:36.919 How many bullets does it Guten hold in his clip? 213 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:40.080 A good question. I know that there are six shooters, 214 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:42.559 but I know that this obviously was not one of them, 215 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:44.639 because I'm curious to see if they if he might 216 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:47.000 have reloaded, but when he fired, I'll these shots. 217 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:49.720 Yeah, did he empty a clip? Did he reload? 218 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.120 I think it's a pistol. Did it a pistol, Robin? 219 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:53.879 Yes? Twenty two caliber? 220 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:57.559 Is it a revolver? Robins? I know, yeah, no, semi automatic? 221 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.039 Possibly they never found the murder weapons. I'm not entirely sure. 222 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.519 All they know is a caliber bullet and. 223 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:05.960 He'd been shot nine times with a twenty two caliber bullet. 224 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:11.480 It says anywhere from six to nine for a revolver 225 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:14.320 or ten to twenty for a semi automatic, so. 226 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.600 It's possibly fired the maximum if it holds nine. 227 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:20.720 Another question for you, Robin, And this might sound like 228 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:24.000 a stupid question, But what happened to the pizza that 229 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.200 he was delivering. Was the piza just left there? Was 230 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:26.759 it taken? 231 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.240 They never released that information. It's possible that this is 232 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.600 one of those details that they're not releasing to the 233 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:35.840 public to weed out false confessions. We're going to talk 234 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.240 about this later in the miniso at about another pizza 235 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:40.840 related murder where the killer did take the pizza away 236 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:44.399 from the scene after they shot the victim. But it 237 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:46.559 doesn't specify in this case. 238 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:49.080 Because it would seem to be odd to take the 239 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.080 pizza and just take the delivery wallet, but to leave 240 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.320 his personal wallet behind. Did he have any money in 241 00:12:55.320 --> 00:12:56.320 his personal wallet? 242 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.960 That's another detail that they haven't specified. But I think 243 00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:02.480 that if his wallet had been empty or had very 244 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.559 little money, they might have mentioned that. But they keep 245 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.159 saying how it was very strange that had been left behind, 246 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:10.039 which makes me think he did at least have a 247 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:11.399 decent amount of cash in there. 248 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:17.080 The investigation failed to uncover a solid suspect and remained 249 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.399 at a total standstill for three years before a very 250 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:24.960 strange series of events occurred. On May eleventh, nineteen eighty eight, 251 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:28.159 a man was pulled over in another town in Montana 252 00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:31.799 and arrested for driving in a stolen vehicle, which he'd 253 00:13:31.799 --> 00:13:35.039 taken from a friend in Oregon. The suspect had also 254 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:38.799 stolen a twenty two caliber semi automatic pistol from his friend, 255 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:40.919 and a receipt for the gun was found in his 256 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:43.879 pocket for a pawn shop in Great Falls, which was 257 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.000 located one hundred and eighty miles from where he was arrested. 258 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.840 The Great Falls Police Department recovered the gun from the pawnshop, 259 00:13:51.279 --> 00:13:54.080 but then remembered how Morris Davis had been shot to 260 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.240 death with a twenty two caliber weapon, so on a whim, 261 00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.679 they decided to send the gun to the ballistics lab 262 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:03.840 for ten To their astonishment, there turned out to be 263 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:06.879 a complete match to the bullets from the crime scene, 264 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:09.639 and the stolen gun was determined to be the same 265 00:14:09.799 --> 00:14:13.399 murder weapon which killed Morris. The suspect who had stolen 266 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.559 the vehicle in the gun was investigated and cleared of 267 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.480 any involvement in Morris's murder, so the focus now turned 268 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.039 towards the gun's original owner in Oregon, who'd purchased the 269 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:27.960 weapon prior to April of nineteen eighty five. This man's 270 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.159 name has never been released publicly, but he agreed to 271 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:34.679 be interviewed in silhouette on Unsolved Mysteries in order to 272 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:38.720 conceal his identity. The show also digitally altered his voice 273 00:14:38.759 --> 00:14:41.720 when he spoke and referred to him by the pseudonym Rick. 274 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:45.799 So this person gets pulled over. They've stolen a car 275 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:49.320 from a friend, and I'm assuming this quote, Rick is 276 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.240 the one who calls in says, my friend stole my car. 277 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:55.159 When they discover him, he has a receipt where he's 278 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.360 dropped all of this stuff off at the pawn shop, 279 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:01.440 and they link at that weapon back to Morris's death. 280 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:05.159 So of course you're going to go back to Rick 281 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:09.240 quote end quote and say that you know you were 282 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:12.480 linked to this murder. Explain yourself, where was the gun 283 00:15:12.519 --> 00:15:15.320 at the time. Does Rick have an explanation as to 284 00:15:15.399 --> 00:15:17.559 what would have happened with that weapon if he was 285 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.840 not in possession of it at the time of Morris's murder. 286 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.679 Yeah, I'm about to explain that right now. And this 287 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.080 is where things get really confusing. Your head is probably 288 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:27.399 going to explode when I tried to explain what happened here. 289 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:32.080 Let's do that, Okay, So Rick denied any involvement or 290 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:35.080 knowledge of Morris's murder, and claimed that in April of 291 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:38.039 nineteen eighty five he had a newborn son, so he 292 00:15:38.120 --> 00:15:41.039 was keeping the twenty two caliber pistol safely stowed away 293 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:44.200 in a hall closet between some blankets. The problem is 294 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:47.120 that nobody else besides Rick and his wife knew the 295 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:49.360 gun was kept there, and he did not recall it 296 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:52.799 ever going missing. During this time period, Rick was thoroughly 297 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:55.840 investigated by the Great False PD, who determined that he 298 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.799 had rock Slid alibi at the time of Morris's murder 299 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:01.080 and they had no reason to believe he was involved 300 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:04.120 in the crime. So on the surface, it seemed like 301 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:07.360 someone else had stolen the gun from Rick's closet, traveled 302 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:10.000 the Great Falls to shoot Morris, and then returned to 303 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.279 Oregon to somehow place the gun back inside his closet 304 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.960 without anybody noticing. This lead baffled the hell out of 305 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:19.639 everyone for years, but it turned out there was a 306 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:24.159 logical or illogical explanation for the whole thing. The Great 307 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:28.159 Falls PD simply screwed up the ballistics tests. In nineteen 308 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:31.440 ninety five, some new ballistic tests were performed and guess 309 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:34.720 what this time, the bullets which were fired did not 310 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.639 match the bullets from the crime, which meant that Rick's 311 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:40.720 gun from Oregon was not actually the murder weapon used 312 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.399 to shoot Morris Davis. So, unfortunately, this whole series of 313 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.639 events turned out to be one of the strangest red 314 00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:50.759 herrings in history. The investigation went right back to square one, 315 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:53.720 and after nearly thirty nine years, no one has ever 316 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:56.840 been charged with the murder of Morris Davis. So I 317 00:16:56.840 --> 00:16:59.240 guess you could say the path went chile. 318 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:06.119 How do you perform an improper ballistics test? My question 319 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:09.279 for you is were these striations on the bullet and 320 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.759 the markings on the bullet were they true matches or 321 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:16.480 is it a personnel problem when they were interpreting the 322 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:19.880 striations on the bullet or is it just that actually 323 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.319 the test was performed in an incorrect way, actually making 324 00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:25.640 similar mark That doesn't make any sense to me. 325 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:28.960 I'm still confused it by it myself. But they seem 326 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:31.079 to have the great false PD a lot of faith 327 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.400 in the results of these tests, because this was the 328 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:36.880 main reason the case got national exposure and unsolved mysteries, 329 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:39.759 Because this was a big mystery. How did this gun 330 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:43.079 from this guy's closet in Oregon somehow get used in 331 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:45.400 a murder of a guy in Montana and make it 332 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:47.839 back into his closets. So for years no one could 333 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:50.240 explain that. And like I just said, it was not 334 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:52.720 until the mid nineteen nineties that they decided to double 335 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:55.640 check and realized, oh, these don't match. After all, this 336 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.200 is not the murder weapons. So I have no idea 337 00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:00.400 why this was screwed up so badly that I would 338 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:02.640 definitely rank this as one of the worst blunders I've 339 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.480 ever seen in a police investigation. 340 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:07.359 Tell me about it. And this is the part with 341 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:10.480 junk science where you have you know, yes, there's a 342 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:14.799 actual ballistics protocol that allows for good testing, but when 343 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.559 you have physical evidence being interpreted by human beings, which 344 00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:21.440 I'm assuming is what went wrong here, it opens up 345 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:25.039 the floodgates to say, based on someone's human eye and 346 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:28.240 the way that they examine evidence, you can say these 347 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:32.559 two things match, lead to rick and actually pin a 348 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:35.319 crime on somebody who had a newborn baby and a 349 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.599 gun locked in a closet at the time. So had 350 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.640 they not done a thorough investigation and gone back to 351 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:42.440 re look at his evidence to say that these bullets 352 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:45.279 actually did not match. It's possible that someone could have 353 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.000 been falsely accused and arrested and served time, and Morris's 354 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:51.279 murder that they, you know, that didn't have anything to 355 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:54.920 do with it. So it's frustrating that we do have 356 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:58.480 human beings who were relied on to make these kind 357 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:01.880 of decisions, which is their career, which I know ninety 358 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:04.200 nine percent of them pick very seriously. But to me, 359 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.480 that's the only explanation. It would have been human error 360 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:09.680 in interpreting the results, and when examined several years later, 361 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:11.240 they said, uh, oh, we made a mistake. 362 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:15.880 And in nineteen eighty five, what did ballistics testing look like? 363 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:20.160 Would it have been like fingerprint comparison matching where there's 364 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:23.160 a lot of subjectivity because you have somebody who's just 365 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.240 like matching points because there wouldn't have been access to 366 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.480 computer programs like there are today to be able to 367 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:33.079 compare all of those points that is far more accurate 368 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:36.359 than our human eye is. So do either of you 369 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:39.279 know what ballistic testing looked like in nineteen eighty five? 370 00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:44.079 Not really, No, I'm assuming it was pretty primitive, But 371 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:46.559 I personally think this might have been a case of 372 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:50.799 confirmation biased because the recovery of this weapon from the 373 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.960 pawnshop took place three years after Morris's murder, and they 374 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.839 had had pretty much zero leads during this time, and 375 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.359 they were thinking, well, it's another twenty two caliber weapon, 376 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.440 which is kind of like the weapon in Morris's murder, 377 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.759 So maybe they just wanted it to match so badly 378 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:07.079 so they could solve this case that they maybe just 379 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:10.240 misinterpreted the results of the testing and that's how this happened. 380 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.319 Yeah, I think that tho striations and the way you 381 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:15.680 would indicate would be like you were saying, Jules, I 382 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:17.759 would think that it would be very similar to saying 383 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.599 we're going to match different points. And then that does 384 00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:24.079 leave a huge you know, I don't know. It allows 385 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.400 for so much subjectivity and interpretation, and when you say 386 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:30.640 can these two match? Do these two things match? You 387 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.400 do get that confirmation bias where someone wants to help 388 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.480 and they want to see something that may not be there. 389 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.559 Well, needless to say, I'm always really bothered by these 390 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:44.039 completely random and senseless crimes where an innocent person is 391 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:46.799 murdered for something as small as a couple hundred bucks, 392 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:49.880 and because of the randomness of these crimes, it's often 393 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:53.319 very difficult to figure out who is responsible. In this 394 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.480 particular case, I have a feeling the perpetrator just wanted 395 00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:58.880 to kill someone and didn't even care who it was. 396 00:20:59.640 --> 00:21:02.279 Ibbery was the primary motive. I think there would have 397 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:04.559 been simpler ways to go about it, and if this 398 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:07.039 person had simply pointed their gun at Morris and told 399 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:09.599 him to hand over his money, Morris probably would have 400 00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:12.799 complied without any resistance. The fact that the gunman would 401 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:16.160