Cory Morris


Cory Deonn Morris, known as The Crackhead Killer, is an American serial killer and necrophile who killed at least five women at his trailer in Phoenix, Arizona, over a period of eight months from 2002 to 2003. Morris was convicted of the five murders and sentenced to death.

Early life

Morris was born on May 10, 1978, in Oklahoma City, the first in a family of three children. As a teenager, he attended Douglass High School in Oklahoma City and, once in college, attended the Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs, aspiring to become a military officer. At age 22, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, but with nowhere to live, he recommended his aunt Melva Willis bring his trailer behind their home. Subsequently, while in Phoenix, Morris picked a job up at a karaoke machine as a disc jockey in a local bar named Fat Cats, which local prostitutes and pimps visited frequently. Thanks to his friendly manner, Morris made friends with plenty of neighbors and coworkers, whom they subsequently nicknamed “Huggy Bear.”

Murders

As victims, Morris targeted female sex workers whom he arranged meetings with. Later, during his confessions, Morris claimed all the women had died either of a drug overdose, but abruptly changed all of the stories to claim he accidentally strangled them. Barbara Codman — September 2002Shanteria Davis — October 2002Jade Velazquez — February 2003Sherry Noah — March 2003
  • '''Julie Castillo — April 2003'''

Trial and imprisonment

In the months during the murders, friends of Morris noticed a body odor coming from him, which he brushed off from the heat from walking to work. On April 12, Morris' uncle was snooping though his trailer when he discovered the maggot ridden body of Julie Castillo under blankets in his trailer, after which he called the police. Upon this, Morris was arrested. In a subsequent autopsy, Castillo was found to have been dead for a couple of days before her discovery. The other victims were found near Morris' trailer; for such, he was questioned. He confessed but deflected responsibility away from him, saying that they all overdosed, but later changed the stories to the fact that he accidentally killed them. Due to evidence presented at trial, including his deflection away from responsibility, the jury found him guilty of five counts of murder, and sentenced him to death.