neighborhood is stunned tonight by the murder of one of its residents. the young woman was discovered dead when a friend responded to cries for help. police reporter jim mcnabb has that story. murders don t happen here, but early this afternoon, 31-year-old chris morton was found dead in her home s master bedroom. it was like a movie. the big yellow crime scene ribbons all around my house. cop cars everywhere. it was discovered by a neighbor. who saw the small child outside the house. when sheriff boutwell told me that chris was dead, i asked if it was murder. he said yes. i asked to see her, i wanted not proof, but i needed to see her. and the sheriff refused. neighbors said the family had gone out to eat last night. it was michael morton s birthday. morton was at work for a grocery store chain when he heard his
and i don t have i can t do anything else. i m out of ideas. what do i do? you get the sense that you re at these people s mercy. and you hope to god they know what they re doing. almost from the very beginning of the investigation, authorities seem to be homing in on a specific suspect. tonight that man is in jail. boutwell knocked on the door, and he told me he was there to arrest me. and i don t remember the exact words, but i said something along the lines of, you ve got to be kidding. what? to me it was just so ludicrous. i turned after some stuff in the kitchen. i grabbed eric and i told him i wanted to call a friend to come get him. he said it wouldn t be necessary. he had already arranged for some neighbors to take my son. i didn t want him to go to those particular neighbors, but they pulled him out of my arms and his arms are outstretched. he s calling to me. they re handcuffing me.
the morton case was the biggest case ken anderson had been involved in. district attorney anderson was somebody that we had seen and looked up to. he really ran the court. he rant case. he was his timing was good. he just came across as not only believable, but almost, you know, just iconic in the room. the lead investigator was don wood, who was on the witness list, and we thought wood would take the stand, and that we would have the opportunity to cross him. and when he was passed to us for cross-examination we d get his reports. they never called don wood, instead they called sheriff boutwell to the stand. he didn t testify for very long, and he didn t really say that much. why were they being so careful with woods? we didn t know. in other trial news, damaging
wife was dead. an autopsy will determine the exact cause of death, but she is said to have suffered some type of head injury. sheriff boutwell is waiting on tests with the department of public safety and also the autopsy before making any more public comment in connection with the case. but the neighbors here are certainly talking quietly among themselves tonight and worried about their families. it s too overwhelming for tears or anguish. it s just complete it s like physiologically you don t know how to respond. today s autopsy report conflicts with findings obtained at the scene of yesterday s murder. sheriff s officers refused to talk in detail about the discrepancies, but they say they deal with the time of the murder. a possible suspect is being questioned about the slaying tonight. i didn t really see them as
by the murder of one of its residents. the young woman was discovered dead when a friend responded to cries for help. police reporter jim mcnabb has that story. murders don t happen here, but early this afternoon, 31-year-old chris morton was found dead in her home s master bedroom. it was like a movie. the big yellow crime scene ribbons all around my house. cop cars everywhere. it was discovered by a neighbor. who saw the small child outside the house. when sheriff boutwell told me that chris was dead, i asked if it was murder. he said yes. i asked to see her, i wanted not proof, but i needed to see her. and the sheriff refused. neighbors said the family had gone out to eat last night. it was michael morton s birthday. morton was at work for a grocery store chain when he heard his wife was dead. an autopsy will determine the exact cause of death, but she is said to have suffered some type of head injury.