I went to high school with him and sat next to him in several classes our senior year due to the fact that our last names were close alphabetically. I felt the movie did a good job telling the story. Only a few major changes were made from the real story (Names were changed.) The real life killer was a much better dresser. He took a lot of pride in his appearance and was always dressed in a button-down shirt not the t-shirts of the movie. The entire town of Ozark, Alabama was socked when the murders happened in the summer of 1988. We were in between high school and college that summer. The real life killer was the member of a popular trio of brothers. I think that he was jealous of their success. He had shot part of his foot off hunting many years before and was never the athlete or ladies man like his brothers. It never occurred to me that he was capable of such a diabolical murder. However, thinking back I now see some clues. He had an anger problem. I remember that he told me once how he beat up another car driver in a case of road rage on the way back from Auburn, Alabama to the point of unconsciousness. I can still remember the morning after the murder. The entire town was shocked and believed that the mafia had to be involved. I went to see him that day but he was sedated. It took many years before the authorities were able to pin the murder on him. I think the final confession to his other brother is fairly accurate from what I read in the papers. I think that he has a sentence of life imprisonment. His wife and child will never see him outside of prison. It has been a long time since I have seen the movie but I want to write the facts of the murders. He came home from his girlfriends's house late that night. His family was asleep. He had left the back sliding door unlocked. He came in and took one of the phones off the hook. He picked up one of his shotguns and loaded it. He went into the room belonging to his brother who was home from Troy State University. He shot him in the head while sleeping. His father heard the noise and came down the hallway. He shot his father in the hallway. His mother was looking from the bedroom and tried to shut the door. As she was shutting the door, he shot her hand. She locked the door and tried to use the phone in the bedroom to call for help. He had taken the phone off the hook so it was hopeless. He shot his own mother in cold blood. I have heard that she was holding a bible with her one good hand. I'm not sure if that is true. He cleaned his shotgun and put it back in the case. He picked up the empty shells. He missed one that landed between the headboard and wall in his brother's room. That eventually was his downfall. He went back to his girlfriend's house and went back to sleep without her parents knowing that he was gone. She lived toward Auburn so that he slept on the couch at her parents place when they had a date. They married not too long after the murders. A wife does not have to testify against her husband! People in Ozark began to get suspicious when he refused to take a lie detector machine. I think it took 3 or 4 years before he confessed to his brother. I know that the FBI did have snipers trained on him in case he found out that his brother was wired. One of the worst tragedies to ever hit my home town. I believe that I read his family members got $250,000 for the rights to the story.
The Morrison Murders: Based on a True Story
(1996 TV Movie)
I knew the real life killer that the movie is based on.
30 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers