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 (ROTC) 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 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 2002 : According to his confession, Morris claimed that in early September 2002, he exchanged with 46-year-old sex worker Barbara Codman, who agreed to have sex with Morris for $20. After the sex, Morris claimed he went outside to run nighttime work while Barbara stayed in the trailer to do drugs. Later, upon entering the trailer, Morris discovered Barbara unresponsive, attributing her death to an overdose. After some time, Morris reportedly changed the story to detectives and claimed he accidentally strangled her during sex. * Shanteria Davis — October 2002 : According to his confession, Morris said in October 2002, Shanteria Davis agreed to have sex in his trailer for $5. Upon the outcome of the sex, Morris left the trailer for some time before returning and finding Davis unconscious. He claimed he covered her body with a blanket before heading out, after which he returned home and disposed of her body in an alleyway not too far from his house. Upon hearing from homicide detectives how this explanation was impossible, Morris recanted his original confession. He asserted that during the night of the sex, Davis had requested Morris to choke her with her own hair, but upon doing that, he accidentallyTrial 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.See also
*References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Cory 1978 births 2002 murders in the United States 2003 murders in the United States 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American criminals American male criminals American people convicted of murder American people convicted of rape American prisoners sentenced to death American serial killers Crimes against sex workers in the United States Criminals from Oklahoma History of Phoenix, Arizona Living people Necrophiles People convicted of murder by Arizona Prisoners sentenced to death by Arizona Serial killers from Arizona