Season of Madness

by Robert Scott

  Robin Anstey had every right to be afraid. By the evening of Super Bowl Sunday, her son, Gabe, was fuming with anger. On a long road trip back toward Bandon from southern California, he’d become more agitated as the day went on. He was putting the blame in many areas for his string of bad luck, and one of the areas where he placed that blame was squarely on his mom and her boyfriend. The one area where he didn’t seem to place any blame for his various misfortunes was upon himself.

  Gabe was the product of a broken home. When he was age ten, his mother and his father, Danny Morris, were divorced. And it had been a very messy divorce, with Danny constantly blackening Robin’s name to Gabe.

  At least this bad-mouthing was mitigated by Gabe’s older half brother, Jesse McCoy, Robin’s son by a previous marriage. Gabe liked Jesse a lot, and Jesse, in turn, was always a proponent of his mom’s good qualities. In time Gabe began to see things Jesse’s way as well, and once again was on good terms with his mother. It seemed that whatever poisonous feeling he might have had toward her was a thing of the past.

  By 2010, however, all those good feelings about his mom had evaporated. And to make matters worse, Gabe truly disliked his mother’s new boyfriend, Bob Kennelly, although Bob didn’t deserve Gabe’s ire. There had been a lot of water beneath the bridge in Gabe’s life by that point, and most of it had been turbulent. Despite being intelligent and resourceful, he had made one bad decision after another. He had also seen one dream after another collapse in failure. Searching for scapegoats, Gabe looked no further than his mom and Bob.

  Gabe’s delusions about his mom grew until he imagined that she had never understood him and had, in essence, abandoned him as a child. None of that was true, but in Gabe’s mind those powerful images stuck. He began to imagine that his mother was deceitful and relished his misery. It also made him angry that she would not accept the wild claims he now made about himself.

  Gabe had always thought of himself as special. Now he truly believed he had special powers—powers that God had given only to him. He said that he could run blindfolded through the forest at night and hear God’s voice and see God’s face. Things that applied to lesser mortals than himself no longer applied to him. These fantastic remarks so frightened Robin that she told Gabe he needed psychiatric help. This only made Gabe more angry. He didn’t believe he was mentally ill. He believed he was one of God’s chosen, and nearly a superman by that point.

  Whatever blowout Gabe had with his mother and Bob that night was not later recorded. Gabe’s actions of the preceeding week were, however. He was so upset that he had told Jessica to grab a few items and Kalea, and they took off on an erratic journey up and down the West Coast. Bouncing from Seattle to San Diego in a very short space of time, Gabe was searching for friends who would give him money and also would believe in his wild claims. At the end of the week, he had gathered neither, and he was more angry than ever. Someone was going to have to pay, and Gabe was more angry at his mom and Bob than anyone else in the world.

  All morning long on February 8, 2010, Gabe Morris hid in bushes and trees and watched the residence where his mom lived. She was living with Bob Kennelly in a beautiful home up on a ridge that overlooked the Coquille River Valley. When Gabe saw Robin and Bob leave for the day, he sneaked into the house and made sure that no one else was there. Then he escorted Jessica and Kalea into the home to take a shower and get some rest.

  Meanwhile, Gabe paced up and down, stewing about all his misfortunes. He also scavenged through the house for things of value. One thing he found, was a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that belonged to Bob. Gabe stuck the gun in his jacket pocket and pondered his next move. As the sun went down early beneath the trees on that cold February night, Gabe came to a decision as to what that next move would be.

  Shortly after 8:00 P.M., February 8, 2010, Robin and Bob arrived home and parked in the driveway. Suspecting nothing amiss, they walked to the front door and entered the living room. They took a few steps into the interior of the house and were met by an astonishing sight. Gabe was on an upstairs balcony that overlooked the living room. He was primed and ready with a gun in his hand.

  Robin and Bob started running toward the front door just as the semiautomatic pistol erupted with one shot, then another and another. Bob collapsed in the interior of the house, already dying of his wounds. Robin managed to stagger outside onto the front deck. Gabe followed her. As she crawled toward the driveway, Gabe came up alongside her. Then he lowered the barrel of the pistol and, without a word, sent a bullet into Robin’s brain. He gazed down upon what he had done, as if he hadn’t just killed his mother, but had dispatched a complete stranger.

  In the bedroom Jessica heard some loud noises coming from the front of the house. She stirred restlessly in bed, until Gabe unexpectedly burst into the room and told her in an agitated voice that they had to leave immediately.

  Shaken and confused, Jessica did as she was told, awakened daughter Kalea and made a dash for the door. Jessica and Kalea were in their pajamas and didn’t even take time to put shoes on their feet. Jessica had no idea where they were going or why. But as soon as Gabe hustled her and Kalea out the front door and into a car, all questions about why disappeared. Jessica looked down in horror at the dead bodies of Robin and Bob.

  Gabe started the car and backed out of the driveway and into the darkness of the night.

  Chapter 2

  It was already a strange story, and it was about to get much stranger. On February 9, 2010, the Coos County District Attorney’s Office got a phone call from Fred Eschler, who lived in Coquille. District Attorney (DA) Paul Frasier personally knew Eschler, but Frasier was not in his office at the time. Eschler conveyed to one of the staff at the DA’s office that on the evening of Monday, February 8, he had been contacted at home by a person claiming to be involved in counterterrorism activities with the United States federal government.

  Eschler did not identify this individual at the time, but he did say that the person had come by his home asking for help. The reason this person needed help was that he had supposedly been working undercover and had recently been involved with two homicides in the Bandon area. This person claimed that he’d infiltrated a terrorist cell in the area, and had barely escaped with his life. He had killed one of the terrorists; but, unfortunately, two other innocent bystanders in the area had been killed by the terrorist group.

  When DA Frasier got the news, he was unaware of anyone being murdered in the Bandon area in the previous week, and he had his staff recontact Fred Eschler to get more information. Since this might involve the federal government, the DA staff member told Eschler to contact the FBI directly. During this phone conversation Eschler told the staff member that he was very concerned about the individual in question, and he had provided that person with a gun and a vehicle. The individual had said that he had to get out of the area, not only for his own safety, but that of his family as well.

  Meanwhile, unbeknownst to DA Frasier or anyone in his office, Coos County Sheriff ’s Office (CCSO) sergeant Dave Hermann had been working on a potential missing person case involving a female named Jessica Morris. On February 5, Hermann had received a “concern call” from the Women’s Safety and Resource Center in the area. Jessica was a volunteer there and they had not heard from her since very late in January. Jessica was a reliable person, and she had never acted in this manner before.

  Sergeant Hermann went to the women’s center and learned that Jessica worked at Bandon Bookkeeping. That was Sergeant Hermann’s next stop and he spoke with Mary Donaldson of that establishment. Donaldson told Sergeant Hermann that Jessica had been employed at Bandon Bookkeeping for the previous two months, but the last time she came to work was on January 28. Jessica had mentioned something to the effect that things were not going well in her household, and that their finances were in trouble. After that, Jessica had not returned to work, nor had she picked up her last paycheck. Not unlike the people at the Women’s Safety and Resource Center, Mary als
o spoke of Jessica as a reliable person who had performed her tasks well and was liked by others there.

  Donaldson told Sergeant Hermann that Jessica was married to Gabriel Morris, and added that Gabriel’s mother was Robin Anstey. In fact, according to Donaldson, Jessica, Gabriel and their daughter were living with Gabriel’s mother in a home off Highway 42 South. Donaldson said that she had once driven Jessica home, when Jessica didn’t have a ride, and she was not sure of the exact address on the highway. She did give Sergeant Hermann some directions and he was able to determine its precise location on Highway 42 South.

  Looking further into the matter, Sergeant Hermann learned that Bill Pope, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was Jessica’s father. Hermann had wondered if Jessica might have shown up there in the previous week. During a phone conversation Pope told Hermann something very interesting. He said that before Jessica married Gabriel Morris, she had $100,000 in the bank from a settlement she received from a very bad sledding accident in that state. This had happened when Jessica was thirteen years old. Pope said that once Jessica married Gabriel, they went through that money very quickly. He was sure that Gabriel was the reason why. According to Pope, Gabriel always had some grand scheme going, but none of them had succeeded.

  In an irate voice Pope added that in the not-too-distant past, Gabriel had cheated on Jessica, having an affair with a woman in Pocatello, Idaho. Gabriel and Jessica split up for a short time; but after the affair ended, Jessica took Gabriel back. Pope said that he was absolutely stunned when the woman in Idaho, with whom Gabriel had been having the affair, called him. She said that she wanted to find out where Gabriel was. She said she intended to sue him for using her credit cards without her permission and running up huge balances on those accounts.

  Pope told Sergeant Hermann it was he who had told Gabriel and Jessica to return to Coos County, Oregon, because Gabriel was from there. Once they were there, Pope suggested, they declare bankruptcy and try to get their finances in order. In fact, Pope said that he had given them $7,000 to move to Coos County from Idaho so they could have a fresh start. He loaned them a small pickup truck as well. Pope knew that Gabe, Jessica and Kalea had moved in with Gabe’s mother at her boyfriend’s house. He was a man named Bob Kennelly.

  Pope related that the last time he had spoken with Jessica was on February 5, and she was all right at that time. Nothing seemed to be amiss. Then Pope added, “I believe Gabriel was nearby and manipulating her conversation with me.”

  Around the same time that all of this was occurring, a resident in Coquille complained about an abandoned pickup truck in that town. The Coquille Police Department (CPD) sent out an officer to investigate and found the pickup truck parked on the 1000 block of North Dean Street. As it turned out, that was the same block where Fred Eschler lived—the man who had called the DA’s office because of his concerns about a person involved in counterterrorism who was now apparently on the run. When an officer went to check out the vehicle, he learned that the vehicle belonged to Bob Kennelly, who lived between Bandon and Coquille.

  Because of Bob Kennelly’s pickup being illegally parked in Coquille, a Coos County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) deputy was sent out there to have him move it. What the deputy found, however, was beyond his wildest expectations. The bodies of two dead adults were found, one within the house and another just outside the front door.

  On the property a red GMC pickup, with Idaho license plates, was discovered. It was registered to Bill Pope, who was Jessica’s father. Sergeant Hermann had already learned that Pope had loaned this pickup truck to Gabriel and Jessica so that they could make their way to Oregon.

  More and more officers began arriving on scene. This soon included CCSO, the Coquille Police Department, Bandon Police Department (BPD) and other agencies as well.

  CPD chief Mark Dannels went to talk with Fred and Laura Eschler of that town. During that interview Fred told the police chief that on the evening of February 8, sometime between nine and nine-thirty, Gabriel and Jessica Morris showed up unexpectedly with their four-year-old daughter, Kalea.

  Fred and Laura Eschler knew Gabriel because he had dated one of their daughters when he was younger, and Gabe had also gone to their church. On February 8, Gabe was in a hurry and it was not a social call. He told the Eschlers that he was working undercover for the United States Air Force in counterterrorism work. And then Gabe blurted out, “Terrorists killed my mother and her friend! I shot one of the terrorists and made my escape.” His words were hurried, but he looked physically calm, and Fred understood him to say that he had killed one of the terrorists..

  Gabe was very determined to get .40-caliber ammunition from Fred. Fred said that he didn’t have that kind of ammo. Then Gabe declared that he had to get out of town quickly, and would Fred drive him, Jessica and Kalea to San Diego. Fred had no idea how dangerous all of this was, and he certainly didn’t want to put his own family in danger. He was no counterterrorist, so he declined this suggestion. And besides, both Fred and his wife had to work the next day.

  Fred did note, however, that Gabe, Jessica and Kalea were not dressed for such rainy, cold weather. The Eschlers gave them warmer clothing and sleeping bags. Gabe was thankful for this, but he kept insisting he needed .40-caliber ammunition with which to protect himself and his family. During this conversation Fred noticed that a pistol fell out of Gabe’s jacket onto the couch. Gabe quickly picked it up, and Fred assumed that Gabe wanted the .40-caliber ammo for this handgun.

  Fred finally loaned him a 9mm semiautomatic handgun with three additional loaded magazines and some cash. He also loaned him a car in which Gabe would supposedly drive to California and report in at an air force base there.

  Gabe piled their meager belongings into the car. With Jessica at the wheel, the Eschlers saw Gabe and Kalea lie down on the backseat of the car. And then without a word, Jessica took off. The Eschlers watched their vehicle and the Morrises disappear down the street.

  Laura Eschler told Chief Dannels that while Fred was engaged in conversation with Gabe, she had tried talking to four-year-old Kalea. Laura said that a four-year-old’s language was hard to understand, but she took Kalea to say, “Something bad happened to Grandma.” Laura added that Gabe heard this and stopped Kalea from saying any more. Then Gabe said, “Kalea, you are not to talk about what happened to Grandma to anyone.”

  The Eschlers’ interview with Chief Dannels really set off alarm bells with DA Paul Frasier. He personally owned a .40-caliber Glock handgun and was familiar with the ammunition that it used. He had been to the crime scene; and along with Sergeant Dan Looney, they had seen a spent .40-caliber shell casing on the deck. Also between the bodies of Robin and Bob, they saw an empty magazine, which appeared to come from a .40-caliber semiautomatic weapon.

  What had initially seemed to be so random and extraordinary now started to make sense in DA Paul Frasier’s mind. He no longer believed in terrorists and some sort of shoot-out between them and Gabriel Morris, where Robin Anstey and Bob Kennelly became innocent bystander victims. Frasier began to believe that the sole shooter in all of this was Gabriel Morris. Just why Morris had done it remained to be sorted out.

  Frasier went back to his office and began writing out an arrest warrant. In it he stated: I have probable cause to believe and do believe that Gabriel Christian Morris is responsible for the death of Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly. As these two deaths occurred during the same criminal episode, that two charges of Aggravated Murder have been committed and that Gabriel Christian Morris is responsible for their deaths.

  Writing up an arrest warrant was one thing—actually determining where Gabe Morris and his family had gone was quite another. They could have gone in any number of directions, since they were known to have friends up and down the West Coast. And the questions soon became, not only where had they gone, but why had Gabe Morris killed his mother and her boyfriend? And how had this young man, who people said was once friendly and outgoing, turned into a cold-blooded killer?

 
About the Author

  Robert Scott, the author of eighteen previous Pinnacle true-crime books, has had numerous articles published in national magazines. Shattered Innocence, his account of the Jaycee Dugard case, was a national bestseller. His mystery novel, A Death in the Valley, is available from Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. A member of several national writers’ organizations, he lives in Northern California.

  Robert Scott finds true-crime writing incredibly interesting. He comments: “You have to be part journalist, part detective and part analytical writer for the true-crime market.” His books have detailed the lives of killers and victims, police detectives and FBI agents—from California to Iowa, from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. They’ve depicted stories from a murderous male/female team in the High Sierras to a psychopathic killer on the mean streets of Los Angeles. They’ve also told the stories of victims, from an exotic dancer, to a beautiful but naive college girl, to a loving and vulnerable ranch wife.

  According to Scott, “The lives of the victims, and the detectives who brought them justice, are vitally important in these stories. I absolutely believe in a comment related to me by an assistant United States attorney, ‘To the living, we owe respect. To the dead, we owe the truth.’ ”