Plotter Becomes Victim In Bizarre Murder

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. - Chris Morris, a cocaine addict who couldn't hold a job, thought up a scheme to get rich quick. He and a friend would kill his ex-wife and her 10-year-old daughter to collect a $35,000 life-insurance policy and split the proceeds with his parents.

There was a problem: The policy had lapsed. But Morris' $70,000 policy on himself hadn't.

So Morris' parents - Theron, 76, and Leila, 62, - with the help of the friend, killed their son instead, police said.

The couple and their son's killer then conned a drifter who suffers blackouts into believing he was the killer and confessing to the crime, police said.

Coconut Creek police found Morris' body Jan. 9 in the back seat of his 1985 Ford. It was riddled with six bullet holes. Gray duct tape bound his wrists, mouth and ankles.

Wednesday, investigators arrested Theron and Leila Morris and the friend, Martin Wayne Rector, 34, their son's former roommate. No insurance money was ever paid.

Morris and Rector met while serving time in Martin Correctional Institution, where Morris was jailed on drug charges and Rector for aggravated assault.

Stunned neighbors described Theron and Leila Morris as devoted parents who struggled to help their son overcome a drug addiction.

The parents housed Morris, bought him a car and got him a place to live after his release from jail, neighbors said. Two weeks later, he moved back into his parents' mobile home.

But parents and son fought often. ``I'd hear them arguing,'' neighbor Michael Taylor said.

Detectives gave this account of the killing:

``Initially, Chris approached Rector to kill his ex-wife and her daughter for the insurance money,'' Broward County Sheriff's Lt. Tom Carney said.

When the older Morrises discovered the policy had lapsed because the premiums had not been paid, the ``direction of who was going to be the victim changed,'' said Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro.

On Jan. 8, Rector and Morris went to his parents' home. Rector pulled out a .38-caliber revolver and ordered Morris to the floor.

Theron Morris bound his son with duct tape and helped load him into the back seat of his car. Chris Morris managed to break free and bolt before they left the home, but was shot three times by Rector, detectives said.

``They chased him, caught him and got him back into the car by saying they would take him to the hospital for help,'' Carney said.

Morris was taken to a Coconut Creek residential neighborhood, shot three more times and left in the car, detectives said.

Leila Morris followed in her car and picked up her husband and Rector after the shooting, detectives said. After the shooting, the three carefully planned an alibi.

Investigators said Rector started feeding information about the shooting to drifter John ``Woody'' Wood, a drinking buddy and emotionally disturbed Vietnam veteran. Wood was so convinced he committed the murder that he confessed, saying he killed Morris during a drunken stupor, detectives said.

But detectives felt something didn't ring true. Wood knew some of the details perfectly. Others, he didn't know at all.

Homicide detectives returned to question the parents, who admitted their involvement and fingered Rector, Broward County sheriff's spokesman Al Gordon said.