No arrest made in murder

Madison County Chief Deputy Shawn Burns said Tuesday that a shotgun was the weapon used to commit the murder and that both shots to Morrison’s body, one in the head and one in the chest, were believed to be caused by the same weapon.

Results of an autopsy on Morrison’s body yielded nothing officers didn’t already know, Burns said.

Burns would not say whether law enforcement officials are looking for more than one suspect.

Morrison’s Chevrolet dually truck, believed to be stolen from his rental home at the time of the murder, was found on Nov. 7 abandoned in Beechwood Shopping Center in Athens.

The truck was taken to the Athens office of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for analysis. Though Sheriff Kip Thomas said last week that evidence was found in the vehicle, he would not specify what it was.

Morrison, 44, was found by two sheriff’s deputies in a pasture next to a small pond on Friday morning, Nov. 5, after family members reported him missing.

The investigation began the day before when an officer at the sheriff’s office called and spoke to Morrison’s landlord around 3:45 p.m. concerning Morrison.

The landlord said that she had spoken with Morrison by phone at around 1:30 p.m. and that about 1:46 p.m. she heard a “lot of screaming over the phone and what sounded like Morrison saying ‘What the …?’”

Phone contact was lost and she told the officer that she tried to call him back repeatedly but that his phone went to voicemail. The landlord, who is not being identified, told the Journal that she then spoke with family members who were also concerned. She said Morrison, a homebuilder and remodeler, was planning on leaving that day for Texas to find work.

Morrison had told the landlord that he had met his estranged wife for lunch, that she had just left, and he was in Commerce picking up some flyers for his business before leaving town.

According to the incident report, the landlady said that Morrison had told her he had received several death threats.

Arson was also reported at this residence on Oct. 18.

Thomas said Morrison is believed to have been killed sometime on the afternoon of Nov. 4.