Gabriel Morris gets TWO CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES for the murders of his mother, Robin Lynn Anstey and her friend Robert William Kennelly Jr

The above picture says it all!!! At least this part of this crime has a very happy ending!

I agree, I am glad the child is safe and with family that she is use to, that know her and lover her.

After hearing from over a dozen witnesses on Wednesday, a Coos County Grand Jury returns indictments against Gabriel and Jessica Morris.

On Thursday, Jessica appeared in a Coos County courtroom to be arraigned on her indictment for hindering prosecution.

Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier says a total of 13 witnesses gave testimony on the case to the grand jury behind closed doors.

"Several investigators, the medical examiner, Fred and Laura Eschler. We also had some neighbors where the homicide scene occurred, who had heard some things on the evening we believe the murder occurred," said Frasier.

The grand jury also indicted Gabe Morris on two counts of aggravated murder, for the deaths of his mother Robin Anstey and her boyfriend Robert Kennelly, but so far he remains in custody in Virginia fighting extradition.

There is the other matter of Jessica being held as a material witness and Frasier says she is entitled to a hearing, but adds that it may not be necessary.

"If she decides to become a cooperative witness, in that situation, a hearing may not be necessary because then we would be able to maybe work out an alternative to holding her in jail pending Gabriel Morris' case being resolved."

Frasier wouldn't comment on a possible motive for the crime, or why Jessica decided to flee Coos County with her husband.

As for the couple's four year old daughter Kalea, Frasier said he couldn't confirm it, but believes Jessica's parents, Bill and Rita Pope, were to take custody of her Wednesday afternoon.

Jessica will be back in court on March 22.

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Thank God these two were indicted!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the updates, BJ!! I hope these two never see the light of day!

Glad to hear Kalea is going to be or may already be back with her Grandparents!! :cheers:

Mommy, lets just pray the grandparents are not wack a doos.

Having known Bob (Robert Kennelly), he would appreciate the outpouring of care you all have demonstrated. He was a very caring person. One thing to note is that there wasn't anything illegal going on his his house. I understand that the marijuana permit filing isn't your typical everyday thing, but if they were doing anything illegal, they wouldn't have filed for the permit. Thanks for the support - this is the best site I have found for up-to-date information on this sad tragedy.

Bob's Friend wrote:Having known Bob (Robert Kennelly), he would appreciate the outpouring of care you all have demonstrated. He was a very caring person. One thing to note is that there wasn't anything illegal going on his his house. I understand that the marijuana permit filing isn't your typical everyday thing, but if they were doing anything illegal, they wouldn't have filed for the permit. Thanks for the support - this is the best site I have found for up-to-date information on this sad tragedy.

Hi Bob's Friend! Welcome to VH! I have wondered about his mother and Mr. Kennelly. It seems the press was so focused on finding Gabriel Morris (and rightfully so), that we didn't get a clear picture of who the victims were. I truly appreciate you giving us a glimpse of Bob. My condolences to you and all those that are grieving as a result of this horrible tragedy.

Thank you so much - this is a very special site. I feel glad to have found it.

The wife of an Oregon murder suspect captured a continent away in Virginia after appearing on "America's Most Wanted" faces charges she hindered the prosecution in the case.

A grand jury indicted Jessica Morris on a count of hindering prosecution. A court formally arraigned her Thursday.

She was also wanted as a material witness to the murders of her mother-in-law Robin Anstey and Anstey's boyfriend Robert Kennelly in their Bandon, Ore., home Feb. 8.

Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier said Morris is entitled to a hearing -- but that may not be necessary.

"If she decides to become a cooperative witness, in that situation, a hearing may not be necessary," he said, "because then we would be able to maybe work out an alternative to holding her in jail pending Gabriel Morris' case being resolved."

The grand jury also indicted Gabe Morris on two counts of aggravated murder, formally charging him with the murders of his mother Anstey and her boyfriend.

He is still in Virginia, fighting a return to Oregon.

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The 4-year-old girl whose parents are accused of involvement in a double homicide is back in the city staying with her grandparents.
Bill and Rita Pope traveled to Virginia to get custody of granddaughter Kalea Morris and all three returned to Blackfoot on Thursday.
“We’re just happy to be home with Kalea,” Bill Pope said.
He added that his 33-year-old daughter Jessica Morris, accused of helping her husband evade capture for the Feb. 8 double murder, has asked that her parents make no more comments about the case until it’s resolved.
“She said she’d cut me off if I talked to the press,” Bill Pope said. “I’m not talking to anyone from the press ever again until this deal’s resolved.”
Jessica Morris was indicted Wednesday by a Coos County, Oregon, grand jury on a hindering prosecution charge for trying to help husband Gabriel Morris evade capture even though she knew he had allegedly murdered his mother Robin L. Anstey, 62, and her boyfriend Robert W. Kennelly Jr., 48.
Gabriel Morris, a former Bingham County sheriff’s deputy, and Jessica were arrested in Virginia on Feb. 22 after being featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted.” Kalea was with her parents when they were arrested and was placed in foster care until this week, when Bill and Rita Pope were able to take custody of her.
Even though Gabriel Morris, 33, remains in Virginia where he’s fighting extradition, he was indicted by a Coos County grand jury on Wednesday on two counts of aggravated murder for the fatal shooting of his mother and Kennelly in Bandon, Ore.
Jessica Morris agreed to be extradited to Oregon and is currently being held in Coos County jail on $1 million bail.
Authorities are not commenting on the motive in the case—and Jessica’s parents say they will not be making any more comments at all until the charge against her is adjudicated.
“Jessica’s asked that we not advertise in any way, shape or form this predicament in the paper,” Bill Pope said. “So we’ve got to lock it up and say what happens from here on out is our family’s business. We’re sorry but it remains to be seen how it’s going to work itself out. Until it’s all resolved we’re not talking to anyone.”

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Welcome, Bob's friend!

The Coos County District Attorney may be willing to cut a deal with Jessica Morris, if it means getting the woman to testify against her husband, double homicide suspect Gabriel Morris.

District Attorney R. Paul Frasier hasn't determined if the 33-year-old will be considered a material witness. Should the court support it, Jessica Morris will have to stay in jail until the case is resolved. That could take more than a year.

'If she decides to be a cooperative witness, we might be able to work something out," Frasier said. 'She's got some choices ahead of her."

The court date has been set for Monday, March 22, to hear the issue.

Jessica Morris, once a battered-women's advocate, is believed to be a witness in the slayings of her husband's mother, Robin L. Anstey, and her partner, Robert W. Kennelly Jr. on Feb. 8 in Bandon.

On Thursday, Jessica Morris' lips quivered even before Judge Richard Barron entered the Coos County courtroom for her arraignment.

A grand jury indicted Jessica Morris on one charge of hindering prosecution. Jurors also indicted Gabriel Morris on two counts of aggravated murder. The Morrises led police on a manhunt across the country, ending when a SWAT team cornered them in Virginia.

Morris could face five years in prison if convicted of helping her husband flee.

In addition to determining if Jessica Morris will be a material witness, Frasier is researching whether she qualifies for marital immunity. Under marital immunity, a spouse can refuse to testify, but there are crimes where that privilege doesn't apply. Frasier doesn't know yet if this case will fall into that category.

'One of the things we're discussing is whether she will testify," Frasier said.

Marital immunity also protects confidential communication between husband and wife. For example, the defendant could prevent his wife from disclosing any private conversations they had either before or after the crime occurred.

The DA hasn't released a motive for the homicides. But police found a medical marijuana growing operation at Kennelly's home near Bandon, according to court documents. The documents suggested some plants were missing, but Frasier said he doesn't know if any adult plants were taken. The medical marijuana license had been issued several weeks earlier, so the plants may not have had time to mature. Frasier didn't say whose license it was, but the state listed Kennelly, Anstey and Gabriel Morris as being associated with the property.

'There is a lot of speculation about that, but I can't tell you anything else," Frasier said.

On the night of the shootings, the couple and their 4-year-old daughter went to Coquille resident Fred and Laura Eschler's home. Fred Eschler told investigators he last saw the family driving away in a Ford Taurus he loaned them, along with a gun and money.

Frasier called 13 witnesses to testify in front of the grand jury Wednesday, including investigators, the county medical examiner, the Eschlers and Kennelly's neighbors who heard gun shots that Monday night. A police officer and Kelly Love's mother-in-law, the one who turned the suspects into police, testified via video conference from Virginia.

The Morrises had been staying at Love's home, and had been driving from the residence when officers arrested them.

Gabriel Morris has refused extradition and remains in a Virginia jail.

'If that's what he wants to do, that's his right," Frasier said.

The couples daughter, Kalea, has been placed with Jessica Morris' parents in Idaho.

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Welcome to VH, Bob's Friend. I'm sorry for your loss and I hope you will see, along with all of us at VH, your friend and his partner get the justice they both deserves. This was a senseless crime!

Gosh, cutting a deal with her - I don't know how I feel about this. Of course we don't have all the info, but I'm really torn on this issue. Any advice?

bobs friend. If she did not participate at all in the murder cutting a deal with her would be a good thing. She has a young daughter that needs her. I would like to hear the her story. I hope she talks.

I hope this deal has nothing to do with the fact the Mrs Morris, the DA and the Eschler's all have ties to the same church.

I agree, BJ. The last thing in this case anyone needs is the church being the reason for this deal.

"Bob'sFriend", Welcome to VH!!
I hope that you find some solace and peace here and I am so sorry for your loss! You seem to be a genuine, caring friend!

hello everyone, i am bobs grandson, he was married to my grandma before she passed from cancer in 2008, like bobs friends i would like to thank everyone for the kindness they have shhown my grandpa, he was a good man......

i do not believe that she had nothing to do with it, my aunt has emails from bob dated 6 months before the killings and he was talking about how "they were terrorizing the house and bob and robin never wanted to come home."

Welcome nathanduell91, sorry for the circumstances that caused you to find this site. There are a lot of sad and horrible happenings in the news these days, but we try to be a compassionate, understanding, supportive site in the midst of it all.

Welcome, Nathan. I am sure you will find friends here, VH has many good and caring people in its membership. Please accept my sympathy for your loss, made worse for you I am sure by the circumstances surrounding it.

nathanduell91, I am very, very sorry for the loss of your grandfather. How sad for you and your family. My heart goes out to you.

Welcome to VH. You will find wonderful, kind, caring members here who will listen to you if you need to vent. Anything we can do for you, please let us know.

i do not believe that she had nothing to do with it, my aunt has emails from bob dated 6 months before the killings and he was talking about how "they were terrorizing the house and bob and robin never wanted to come home."

I hope you have turned the emails over to LE.
Welcome to VH. I hope we all see justice for your grandfather and soon.

nathanduell91
I am so sorry for your loss. I pray for the comfort of you and your family during this time and that there will be justice in this case.

nathanduell91, I too am so VERY sorry for the loss of your Grandpa!

I hope they lock Gabriel up and throw away the key! He seems to be a VERY disturbed young man, who obviously has a fishy past!

A memorial service will be held for Robert William “Bob” Kennelly Jr., 49, of Bandon, at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Green Spot, 181 Anderson Ave., downtown Coos Bay. Pastor Phil Jeffery will officiate. A reception will follow. Cremation rites have been held under the direction of Nelson’s Bay Area Mortuary.

Bob was born Feb. 5, 1961, in Los Angeles, Calif. He died Feb. 10, 2010, in Bandon.

He was raised and educated in Redwood City, Calif., where he met Linda Sellers. They were married Aug. 14, 1985, in San Jose, Calif. They divorced in 2002. Bob moved 20 years ago to Sumner, where he worked for JGS Machine Shop for 14 years. He later moved to Bandon, where he had since resided. He was married to Linda Bray in 2004 and she died of cancer in 2008.

Bob loved motorcycles, animals, raising Alpacas, taking care of his property, hunting and drawing. He also enjoyed spending time with friends and family.

Bob is survived by his daughters, Hannah Kennelly of North Bend and Alia and Dillon Hogan of Coos Bay; father, Paul Labovitch of Liberal, Mo.; and half-sister, Christine Rich.

He was preceded in death by mother and adopted father Charlene and Robert Kennelly.

Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson’s Bay Area Mortuary, 541-267-4216.http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2010/02/23/community/obits/doc4b840e63b9d5c304976182.txt

Jesse McCoy got a collect phone call last Wednesday, from Prince William County jail in Manassas, Va. It was his half-brother, Gabriel Morris, who is accused of murdering their mother and her boyfriend last month at their home outside Coquille.

McCoy thought his brother might be calling to confess. But that’s not how the conversation went.

“Instead of me blatantly asking, ‘Did you kill our mother?’ I said, ‘Gabe, do you need my help?’ I was still hoping the little kid I once knew was hurting, was scared. I got nothing,” McCoy said. “He said ‘I don’t know why the f*** I’m here.’ ”

McCoy said he tried to get through to his 33-year-old brother, who had grown up with him in a rough part of San Diego, bonding over “Star Wars” and G.I. Joe.

They had different fathers, but a solid connection. Gabe was a child who had seemed to love his mom boundlessly, writing her beautifully worded Mother’s Day cards that made McCoy feel like his own were lame runners-up. This was the kid who craved attention, hugs, affection.

But the man on the other end of the line Wednesday was not the Gabe Morris that McCoy once knew. Gabe complained about his jail cell, saying his sheets hadn’t been changed. He railed about their mother, Robin Anstey, and her boyfriend, Bob Kennelly, saying she’d abandoned him, that she didn’t care about him.

“I said, ‘You’re there because they think you murdered our mother,’ ” McCoy said. “ ‘Do you know that mom is dead?’ He just went right on to something else. I don’t know this guy he is now, at all. He has become a master liar.”

A phone call

Robin Anstey and Bob Kennelly spent one of their last nights alive watching the Super Bowl with friends in Coos Bay. They’d been planning the get-together for days.

Then came a phone call from Gabe. He wanted Anstey to cancel her plans and have dinner with him. She said no.

“We’ve made plans,” she told him, according to Ebon Morse, who hosted the football gathering and overheard the call. “We can have this conversation later.”

Anstey’s relationship with her son had become increasingly difficult, she confided to Morse. After years of job-hopping and a mounting pile of debt, Gabe had been offered a post as a mechanic at a luxury automobile dealership in Eastern Oregon, $17 an hour to start.

But he decided not to take the job, he told his mother, and was coming home to talk about it, with his wife, Jessica, and their 4-year-old daughter, Kalea, in tow. He wanted to have dinner that night.

Anstey said she was afraid to go home.

“I said ‘Stay downstairs, stay here. We just changed the sheets,’ ” Morse said. “Bob said ‘No, we have to go home and take care of this.’ The look on Robin’s face, I’ll never forget it. You don’t see a mother afraid of her child. It’s not normal.”

Eight days later, Coos County sheriff’s deputies discovered Anstey’s and Kennelly’s bodies at the entrance of their rural home, Bob in the doorway, Robin on the porch. They were ambushed, alleges District Attorney Paul Frasier, shot as soon as they walked into their house.

Their killer, according to the prosecutor: Gabe Morris, Anstey’s youngest child, the son she knew as “Gabi.”

Kennelly was shot five times, according to the county medical examiner: in the leg, the back of his neck, across the abdomen, in the shoulder, and the fatal shot, which pierced his lung. Anstey was shot four times; once in the leg, once in her lower back, once in the left arm and the wound that killed her, a shot to the side of the head.

Gabe’s wife and child were in the house at the time, Frasier said. Kalea later told a family friend that “something happened to grandma.”

Many descriptions

Beyond those facts, the prosecutor said, he’s still puzzling over what led the former Idaho sheriff’s deputy to murder his own mother, and who Gabriel Christian Morris really is.

So are Gabe’s friends and relatives, stunned by word of the Feb. 8 killings and the Morris family’s flight across the country, as a nationwide audience followed the saga on “America’s Most Wanted.”

People who know Gabe describe him with wildly varying terms: He’s a con artist; a genius; a gifted salesman; a video game junkie; a pothead; a religious fanatic; a devoted husband, father and son; affectionate; manipulative; an attention-seeker; a braggart; a man of volatile emotions, as capable of weeping as he is of screaming.

He could convince anyone of anything. He could talk to you for hours without really saying much. He was successful at everything he started, be it selling insurance, repairing luxury cars or working as a personal trainer.

But he was a perennial failure at sticking with it. He is lost, searching, never satisfied, never at peace. To call Gabe complicated is to call Everest a big hill.

Or, as Frasier puts it: “I don’t know if anybody really knows who the real Gabe Morris is.”

“Genius-level” smart

Gabe grew up in San Diego with McCoy, Robin’s son from a previous marriage. Both children were raised by Gabe’s father, Danny Morris.

Six years Gabe’s senior, McCoy describes that childhood as mostly a happy one. Danny Morris and Gabe were both “genius-level” smart, McCoy said.

Mother and son loved books, especially fantasy: “Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit.” Gabe’s dad was into that genre, too, an avid Dungeons and Dragons player. As Gabe was drawn into similar games on the computer, they enveloped him, McCoy said. These contests allowed players to live in an online world, a complete disconnect from reality.

“He was so consumed in those games,” said McCoy, who now works as a medical sales representative in Florida. “I used to tell him, ‘Get away from the computer. Go outside.’ I thought they crowded his mind.”

Gabe worshipped his mother, McCoy said.

“He was the most loving boy you could imagine,” McCoy said. “He always needed the attention of his mother. He needed to have affection, to be hugged.”

But there was another side to the boy, too. McCoy said his brother was quick to take a roughhousing match to the next level. He’d bite, or go for the groin.

“I was always worried he would go one step further,” McCoy said. “Mom called Gabe ‘the devil child.’ ”

Difficult divorce

Danny Morris and Robin divorced when Gabe was 10, and the split “wasn’t pretty,” McCoy said. “No divorce is.”

Danny convinced a judge that Gabe’s mom was using drugs, according to McCoy and Robin’s third husband, James Anstey, an allegation both say was false.

And, once he got full custody of Gabe, Danny Morris convinced his son that his mother didn’t fight for him, that she simply up and left for Oregon, McCoy said.

Danny Morris, who is now dead, was abusive to his wife and son, said Anstey, who was married to Robin for 10 years and who said Gabe called him “the father I never had.”

Robin was terrified of her ex-husband, Anstey said.

Despite his family’s rocky breakup, Gabe earned stellar grades in school and had a bright future, his relatives said. The boy was good at everything he tried.

Still, McCoy said, “It seemed like Gabe was always searching for something.”

In high school, Gabe fell in love with a classmate, Esther Eschler. As the couple’s relationship blossomed, he began attending her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He eventually converted.

After graduating from Coquille High School, Gabe earned an associate of arts degree in auto repair at Mt. Hood Community College. A Portland BMW dealership immediately offered him a job.

After two years working for the dealership, though, Gabe’s deepening faith in his church led him to Sydney, Australia, to serve as a missionary. When he returned, he moved in with Robin and James, who had just begun dating.

The family got along fine, James Anstey said, and he was impressed with Gabe — save for one bizarre spat over a can of peaches.

Anstey had bought the fruit on a grocery trip, and he ate it — to Gabe’s extreme dismay.

“He got violently mad, because I guess he liked peaches and I ate the last can,” Anstey remembers. “He yelled ‘How dare you?’ ”

It was a red flag, but not a pattern — at least, not at that point.

School and marriage

Gabe’s faith took him next to Brigham Young University on an ROTC scholarship. His new career goal was to become a fighter pilot.

That didn’t pan out. Gabe wound up dropping out of BYU, but not before he met Jessica Pope, who shared his love of the Latter-day Saints faith. They met at a church function.

When Jessica first took her new beau home to meet her parents, Bill and Rita Pope, the couple had some early concerns about Gabe’s credibility, according to Frasier, the district attorney. Gabe assured Jessica’s parents that the two weren’t romantically involved.

“The next thing Mr. Pope knows, they’re engaged,” Frasier said.

The Popes’ issues with Gabe didn’t end there. Their daughter had a $100,000 insurance settlement from a sleighing accident in junior high school, in which she’d broken her neck. Not long after the two were married, Bill Pope wrote in an affidavit filed with the Coos County court, Gabe frittered away the entire amount. He also continued to have trouble sticking with a job.

“As soon as something happened that didn’t sit right with him,” Pope said, “he’d quit.”

“Red flags” as deputy

In 2005, Gabe graduated from the Idaho Police Academy and joined the Bingham County Sheriff’s Department as a patrol deputy, two months before Jessica gave birth to their daughter, Kalea.

As a graduation present, Anstey sent Gabe a check for $300, to buy his service weapon, a .40-caliber pistol.

It was a .40-caliber pistol that Gabe used to kill his mother and Kennelly, prosecutors allege.

Gabe was a good deputy, said Sheriff Dave Johnson, in an interview with The Register-Guard. “He seemed to enjoy it very well.”

But Gabe told Anstey he didn’t like the way officers handled arrests, that they unfairly entrapped suspects.

“I got a lot more red flags when he was a deputy,” Anstey said.

Gabe quit the job after two years, telling the sheriff he had found work as a bush pilot in Alaska. When that didn’t materialize, he became a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym in Blackfoot, Idaho.

The gym’s managers declined to be interviewed, but one of its members, a Blackfoot insurance agent named Taylor Ball, met Gabe there and liked him so much he recommended him for another job, as a broker at American Family Insurance.

Gabe excelled at selling insurance, as he had at charming his clients at the gym, Ball said.

“He was very positive and outgoing,” Ball said. “He made you feel really good about yourself. He was full of compliments.”

“Might lose control”

Still, there were more red flags. Gabe said and did things that troubled Ball. Both men were fans of mixed martial arts, for example.

“He would say he wanted to do that, but he was worried he might lose control and really hurt somebody,” Ball said.

Gabe also showed Ball pictures on his cell phone of himself covered in blood, claiming they were taken after a bar fight where “he beat this guy really bad.” Ball said.

“I remember once he made the comment, ‘I’m a bad man,’ ” Ball said. “ ‘I’m a good guy, but I’m a bad man.’ ”

Gabe made lots of bizarre claims about side business dealings, Ball added. He said he dealt art to “really wealthy people,” for example, and that he could get whatever they wanted, even pictures of naked children.

“My wife thought that was pretty shady,” Ball said.

When Gabe abruptly quit the insurance business, Ball inherited many of his clients, only to learn that a good number of them hadn’t been signed up for the policies they were promised.

“I’m finding a lot of problems,” Ball said.

Financial pressures

As he hopped from job to job, Gabe’s financial problems began to mount, Anstey said. By the time of the killings, according to Frasier, Gabe had accumulated $100,000 in debt, a combination of student loans and credit cards.

“He never felt the responsibility to earn or provide for his family,” Bill Pope said. “All he was really good at, it seemed like, was maxing out credit cards.”

Gabe didn’t stick to his own credit cards, Pope told investigators. During his time in Blackfoot, Pope said, Gabe had an affair with a woman from Pocatello.

Jessica found out, and planned to leave him, Frasier said. But Gabriel was able to convince his wife that the relationship wasn’t sexual.

“This was the reason Jessica took him back,” Frasier said. “He was able to sell the malarky.”

After Gabe broke it off, the woman from Pocatello called the Popes, Bill Pope said, complaining he’d run up her credit cards, and threatening to sue.

When her parents tried to talk to Jessica about Gabe, she wouldn’t hear of it, Bill Pope told The Register-Guard.

“She thought she could make a responsible, hard-working fella out of him. Those two characteristics never seemed to appear,” Pope said. “She had all the faith in the world in God, and his ability to transform people. It never happened. The subject of Gabe was kind of off limits for family discussion.”

Filed for divorce

In March 2009, Gabe filed for divorce in Bingham County Court, claiming that the couple had “irreconcilable differences.” Jessica signed a settlement that required support payments of no less than $1,000 a month from Gabe, who reported his annual income at the time to be $48,000. Jessica was to retain full custody of Kalea. Earlier this month, Bingham County officials said the case was up for dismissal, because it had not been finalized.

“This,” said James Anstey, “is when things started getting weird.”

The Popes convinced Gabe to move his family to Oregon and live with his mother and Kennelly, who she took up with after divorcing James. The Popes loaned Gabe a truck and $7,000 and urged him to file for bankruptcy in Coos County, to get a fresh start.

Robin welcomed her son, but pushed him to get his act together, James Anstey said. And the Morris’ devout Mormonism was a frequent source of friction.

“We always thought it was strange that he was Mormon,” McCoy said. “Mom would pick at him: ‘You can’t really believe that. You’re smarter than that.’ ”

Troubling stories

But Gabriel stuck to his faith, as the rest of his life continued a downward spiral. James Anstey said he’d grown extremely close to Gabe and, even after Anstey and Gabe’s mother were divorced last spring, they stayed in touch.

Increasingly, Anstey said, he was troubled by the things Gabe told him: that he was involved in criminal business ventures with partners in Las Vegas; that he’d borrowed $25,000 from Kennelly for some kind of computer fraud deal; that he was afraid for his life, after a friend in Vegas had been shot when some portion of the deal went awry; that he wanted Anstey to front goods for him, via Ebay and the antique store Anstey once owned with Gabe’s mother.

Anstey said he tried to get through to Gabe.

“I told him, ‘I don’t know what you’ve done, but the path you’re taking is going to lead you into destruction,’ ” he said.

But the speech didn’t take.

“Gabriel felt like he was untouchable,” Anstey said. “He told me he wasn’t afraid to hurt anybody. He’d say, ‘That’s why they can’t catch me. I’ll never get caught.’ ”

Way to escape

Gabe’s problems only got worse after he moved his family to Oregon. He and Kennelly and his mother started a marijuana grow operation at Kennelly’s house, according to police, although Anstey said neither Robin nor Bob liked to smoke pot.

Gabe was always looking for a way to escape, James Anstey said, which is part of what fascinated him about fantasy video games. (Gabe was eventually apprehended by authorities in Virginia, after his mother was killed, with a woman he met in a online role-playing game called “Perfect World.”)

But Robin Anstey kept trying to bring her son back to earth. Days before his mother’s death, McCoy said, the Popes called Robin and told her about Gabe’s money problems. She confronted him, and he responded with anger, McCoy said.

Gabe blamed her for abandoning him after his parents got divorced, McCoy said. He started claiming he’d been molested as a child, and that his mom had failed to protect him, ultimately abandoning him. The last time McCoy spoke with his mother was four days before she was killed. She told McCoy that Gabe had gotten “mouthy, angry, that she couldn’t believe he could act this way,” McCoy said.

Anstey tried to defend herself against Gabe’s verbal attacks, McCoy said, even showing her son paperwork she’d filed with the court to try to get custody of him after her divorce, telling him, “I didn’t leave you.”

But Gabe couldn’t be placated. The last time he spoke to his brother as a free man, Gabe called their mother “evil.”

On Super Bowl Sunday, Robin Anstey told her friend Ebon Morse that Gabe had become “more and more extreme in his views.” But when it came to specifics, she was “tight-lipped. She just said he was very troubled,” Morse said. Robin Anstey left Morse’s house just after midnight.

Morse never saw his friend again.

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Wow, they really have gathered a lot of details. This is a great article. Thank you for posting it. :study:

Bobsfriend,

wow.... very much for posting that... its just horrible to think that this happend to my grandpa.........

Nathan, so sorry for your loss. Your grandpa sounds like a very caring man. He took Gabe in, lent him money...what a way to pay a person back? He must have really cared for Robin, to have put up with Gabe's behavior. So many families have been destroyed by his hateful actions.

The wife of the man accused of killing two people in Bandon will appear in court Monday for a plea-change hearing.

Jessica Morris is due to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. on a charge of hindering prosecution. The judge, who has not yet been named, also will review her status as a material witness in the death of Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly. Investigators believe Gabriel Morris, 33, shot and killed Anstey, his mother, and her boyfriend, Kennelly.

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Anybody read anything on Jessica's hearing today?

After spending nearly a month in the Coos County Jail on a hindering prosecution charge, the wife of Bandon murder suspect Gabriel Morris is released Monday.

Jessica Morris appeared in Judge Barron's courtroom Monday afternoon.

The 33 year-old plead guilty as part of her agreement with the District Attorney, in exchange for three years probation, and agreeing to testify in all court hearings involving her husband Gabe Morris.

"I think she wanted to get out of jail, I think that was probably the biggest motivator for her. But, secondly, probably equally important, I think she wants to do what's right," said District Attorney Paul Frasier.

Another development in the case Monday, Frasier is now releasing more details about where Jessica was the night Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly were murdered.

"She was asleep in a bedroom with her daughter Kalea, there were shots being fired. Then Gabriel came into the room and said we gotta get out of here. She had to walk by the bodies."

According to Frasier, it doesn't appear that Jessica was forced to do anything she didn't want to do.

"She indicated in the interviews that we had, that she wasn't forced by Gabe to go with him. She wasn't scared that he was going to hurt her or Kalea," said Frasier.

Under her probation guidelines, Morris is not allowed to leave the state for the next three years.

"This was a C felony, under the law, if probation is successfully completed, a C felony can be converted into an A misdemeanor, I agreed to let that occur. It's an expungeable offense."

Frasier says she will also be able to gain back custody of her 4 year-old daughter Kalea.

As for Gabe Morris, he remains in custody in Virginia.

Frasier believes he could be brought back to Oregon by late April.

Jessica Morris was advised by counsel not to speak to the media.

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Jessica Morris traded future testimony against her husband for three years’ probation on a hindering prosecution charge Monday afternoon.

Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said the Bandon-area woman helped her husband, murder suspect Gabriel Morris, flee after the shooting deaths of his mother, Robin Anstey, and her boyfriend, Robert Kennelly Jr.

Judge Richard Barron sentenced 33-year-old Morris to probation that will allow her to live in the community and regain her 4-year-old daughter, Kalea, who is living with her grandparents in Idaho. Because her charge is considered a C felony, it will be reduced to a misdemeanor and can potentially expunged from her record if Morris completes a clean probation.

The sentence comes with several caveats. As a condition of her probation and her status as a material witness in the shootings, Morris cannot leave the state.

Additionally, Frasier said the deal does not provide her immunity if new evidence indicates deeper involvement.

“We have no evidence to suggest she is ... involved in these homicides,” R. Paul Frasier said. “We are still free to prosecute.”

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Wow. This lady is being given a second chance that I'm not sure she is deserving of. I do hope that she uses this to get and keep her life in order and does right by that little girl of hers and doesn't get messed up with any more guys like Gabriel Morris. She is getting quite the deal. It seems far too lenient to me. Had she been threatened or had she feared for her safety and/or the safety of her daughter, I may have been able to swallow her not contacting law enforcement with her knowledge.

I know, WithPurpose...It would seem that she would have wanted to get her little girl away from that situation as fast as possible...It seems that she was willing to live her life with him in spite of what he had done...That makes me wonder if there's not something psychologically wrong with her, and if she needs to be raising this child...She can't go to Idaho where her parents are living with the child...Wonder if they will move there...If I were them, and couldn't move there to oversee the child's care, I might try to get custody...But that would be an uphill battle to get her from her biological mother...I'm just not sure that her mother has shown that she is capable of providing a safe, secure environment for Kalea.

If I was the Grandparent I would fight for custody. Legal custody does not mean that Jessica can't have a relationship with her daughter. But If I was the Grandmother I would monitor their visits very closely at least for now. This Women did not exercise good judgment at all.

The DA states she will be able to "gain custody back". Does this mean there will be some court ordered counseling and/or evaluations before she regains custody? I hope so, because as you all stated above, she did not use good judgement.

I hope her testimony is very compelling. I don't think I can stomach much more leniency in this tragedy.

Bob's Friend wrote:
I hope her testimony is very compelling. I don't think I can stomach much more leniency in this tragedy.

I feel for you, "Bob's Friend." Also, for "lothaire" and nathanduell91.

I would think that the DCF or CPS will be monitoring this "mother"?

Hang in there..I think Gabriel Morris will be found guilty.

In addition to probation, Barron directed Jessica Morris to pay about $1,300 in restitution. If she completes probation successfully, the class C felony will be dropped to a misdemeanor and eventually be expunged from her record.

Although she will testify against her husband if he goes to trial, there will likely be some limitations to what she can say. Frasier said she won't be allowed to divulge anything Gabriel Morris told her in confidence, if his attorney objects. That means she'll be able to answer questions regarding observations, conduct, and communications with other people.

The DA wouldn't say where Morris will go following her release. He has directed her to avoid speaking with reporters. He characterized her relationship with Gabriel Morris as not a good marriage.

'She needs to get her head screwed on," Frasier said. 'She has some things she needs to work on."

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I certainly hope she hasn't manipulated Frasier. I'm sure he should be able to see through it, if that were the case. If she saw that it wasn't a good marriage and she didn't feel threatened, then her conduct after learning of the murders escapes my understanding.

by WithPurpose Today at 10:49 am I certainly hope she hasn't manipulated Frasier.

And I hope her light sentence doesn't have anything to do with them being the same religion.

I Completely agree with you BJ

I cannot believe the DA is not holding Jessica Morgan more accountable for her actions. Unreal!

WithPurpose wrote:I certainly hope she hasn't manipulated Frasier. I'm sure he should be able to see through it, if that were the case. If she saw that it wasn't a good marriage and she didn't feel threatened, then her conduct after learning of the murders escapes my understanding.

Escapes my understanding too.....I am concerned about the child, what will she be required to do before regaining custody???

how can they release her? flawed law system if u ask me.... :mad:

State prosecutors don’t see a case against a Coquille couple who provided aid to a man accused of killing his mother and her boyfriend.

Fred and Laura Eschler gave a car, clothing, cash and a gun to Gabriel Morris the night that someone shot Robin Anstey and Robert Kennelly at their home near Bandon. Prosecutors have charged Morris with the Feb. 8 killings.

Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier has said he wouldn’t charge the Eschlers in aiding the homicide suspect, because they said they didn’t know what Morris had done. Morris’ wife, Jessica Morris, supported their assertion in interviews with prosecutors.

The DA asked officials with the Department of Justice to review the case and got a response Friday from Sean J. Riddell, chief counsel in the criminal justice division.

“Based upon the information provided, we concur with your assessment that there is insufficient evidence to support a prosecution of either Mr. or Mrs. Eschler for supplying the listed items to Mr. Morris,” he wrote.

Morris remains in Virginia, where he was arrested in February. Frasier said he hasn’t heard from Virginia’s governor regarding a warrant requesting Morris’ return to Oregon.

“Once the Governor of Virginia authorizes the extradition, we should be able to pick him up in short order,” Frasier wrote in an e-mail.

Morris could still fight his extradition in court, even if Frasier gets the governor’s support.

Jessica Morris has returned to Coos County and agreed to cooperate with her husband’s prosecution, in exchange for three years probation on a charge of hindering prosecution.

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I'll say this again....... I hope religion isn't playing a part in some of the decisions that are being made regarding this case.

Jessica's parents are in Utah. Jessica isn't allowed to leave the state of OR. What does that mean regarding custody of her daughter. I wonder?