He didnt seem thrilled to be in front of our camera again. Morrison: Did you watch him?Tom Morgan: Chris reaction was very stoic, really expressionless, and as I would speak to my relatives he would walk over to where we were all standing and get close to where we were almost trying to overhear conversation. At this very moment in fact he is sitting in prison for a breaking and sex crime which, according to Sheriff Boone, followed a similar pattern to the attack on Jennifer Morgan. But to lay out his case, piece by piece, that Tom Morgan should be a prime suspect in the murder of his sister Jennifer. Angry now, Tom fired off a legal request - a demand, really - to see whatever evidence the state police had. This was that someone. I wish I had that chance again.Morrison: You never get those chances again do you?Tom Morgan: Nope you dont. All victims have been submitted by law enforcement or the victims' families. Callers need not reveal their identities. Pat is moving in for the kill for what he hopes will be Toms confession. Hooked me all up.Morrison: That day?Tom Morgan: Right then.Morrison: What does that feel like?Tom Morgan: I felt ok, good check me off the list. And, I think they got in some form of an argument. Im gonna work on the case. Instead, his interview clips and charts and speculations boiled down to this: Pat Moug: I think he went there. How do you like your 15 minutes of fame.Morrison: So far. The audience saw that character hide in the bushes, growing jealous as Jennifer characters meets a male visitor. I think she sat down on the couch had opened a book, set a drink down on top of a coaster on a coffee table. Gradually what emerged was a screenplay about one young mans terrible, deadly, mistake. Morrison: So, what do you think happened?Pat Moug: He had an unhealthy relationship with his sister. In the summer of 2005, Tom Morgans movie about the killing of his sister, showed up here and there in independent film festivals. Now, the family wants the criminal case back in the spotlight. And soon they had their answer: Tau Kappa Epsilon, a new and small fraternity then at Francis Marion. So, he could see outside right over to her trailer?Sheriff Boone: Right.Morrison: And see that she was home alone.Sheriff Boone: We can put him leaving this mobile home, walking in front of this mobile home right here, and walking down four mobile homes on the right to use the telephone to call his girlfriend.Morrison: What? Pat Moug: I knew the road I was about to go down. Tom Morgan: And they said weve got a cold case unit and we wanna reopen your sisters case.Morrison: Cold case unit?Tom Morgan: I was really excited. But then, why would there be. And when I do, the district attorney is gonaa seek the death penalty and probably get it.. I thought he meant cinematically. But early on it didnt look like that precaution would be needed. That became part of Pats evidencethat Tom may have sexually assaulted and killed his sister. The young woman at the center of this tale. True Crime. But, as we took a stroll through Jennifers woodsy trailer park, the sheriff gave us some graphic reasoning for his view that the murderer was none of the suspects youve heard about, but someone else altogether. Many, though theyd never met Tom Morgan were now deeply suspicious. 1:00. We had a couple of dates. Higher means more crime, U.S. average is 254.8. At that point it just seemed like Id be chasing another one of his lies anyway. Punam Gopaldas, 31, had made a life for herself in Florence. If it takes everybody in this country being mad at me to get justice for this girl, so be it. A good video, suggested Pat, could attract investors. It seems unlikely, however, that Sheriff Boone would want to arrest him. Finally, theyll get to see the work thats consumed three years of his life. We watched Bold as a Lion together, with frequent stops when Tom objected to Pats allegations. Morrison: What did it seem like he was doing?Kerry Morgan: Wanted to know if anybody thought he did it. To Pat Moug, they were evidence that Tom Morgan had staged those items to direct attention away from his own guilt. Difficult, because [Punam] was finally trying to end her arranged marriage to Hiral Gopaldas - a man she claimed abused her. Deputies found both women stabbed to death with Jai by his mother's body. And that was this: Based on nothing more than his own analysis of a fictionalized story, Pat surmised in his very public film that Jennifers father and brother helped Tom get away with her murder. Did you fly into Charlotte? But he was a fellow officer. This Is The Number One Unsolved Mystery In South Carolina And It Will Leave You Baffled. Or maybe that youve done the same thing with them.Tom Morgan:He had so many opportunities to sit down with us and say, Hey, Im gonna make this little documentary or whatever. Because at that very moment, Jennifer Morgan, is lying on her bed. What is she doing? Tom Morgan: I had my chance that weekend when that kid called that many times. The Florence Murders 20 years later - KPAX Morrison: Its your suspicion that Tom is stagingPat Moug: My suspicion is that its connected. Tom Morgan: Around her birthday or the date of her death we would come out and find flowers that were laid here. Pat Moug: Were you already back in Michigan? But to Pat, Toms story about the way he was told took on a completely different meaning. And though his days as a suspect are apparently over, Tom Morgan still worries that a cop might someday come knocking at his door. November the 9th, 1994. Then a few minutes later, the most damning or outrageous part of Pats theory. . I put myself in her familys shoes, and if something like this, something so tragic, happened to my daughter, I would want someone to be concerned. Boone sent the body to the forensic pathologist. Kerry Morgan: I am totally a mother hen, I will fight tooth and nail, I will go to the wall for this. You have permission to edit this article. While this homicide did not happen in my jurisdiction, I cant walk away. Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: How long were you at this Reed Institute.Pat Moug: Well, its a weeklongI think its a weeklong training for the first class. Jim Morgan: It just takes time for it to really sink in and say yea you know it really is true and you know youre never gonna see her again. On his way, said Tom, he stopped at the trailer park where his sister had died. What evidence there is, or most of it, anyway, is still in the sheriffs issue cardboard box. He can sketch a diagram of Morgans mobile home. Tom Morgan: And he, oh, by the way, happened to be a police detective in Michigan. Im insulted.Pat Moug: I was disappointed that we didnt get tothe bottom of the matter. It was August 9, 1976, on a deserted road in Sumter County, SC, when a trucker happened upon the scene of the murders. To Tom, they were evidence that his suspect, Chris, had left them there out of his continuing remorse. I put everything I found in here, she told us. And he regularly reviews the evidence and case file, hoping to find some new angle or develop a new lead. Discuss Florence, South Carolina (SC) on our hugely popular South Carolina forum. He places himself at the crime scene.Morrison: And emotionally what does that do to ya?Pat Moug: Its not a good feeling in your gut because youre thinking what happened to the girl? And waited until the next morning to make the four-hour drive to his parents home in Myrtle Beach. Tom Morgan left state police headquarters in a daze. I dont.Morrison: Why would it be white? Tom Morgan: No, listen to me. Weve tried to give the family closure, and were trying to find the suspect, and you have these two people saying different things.. Working on it. Deitz: I stuck it right there at the front right beside her first name. It wasnt his harping about the police that had him in a polygraphers clutches. The whole family was all but paralyzed by grief. Now he sees hes got something to lose and now hell leave us alone. Investigators claimed to have linked his father to the crime scene, too. Pat Moug: He does not use the wording that this was the weather in Charlotte or this was the weather in Michigan or that he was told that this was the weather like that day.. That window is his bedroom? No way. We knew she had to be dead prior to the fire. Just never came. Boone says Chris Woodson claimed that the morning of the murder, hed been paying college fees and played racquetball, too, before going to engineering class. The reason Tom was hauled in for questioning was because somebody had offered new evidence that suggested the real suspect all along should have been Tom Morgan. I had complete confidence that they were doing all the right things. Now, nearly a year after Jennifers death, Tom felt frantic about evidence that might have been missed and opportunities lost. Tom Morgan: That what probably a lamp fell over and probably ignited the carpet, the chemicals in the carpets made the fumes and these fumes probably killed Jennifer before the fire ever got to her. We would do anything to bring her back.Morrison: The key argument that Pat Moug makes isyou put yourself in this moviemaybe because youre a narcissistic sociopath who needs to get to taunt peopleto get as close as you can to the crime. Clutched in Jennifers hand - not on her wrist, but in her grip was a watch. It was absorbed in the carpet. But Pat Moug was right about one thing: Kenny Boone did not cooperate with a fellow police officerthe one from Livonia, Michigan. But remarkably, Pat had even darker suspicions. Looking back, 13 years later now, Kenny Boone is sheriff of Florence County. Still, Toms suspicion of what really happened to his sister did come true. It wasnt at all surprising, said Boone, that Tom seemed to know things about the crime that perhaps only the killer would have known. And able to laugh again, though the gaping hole left by Jennifers death is, they tell us, just as painful as ever, along with the newer wound that comes from being accused. And they were gonna bring this thing to some closure for us. Its a big crowd; Pat has invited his many friends, many of them from law enforcement. Face down, and dead. Ethan: I thought you had plans to see your family tomorrow. Get Alerts Map; Browse By State; Submit a Crime Tip Square with arrow pointing upper right. This, it seemed to Pat, justified his suspicions. Thats about the point Pats theories took a turn toward something way out there, something no one else had ever even imagined some sort of sexual dysfunction between Tom and his sister. If Tom lied about where he lived on the day of the crime, was he lying about his actions that day, too? And yet, there is not much doubt: these are friends, and theyre hugely supportive. He just began to scribble. I can see it is. Tom had no idea the whole thing was a ruse. And then the director took over, and made some more changes. Tom is now happily married and father to three members of the new generation. Tom Morgan: No.Morrison: --your sister? This was a fictional story, based on real events, yes, but spun together with altered names and faces and speculations and shifted timelines. Darlington County, SC Area Cold Cases | SpotCrime Sheriff Boone: We were trying to base it on timeline, if he had the opportunity to be able to do something like this. Snowden: We knew the distance would be a strain on the relationship. We think the person thats responsible for this had to be in the home to use the telephone or break in or some other motive.. Partly because the odd things didnt stop, even after Jennifer was buried and the months began to turn into years. His sister Jennifer, 23, tall, attractive, funny, college marketing major, is our star, and the subject of our mystery. It was all different now. And I might know who did it. It was the only evidence he offered to imply an incestuous relationship between Tom and Jennifer. Tom Morgan: Finally when I did talk to him his response was, its not illegal to put a ring under a headstone. 29 Unsolved Murders That Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine - The Lineup Bold as a Lion had raised some very serious questions but were they legitimate? And Charlotte was just a 2 and a half hour drive from the scene of the crime. In fact, in that hidden camera interview, Tom tells Pat he was at work in North Carolina, 170 miles away, on the day of the fire. Especially when someone else makes the sequel. You know, does this mean something?. Yes, and somehow larger than life. Jennifer: Im Jennifer. And this sidelight what he really was passion was for acting and for making film.Morrison: SWAT team by day, thespian by night, huh?Tom Morgan: Yeah. I think Jenny came home between classes and had gotten something to drink, Boone said. A struggled ensued, and the suspect strangled or suffocated Morgan to death, Boone said. And so, as this strange tale unspooled, Tom would put his suspicions in his own movie. (emotional). I think Jenny had gotten something to drink. It was the morning of November 6, 2001, when a. And we didnt know if the person whos responsible for this couldve been sending a message, you know, kinda like, Im sorry kinda thing.Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: It was an apology?Sheriff Boone: An apology. 'It's been a tough road': Family has hope for justice in - WBTW Once again,. And that maybe your family has done the same thing. And, out of the blue, unsolicited offered a bizarre theory as to how Jennifer may have been killed before the fire got to her. The audience knows virtually nothing about the story, beyond the selectively-prepared case that Pat is presenting to them. She was very confident she was going to get Jai.. She was just that kind of kid, you were just drawn to her. And, remember how Pat ferreted out Tom Morgans fudging about his movements around the time his sister was killed? And one of its founders on Marion Campusnumber 26 here on the roster of memberswas Chris Woodson. Morrison: You hope it does what to him?Tom Morgan: I hope he looks and thinks to himself, Man this guy is not givin up.. And we had - for years - been asking some, well, difficult questions. Itll soon be time for that part of the story. Murder Audience member: Were you able to verify any of his so-called alibis?Pat Moug: Well, the lastwell, the last alibiI did not. Id love to be able to solve it.. Listen to me, what Im telling you. It simply states where murders occurred most frequently on an absolute and rate basis. Tom Morgan: Well, actually I was in Charlotte, believe it or not. Kinda, indeed. Tom Morgan: Now thats strange to me that that watch would be in her hand. Yeah. So he took his frustration to the next level of law enforcement, the state police. The film ends with some wishful thinking by Tom. And yes, the woman who was having her baby the day Jennifer was killed. A banker from Charlotte, N.C., named John Schwert heard about the script, loved it, and offered to finance Toms film. And now heres this person that youre talking to that youre thinking, This may be the person that murdered this girl, his sister, and then set her on fire.Morrison: Theres a pretty terrible thing to say.Pat Moug: Yes it is. The melted television and a few pieces of jewelry left behind, fused by the heat, seemed to rule out robbery. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. (scenes from "Bold as a Lion") Tom Morgan: I remember that day I was at a friends house in CharlotteI flew in to Charlotte and then I drove on the way down to my parents house at the beach. Jim Morgan: We were asked by the police department to make sure, in case something did come up in the future, that they could exhume her body, and do DNA testing. Investigator Boone confirmed Snowden couldnt have been the killer. FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) - Thursday marks 20 years since Wanda Evans and Paul Coats were both found dead, and the case remains unsolved. I mean youre just cruisin through life, living life, everythings fine. You know its like these bits and pieces of conversation that hes just drawn out to make this into a cowellMorrison: To make it look like a lie?Tom Morgan: To make it lookyeah. They are calling the one woman, who - outside these few frames of video - you will never meet. For a start-up independent, the film did pretty well; it broke even. I think they wanted to base a movie on my case file, Boone said. Im just telling you thatMorrison: You dont know.Pat Moug: It might a been perceived in his mind. Gopaldas murder unsolved. Odd that after that long a period of time that someone would come and obviously felt this tremendous remorse, or whatever their feelings were, would have to come back to the gravesite and put this under their headstone. So, had the state police decided to teach him a lesson? Boone said Moag called him wanting information and falsely told him he was an FBI agent. SLED Headquarters 4400 Broad River Road Columbia, SC 29210 Phone: 803.737.9000 I am truly sorry.. "I mean, how do the police keep you informed of anything newYeah, um we dont often get updates. Then there was Pats suspicion that Tom knew too much about the murder if he wasnt around to witness it. Tom Morgan: I remember that day. She was like, you know, quit nothing aint gonna never happen to me..And it did.. And, in rebuilding our lives. Pat did get Tom to admit, however, that he had lied when he told Pat he lived in Michigan at the time Jennifer was killed. Jennifer: what? I felt like I should have protected her.