Michelle
LeAnn
Morgan
July 20,
1957 -
August 11, 1961
Find
A Grave Memorial
Mary Rae
caused Michelle
LeAnn Morgon to go to the hospital more than 20 times, one of those
visit
resulted in Mary being kept in the hospital for a month and no one
caught
on to the fact that she was abusing this child, except for the brother
who was witness to what happened on her final day. Suffering multiple
injuries
during her short life, Mary was seen in the hospital for a broken nose,
burns on her skin, a broken arm and other injuries to her chest and
back.
On
August 10, 1961
a little boy would be witness to the murder of his sister. That day,
Mary
held Michelle under the water and stomped on her because she believed
that
Mary had lied to her about something. During dinner, Michelle began to
vomit blood clots. George, Michelle's brother was a witness to what
happened
to Michelle that day. The next day, Michelle died from her injuries.
Mary
Rae had killed her stepdaughter.
An
autopsy was done
by the Pathologist on the Army base where the Morgan's lived at that
time.
At that time, the cause of death was found to be massive trauma to the
chest. There was a technical error and the report was completed at a
later
date and an inexperienced coroner listed the cause of death as
Pneumonia
and said it had happened in 1976. The case was never pursued by the
Prosecutor.
35
years after Michelle
died, her body was exhumed and it was finally determined that she was
beaten
to death. Mary Rae was arrested in Splendora, Texas just one day after
a coroner had examined Michelle's remains. Mary denied that she had
killed
Michelle and even tried to leave the country. She was caught and sent
to
jail.
A
grand jury indictment
against Mary Rae Morgon charged her with murder and two counts of in
voluntary
manslaughter. One charge for causing Michelle's death while assaulting
her and the other for killing her by using corporal punishment. Mary
was
sent to jail and was given a one million dollar bond. Mary's father,
Billy
Morgan, was not charged at all. In the end, Mary Rae Morgon plead
guilty
to a charge of involuntary manslaughter and was sentence to five years
in prison.
|
|
Michelle's brother
George, who was eight at the time of her death, told investigators that
he had seen Michelle bounce like a rag doll as his stepmother stomped
on
her stomach, he said that later, she had vomited blood. George Morgan
was
serving time in prison and he started doing genealogical research about
his family. He requested a copy of Michelle's death
|
certificate
and he
saw that it listed the cause of death as Pneumonia. He knew this was
wrong
and and he wrote to the funeral home to let them know about the mistake.
The
letter was given
to the the Coroner in St. Clair County, Illinois, Rick Stone.
Michelle's
remains were exhumed and he performed an examination. At that time, he
realized that Michelle's death had been due to her being beaten to
death.
An autopsy found two rib fractures, a brain hemorrhage and she had
injuries
on her head and thigh.
During
the years
after Michelle's death, Mary had raised four other children and the
records
at the hospitals show that between the four of them, they visited the
hospital
over 150 times before the age of five.
For
information about
preventing child abuse in the state of Illinois, click the links below.
If they can't help you, ask for someone who can. NEVER give up
looking
for help for an abused child!
Call
this number
to report child abuse ANY WHERE in the United States!
1-800-4-A-Child
1-800-422-4453
   
Share
this page
with your family and friends!
My sincerest appreciation
goes out to
Diane Trembly for allowing me to use one
of her beautiful Angels to
make the graphics
for this set. Please visit her site,
by clicking the link below,
to see all
of her amazing work.
|
