by Robert Scott
Mallory later explained what a non-bizarre delusion was. He said, “What they mean by that is that the delusions come from normal life. Bizarre delusions are like ‘The green aliens are chasing me with a ray gun.’ That leans toward schizophrenia.” A non-bizarre delusion would be “My neighbor is trying to poison me.” In other words, it is almost plausible, but not based upon any facts.
Mallory noted that Gabe had very odd beliefs about religion. Much of the time, he truly believed he was a prophet, and he even told Michael Stockford, the LDS branch president, that he was Jesus Christ. Gabe believed he had special healing powers and got messages directly from God. There were a few times when he actually heard God’s voice, as if someone was speaking to him. This crossed the line into hallucinations.
The second major theme Mallory found with Gabe was grandiosity. In essence, no matter what an individual is interested in, he has a need to be better at it than anyone else. Or, at least, to make himself believe he is better than anyone else in that field. In Gabe’s case, he came to believe he was bigger, better and more skilled than others. He came to believe he was in the Special Forces and on black ops missions. As Mallory noted, “It became real for him. This is not like a liar who knows better.”
Mallory later explained in a court hearing, “This really comes from a broken ego inside—a very broken, very disturbed and very scared individual. It gets turned into the opposite of what it is and gets projected outward. Gabriel told stories of being almost drowned as a child and learned to breathe underwater. He told of running through the forest blindfolded.” In part, Gabe may have felt that he never measured up to his older half brother, Jesse. To compensate for this, he told tales where he had led a much more adventurous and exciting life than had actually occurred.
“There was remarkably good functioning in other areas of his life, and that continued up until the last few months of his life before the murders. I believe he had these delusional beliefs for years, and they increased over time. In the last months before the murders, his life was falling apart.
“He believed the world was going to come to an end. Everything was mixed up in his mind. He was in a long-standing mentally ill delusional state. It was escalating and spinning out of control. He was very paranoid about his mother’s boyfriend poisoning him and his family. And the paranoia moved on to his mom poisoning them as well. All that paranoia, all that agitation, put him at a point where something was ready to blow, and something tragic was ready to happen.”
Mallory noted that delusional disorders generally developed in males in their twenties or early thirties. As far as Gabe went, Mallory said that he had been struggling with these things, but keeping them inside, while presenting a “better exterior presentation.” And then Mallory added, “What I really noticed with the people who had known him a long time was the remarkable change they saw in him from what he used to be.”
Mallory read reports that came from the Virginia investigators. In one report, Doug Miller had told the investigators that Gabe had told him that the federal government was planning to explode dynamite on a California fault line to make it sink into the ocean. And in another report, Gabe thought something catastrophic was going to happen in Coos County, Oregon. He had been sent there by God to give warning to those around him.
For his diagnosis, in the all-important Axis I category, Mallory said that Gabe suffered from a “delusional disorder with religious and grandiose content. His ability to understand his situation and the decisions required of him to a reasonable degree of rational understanding is compromised.” If a jury believed this as well, they would have to send him to a mental hospital rather than to prison.
CHAPTER 34
Like Dr. Mallory, Dr. Larsen’s task now was to try and determine if Gabe had not been able to understand and control his actions at the time of the shootings. Dr. Larsen interviewed Gabe several times in jail. Larsen later said that every interview with Gabe was “appropriate and engaging. He was cooperative and at times even joking. He remembered questions from previous evaluations. He seemed calm and at peace in jail, which is very unusual.”
As Larsen looked at Gabe’s family history, it became obvious there were several difficulties in his life, going back to his earliest years. Larsen noted that Gabe had extremely low self-esteem in his interactions with people. There was a need for him to feel good about himself. Therefore, he aggrandized his accomplishments. He talked in a way that would draw people’s attention. He felt that if he was an accomplished individual, people would respect him. He told stories that made him seem greater than he really was.
Larsen believed all these stories created by Gabe were to try and compensate for his low self-esteem. As time went on, the stories got out of control. He was working for the government on black ops missions; he could run through the forest blindfolded at night; he could predict the future. On top of that, Gabe became more and more paranoid, especially about Bob Kennelly. This went from believing Bob had murdered his first two wives, to Bob trying to poison him and his family with rat poison.
Larsen noted that it was extremely unusual to have such a long record, as stated by others, about the mental illness occurring over years of time. With Gabe, one person after another who knew him spoke of his progressively deteriorating mental state. And in the fourth interview with Larsen, Gabe was very emotional when talking about being sexually abused by his father. Even one of Gabe’s maternal aunts said that Gabe’s father would not allow him to wear underpants. And Gabe’s grandmother wondered if she had spotted anal bleeding when Gabe was a boy.
There was one aspect of his findings that Dr. Larsen was adamant about. In a later court hearing, he said, “One thing we know, you have to develop a relationship with the person being interviewed. You have to act in such a way that the person will be open and direct with you. We look for what happened in the developmental history of the individual. Let the person talk about how he felt about this or that. If you don’t do that with a person who is delusional, they are not going to tell you. You won’t get at that problem.
“The last thing is, you have to really be careful if you’re dealing with someone who is delusional and psychotic. You cannot disagree with the delusion. If you do that, you’re not going to get data and you may get incorporated into the delusion. And that could present a dangerous situation.” In other words, if the patient believed that Dr. Larsen did not believe in his delusion, then the doctor could become an enemy, just as Bob Kennelly had been in Gabe’s mind.
Gabe told Dr. Larsen about his father and mother and that she was present when Danny Morris tried to drown him in the ocean. Gabe said they both had looks of surprise and consternation when he walked out of the water and onto the beach. According to Gabe, they could not believe that he had survived such an ordeal.
Later on in an interview, Gabe said that his mother was naive and he felt abandoned by her when she left for Oregon. Gabe also thought she was not good at picking relationships with men. He thought she was sexually promiscuous. Then his delusions seemed to take over again, and he told Larsen that his mother in her antique shop in Bandon had been selling pornography and ripping off customers. Not one shred of evidence pointed to anything like that.
Gabe talked about his use of alcohol and drugs, but he did not say he was using a lot in Oregon in 2009 and 2010. This was at variance with what many other people reported, especially his half brother. There were other areas where he either did not tell the truth, or simply did not know what the truth really was. Gabe told Larsen he had quit ROTC because his wife was depressed. And the supposed reason he had left the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office was because they were corrupt.
Interestingly, as Gabe opened up more and more to Dr. Larsen, he said that he had visualized his mother’s death weeks before it happened. He did not say in what manner she would die, or if someone else was responsible for her death.
Larsen tested Gabe to see if he had disassociative amnesia, especially where the actual shootings
took place. Larsen’s conclusion was that Gabe might have had it, even though it was rare for it to occur weeks after an event.
As to his ultimate diagnosis, Dr. Larsen wrote, Mr. Morris suffers from a delusional disorder that has significant religious content. This disorder rendered him as to not appreciate what he was doing, and therefore not able to control his behavior to the tenets of the law.
CHAPTER 35
Dr. Michael Sasser also evaluated Gabe as to whether he suffered from a debilitating mental-health problem at the time he murdered his mom and Bob Kennelly. Sasser said in a later court hearing that there was some information that Gabe would not share with him, and this mostly centered around his time in Las Vegas. Gabe even asked Sasser, “Are you a Mormon investigator?” He seemed to be concerned about all of the alleged sinning he had done in Las Vegas.
Sasser replied that he was not a Mormon investigator, and he was trying to get information about what had happened around the time of the shootings. When Sasser told Gabe that, Sasser noted, “He accepted that and was responsive to my questions.”
Since Dr. Sasser knew about the rat-poisoning issue from Larsen’s and Mallory’s reports, and Gabe was not sharing that information with him, Sasser asked him about it. Sasser noted later that Gabe said it was not a major issue. “He said his wife, mother and daughter got ill and he found some rat poison and wondered if Bob had put it in their food. His wife went to see a health care provider and got some antibiotics. He did not say that the rat poison issue was something that really motivated his behavior.”
When Dr. Sasser asked him about the killings, Gabe denied being the shooter. Gabe came up with answers about a shadowy figure in the house who had done the shooting. So Dr. Sasser asked him, “Well, if you had been watching the house all day, where did the shooter come from?” Sasser noted later in a court hearing, “I think he was surprised that anyone asked him that question. He would not give me an answer.”
Dr. Sasser asked Gabe about going to the Eschler house after the murders, and Gabe told him that it was just a “fabricated story to get what [Gabe] wanted.” Sasser noted later, “He didn’t qualify it with God was talking to him and they wouldn’t understand, so he made up the story about black ops.”
Dr. Sasser’s diagnosis was different than Mallory’s and Larsen’s. Sasser stated that Gabe did not suffer from a delusional disorder, but rather from personality disorders, which were not in the Axis I category. Unless they were in that category, they were not enough to show that he was incapable of understanding or conforming his actions at the time of the murders.
Through her lawyers, Jessica Morris had already agreed to testify against Gabe at trial. In a pretrial hearing, DA Frasier had many questions put to Jessica Morris. One of them was about whether she believed they were being poisoned with rat poison. Frasier asked her, “When you were in the kitchen in Bob Kennelly’s home, preparing food, did you see anything that would make you think it was tampered with?”
Jessica responded, “Sometimes I saw residue in the pan. At first, I thought it was just because I hadn’t cleaned it.”
Frasier then wanted to know if she believed that Kennelly was poisoning them, why did they go back to the place on February 8, 2010?
Jessica said, “Because we felt like Gabe could talk to them, and because Mom was in danger. She needed to be taken away from that situation.”
“Did you believe Robin was in on the poisoning?”
“I don’t know when I came to that conclusion, but I came to believe she knew about it and didn’t do anything about it.”
Frasier asked about Gabe’s belief that Bob had murdered his first two wives and gotten away with it. Jessica said, “Everybody knows everybody around here. And some thought Bob had harmed his wives. Bob had joked with Big John (Lindegren) that in that room (the marijuana-growing room) that nobody could hear any screams.” Of course, Jessica had heard this story from Gabe, and assumed it had really taken place.
One of Jessica’s own delusions had been that during the time Gabe was separated from her and with Brenda, she believed that he was on secret missions for the government. She now said, “He was sent somewhere by the government to assassinate people.” She had believed this story rather than have to admit to herself that Gabe was sexually involved with some other woman. As her own father, Bill Pope, had said, it was always easy for Gabe to pull the wool over Jessica’s eyes.
As a trial approached, Gabe and his lawyers made a dramatic decision. In May 2011, Gabe decided to have a judge, not a jury, decide if he was guilty or not guilty, and then decide what his sentence should be if he was found guilty. It was also determined that his lawyers would be presenting an insanity defense.
In a document to this effect, Gabe agreed that he had a right to a jury trial and the right to have a jury decide what sentence should be imposed if he was found guilty. But then he also agreed to the following statement: After being fully advised, and of my own free will, I wish to waive my right to a jury trial on all parts of this case, including of whether I am guilty or not guilty, and a determination of any sentence that may be imposed. I also wish to waive my right to see, hear and cross examine witnesses that otherwise would be necessary to prove the stipulation presented to the court this day.
In other words, Gabe, through his lawyers, was stipulating to certain facts that had occurred. When the judge heard the case, DA Frasier would present just what those stipulations were.
Judge Martin Stone, who would be deciding Gabe’s fate, signed this document on May 4, 2011, and added that all parties were to present him with pretrial memos by July 29. A memo by the state saying they were no longer seeking the death penalty had to be to him by May 6.
Frasier lost no time in getting that memo to Judge Stone. It was titled “Notice by State of Intent to Not Seek the Death Penalty.” And there were some important provisions in it: The State reports that this notice is based upon the knowledge and information now in possession of the State. We reserve the right to withdraw this notice if the defendant withdraws his waiver of jury trial or withdraws his agreement to stipulate certain evidence.
Frasier obviously had concerns that Gabe was going to try and get around what the prosecution saw as due justice by claiming a mental disease or defect defense. And one of Frasier’s early memos to Judge Stone stated, We point out that the defendant does not believe he is mentally ill. Initially he did not want his counsel to present this defense.
All of that was true. Gabe was still insisting that he was not mentally ill nor had he ever been mentally ill. He was basically just going along with the defense his attorneys were going to present. Whether Gabe would get on the stand and testify remained to be seen. And if he did, Judge Stone could ask him questions directly.
In another memo, Frasier noted, Obviously, the defendant by his killing his mother and her boyfriend has engaged in behavior that is disturbing. To many, the thought will be that a person has to be “crazy” to kill another, let alone his own mother.
Then the prosecutor pointed out that mental disease was not something where a test, such as a blood test, could make an exact diagnosis. The psychiatrist or psychologist had to rely a lot upon the person being diagnosed. If that person lied to the mental-health professional interviewing him, it skewed the results. Frasier continued to maintain that Gabe was not delusional, but rather just a pathological liar. In fact, Frasier wrote, The defendant’s credibility is almost non-existent. He will lie at any opportunity. The defendant’s guilt is beyond any doubt. The only hope this defendant has of ever walking the face of the earth as a free man is to be placed someplace, like a mental hospital, where he could be discharged in short order or from which he could more easily escape.
Frasier even turned the fact that Gabe had not shot anyone during his robberies as evidence against him. He related that Gabe did not do so because he could be in control of his actions. A purely insane person would not care whether he shot someone during a robbery. The district attorney maintained
that Gabe did not do so because he knew it would only make his flight from justice more risky.
And even though Gabe had talked to a lot of people about his relationship with God, Frasier said that was not a motive in why he had killed his mom and Bob Kennelly. Frasier said that religious fanatics killed people all the time in the name of God, but they were not deemed to be legally insane. The DA contended that the only reason Gabe killed his mother and Bob Kennelly was because he was angry at them and did have something to gain financially by not having to pay back Bob Kennelly any money that had been loaned.
CHAPTER 36
On August 9, 2011, the court session began in Judge Martin Stone’s courtroom in Coquille as to whether Gabe would be found guilty. If he was, then what kind of sentence would be pronounced? There was no jury—only Judge Stone would decide Gabe’s fate.
DA Paul Frasier began his opening arguments, relating the timeline of all the events and pointing out the circumstantial evidence that he alleged showed that Gabriel Morris was the sole killer of Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey. Frasier’s opening statement was fairly short and so was that of defense attorney Peter Fahy. They were both going to let the witnesses on direct and cross-examination tell the story in full for them.
DA Frasier called Detective Sergeant Daniel Looney to the stand, and Looney went through questions and answers concerning Deputy Slater finding the bodies of Robert Kennelly and Robin Anstey, the investigative work in the house and on the property, as well as the connection to the Eschlers. He also testified about Kennelly’s pistol being found down in San Diego.
Looney testified, “We put out a ‘To locate Gabriel, Jessica and Kalea Morris’ bulletin to law enforcement agencies. We knew they had a silver Ford Taurus that belonged to Fred Eschler. We used the media and America’s Most Wanted and also the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.”
