02x07 - Obsessions Oftentimes Lead to m*rder

[bunniefuu]

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] When it comes
to forging her own destiny,


is a master strategist.

She knew what she wanted in life.

[narrator]
She documents her triumphs meticulously,

like her recent promotion to manager.

She was very smart. She worked hard.

♪♪

[narrator]
But when her confidence poses a danger,

she finds herself in the crosshairs.

[g*nsh*t]

Like, who would intentionally k*ll Morgan?
Who?

[narrator]
As investigators peel back the layers...

The boyfriend, coworkers,
everyone at this point is a suspect.

[narrator] ...they unearth
twisted paths of fixation

and carefully curated messages
from Morgan

that reveal a disturbing pattern
of mistreatment.

The most powerful evidence we had
was found on her computer.

Hours before she was k*lled,
she sent this email.

[narrator] Could Morgan's
own words of self-advocacy

lead to her k*ller?

[Cyanna Clements] You've gotta really
watch out who you're getting close to

'cause you don't know
anybody's true intentions.

[g*nsh*t]

[♪ dark theme music playing]

[speaker 1] She solved her own m*rder
from beyond the grave.

[speaker 2]
The fitness app on the phone.

It was overwhelming evidence.

♪ I've been haunted by the visions ♪

♪ That I've seen with my own eyes ♪

♪ And the only way to find you ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

[speaker 3]
She did help catch this k*ller.

♪♪

♪ I'm cursed by your name ♪

♪ In my mind, I'm disturbed ♪

[narrator]
It's October 28th in Canton, Ohio.

Halloween is three days away,

and 29-year-old Morgan Fox
is doing it all.

She's balancing her dreams
of a promising career

and cultivating a happy family
with her loving boyfriend,

Jason, and their young daughters.

♪ But I can't get you out of ♪

But early one morning,
when he looks out the window,

Jason sees something alarming
and dials 911.

-[♪ tense music playing]
-[police radio chatter]

[Rocco Ross] Morgan is getting in her
vehicle, getting ready to leave for work.

[shutter snaps]

She's usually gone by 2:15 a.m.,

and she was taken by surprise.

[siren wails]

She was shot.
She died immediately.

♪♪

My name's Rocco Ross.
I was the lead investigator

for the Morgan Ashlye Fox case.

-[♪ tense music playing]
-[distant siren wails]

When I arrived there,

there were several other people
standing around.

[police radio chatter]

Aside from law enforcement,

there was a reporter standing there.

Walking towards the residence,

you can see there's a white vinyl fence

that had mud flung along the fence.

Right next to that,
there were tire tracks in the mud,

in the grass right off of the roadway.

[♪ vocalizing]

I approached the vehicle in the driveway.

I saw Morgan Fox sitting in her vehicle.

I saw her slumped over the center console

with blood on the side of her head
and running down her shirt.

♪♪

[narrator] Her belongings lie abandoned
on the damp ground

beside her cracked cell phone.

Someone walked up to Morgan

and shot her multiple times...

-[g*nshots]
-...k*lling her instantly.

Morgan Fox's mom arrives,

and she said that she received the call

from an employee of the shipping company
that Morgan works for.

Called her and said, "Hey,
Morgan did not come to work last night.

Just checking in to see if she's okay."

And while I'm speaking with her,

the reporter blurts out that
she was shot in the head.

So, that's how Morgan Fox's mom found out
what had happened to her daughter.

[narrator] And the news of her m*rder
hits her family hard.

[assistant camera] Cora Stonerock.

-Mark.
-[muffled clap]

[Cora Stonerock] My name is Cora Stonerock
and I am Morgan's stepsister.

The day she died, I was trying
to get the kids out the door.

My sister screams my name.

She was ghost white,
and she said, "Morgan's dead."

[♪ tense music playing]

I remember, like, screaming at her.

She's trying to tell me
that Morgan's dead,

but I don't know how...

I-- Like-- It doesn't seem possible.

[narrator] It's hard to believe anyone
would want to hurt Morgan.

Clever, smart, and friendly,

she was loved by everyone.

She's part of a modern-day
Brady Bunch family.

♪♪

My dad and Cyndi, Morgan's mom,

met when I was in the second grade.

We were a family of seven,

and Cyndi's family was five,
so together, there was 12 of us.

Me and Morgan were best
friends from the get.

She definitely was somebody that knew
what she wanted in life.

[narrator]
Morgan knows exactly what she wants,

when she wants it.

But as soon as she turns 20,

life comes fast and she becomes a mom.

[Cora]
She was super excited to be a mother.

She was thrilled. She longed for this.

[narrator] But things don't work out
between Morgan and her daughter's father.

So Morgan moves
to Canton for a new start,

where she lands a promising career

and a seemingly perfect boyfriend,
Jason Scarnecchia.

She could not wait to be married,
for her dream house,

for her dream job, for her family,

and that's why she chose FedEx,
'cause she wanted to be able to move up.

She wanted something where
she would make enough money

to be able to give her daughter, Emilia,

the life that she, she always
wanted to give Emilia.

Morgan ended up getting promoted

and ended up moving up to be team manager.

So, that was a goal of hers,
and she accomplished it.

[narrator] But now,
Morgan's dreams have been cut short,

and detectives need to know why.

They inspect the scene for clues.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Dennis Barr] My name is Dennis Barr,
and I'm the chief criminal prosecutor

for Stark County, Ohio.

-[assistant camera] Dennis Barr, marker.
-[muffled clap]

We found in her console,
there was some money.

Her purse was laying on the ground.

This is not a robbery gone bad.

Somebody, for some reason,

came here with the specific intention
of k*lling Morgan Fox.

[shutter snaps]

[narrator] Police check
the neighborhood for witnesses,

but they come up empty-handed.

There was a few people that
had Ring doorbell cameras...

-[♪ dramatic music playing]
-[doorbell rings]

...but didn't capture anything.

-[police radio chatter]
-We had no weapon on the scene.

[narrator] And not one person
heard a peep, g*nsh*t,

or even a scream,
including Morgan's boyfriend, Jason.

Jason was the first person to find Morgan.

And for a grieving boyfriend,

he's oddly calm.

♪♪

Jason Scarnecchia is
the one that called 911.

[line ringing]

♪♪

My first contact with him,
he appeared to be a little bit in shock.

I asked for his cell phones,

and he handed over his personal one.

He was more hesitant to
hand over his work cell,

and said it wasn't his.

♪♪

[narrator]
If Jason has nothing to hide,

why is he so hesitant?

Once we told him that he would
probably get it back at some point,

he handed it over.

[♪ tense music continues]

We told him, "You're gonna go to
the sheriff's office for some questioning.

We need talk to you a little further."

He was barefoot at that point,

so I asked him where his socks were kept.

"I'll go get 'em for you."

This is now a crime scene.

We can't just let people wander around it.

One of the things they could do
is maybe hide evidence

or destroy evidence.

♪♪

[Rocco]
He chose to go without the sock s.

It was very odd.

♪♪

Once Jason Scarnecchia
got to the sheriff's office,

he was interviewed there.

[narrator]
But Jason's subdued demeanor continues.

Not what I would expect
for someone who just woke up

and found the woman that they love

dead in the front seat of her car.

[inaudible]

[narrator]
Jason says the night before,

Morgan dropped her daughter
off at her mom's house,

then came home around 9:30 p.m.
and went to bed.

[alarm ringing]

Early the next morning at 1:30 a.m.,

Morgan got up to go to work.

Only, she never made it
out of the driveway alive.

[g*nshots]

Jason heard nothing

and saw nothing until
he found Morgan's body.

He did admit that they had
some arguments and fights.

But they were fine at that moment.

[narrator]
But text messages found on Jason's phone

paint a different picture.

It appeared that Morgan Fox
and Jason Scarnecchia

had some fights prior to this incident...

♪♪

...and it turned violent.

[indistinct yelling]

[narrator] Is it possible
that a couple's quarrel

pushed her boyfriend,
Jason, over the edge?

The detectives begin to realize

this is just the start
to a disturbing new twist.

[g*nsh*t]

[♪ tense music playing]

[clock ticking]

[narrator] Morgan Fox
was building the life and career

she always wanted.

But when she's found dead
in her driveway,

the detectives zero in on her boyfriend,

Jason Scarnecchia, for answers.

And his strange behavior
makes him look extremely suspicious.

We always start off with
their significant other.

Any reason, any motive that
might give them a reason

to commit this crime.

[narrator]
Was this just a typical lover's quarrel?

Or was Morgan in a toxic relationship,

destined to end in tragedy?

♪ Say you want me ♪

Morgan met Jason Scarnecchia at FedEx.

He was very kind to her,

and he also had a daughter.

♪ I am so reckless,
leaving always breathless ♪

And then, they realized that

if they wanted to take things
to the next level,

one of them were gonna have to move jobs.

So that's when Jason chose to leave FedEx

so that him and Morgan could
continue to be together.

[narrator] Is it possible that Morgan's
boyfriend, Jason Scarnecchia,

isn't the nice guy he appears to be?

After two hours of intense questioning,

-he bursts into tears.
-[muffled crying]

It finally hit him that his,
his girlfriend was just m*rder*d.

[narrator]
Is this the clever act of a m*rder*r?

Could these tears actually
be tears of guilt?

♪♪

Other than evidence of one intense fight,

there's no reason to hold Jason,
so he's free to go.

For now.

But questions remain.

Why didn't Jason hear those fatal g*nshots

just a few feet outside
his bedroom window?

Where is the m*rder weapon?

So detectives shift their gaze
into Morgan and Jason's home.

♪♪

♪♪

[Rocco]
In searching their residence,

it did not appear that there
was any struggle inside.

[narrator]
And once they get to the bedroom,

detectives find what Jason was trying
to hide from them earlier that morning.

We found a little bit of
marijuana in his sock drawer.

He was worried about the drugs,
and here his girlfriend was just m*rder*d.

[narrator] Could a simple bag of marijuana
be the cause of Jason's anxiety?

Or was there another factor at play?

With no evidence of foul play
and no m*rder weapon accounted for,

Morgan's boyfriend, Jason,
is not in the clear just yet.

You focus first on the spouse,

and then you've gotta focus on,
who does she know?

Who are her acquaintances?

That morning,
Morgan's mother told the deputies,

"Look, she had a problem with some people
at FedEx where she worked."

Something about her phone,
which led us to FedEx.

[♪ soft music playing]

[Michelle Hanus]
My name is Michelle Hanus.

I worked at FedEx Ground in North Canton.

My position was operations
administrator, HR.

[echoing muffled clap]

The police had asked me
about Jason Scarnecchia.

When I first started as a package handler,

he was my manager.

He was very encouraging,

so I liked him.

[narrator]
But could he have k*lled Morgan?

I had expressed that to the police that
there was no way he would've done that.

[♪ tense music playing]

I felt that there may have been
one of the other managers

or one of the other employees

that were retaliating against Morgan.

♪♪

[narrator] Retaliate?
What could she have possibly done

to warrant retaliation from a coworker?

I learned that one of the coworkers,

he had a crush on Morgan

prior to her getting
with Jason Scarnecchia.

She really was drawn to Jason
and ended up being with Jason,

and I think that a lot of
people's feelings were upset.

And that's when a lot of the problems...

occurred.

[narrator] But that's not the only drama
swirling around the office.

When Morgan gets the promotion to manager
she's been gunning for,

many of her male colleagues
become jealous.

♪♪

There weren't a lot of women

who went into management positions.

It felt like a boys' club.

[Rocco]
The jealousy or intimidation

with Morgan's attire,
what she wore to work.

They didn't like how she dressed.

So, they complained about that.

She was feeling like
she was being bullied

or harassed by other managers,

and it, it bothered me.

♪♪

[narrator] Then, the investigators learned
these same two managers

and one of Morgan's friends
were involved in the cell phone incident

that Morgan's mom had warned them about.

I saw her crying.

She said, "I need to talk to you."

[Cora]
She had set her phone down

to help another employee
get her line caught up,

and then they had just taken her phone.

[narrator]
Morgan's phone was unlocked,

and these two managers
just started scrolling.

♪ You got something to hide ♪

[Cora]
Morgan was active on, you know,

Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook.

She posted more than, like,
the average person, for sure.

-She used social media a lot.
-[keypad typing]

[Michelle] Like, I saw
the managers talking about her

and looking at her social media.
And I knew,

like, that's totally inappropriate.

[narrator] But there are some photos
that coworkers aren't meant to see.

[keypad typing]

Ones that Morgan had taken
for her boyfriend's eyes only.

She radioed, uh,
"Hey, does anybody see my phone?"

Another person told her
that Jason McDermitt

had it in the sort tower,
you know, an elevated area

where the boxes are being
moved on the conveyor belts.

♪♪

Morgan was friends with Jason McDermitt,

who was a package handler at the time.

She went up there to confront him about,

you know, getting her phone back.

[Cora] He lied to her at first and told
her that he did not have the phone.

And then, she saw the phone,
and he ended up handing it to her.

[narrator] Morgan wasn't shocked
the other two guys went through her phone,

but she would've never expected this
from her friend Jason McDermitt.

[keypad typing]

♪ I can't feel a thing ♪

♪ With tears on my cheek ♪

She was upset and didn't
want anything to do with him.

After her phone was stolen,
she had said,

"I don't think,
like, we should be friends,

like, friends don't lie to each other."

[narrator] Morgan reports the incident
with three of her coworkers

to a manager who promises
to take care of it.

♪ Nobody knows ♪

But after 10 days,
she hears nothing but silence.

When Morgan asks
her manager for an update,

she gets reprimanded instead.

The result of Morgan asking,

"Hey, what's gonna happen about
this person who took my phone?"

Instead, gets handed
a dress code violation.

"You're wearing leggings.
You shouldn't be wearing leggings."

Morgan Fox filed a complaint
against some of her coworkers

for harassing her for this attire.

Morgan thought that
by filing this complaint,

she thought HR would've
handled that with them.

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator]
Then, the harassment starts to escalate.

Somebody took her chair
and her clipboard one day.

Two of the managers were,
like, talking behind her back

and, like, gossiping.

She told me that she had heard comments

and that it was inappropriate.

You know, like, sexual comments.

Morgan felt targeted.

♪♪

[narrator]


and one week before she's m*rder*d,

Morgan's patience runs out.

Like, you could see her
more withdrawn than usual,

where Morgan usually was
very spunky and happy.

[narrator]
Morgan is done sitting on the sidelines.

Furious and supported by Michelle,
she takes action.

My solution to, you know,
our conversation was,

why don't I reach out to HR,

the head of HR in Columbus,

and see if maybe she can do something?

This is an excerpt from
the email that I sent to HR.

"Morgan Fox asked to
speak with me yesterday

"about some issues she is
having as an ops manager.

"Apparently, someone took her phone.

"She believes private items were looked at

by at least two to three
people in the building."

♪♪

It felt better.
Like, okay, great.

This, you know,

some of these issues
have been put on paper.

Like, they're known. Now, they're known.

This is what's going on,
and maybe there will be

some kind of resolution for,
for Morgan.

But, there was no response to the email.

[narrator] Another week goes by,
and she has still heard nothing.

Morgan has had it.

That was her final straw.

She wanted something done about this.

Like, they, they were just
harassing her so much

that she wanted it addressed.

The tension was boiling over.

She stood up for herself.
She stood up for the things

that were going on at the workplace
that were hostile.

♪♪

On October 28th,
as soon as I went in to work,

I looked for Morgan
because I had anticipated

that we would have a conversation.

I texted her.

She never answered.

Police had called and told me...

that Morgan had passed.

[♪ ominous music playing]

I was completely shocked, horrified,

and confused.

All these people at work
were bothering her,

and I thought,
did one of those people hurt her?

[narrator]
The investigators need to talk

to all of the men
involved with the incident.

So they start with Morgan's friend
Jason McDermitt.

Maybe he can shed some light
on why Morgan was being targeted at work.

[narrator]
The coworker crushes, swirling jealousy,

and workplace bullying.

Could Jason McDermitt hold the key

to solving the mystery
of who k*lled Morgan Fox?

[g*nshots]

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] Morgan Fox was pushing her way
through the glass ceiling

at FedEx as a manager,

possibly making a few enemies
along the way.

A pattern of jealousy,
betrayal, and harassment

from a small group of male
coworkers is uncovered.

♪♪

But what detectives want to know

from Morgan's friend Jason McDermitt is

could one of these workplace
bullies be a m*rder*r?

♪♪

[inaudible]

[narrator] McDermitt's statements seemed
to point back at their first suspect,

Morgan's boyfriend, Jason Scarnecchia.

-[g*nsh*t]
-But then, McDermitt says something

that catches them off guard.

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] If McDermitt
doesn't think Morgan's boyfriend

is capable of m*rder,
perhaps he knows who is.

[narrator] The investigators want
to know more about the cell phone incident

with her male colleagues a few weeks back,

an incident McDermitt is
intimately familiar with.

-[continues inaudibly]
-[♪ tense music continues]

[narrator]
It's no secret that Morgan had issues

with her coworkers after
being violated like that.

But would anyone go to the extreme
to m*rder her over it

after she went to HR?

McDermitt doesn't have a clue,
so he's free to go.

And his instincts about
Morgan's boyfriend were right.

The absence of gunpowder
residue in their home

and on his body clear
any suspicion of Jason Scarnecchia.

He couldn't have been the person
to fire the g*n.

[Cora] I never really thought
it was Jason Scarnecchia.

Like, it just wasn't...
it wasn't his character.

♪♪

[narrator] So Morgan's boyfriend
joins the rest of her family

as they continue to grapple
with this senseless tragedy.

[Cora]
Watching my family, especially Cyndi,

Morgan's mom,

lose a child,

and her daughter, Emilia,
to lose a mother,

her only parent,

you can't really describe the trauma,
the heartbreak, the feelings.

I just have to trust that the detectives

and the police are going to do their job.

[♪ soft music playing]

[narrator] But when something so heinous
happens in your own family,

your own community,

no one can be prepared
for that kind of shock.

This was probably one of
the most emotional cases

just because the senselessness
of the k*lling.

You have an innocent victim
who hasn't done anything.

And a girl who lost her mom,

and they were the two
closest people in the world.

♪ Under the weight of your shadow ♪

You've got a family
that's lost a loved one,

and they wanna see some justice done.

Bringing them justice falls on me.

♪ Cold, cold world ♪

[narrator] But first,
detectives have to find Morgan's k*ller.

And nearly 10 hours after her body
was found in her driveway,

detectives get a lucky break.

An anonymous tip about
one of Morgan's bosses

sends the investigators racing back
to FedEx for another interview.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Rocco]
Morgan Fox may have been having an affair

with one of the higher-ups at the company.

Very suspicious.

[narrator]
Could the tension and jealousy

surrounding a hidden romance
in the workplace

be the reason for Morgan's tragic end?

With no time to waste,
the detectives are on the hunt

for their next big lead.

We went to this person's residence.

We spoke to his wife, ex-wife.

They were just recently divorced,
and she told us where we could find him.

So that's where we went
to get ahold of him

and bring him in for an interview.

He was hesitant,
didn't wanna come in, but he did.

[narrator]
Salacious tales of a workplace affair

and a new person of interest.

Someone at FedEx could be Morgan's k*ller.

There was a lotta talk,
a lotta rumors going back and forth.

[narrator] Could this anonymous caller
be onto something

that no one saw coming?

♪♪

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator]
Stories about tense workplace harassment

have sent investigators

looking into a tip
about a possible affair.

Is it possible this had something
to do with her m*rder?

He gave consent at first
to look through his phone.

It was his work phone.
There were so many blocks,

we couldn't really see anything in it.

[narrator]
Morgan's boss denies the affair.

Is he hiding something?
The answers could be

in his locked phone.

[Rocco] When we told him we're just gonna
have to keep this for further analysis,

he was not happy at all.

[inaudible]

[narrator]
A few hours later,

the lab analysis
of his phone comes back,

and it's clear...

[inaudible]

...this is not their guy.

[♪ dramatic sting]

They got their kids together
for a little get-together,

but that's the extent of
the relationship that we found.

There was a lotta talk,
a lotta rumors going back and forth.

You know how gossip
goes around with people.

[narrator] Is this anonymous tip
just another instance

of Morgan's colleagues taunting her,
even after her death?

Or is it a k*ller's attempt
to throw the detectives off their trail?

♪♪

Detectives go back to
Morgan's toxic work situation

and the cell phone incident
that might have started it all.

We got the phones of most
of the men she was having issues with.

Those people were quickly ruled out

based upon things we found
in Morgan's phone,

things we found in their phone
when they let us look at it.

One guy had an alibi.

But the one person we couldn't
rule out was Jason McDermitt.

♪♪

[narrator]
In order to unravel the truth

about what was really going on at FedEx,

investigators call in some help.

♪♪

[Bryan Johnson]
I'm Bryan Johnson.

I work for the Stark County
Sheriff's Office.

I'm a sergeant detective,

and I assisted with investigating
Morgan's m*rder.

We ultimately had to get
a search warrant

for FedEx and obtain personnel files,

and I was able to obtain security videos

inside of their warehouse,

particularly for the incident
that occurred on October 8th.

Jason McDermitt took
Morgan Fox's phone off of a desk.

♪♪

For 50 minutes...

[clock ticking]

...he was looking at her phone.

[ticking continues]

There was nothing done from
that incident on October 8th.

[narrator]
According to Jason,

he simply retrieved the phone,

like any good friend would do.

But according to the video,

he spent way more time swiping through it.

Now that the detectives know McDermitt
lied about the phone incident,

they start to take a closer look
at how he acted in the workplace.

Jason McDermitt's coworkers

told us that after
that October 8th incident,

he talked to several of them about,

"How can I get Morgan back into my life?"

[narrator] Then, Jason's file reveals
that this mild-mannered friend

is more dangerous
than anyone could have thought.

Jason McDermitt's personnel file,
um, unknown to us,

had not only the incident

with Morgan Fox on October 8th,

but it also had an incident
from that same year

from June 6th.

[assistant camera]
Cyanna Clements interview, take one.

[Cyanna] My name is Cyanna Clements.
I started FedEx back in 2019.

I was 18 years old.

When I first met Jason McDermitt,

they threw me up into the sort tower,

so he was actually
training me at the time.

[narrator]
After a few months,

Cyanna felt comfortable enough
to ask Jason for some help.

Back in 2019 of September,

I lost my license
due to a traffic infraction.

I started getting rides
from Jason McDermitt.

[narrator]
A few months later,

one of Cyanna's other friends
gets a job at FedEx, too,

so she stops getting rides with Jason.

That's when things get weird.

Jason McDermitt would
get on my social media

and just start commenting on everything,

inboxing me,

whether it's my TikTok,

Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook.

He wanted to know
what I was doing at all times.

He started being very persistent.

[text bloops, keypad clacking]

He would text.
If I didn't answer,

text again, text again,

-over and over and over and over again.
-[texts blooping]

You knew he was creepy,
but you didn't know he was that creepy.

I didn't wanna be around him no more.

I didn't wanna have
contact with him no more.

You know, like, leave me alone.

[narrator] One day during
Cyanna's counseling session,

Jason McDermitt took things
to a terrifying new level.

[Cyanna]
I was at my court counselor.

Just got a ride from my friend,
got dropped off.

[narrator] The session starts,
and Cyanna catches a glimpse of a familiar

and frightening sight.

You see that blue little car...

right in front of the door.

And then he sits out there.

[narrator]
Like Morgan would do months later,

Cyanna files a complaint.

[Cyanna]
I remember going to my managers at FedEx

for the reasoning of feeling harassed

and just overwhelmed with the situation

because I got to the point,
I had no idea what to do.

[♪ soft music playing]

[narrator] And like Morgan,
she received a similar response.

[Cyanna] At the end of the day,
nothing got handled.

About a month later, the manager,

he pulled me into the office
and let me go.

♪♪

[narrator] Cyanna's tale of being
stalked by Jason is scary,

but there's no evidence
that he was doing the same to Morgan.

So the detectives keep digging

as Morgan's family and coworkers
keep reeling with shock.

Morgan's sister-in-law made a flyer,
um, and it just said, like,

"Please help bring justice to Morgan."

I remember going through my Facebook
and seeing who was posting.

Other people that were
at FedEx weren't posting,

but Jason McDermitt's been
there three times now.

♪♪

Changing his profile picture,
making these big, long posts.

Something, for me, was not... not right.

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] With concerns
mounting from Morgan's family,

Ross speaks to Jason's parents

to see if he can connect him
to the scene of Morgan's m*rder.

The dad I talked to first.
He said it had been months

since Jason McDermitt had been home.

But mom said, "Oh, no.

"He stopped the other day
to pick up some mail,

"and that's the last time I really saw him

until the morning of the, the m*rder."

♪♪

[narrator]
On a hunch, Detective Ross asks

if there are any firearms in the house.

McDermitt's dad took us to his g*n locker.

It was locked,
but the key was six feet away

in a drawer at the work bench.

Jason McDermitt's father
allowed us to take

several of his handguns that
we believed were similar calibers

to the ones that k*lled Morgan Fox.

We were able to send those
to the crime lab for analysis.

[narrator]
And when the results come back,

one g*n from the McDermitts'
residence is a potential match

to the same g*n used to k*ll Morgan.

[g*nsh*t]

[Dennis] And now, it's becoming clearer
to us that this is our guy.

We just gotta get enough
evidence to prove it.

[narrator] Digging deeper,

Ross scrutinizes McDermitt's
interview from October 28th

and uncovers a curious omission.

[shutter snapping]

[Rocco]
The day of Morgan Fox's homicide,

when I made contact with McDermitt,

we noticed his car was clean.

He told us that he had just
ran it through the car wash

on the way to his parents'
house that morning.

[narrator]
But when the other detectives

spoke to him at the sheriff's station,

McDermitt switched things up.

When asked where did you go from work,

McDermitt left that information out.

He didn't say he stopped at the car wash.

I knew he stopped at the car wash.

♪♪

[narrator] Ross heads to Sheetz Car Wash
to ask for the surveillance footage.

I watched all of that.
All the video downloaded on a disk,

and saw McDermitt pull into the car wash,

slowly pull through the chassis wash,

and then back up.

And then slowly pull through
the chassis wash again,

making sure the front of
that vehicle was washed.

That is why those tire impressions

were on the scene of the homicide.

♪♪

This vehicle left that tire impression

and had mud in the wheel well

and on the wheel,
and that's why he went to the car wash.

[♪ soft music playing]

So, once I get the search warrant
for McDermitt's car,

I go to his parents' house where he was,

and I have a tow truck

transport it back to the sheriff's office.

We had the dog that's capable
of smelling expl*sives

do a sniff around it, and he indicated

that there was the odor of expl*sives.

And that means to us that,
at some point in time,

there was a g*n there,

which was a big piece of evidence.

[narrator] But so far,
the evidence is purely circumstantial.

To us, that was just
another piece of the puzzle

that we're putting together.

[narrator]
The investigators need one final piece

of solid evidence to catch Morgan's k*ller

and make an arrest.

The most powerful evidence we had
was something we found on her computer.

[g*nsh*t]

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] Morgan Fox wasn't going
to let anyone push her around.

But that same confidence
put a target on her back.

The evidence that proves Jason McDermitt

is Morgan's k*ller is stacking up,

but there's no smoking g*n just yet.

[Rocco] We're still doing a lot of
leg work, a lot of investigating,

trying to find anything we can.

[narrator]
If the detectives can place McDermitt

at the scene of the crime,

they may have just enough
evidence to make an arrest.

I mapped

several routes around
McDermitt's apartment

to Morgan Fox's house.

With all of the video footage
that I was able to obtain

from the city of North Canton,

we were able to identify

one vehicle in that area

that matched the timeframe
that she was m*rder*d,

and that was Jason McDermitt's vehicle.

[narrator] Bingo.

With all the information
we were to gather,

we were able to get probable cause
for an arrest warrant for Jason McDermitt.

[narrator] About a week after
Morgan's life was cut short,

detectives take Jason McDermitt
into custody.

McDermitt's fixation
with Morgan was evident,

but an analysis of his cell phone confirms
he was stalking her as well.

[Dennis]
We found at least 100 pictures of Morgan

that he had surreptitiously obtained.

Her Snapchats, TikToks.

We also found multiple videos
that he had recorded

of Morgan while she was at work.

[♪ tense music continues]

[Jason McDermitt]
I guess they want it done now.

[Dennis]
In addition to that, there was a day

that he went over to Morgan's house,

videotaping her without her knowledge.

She was bending over,
getting stuff out of the kitchen.

[Morgan Fox] I dunno, eventually...

And he just has his phone out,
recording her.

[narrator] And then,

texts to a coworker clinches it.

He wasn't just upset Morgan
ended their friendship.

He was scared she was going to
make trouble for him at work as well.

When prosecutors look closer
at Morgan's laptop,

they find one final critical
piece of evidence

pointing directly to Morgan's k*ller.

The most powerful evidence we had

was something we found on her computer.

[narrator]
One day before her m*rder,

Morgan was insistent on
someone acknowledging

and taking action about
her toxic work situation.

[Cora] Morgan felt like she had
exhausted all of her options

at FedEx.

[Michelle]
On the 27th, I had said to her,

"Why don't you reach out to HR yourself?

"I can help you with that letter.
You can CC me.

We can talk about it tomorrow and,
and go over that if you'd like."

[♪ tense music continues]

Morgan never made it to work that day.

[narrator] But what the investigators
find within that email

contains exactly what they need
to convict Morgan's k*ller.

"I feel like I'm being targeted at work.

"I'm sure speaking with you
is just going to make things for me

at work even worse, but at this point,
I have no other choice."

[narrator] Morgan wasn't going
to stop advocating for herself.

Jason McDermitt was
specifically named in the email.

And he had a feeling that Morgan
was going to get him fired.

Morgan's email proves that
his suspicions were correct.

HR finally responded to Morgan's request

to set up a call the following day.

But by then, it was too late.

♪♪

This gives the prosecution
everything they need

to show that this was the catalyst

that turned Jason from
stalker to m*rder*r.

Stalking is a sign of obsession,

and obsession oftentimes leads to m*rder.

♪ Feel it coming ♪

[narrator]
Six months after Morgan was m*rder*d,

Jason McDermitt is on trial.

♪ Ready ♪

♪ Are we ♪

[Rocco]
Jason McDermitt got a sentence of

life without the possibility of parole.

When Emilia took the stands
and gave her victim statement

is the only time Jason McDermitt

shows any remorse, anything.

[reporter] [on video]
Morgan Fox's 8-year-old daughter

spoke in open court before sentencing.

[Emilia Fox] [on video] I wish she could
see me graduate from high school.

I wish she could see me get married.

" I thought monsters weren’t real,

but you’ve proven me wrong."

[Emilia]
You hurt so many people.

You hurt me

and the people I love.

I'm a pretty tough guy,

but that statement almost
brought me to tears.

♪♪

It was so powerful.

[narrator]
Morgan now serves as an example to all.

Don't back down.
Make yourself heard.

Justice for Morgan Fox was served here,

and I think the family was satisfied

with the fact that
he can't hurt anyone else.

♪ Echoes on my soul ♪

♪ The stories that I told ♪

[Cyanna] I hope to God

that if there's another woman

who comes with a genuine concern
of being uncomfortable

while just doing her job,

don't act like it's not a problem.
Fix it...

before something
like this happens again.

[♪ R&B music playing]

[narrator] Morgan's legacy lives on
through her foundation.

My parents have started
the Morgan Ashlye Fox Foundation

to help out anyone
that has lost a loved one

to a victim of a crime like this.

[Dennis] With the letter that
we found Morgan wrote

the night before she was k*lled,

had we not had that
direction in this case,

who knows if we would have solved it?

♪♪

Morgan did it.
Morgan sent the letter.

Morgan put the letter together,

and she was brave and courageous,
and hit send.

She stood up for herself.

I give her all the credit for that.

[♪ music fades out]

♪ I don't know where my head is lately ♪

♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪

♪♪

[exhale]

♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪

♪ And it's only mine ♪

[♪ vocalizing]

♪ And the only way to find me ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies... ♪

[♪ music fades out]