Dangerous dance

DANGEROU

Michael McNew had given Jennifer Morrissey a new life, but she couldn’t change who she really was…

Divorced Michael McNew, 64, was a wealthy pharmaceutical executive with a luxury home in affluent Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.

Jennifer Lynn Morrissey, 33, was a stripper with a drug problem and a habit of getting into trouble with the law.

They were an unlikely couple, but when Michael went to the strip club where Jennifer danced in 2014, they had an instant connection as they chatted about their mutual love of motorbikes. They agreed to go on a date – but this time, Michael wouldn’t have to pay for her company.

As they got to know each other, Jennifer opened up about her troubles, including her $1,200 overdue electricity bill p re so a d w sm w w d an h o d o in y, urt fees and supported her when she started working as a motorcycle mechanic.

Jennifer told people that Michael ugar daddy’ – and not liked it.

l’s grown-up son and disapproved of their dad’s iend, who was half his age ly spending his money. became strained between they drifted apart.

017, Michael found out fer was cheating on him member of a

orcycle gang.

Jennifer moved out and Michael was heartbroken that

she’d betrayed him.

I wanted you to be with me forever. You chose not to , he said to her in a text.

You have a new boyfriend now… I have always loved you beyond your imagination and mine, but you chose differently. And I guess four years with you is all a waste of my time.

Michael messaged her to say that her belongings would be put into storage for her to pick up, and that he would pay to keep them there for two months.

He added that if she came to the house, he’d have no choice but to defend himself and reminded her that he had a gun.

Was Michael afraid of Jennifer’s new boyfriend?

He was right to be. Charles ‘Ruthless’ Kulow had a criminal history and a violent past.

Jennifer and Michael argued over more than 90 texts.

One minute they were lamenting over their relationship, the next they were threatening each other.

I’ll gut you like I’m field-dressing a deer, Jennifer wrote to Michael. Two days later, on 8 August, restitution payments (where the perpetrator of a crime has to pay the victim), which she struggled to keep up w Michael started paying them for her. Jennifer would later say it was to control her and make her reliant on him, but friends of Michael said it was simply because he was a kind-hearted man who wanted to help.

It was his compassi that made him invite Jennifer to live with h luxury riverside home in January 2015, so he could take care of her.

Jennifer likened it to a museum with his They met at a strip club The killing was made to look like an accident Generous Michael wanted to help out

Jennifer took advantage

OUS

Michael’s co-worker grew concerned that she hadn’t heard from him and went to his home with her daughter.

They were horrified to find Michael dead in his favourite leather chair in the living room, a bullet wound between his eyes. ‘He’s dead,’ Michael’s upset colleague told the 911dispatcher. ‘He has, like, blood all over his mouth. He’s not breathing at all.’

When officers arrived, they found Michael’s body.

They noted that his watch was missing and his jean pockets were literally turned out.

At first glance, it looked like a burglary that had gone wrong.

But if the motive of his murder had been robbery, why hadn’t they taken anything else – such as the expensive art on the walls?

Investigators discovered that in the hours leading up to his untimely death, Michael had been MONSTER Making of a

exchanging texts with Jennifer, and things between them had been far from civil.

They started to look into their connection in more depth.

Was it an accident, or had Michael been murdered?

Then, shortly after Michael’s death, Jennifer was arrested on unrelated charges.

While in custody, she started to tell a cellmate that she’d killed her sugar daddy after going over to his house to confront him.

Jennifer had told others, too – they all informed the police. When first questioned, Jennifer to lay suspicion on her new boyfriend, suggesting he might have had something to do with it.

She said she hadn’t been to Michael’s house in weeks and hadn’t lived there for months.

But her DNA was found in Michael’s turned-out pockets.

She then came up with a story that she would stick with throughout her trial.

She said that she did shoot Michael, but that it had been an accident.

They had wrestled with the gun and it had gone off, shooting him in the face.

Jennifer said she’d been frightened and fled the scene, but returned with Charles to make it look like a robbery. They buried Michael’s hone, omputer and watch in Charles’

ackyard, then ennifer sent a message to Michael

on Facebook so t would look ike she believed he was alive.

Jennifer was charged with murder.

Meanwhile, Charles was already in

prison facing a separate charge for killing a man during a fight. He agreed to testify against Jennifer and faced no charges relating to Michael’s death.

In January last year, Jennifer went before a jury.

The prosecution said that Michael had been asleep in his leather chair when Jennifer sneaked into the house through the garage, because she knew the entry code.

She had shot him at point-blank range in the face with her handgun. They discounted a tussle over the gun as there was no sign of a struggle.

The angle of the bullet wound was also consistent of Michael sitting back in his recliner.

‘He put his faith in her and she put a bullet in his head,’ they said.

Lawyers described how she’d heartlessly returned with new boyfriend Charles to make it look like a robbery.

Charles testified that he’d even urinated on Michael’s hands to get rid of evidence.

Their theory on Jennifer’s motive? Michael’s $362,000 lifeinsurance policy that listed her as a beneficiary.

Jennifer’s lawyers argued that it was self-defence and maintained she’d gone to collect something and they’d struggled, causing the gun to go off.

A tearful Jennifer took the stand and discussed her relationship with Michael.

She said that he was jealous and was always accusing her of sleeping with other people.

She said he always reminded her that she was financially dependent on him.

‘I didn’t mean to shoot him,’ she said.

But if it had been an accident, why hadn’t she called for help?

Instead she had returned to the scene and went to great lengths to cover up what she’d done.

In February last year, Jennifer Lynn Morrissey was found guilty of firstdegree murder.

She was also found guilty of burglary and criminal trespassing. At the sentencing, Michael’s children spoke of their heartache over the division that Jennifer had caused in their family while she’d been in a relationship with Michael.

Daughter Katie Anderson said, ‘I will never forgive her for taking him away from us.

‘I hope she will recognise the pain and trauma and sadness she has inflicted upon us all.’

The judge was unforgiving hen he addressed Jennifer. ‘Ms Morrissey, what you ave done to yourself you have eserved,’ he told her.

‘You have made bad ecision after bad decision fter bad decision.

‘You were callous, you were shallow, and you need to e punished for that.’

He then sentenced Jennifer o spend the rest of her life behind bars, without the chance of parole.

The second-to-last text Michael ever sent his former girlfriend read, Jen, I love you to death.

Sadly, that really would be the case when she turned up at his house hours later

and shot him right between the eyes. She shot him at close range Callous killer She said that they’d argued