Cold case solved after DNA identified

AUSTIN (KXAN) - On Nov. 29, 1982 Travis County Deputies responded to Tangleridge Circle right off Circle Dr. regarding a badly decomposed body found in some brush covered with tree limbs. The initial investigation showed that the death was a homicide. Investigators had no clues as to the identity of the victim and distributed forensic sketches to the media and public asking for help in identifying the victim without success.

In May 2006, Detective Jim Anderson, Sheriffs Office Cold Case Detective, reviewed the 1982 case and sent evidence to the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth to see if DNA could be extracted and uploaded into the Combined DNA Index System. On Jan. 5, 2009 UNT advised they had a confirmed DNA match between the unidentified person and a submission, from Lee County Sheriff Rodney Meyer, in reference to a missing person identified as, Houston King Morris, 29.

Detective Anderson contacted the Lee County Sheriffs Department and found that Sheriff Meyer had human remains, found on Nov. 18, 1984, that was unidentified. In researching missing persons cases Sheriff Meyer found a 1982 homicide that occurred in Houston, Texas where the victim, Houston King Morris, had been dumped somewhere between Houston and Austin.

He contacted the family of Morris and obtained DNA samples and sent them to UNT along with the DNA evidence. The family DNA was not a match to his case, but it was a match that cleared a 26-year-old Travis County homicide case. According to the Houston Police Department, the suspect was arrested, tried and convicted of murder, without Morris body in September 1986.