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Misty Morse’s body was discovered floating in the Indian River, Florida, bloated, dead, and partially decomposed on July 24, 2000. Thus far, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office initially found it difficult to solve this case as there was no evidence or lead to move forward with.
Although investigators took time, with a great effort from the Quest Gen Forensic team, Misty Morse’s killer was finally arrested on October 20, 2003. Brent Huck, Misty’s ex was charged with her murder, following which he was sentenced to life.
Season one episode 8 of Real CSI: Miami, which is going to air on August 14, 2024, is going to delve deep into Morse’s homicide and show the investigation chronology, following which the assassin Brent Huck was arrested. The episode is titled Lady in the Lagoon and the synopsis for the same reads as -
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"The body of a young woman is found in a south Florida lagoon with her limbs bound together by nautical rope; investigators uncover a secret love affair and use pet DNA analysis and a procedure called de-gloving to solve her murder."
Follow along to learn five chilling details about Misty Morse's murder.
Five chilling details about Misty Morse's murder
1) Misty's body was recovered in a partially decomposed state
On July 24, 2000, when a retired judge scouted Misty Morse's body early morning, in the Indian River, he called for help. When the dive team arrived to rescue the body, they had to be very careful with the body bag as the body had already started decomposing and was bloated and undressed.
The forensic team too had to be extra cautious as the body was already in a delicate state and if recovered in the wrong method, it would cost them a loss of evidence, as revealed previously in Swamp Murders on Prime Video.
The detectives and the forensic experts later speculated that her body must have been underwater for more than 72 hours after which it started to float and was visible near Merritt Island.
2) Misty Morse's corpse was bound
The killer had used white duct tape to bind her legs, hands, mouth, feet, and even her nose. There were Publix plastic bags tied to her feet, which the detectives speculated were effective for the assassin to aid the drowning by making the body heavy. A nylon rope with a specific diamond pattern was also recovered from the body, which was used to restrain her as revealed in Swamp Murders.
This demonstrates the lengths to which the murderer went to incapacitate her, preventing her from resisting, fleeing, or requesting assistance. However, it is not known if Misty was killed before she was thrown into the river or if she died from drowning.
3) There was zero to no evidence
As the body was underwater for a prolonged period, there was no evidence to guide the investigation. Initially, the detectives had a hard time even figuring out who the victim was. By using the degloving method, the forensics did a great job of recovering her fingerprints and immediately identified her as Misty Morse.
However, the little evidence that was there was the white duct tape, two black hairs, plastic bags, and rope. The cause of her death was also not determined as the forensics found no broken bones, trauma, or wounds. The detectives however speculated that the killer could be someone with a military or a maritime background, after seeing the knots and the white duct tape.
Initially, Misty's former love interests Ted Underwood and Bobby Cooper were interrogated, however, they did not meet the killer criteria and also aided in the investigation.
4) Misty ‘hated to be cold and wet …'
Misty Morse had come back home on July 20, 2000, right before she disappeared when her cellphone rang twice. Her parents initially thought that she was staying at a friend's when she did not show up the next day. They even tried calling her, however, there was no reply. When the news of her death reached the family, they were devastated.
As revealed by former journalist Corey Schubert, Misty Morse’s mother wrote a letter to a newspaper editor, in which she expressed her frustration, as Misty's killer was not arrested, initially after her death. The family was sad and heartbroken because of that.
In the letter, she said -
"She (Misty) hated to be cold and wet and she was left in the river ."
She spent seventy-two hours in the water, as we already know. Even though we don't know how, when, or if Misty passed away before being dumped in the river, it's clear that her final moments were solitary, lonely, and incredibly painful.
5) Brent wasn’t arrested even after all the circumstantial evidence that pointed at him being the killer
When the detectives investigated Brent, they found out that he lived on Merritt Island, which was near the crime scene. Brent also had access to a boat. The Publix grocery bags found in Brent’s house, the screen spline, the sail tape, and even the sail rope were similar to the ones found on the victim.
Even after all the circumstantial evidence, he wasn’t arrested as the attorney wanted concrete evidence. Finally, when the black hair at the crime scene was identified as dog hair and later matched to Brent’s dog, he was arrested.
Finally, in May 2003, Brent Huck was convicted of kidnapping plus felony murder. He received two consecutive life sentences and is currently at the Appalachia Correctional Institute. Brent however has not confessed to this crime and believes that it could be one of Misty's other lovers who took her life.
To know more about Misty Morse's murder, watch season one episode 8 of Real CSI: Miami on CBS.
