In the previous episode of Homicide: New York, a diligent force of NYPD detectives solved a bone-chilling murder case that took place in Carnegie Deli, at an aspiring actress’s apartment. In the second episode of the series, the detectives talked about the horrifying murder of a middle-aged man in Central Park, NYC, committed by two desperate teenagers in a fit of rage. The more we delve deeper into the case, the more we get to know about youth violence, which is caused by a significant lack of parental guidance. Here’s our recap of the second episode of this series, which revolves around this murder case and how the NYPD detectives managed to gather evidence against these two teen perpetrators of the crime.
Who Was Michael McMorrow?
The second episode opened with a business tycoon, Mr. Abdela, calling the detectives to his apartment to look for his daughter, who was nowhere to be found. As the detectives began to look around, they found that Abdela’s daughter, Daphne, and her then-boyfriend, Christopher, had been taking a bath in their bathtub, inside an abandoned bathroom. The detectives found it fishy when they spotted some blood spatter on the floor. Daphne and Chris said that they were injured, and that explained the blood drops on the floor, but it was soon revealed that there was something more to the story.
Following the incident, Daphne called the authorities once again and told them that Christopher had killed a guy in self-defense, and she had been a witness to the death. The dead body was found in the Central Park lake, shocking everyone, including the authorities. Michael McMorrow, a middle-aged man and an aspiring singer, was found killed with multiple stab wounds on his body. He had been severely stabbed multiple times, with an open wound in his abdomen causing his intestines to float on the water. It was a grisly murder scene that even left the death investigator, Barbara Butcher, shaken to the core. Detective Rob Mooney took the lead in the investigation, and he suspected both Daphne and Chris.
Why Did Daphne And Christopher Kill Michael?
Michael McMorrow was a nice guy who never had any enemies, according to his family and close friends, but the man had been dealing with his alcoholic problems for a long time and trying to change. Michael was well acquainted with Daphne and Chris, and on the night of May 22, 1997, when he found Daphne and Chris at the gazebo, near the lake, having alcohol, he wanted to have some drinks with them. Daphne and Chris planned to skinny dip into the water, but after they got out of the water, purportedly, Michael tried to make advances on Daphne, causing hot-blooded Christopher to snap. Christopher couldn’t control his anger and violently stabbed the man multiple times while Daphne pushed him into the lake. Michael lost his balance and fell into the water, causing him to suffer a great injury and ultimately lose his life. Daphne then asked her boyfriend to dump the body, and the two returned to Daphne’s apartment. However, despite their mutual decision to lay low, Daphne called the authorities and put the entire blame on Christopher. But the authorities arrested both of them and prepared to gather evidence against them for their indictment. According to the DA, from the forensic investigation, Richard Plansky told the documentary makers that they were short on time, as they were only given 144 hours to indict the teens; otherwise, they would be released. The investigation kicked off, and the entire apartment of Daphne was searched, which finally revealed that Michael’s wallet was in Daphne’s possession and that there was a knife in Christopher’s belongings. The DNA collected from the knife matched with that collected from Michael McMorrow, suggesting that the knife had been used as a murder weapon. The authorities and prosecution had enough evidence against the teen couple to indict them.
What Happened To Daphne And Chris?
In 1997, Daphne and Christopher were indicted for the murder charges, and later Daphne confessed to taking part in Michael McMorrow’s death. Christopher was also declared guilty of the manslaughter charge, and both of them were given prison sentences. While Daphne was given a 3–9-year prison sentence, Christopher was given a 10-year prison sentence.
Daphne Abdela had always been a troubled child. She had always been a self-destructive and dangerous person to be around. She had been dismissed from her private school, which was a serious concern for her parents. She came from a very affluent family. Her father was a businessman, and her mother was a model, but neither of them could take care of Daphne or raise her with morality. She was the kind of self-centered person who used to believe the entire world revolved around her. That’s why she took such a drastic step as to kill a guy and then pin all the blame on her boyfriend, because he didn’t belong to a family as rich or powerful as hers. However, karma struck her, and she had to serve her time in prison until January 2004, when both she and Christopher were released from the prison. They were barred from seeing each other, so their union was as short-lived as we might expect.
After getting released from prison, during her parole period, Daphne once again had to face legal troubles when she made death threats against someone. Even after her parole, in 2009, she also suffered a car accident, for which she filed a lawsuit. Christopher maintained a low profile to get away from any attention from the media and the authorities, so we don’t have any vivid knowledge about his whereabouts.
In the ending moments of the second episode of Homicide: New York, we saw how these individual cases brought the detectives together, causing them to create a great bond with each other. Even after several arguments between them, Richard Plansky and Rob Mooney became close friends following the case. In the upcoming episodes of the series, more and more intriguing criminal cases will be discussed by the NYPD detectives, who have poured their hearts and souls into solving the mysteries surrounding these murder cases.
