David Bruce Morton was convicted in Amarillo, Texas, of the murder and rape of a woman, and he confessed in 2003 to two earlier killings in Santa Fe, New Mexico: those of Janet Benoit in November 1983 and Teri Mulvaney in June 1984. He had been tried once for the Mulvaney killing, in 1988, and was not convicted. No conviction for either Santa Fe death is on record, and both stand as confessions only.
Janet Benoit was 22 when she died in Santa Fe in November 1983. Her case went unsolved for twenty years, until Morton confessed to police in 2003 that he had killed her. Further facts about her life are not on record.
Teri Mulvaney was 25 when she died in Santa Fe in June 1984. Morton, a neighbor, was considered a suspect early in the investigation. He was a convicted armed robber who had been released from the state penitentiary about a year before her death.
Morton was later arrested on a drunken-driving charge, and a man held with him said afterward that Morton had confessed to killing Mulvaney. Local prosecutors concluded there was not enough evidence to charge him. Mulvaney's parents gathered about 2,000 petition signatures to force a grand jury investigation, and the grand jury indicted him.
The state Attorney General's Office took Morton to trial in 1988, and the district attorney testified for the defense. In October 1988 the trial ended without a conviction. Its outcome is given two ways: as a jury that could not reach a verdict, with eleven jurors favoring acquittal, and as an acquittal, with one of the twelve jurors voting to convict. On either account, Morton was not convicted of the Mulvaney killing.
Morton moved to Amarillo, Texas. There he was convicted of the rape and murder of a woman who lived near him, and he was sentenced to 174 years in prison. The county of conviction, the date of the verdict, the exact charges and the name of the victim are not on record.
In 2003, while in Texas custody, Morton confessed to Santa Fe police that he had killed both Janet Benoit and Teri Mulvaney. Investigators have said they suspect him in the deaths of two other women; that suspicion rests on no charge or conviction. Whether he pleaded guilty in New Mexico after the confession, to which charges, before which court and with what sentences, is not on record.
In August 2016 he was serving his Texas sentence. His present custody is not on record.
The outcome of the 1988 trial is given both as a jury unable to reach a verdict, with eleven for acquittal, and as an acquittal, with one juror for conviction. Neither is a conviction.
The two other deaths in which investigators suspect him are unproven and are attributed to him by no court.
A confession is not a conviction: the 2003 admissions to Santa Fe police stand as confessions.
November 1983: Janet Benoit, 22, dies in Santa Fe.
June 1984: Teri Mulvaney, 25, dies in Santa Fe.
1984 to 1988: prosecutors decline to charge Morton; Mulvaney's parents gather petition signatures; a grand jury indicts him.
October 1988: trial on the Mulvaney killing ends without a conviction.
Later: convicted in Texas of the murder and rape of a woman in Amarillo; date and court not on record.
2003: confesses to Santa Fe police to the Benoit and Mulvaney killings.
August 2016: reported serving a 174-year sentence in Texas.