ANNA MARIE EMRY 9YRS (KB-Larry Lane Morgan-Friend Of The Family) A GIRL IS DEAD...A TOWN ASK WHY August 21st, 1994 Brighton was the kind of town where murder happened only on television and Lary Lane Morgan, a former resident, was the kind of neighbor townspeople might go out with for a few beers. But all that changed with the discovery of the body of 9yr old Anna Marie Emry of Grinnell and the arrest of Mr. Morgan after the authorities said he had helped them find the body. Anna Marie vanished on the morning of August 13th from her uncles home in Brighton, where she was staying while her parents celebrated their 10th anniversary with dinner in Iowa City, 42 miles way. Purple ribbons, Anna Maries favorite color, according to family members, were put up around both Brighton and Grinnell by civic groups and other residents as a small army of searchers combed the cornfields, ditches and abandoned farm buildings in this southeastern Iowa farm country. Sixty-five employees of Van Wyk Freight Lines Inc. of Grinnell, where the girls father, Tony Emry, works as a long-distance truck driver, were brought in to Brighton to aid in the search. Other truckers put posters with her photo on their rigs in hopes someone would find her alive. But today the gaily colored ribbons, even those decorating the grandparents home in Brighton, looked bedraggled. Washington County officials used the grandparents home to make the announcement that Anna Maries body had been found in a cornfield almost 40 miles southeast of town. They also announced that Mr. Morgan, a friend of Anna Maries uncle from St. Francisville, Mossuri, was being charged with first-degree kidnapping and first- degree murder. Each charge carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole. Mr. Morgan and his 8yr old son, who he had picked up for a weekend visitation, had stopped by Robert Emrys home and had left just before midnight, the authorities said. Anna Marie died of multiple stab wounds to the chest, law-enforcement officials said. Sheriff Yale Jarvis said the body had been found as a result of maps being faxed to his office from Cedar Falls, where Mr. Morgan was being questioned. The death of Anna Marie has shaken both this town of 684 and Grinnell, a town of 8,902 that is 60 miles east of Des Moines. Willie Tonche, a classmate of Anna Maries at Davis Elementary School in Grinnell, was playing on a swing set with other Camp Fire boys and girls in Central Park in Grinnell, but his words were anything but childlike. Id like to go out and shoot the person who killed her, he said. Thats what Id like to do. Chief Mike Birmingham of the Grinnell police said that while his department had not been involved in the investigation, it had been in touch with the Washington County Sheriffs Department. The worst part of it is, how do you protect your kids? he said. This apparently was someone they felt they trusted. A mother of two, Lisa Bull, 29yrs, of Grinnell, said: How do you tell your kids not to talk to strangers? He was in their home one night. He was in their home. Tony and Peggy Emry had left their daughter and their son, Austin, 5yrs, with Mr. Emrys brother, Robert, in Brighton. The children were sleeping in the living room; Robert Emry checked on them around 12:30 AM, and they were fine. When Robert Emry awoke around 6 AM., he told officers, his niece was gone and a screen had been taken out of the door. Austin was unharmed and said he did not know anything about what might have happened to his sister. Anna Maries father spoke in philosophic terms. At least Im going to be bringing her home, he said. Im not going to wonder where shes at. Two Iowa boys, Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin, were kidnapped over a decade ago and neither case has been solved. Johnnys mother, Noreen Gosch of Des Moines, had come to Brighton to help with the search for Anna Marie but ended up having to comfort the Emry family after they received word of their daughters death. Tony Emry had a message to all parents. Hang on to your kids, he said, like its your last minute with them. If you suspect that a child is being abused or neglected...It is your duty to report it! Call this number to report child abuse ANY WHERE 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or National Center For Abused, Missing and Exploited Children 1(800)843-5678. Please Share!!! Thank you! ^_^ (I sure wish that I had a better picture :( )
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:32:54 +0000
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