A California convict pleaded guilty to two New England cold cases dating back to the 1980s on Tuesday, the Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office announced.
David Allen Morrison, 65, pleaded guilty to the 1981 kidnapping of then-15-year-old Laura Sheriden in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, in Berkshire County Superior Court, the district attorney’s office said in a joint press release. He also pleaded guilty to the 1986 murder of 32-year-old Sarah Hunter in Bennington County, Vermont, Tuesday afternoon.
Morrison was imprisoned in California for over 30 years before being extradited to Massachusetts in November, the district attorney’s office said. He was motivated to plead guilty in these additional cases after realizing he would not be granted parole, The Bennington Banner reported.
A kidnapping and a murder from the ‘80s
Morrison kidnapped Sheriden on June 23, 1981, after she accepted a ride from him to her home in New Ashford, the district attorney’s office said. The ride “seemed normal” at first, with the two chatting about their mutual interest in taekwondo, she told The Berkshire Eagle in an interview.
But when Morrison drove past Sheriden’s house, “she quickly realized she was in danger,” the district attorney’s office said. He then pulled out a handgun, and a struggle ensued as she tried to wrest the gun away from him, causing the car to veer back and forth on the roadway, the Eagle reported.
Soon after, Morrison pulled over at a rest area on Route 7 in New Ashford, and Sheriden managed to escape, the district attorney’s office said. He was tried on assault and illegal gun charges in connection with the incident later that year, but a jury found him not guilty, the Eagle reported.
Five years later, Hunter — a golf pro living in Manchester, Vermont — was reported missing by her coworker on Sept. 19, 1986, after she unexpectedly didn’t show up for her shift, the district attorney’s office said. Her body was discovered in a wooded area of Pawlet, Vermont, over two months later.
Morrison became the prime suspect in Hunter’s murder early-on in the investigation, and in 2012, he was finally charged in the case, The Bennington Banner reported. But as Bennington County State’s Attorney Erica Marthage prepared for his trial in 2015, mishandling of evidence in the case was discovered, and she was forced to dismiss the case against him.
Though Morrison evaded justice in New England, he was convicted in California on charges related to violent crimes over the next few years, The Bennington Banner reported.
Why Morrison confessed decades later
In 2023, Massachusetts and Vermont State Police investigators began developing new evidence linking Morrison to Sheriden’s kidnapping and Hunter’s murder, the Banner reported. In July 2024, he decided to confess to the two crimes in the hopes of serving out a life sentence close to his relatives in his home state of Vermont.
Morrison told investigators he abducted Hunter on a whim when she came into the Manchester, Vermont, gas station he was working at at the time, the newspaper reported. He had never met her before.
Morrison said he restrained Hunter and put her in his car with the intention of sexually assaulting her, but was stymied by cars passing by, the Banner reported. He ultimately stabbed her to death with a pair of scissors, then disposed of her body and the murder weapon in the woods.
Morrison’s new pleas came after a complex agreement was reached between law enforcement and government officials in Massachusetts, Vermont and California, the newspaper reported. He is set to serve out his sentences from each state concurrently.
Law enforcement officials have questioned Morrison about his potential involvement in other unsolved cases out of Massachusetts and other states, according to The Berkshire Eagle. The Berkshire County District Attorney’s Office is set to provide more information about its prosecution of Morrison during a press conference Wednesday morning.
