On top of the refrigerator was a manila folder. Did that just give you chills . It was horrible. Why didnt she tell us . Did a secret lead to murder . Its got to be unimaginable. Welcome to dateline. When the body of Brooke Morris was discovered by the side of the road, her family started looking for answers. They were surprised to discover that she may have been involved in an allegedly violent relationship. Could that revelation be the key to solving her murder . Here with nightfall is andrea canning. Id ask that you all close your eyes for a few minutes this morning. Id like for you to envision rom county in the middle of october. The leaves are changing. Theres a little bit of a nip in the air. Now envision Brooke Morris standing there and brooke feels like shes been punched in the throat. Shes been shot. Brooke feels like a bomb goes off in her body. This is the second shot, and it tears through her chest. Shes terrified, and shes in extreme pain. Thank you, you can open your eyes. Reporter the final minutes of a young womans life detailed in a tennessee courtroom. A tragedy that devastated her family and friends. This cannot be happening. It was really the worst day of my entire life. Who would do this to our friend brooke . It was awful. It was horrible. Reporter secrets exposed, but would justice be served . It was neverending, neverending. And i was so frustrated. Reporter most people who knew Brooke Morris remember her radiance and zest for life. She was always, always, always dancing everywhere she went. Reporter kaitlyn okal met brooke when they were teenagers, growing up just outside knoxville, tennessee. Brooke the yin to kaitlyns yang. We kind of balanced each other out. She was a girly girl and i was more the tomboy. So id go to her house. And change into a thousand outfits and try on makeup and do our hair. And then shed come into my house. And wed ride four wheelers and play on the farm. Reporter sounds like you two were almost more like sisters . Oh yeah, we even fought like sisters. We reporter thats when you know youre good friends. Yes, yes. For sure. Reporter this is brookes real sister brittany and their mom, tina. What did she like to do clothes. Clothes very very girly, loved doing hair and stuff like that. She was just a girly girl. Reporter a little Southern Belle . Uhhuh, yeah. Yes, yes. Reporter the little Southern Belle grew into a beautiful young woman. Sometime blonde, sometime brunette, brooke always drew people into her lively orbit. Really spontaneous, fun, hilarious, just the life of the party, could literally make friends with anyone. Reporter dina renee was one of them. She would come over to my house. And shed be, like, were going out tonight. Were going to have fun. Reporter and that meant one thing on fall saturdays in knoxville, volunteers football at the university of tennessee. The strip is completely packed. There are vol fans everywhere. It is so much fun. Lots of cooking out. Lots and lots of fun. Reporter lots and lots of orange . Lots of orange. Reporter was this something that brooke looked forward to . Oh yeah. Reporter on saturdays . All of us at that age, you know . That was what you did on saturday. You wanted to get your orange and white outfits. And and figure out where you were going to be. Reporter october 15th, 2011 started out as one of those fun days. The vols were taking on Louisiana State and brooke was tailgating with friends. But by nightfall, something was terribly wrong. 911, wheres your emergency . Uh, were down here on blair road. Reporter 40 miles away from knoxville, a couple was driving down a country road. They were keeping an eye out for crossing deer when their headlights illuminated something else. And there is a body laying off the side of the road. Ok, i need somebody to check for a pulse. Shes, shes a bloody mess, maam. I understand. Reporter chief Deputy Tim Phillips of the Roane County Sheriffs Office had just finished watching the Football Game when dispatch called him at home. What information were you given before you arrived at the scene as as you were driving there . Essentially had had a white female that was deceased that was laying on the side of the road. Reporter the body had been found just after 8pm at the intersection of two quiet rural roads, not far from the chiefs home. The woman had not been dead for very long. When you arrived here. What could you see . The victims body was over here on the side of the road close to the intersection here at old blair. Reporter right on the road . Yeah, right on the white line. You know. Reporter what did she look like . What could you see . She was welldressed wearing blue jeans, boots, and a bright orange shirt. She had her purse there with her and everything. Reporter i. D. ing the victim was the easy part, her drivers license was found right in her purse at the scene. It was 23yearold Brooke Morris. The hard part would be unraveling the mystery that led to her death on this lonely country road. Was it someone that was a stranger to us . Was it someone that we knew . All kinds of things were coming into our heads, you know, trying to figure this all out. Coming up what happened to brook . Theyre asking do you know anybody that would want to harm your sister . And were like we dont have a clue. The hunt for a killer begins and it starts close to home. When dateline continues. S. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. [ text notification now that you have] new dr. Scholls massaging gel advanced insoles with softer, bouncier gel waves, youll move over 10 more than before. Dr. Scholls. Born to move. 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And he was like, well, what do you thinks goin on . Im like, i dont know. I just feel really nauseous. And it wasnt 20 minutes later i get a phone call. Reporter sheriffs deputies were looking for her mother, tina. He didnt want to tell us much until he talked to mom first. Reporter tina was at a friends house. Both chief phillips and brittany headed over there. Mom, you know, comes to the door. And then she looks at me. And shes like, its brooke, isnt it . And im like, yeah. How did you know . What i knew it had to be because brittany was there, you know . So it had to be. Ive delivered more than my share of death notifications, and this particular one was ill never forget it. I just asked her to sit on the couch and we sit there for a second and i said, you know, were is Brooke Morris your daughter . She said she is. And i said, well, shes been murdered. She passed out cold. So we had to get her to, you know, come back to. And i think we were just all shocked. Reporter when tina came to, she could hardly process what had happened. It was almost like it was not real. You know, youve got the wrong person. Its not her. Reporter but it was real. Brooke was dead. Shed been shot 3 times once in the neck, once in her chest and an execution style shot to the back of her head. I could not believe that another human could be so heartless. And you know, theyre asking us these questions like, who would do you know anybody that would want to harm your sister . And were like, we dont have a clue. I could not even think of someone that would want to hurt brooke in any way. Everybody loved brooke. Reporter but investigators had to start somewhere. Although only 23 years old, brooke already had an exhusband Clayton Morris. She met him soon after high school. He was kind of country, you know . They just hit it off. They just had fun together and started dating. And then the surprise popped up. She comes home with some news, some big news. Mmhmm. She was totally excited. Of course. I was not so much excited. Reporter brooke, then 20 years old, was pregnant. I thought brooke was too young, for one thing. And you know, its just its not what i had hoped for her at that time. Reporter brooke and clayton were determined to make a go of it as a family. So before they became three, they got married. Then they had this sweet baby that just stole my heart. In an instant, you know did that make it all better . When you met your grandson . It did, it absolutely did and how was brooke as a mom . Did she just take right to it . Oh, yeah. Reporter they moved into a house and both had jobs. But the young couple soon realized that family life came with grownup responsibilities and problems. Did she confide in you at all about how things were were not great at home . Yeah, of course. She talked to her friends about it and we just tried to be as supportive that we can. But we were on such a different level than she was, you know . Here we were still single. And she was married with a baby. So hard for us to kind of relate in that area. But i think she she knew that it wasnt going to to work, you know . Reporter after two years, the couple split. Brooke moved out and clayton stayed in the house with their son. But brookes family says she and clayton were committed to raising the child together. Well, she lived, you know, just a few doors up from clayton and they had shared custody of the baby. Was it an amicable divorce or did they fight . They had some disagreements, you know. They definitely had some disagreements. Exhusbands, husbands, spouses are always looked at . They are. Did you feel he was an important person to talk to as well . We did. Did you call him right away . We actually went and seen him. Reporter it was the middle of the night, just hours after brookes body was discovered, when investigators arrived at claytons house. Chief phillips woke him up. So what do you say to him then . We didnt tell him that brooke was deceased and and our Main Objective is to try to find out what he had been doing that evening. You want to hear his story before you talk about what happened to brooke . Thats right. Reporter clayton told investigators he had their son that weekend. He said he was at work all day saturday and then spent the evening at home. Could he have left the child and gone out . He could have. Coming up scouring the scene of the crime. Bullets and brookes phone. What would they reveal . It was very helpful to us. When dateline continues. When dateline continues brook morris was laid to rest at just 23 years old. And while her friends said their goodbyes her mother, tina, admits to being in denial about brookes death. I kept thinking, you know, shes going to call, shes going to call. I know shes going to call. And shes going to say, mom, you know, it was a big mixup, you know . I just couldnt grasp that she was gone forever. Tina had a very hard time. I remember being at her funeral. And tina was holding this picture of brooke and just crying, just hysterically. I mean, two people had to carry her to the gravesite. Reporter along with grief there was something else. How scary was it to you that whoever did this was out there . Oh, very scary. I mean, because theyve taken something from you. I mean, what are their motives for us . Reporter roane county investigators, tasked with bringing brookes killer to justice, had spoken to her exhusband Clayton Morris the night of the murder. Were you getting any kind of a vibe from clayton . You know, sometimes you read people and and, you know, people throw off body language but he just seemed like, what in the worlds going on . Reporter and despite the tension during the marriage and divorce, those who knew brooke best didnt think her exhusband was a killer. I just never entertained that thought. Clayton was a good person. So i didnt think that, you know, he would be capable of doing Something Like that to brooke. Reporter more importantly, claytons alibi checked out. Investigators cleared him. If not the exhusband, then who . Who had brooke come in contact with that weekend . Investigators retraced brookes steps, starting not with the game on saturday, but with the night before, friday. Friends told investigators they had tickets to a concert. She was super excited about going to that. So she was just like, okay, ive got to go ive got to go find something to wear. Im going to go to dinner. Reporter after dinner, brooke left her car in a Shopping Center parking lot near the restaurant, and drove with friends to the concert. She spent the night at dinas house. I called it hotel dina like everyone just stayed. Yeah. Left it unlocked for everyone, you know. Reporter the next day, saturday, was the tennesseelsu Football Game and everyone was looking forward to tailgating. But the fun day turned sour. Brooke borrowed something out of dinas closet and the girlfriends had an argument about it. And i had found out she had wore it without asking. Reporter it was a silly fight, but it stuck with brooke. She didnt tailgate for long. She had been calling all these people to pick her up to take her to her car because she wanted to change her outfit for the night, for that night. Reporter brookes friend Albert Dotson had been tailgating with her earlier in the day. So we would, like, break off, and i was with some other friends of ours at that time. So im not really sure where she was. Reporter neither dina nor albert ever saw brooke again. And with more than 100,000 football fans flooding the city for the game, finding brookes killer was like looking for a needle in an orange haystack. I thought that maybe someone had kidnapped her, you know . And we were all just trying to figure out who would have done this and why. What was their motive, you know . It was a very horrible time. Did you think that maybe it could be connected to the game . You never know. You never can you can never rule it out. Its tennesse football, and you know, she so happened to be wearing a bright orange top and if anybody knows anything about tennessee football, bright orange is the color for the tennessee vols. Reporter but brookes body had been discovered about 40 miles from the football stadium and investigators were still stymied as to how she ended up there. Did it lend itself to that she maybe was dumped here . Or did you think that she was actually shot here . Based off of everything that was here at the scene, it appeared that she was shot here. Reporter the crime scene itself yielded little physical evidence, no fingerprints, no tire marks, and no murder weapon. Only some brass, as they call it. They found spent ammo, they found live ammunition. Reporter three shell casings as well as some unfired bullets. All from a. 32caliber gun. That brass was sent to be tested in a lab, while investigators turned their attention to one item at the crime scene that could possibly provide some quick leads brookes cell phone. It was right there, unlocked and in her purse. You can find a lot out about a person within seconds of, you know, going over the persons cell phone so it was very helpful to us. Reporter in fact, brookes phone provided investigators with a major lead to pursue. Two leads, actually. Two men. Investigators wanted to talk to them. But theyd have to find them first. Its always a concern whenever you have somebody that youd like to talk to and you cant get to them to talk to them. Who were these two men . Could they help investigators unravel this mystery . Coming up we do consider people like him a person of interest. And what was their relationship to brooke . Theres still something going on that shouldnt be going on. Mmhmm. When dateline continues. S fleas through contact all month long. I mean hes a wreck without me. Advantage ii, fight the misery of biting fleas. With advil liquigels, what stiff joints . What bad back . Advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil liquigels. Im marlie hall with the hours top stories. A el paso, texas became the latest scene of deadly gun violence in america. 20 people killed. Shooting rampage that the governor called one of the deadliest days in texas history. The 21yearold man arrested in the attack posted a hatefilled rant online less than a half hour before he opened fire. Police say hes talking with investigators. Now back to dateline. Welcome back. Im craig melvin. With very little evidence found at the scene of brook morriss murder, data from her cell phone showed she had been in contact with two men the day she was killed. Could one of them be responsible for brookes murder, or was this another dead end . Here again is andrea canning. The brutality of Brooke Morriss murder fueled the search for her killer. We really hate that they came into our community and committed such a crime. Reporter roane county investigators had cleared brookes exhusband, clayton. But they had two other men to look at, two men whose names and numbers were right there in brookes phone. Who was brooke communicating with that day that seemed to be of potential importance . Daniel hawkins. This is a man she used to date . This is a person that we believ