A Toledo man who was released on parole in January after spending 46 years in prison for aggravated murder has since gone missing twice, adding to the tally of more than 2,000 Ohio parolees whose whereabouts are unknown.
Bret Vinocur, founder of Block Parole, an Ohio-based website that tracks violent criminals and their parole dates as well as information on missing children, said Michael Morris’ two bouts of going missing while under the supervision of the Adult Parole Authority are representative of a much larger pattern and problem in Ohio.
“They are absolutely not watching them,” he said. “There’s like 2,500 guys missing.”
According to Facebook posts from the Toledo Police Department, Morris first went missing April 29 and was subsequently located the next day. The post detailed concerns for his safety, noting Morris suffers from Alzheimer’s and walks with a limp.
On July 8, The Blade received a tip that Morris was missing again, and a check of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction registry showed his status was “Violator at Large.” His status on the registry changed the very next day to “[Adult Parole Authority] Supervision,” indicating authorities were now aware of his location.
JoEllen Smith, chief of communications for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, confirmed Morris was declared “whereabouts unknown” on June 24 and “restored to supervision” on July 9.
Morris was found guilty of the 1977 murder of 74-year-old Henry Cordle, who lived at the downtown Jefferson Avenue YMCA. Mr. Cordle suffered more than 20 stab wounds. Morris was 19 when he began serving his sentence in January, 1978.
Mr. Vinocur, who tipped off The Blade of Morris’ disappearance, came across the violator at large status while doing routine checks on the statuses of violent criminals on parole in Ohio. When The Blade called TPD’s nonemergency dispatch to confirm the tip, the operator said the department was unaware Morris was missing.
Morris blamed his co-defendant, Michael Ustaszewski, for the death of Mr. Cordle. Ustaszewski, who served 35 years for aggravated murder, refused to ever admit guilt for the crime, and his family, friends, and even some legal professionals insist he was wrongfully convicted.
Jason Pollick, who works at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities of Northwest Ohio, cautioned against panicking about at-large parolees.
“Not everybody who vanishes is necessarily a threat, and not everyone who is visible isn’t a threat,” he said. “If the gentleman [Morris] has developed a disorder, he’s a danger to himself as well. Somebody should’ve tried to get him into some sort of service or assisted living situation to address that.”
“We don’t know the circumstances for his disappearance. If he has Alzheimer’s, maybe he forgot he was on probation,” Mr. Pollick added.
For him, the highest priority is helping people reintegrate into the community in a healthy and safe way.
As of Tuesday, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction listed 2,069 individuals wanted by the APA for violating the conditions of their supervision. The violators at large webpage describes these individuals as “dangerous and possibly armed.” Ohio reported having 217,800 people under supervision to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics at the end of 2021. For comparison, Michigan reported 125,200 under supervision. According to Kyle Kaminski from the Michigan Department of Corrections, there were 729 active parole absconders at the end of June.
Based on these figures, approximately 1 percent of the supervised community is at large in Ohio, compared to about half a percent in Michigan.
According to the same dataset from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “ less than half of those who exited parole or probation in 2021 successfully completed the terms of their supervision.”
While Ms. Smith, from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, could not provide the specific conditions of Morris’ supervision because they are not public, she did say he was not assigned to a halfway house.
She also said the general conditions of APA supervision require parolees to obtain a travel permit when leaving Ohio, submit to warrantless search, and report any arrest, conviction, or citation — among other requirements that include regular check-ins.
Mr. Vinocur also reported similar experiences of informing media in Cleveland and Columbus about violators at large, and, following local media outlets’ poking around, finding the violators had been returned to supervision.
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