COMING CLEAN

Man Confesses to Strangling, Murdering Victim 17 Years Ago: Cops

The sheriff described walk-in confessions as “very, very rare.”

A Florida man walked into a Jacksonville sheriff’s office last week and confessed, apparently unprompted, to the strangulation and murder of a 57-year-old in 2002, authorities told The Ledger. Richard Ottis Morrison was initially found dead in a hotel room on Jan. 29 of that year. Authorities believed that a physical altercation had taken place, and noted that some of Morrison’s belongings were missing. But the case went cold in the years that followed—until last week, when 41-year-old Kenny Lee Maxwell turned himself in. Authorities aren’t yet sure what prompted the confession, which Lt. Craig Waldrup described as “very, very rare,” but The Ledger reports that the men knew each other before Morrison was murdered. Police are now re-interviewing witnesses, and Morrison’s family has reportedly been notified.