Michelle Morgan

About Michelle Morgan

Michelle LeAnn Morgan (July 20, 1957–August 11, 1961) was a child abuse victim who was murdered by her stepmother at the age of four. Her story was documented on an episode of Cold Case Files.

Michelle suffered multiple injuries to the chest and back, a broken nose, burns on her skin and a broken arm before the age of four at the hands of her stepmother Mary Rae. These led to over 20 visits to the hospital, including one in which she was hospitalized for a month.

On August 9, 1961, Mary held Michelle under water and stomped her violently believing she had lied about something. These actions were seen by Michelle's brother, George. At dinner Michelle threw up blood clots; the next day she succumbed to her internal injuries. An autopsy was conducted by the pathologist at the army base where the Morgans lived, and the cause of the death was found to be massive trauma to the chest. Due to a technical error, the report was not completed until some time later when an inexperienced coroner marked the cause of death as pneumonia, and that it had occurred in 1976. The local prosecutor never pursued the case.