Family Of Grand Prairie Murder Victim Saw The Signs Of Abuse
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GRAND PRAIRIE (CBS11) - Seventeen-year-old Desiree Morris' family warned her.
"We informed her, 'He's gonna kill you," said her aunt Margaret Flores.
They still couldn't convince her to stay away from her boyfriend, 29-year-old Ivan Arellano.
"She was brainwashed,' said Flores.
Even her younger cousins saw signs of abuse.
"She always had a black eye, real bad bruising on her arms, a bite on her shoulder," recalls 15-year-old Mickkah Morris.
When police told the family Arellano had shot himself during a standoff Monday outside a Lowe's in Arlington, they feared the worst.
"If he shot himself, then he must have hurt her. And, if they can't find her, then she must not be around anymore," reasoned 14-year-old Ravin Valdez.
Grand Prairie Police found her body Wednesday morning in a wooded area off the 2400 block of Pioneer.
"We all knew it was gonna happen sooner or later, but we didn't want to believe it. We wanted her to be hiding, and not her to be gone," said Valdez.
In March, Morris had filed a police report accusing Arellano of violently assaulting her multiple times. Her mother and grandmother witnessed one of the attacks.
"He grabbed her by the hair and started punching her in the face," said Flores.
The teen still managed to blame herself.
"That's all she said. 'It's my fault. It's my fault.' It's NOT your fault," said Flores.
Relatives began moving Morris from home to home and even took her to work with them to keep an eye on her.
They say she eventually sneaked out a window around three in the morning to go back to Arellano.
Grand Prairie Police say Morris then began leaving messages asking investigators drop the assault investigation.
Police did not, and at the time of Arellano's death, there was an active warrant for his arrest.
"We all blame ourselves like we didn't do enough. We try not to because we tried the best that we could, but we feel like this could have been prevented some way."
Flores says the family tried reporting her as a missing child, but at 17, the State of Texas considered her an adult.
She still doesn't know what else they could have done.
"You don't know what to say, you don't know what to do. And when they're gone, they're gone," said Valdez.
For a list of domestic violence resources, click here.
For more information on dating violence, click here.
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