7/11 surveillance video may show missing Bronx artist in Texas
THE BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) — The mother of a missing Bronx artist with PTSD said police showed her surveillance footage of a person inside a Dallas, Texas 7/11 store that could be her daughter.
"She had a hoodie on and a hat on her head," Linda Morris said of the person in the surveillance footage. "Just looking at her mannerisms, we're saying maybe it could be her."
Vanessa Morris, 52, an artist who witnessed her cousin's murder more than 20 years ago, has struggled with depression, anxiety and PTSD in the wake of the crime.
She was last seen on a Sunday night, March 20. She had been watching a TV show with her mother at their shared apartment on Van Courtland Park South. Linda Morris told us that her daughter left her cell phone and keys at home in the Bronx when she disappeared.
NYPD detectives learned that someone used Vanessa Morris' debit card to make a purchase at a 7/11 not far from the Amtrak train station in Dallas on Tuesday, March 22.
"According to the detective, the timing would align with her taking an Amtrak train to Dallas," Linda Morris said.
Vanessa Morris had been hospitalized for depression in early January and was mourning the loss of her stepfather from COVID-19 pneumonia the same week.
In another development, Vanessa Morris' grandmother, Emily Fletcher, said she got a strange call April 6 from a doctor's office in Sweetwater, Texas, which is 220 miles away from Dallas.
"She didn't hear anyone respond," Linda Morris told us about the call. "She said someone was quiet, and eventually the call dropped."
The family looked up the doctor whose name appeared on the phone and called the office. They learned the general practitioner offers mental health treatment, among many other services.
When Linda Morris called the doctor's office in Sweetwater to ask about her daughter, the medical assistant told her they hadn't seen anyone matching Vanessa Morris' description.
Mary Murphy's initial coverage of Morris' disappearance is below: