Man on trial for double-murder of Shelby toddler, woman

SHELBY, N.C. — UPDATE: A jury found Morris Abraham not guilty on all charges in connection with a three-year-old’s death in Shelby.

The jury declined to convict Abraham on charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.

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Prosecutors said one of the last videos of a three-year-old killed in Shelby was with the people charged in connection with his murder.

Prosecutors played the video in court during Tuesday’s trial for one of the three suspects.

That suspect took the stand in his own defense.

Cleveland County reporter Ken Lemon, who covered the shooting in 2016, spoke with officers Tuesday who said this is a case that still strikes a nerve nine years later.

Prosecutors said Morris Abraham, the man on trial Tuesday, hatched a plan with his brother and girlfriend to steal drugs, and in the process killed a preschool child and woman who happened to be spending the night at the house.

Abraham defiantly claimed he is not guilty.

“I had nothing to do with it,” he said in court Tuesday.

He is not related by blood to three-year-old Liam Murray, but said the child was like his nephew.

“I would see him almost every day,” Abraham said.

Prosecutors showed a Snapchat video recorded hours before the fatal shooting. In it, you can see the three-year-old in red shorts with Abraham playing in front of him and his girlfriend and co-defendant, Aubre Sucato, behind him.

Police said the couple later left the house on Whisnant Street in Shelby and came back with Abraham’s brother, Mario Wilson.

Then police said one of them shot and killed the child and a woman named Miranda Woods, who was staying at the home. Police said the three suspects had used their phones to make a plan to steal marijuana.

“You were on the phone 20 minutes before those people were killed,” an investigator said to Abraham in a police interrogation video.

“I was totally clueless about anything that was going on,” Abraham said.

He said he got high and drunk then left the house and came back to check on his friends when he heard about the shooting.

“I would never do anything like that,” he said.

Jurors will decide that as soon as tomorrow.

Closing arguments begin in the morning. Charges are still pending for Abraham’s girlfriend, who testified against him.

His brother Mario Wilson has been convicted of murder, but he is appealing.

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