Mother marks fourth anniversary of son’s mysterious death in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The holidays mark a sad and tragic anniversary for one woman. She spends December 27 each year remembering her son, who was murdered four years ago, and a daughter lost just last year.

This year a line of light outlasts the dark and rain on a day that Jennifer Hatcher can never forget.

“It’s the day I lost my baby,” said Hatcher, who leans against the rain-soaked brick where she has placed several candle jars.

For four years she has visited the bridge at 11th and Lake Shore Road along Greenfield Lake. Her 20-year-old son Dillon Morris was found there in 2014. He was murdered, and his killer has yet to be found.

“I just want his name to stay out there, so that one day whoever did it will be caught,” Hatcher said.

Hatcher kept with tradition this year remembering her children by candlelight through the rain.

“My kids were joyful, happy,” she said.

Her daughter Kimberly died of an opioid overdose just last year. Hatcher said her daughter’s addiction and death were a result of grief over her younger brother’s death.

“I can’t even understand why anyone would kill my son,” said Hatcher. “He wasn’t a mean person.”

Out of the darkness, a new symbol of her love for her kids. This year Hatcher was given a horseshoe cross to honor Dillon. It’s one of the few things that put a smile on Hatcher’s face.

“That means a lot to me,” she said. “That was my Christmas, that made my Christmas.”

And now she enters another New Year not knowing why this happened to her son.

“It’s been hard, but I have a purpose,” Hatcher said.

Wilmington Police tell us this case remains under investigation. They ask the public for help. If anyone knows anything, police ask they contact them to help find Morris’s killer.