Atlanta Dancer Arrested Two Years After Boyfriend’s Bizarre Birmingham Strangulation Death
More than two years after Deundray Cottrell disappeared following a Fourth of July celebration at his sister's Birmingham home, a former partner has been arrested and charged with his murder.
via: AL.com
It has been more than two years since a beloved Atlanta doctoral student and dancer was found strangled to death inside a Birmingham shed two days after he vanished during a family Fourth of July celebration.
The grieving family of 31-year-old Deundray Cottrell has longed for, and fought for, answers and justice.
The person they, and police, have long suspected in the brutal strangulation of Cottrell with an electrical cord is now in custody and charged with murder in Cottrell’s death.
Julian Taylor Morris, 33, one of Cottrell’s partners in a polyamorous relationship, was taken into custody Monday by U.S. Marshals in Miami as he was preparing to embark on a cruise.
The Atlanta-based entertainer and event host is being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami pending extradition to Alabama.
“I can’t tell you the way I have screamed, the way we all have screamed,” Cottrell’s sister, Angelica Harris, said shortly after learning Morris was in custody.
“It has all paid off,” she said. “I know it’s just started, but that part of the race is over.”
“This arrest, as well as other arrests on cases from previous years, shows how relentless our department is and how dedicated our officers are,” said Police Chief Michael Pickett. “We never stop working for justice.”
“We will continue to pursue those responsible for violent crimes, no matter where they may run,” Pickett said. “We will continue to seek justice for Deundray Cottrell and his family and remain committed to holding those responsible accountable.”
Morris’s Birmingham attorney, Victor Revill, provided this statement to AL.com following his client’s arrest:
“Over 2 years have passed since the tragic death of Deundray Cottrell, but the evidence has not changed and Mr. Julian Morris is still innocent. Just because a person is charged with a crime does not mean they are guilty of that crime. Whereas Cottrell’s family are stating that Mr. Cottrell was the last person seen with Mr. Morris, the evidence clearly paints a different picture.”
“In fact, Ring surveillance video showed Cottrell running through yards and hopping a fence by himself on the night he went missing. At that time, Mr. Morris was with Cottrell’s family at their home. Mr. Morris cannot be in two places at the same time. It’s a physical impossibility. The truth is that we just do not know who caused the death of Mr. Cottrell and we may never know. We are disappointed that Mr. Morris has been charged with this crime, but we look forward to putting forward a vigorous defense and bringing the truth to light.”
Cottrell’s family had known for weeks that a warrant had been obtained.
Birmingham homicide Det. Phillip Harris, who investigates cold cases and secured the warrant against Morris, met with Angelica and Cottrell’s mother, Theresa Cottrell, in August.
The detective first met with Angelica in the parking lot of Temple Beth-El, where Theresa works.
She was initially in disbelief and then hugged the detective in gratitude. “Oh my God, oh my God,” Angelica said over and over.
Together they walked inside to tell Theresa.
“He did it, Mommy, he did it,” Angelica said as the two women embraced and cried together.
“Y’all did it,” Det. Harris told them, saying the family provided crucial leads and evidence through the investigation, including obtaining neighbors’ Ring camera footage from that night.”
Cottrell was the founder and CEO of SkiiBoyz Entertainment, described on the Instagram account as Atlanta’s hottest male performance trio and event hosts. He also did freelance marketing jobs, consulting for social media accounts, bartending, massage therapy and worked in photography.
At the time of his disappearance and death, Cottrell, a Woodlawn High School graduate, was working on his doctorate.
Cottrell and DeEric Williams had been together for more than a decade. Several years prior, Morris joined the relationship and they became a throuple.
Cottrell and Morris came to Birmingham on the Fourth of July to celebrate the holiday with Harris and other family members.
About 9 p.m. that Thursday, Cottrell went inside to check on his dog and was never seen again.
Morris would go on to tell the family that he jumped off a balcony and later would say he died by suicide.
Birmingham police found Cottrell’s body about 3 p.m. that Saturday afternoon. He was amid rubble in that shed with the electrical cord wrapped around his neck.
Angelica previously spoke to AL.com about the bizarre details of the night of the disappearance and the search that followed.
Cottrell and Morris got into Birmingham about 6 p.m. on July 4th. It was the first time Cottrell had seen his sister’s new home that that she shares with Brian Harris and their children.
Normally, Williams would have been with them, but not this time.
“Usually when you saw one, you saw all three,’’ Brian Harris said.
The close-knit family was celebrating the holiday at the large Harris home in the 7900 block of Fourth Avenue South.
About 9 p.m., Cottrell went inside to check on his dog because of the fireworks.
“Julian sat there for a few minutes, and I think he slowly drifted away inside,’’ Harris said. The family stayed outside to keep an eye on the kids because of the fireworks.
About 10:15 p.m., she said, Morris reappeared.
“Julian comes up and grabs me on my arm and he said, ‘Hey, your brother just jumped out of the window,’’' Harris said. “I stopped my husband and said, ‘Hey, he said De just jumped out of a window.”
When Harris pointed out to Morris that her windows don’t open, she said Morris told her, ‘’Oh, I’m sorry, he jumped off the balcony.’’
“Everybody just pulls out their flashlights, we all go walking through the back yard, the alley, circling the block,’’ Harris said.
The family found one of Cottrell’s shoes, as well as his sunglasses and cell phone in the back yard. His hat was hanging on the fence post, just under the second-floor balcony.
“Once we didn’t see anything on foot, we started driving,’’ she said. “For hours and hours.”
Birmingham police were called about midnight.
They took a missing person’s report and drove around the neighborhood with spotlights looking for Cottrell.
The family described extremely erratic and bizarre behavior from Morris in the hours that followed.
Angelica said she spoke with Morris multiple times from the time her brother disappeared, the last time being at 12:12 a.m. on Saturday, the day Cottrell’s body was found.
“At one point he called and told (us) he was safe and eating honeybuns and chips,’’ she said.
The last time they spoke, Harris said, “He said he didn’t want to hear any updates, he didn’t want anybody to call him, the only thing he wanted was to hear was a video call from Dre.”
“I said, ‘Are you sure about that? You’re going to stand on that?’’' Harris said. “He said, Yeah, 10 toes down,’ and hung up the phone.”
The family never spoke with Morris again.
Birmingham police publicly identified Morris as a person of interest but said he would not provide a statement to police.
Birmingham attorney Victor Revill previously released a statement on behalf of Morris, saying he is a college-educated veteran who served his country as a Marine had no prior misdemeanor or felony convictions.
“Despite the false narratives that are being promulgated about him in this situation, he loved Deundray Cottrell and is currently grieving the death of his loved one,’' Revill said at that time. “Mr. Morris wants answers as well and is awaiting those answers after a full and thorough investigation has been completed.”
Asked for comment on the one-year anniversary of Cottrell’s, Morris told AL.com, “I’d like to grieve the anniversary of my boyfriend’s death in peace. I’ve been hurt enough.”
The family never gave up, but the past two years have been a struggle for them.
Det. Harris told the family he and his partner poured through hours and hours of body cam footage and other evidence, and recently conducted more interviews in Atlanta, to solidify what they needed to charge Morris.
“The stuff was there, it just needed to be put together,” Det. Harris said. “I don’t know that I could have sat still as long as y’all did.”
“We were able to sit still through faith and prayer,” Theresa said.
Angelica said it was the way her brother would have handled the situation if the roles were reversed.
“He had so much composure and he had so much tact about the way that he moved,” she said. “When we were lashing out, I could feel him telling me, ‘that ain’t the way we do things,’ because he didn’t like to argue.’”
Det. Harris also took a moment to prepare the family for what is going to come when the case goes to court.
“You’re going to have to relive this and it’s going to hurt,” the detective said. “It’s painful.”
Theresa said she thinks about what happened to her son every day.
“My children are all I had,” she said. “I raised them by myself and when I couldn’t protect him, it was hard.”
Angelica has been a warrior for her brother and the family. The burden was often heavy.
“I have replayed that night so many times, so many times,” she said, “everything I felt like I missed.”
Det. Harris praised Angelica for her determination.
“She just needed to find someone who would listen,” he said. “So, we were a good pair.”
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