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By Steve Huff in missing persons, unsolved
Saturday, Sep. 13 2008 @ 2:28AM

kcmorris.jpgThe last time anyone saw 28-year-old Kelly Currin Morris was Wednesday, September 3. "A family member" gave NBC 17 in Chapel Hill, NC an interesting statement about Kelly's disappearance. According to said "family member," Kelly's husband Scott said that his wife went to look for the family dog and simply never came home again. On September 3, 2008.

On September 4, 2008, there was a fire at the Morris residence on 3220 Tump Wilkins Rd. in rural Granville County, NC.

The authorities were actually alerted to the young woman's disappearance because they'd been called to put out the fire. The search for Kelly began on the 4th.

They found her 3-year-old Honda Accord that day. It was a mile from the house. The car was locked. Kelly's purse, cell phone, and keys were inside.

More people joined the search for the mother of two. Five days after the fire, at least 50 volunteers were wending their way through the woods near the Morris homestead. Speaking to NBC 17, one volunteer said, "Everybody is praying non-stop saying all the prayers they can say..."

The same volunteer -- a long-time acquaintance of the missing woman's -- stated that leaving on a whim was just something the "family oriented" Kelly would never do.

On September 10, Granville County Sheriff David Smith made a public statement about the search. "We've gone back [and] double-searched [and] triple-searched," he said. While everyone still held onto "a dim light" of hope that Kelly might be okay, Smith admitted that the idea that something bad happened to Kelly "would be in the back of your mind."

Wanda Hollis, Kelly's mom, eventually made her own statements to the press. And Wanda's "gut feeling" was that her daughter was dead. According to Hollis, her daughter would have contacted her if she was still alive.

Hollis was asked about seeing her daughter's burned home. She said, "It was hard at first, but it’s been hard to cope with things for the last year, too."

Wanda Hollis didn't elaborate on that statement.

Eight days after the search for Kelly began, nine days after she allegedly began her search for the missing dog, investigators announced that the fire at the Morris residence was an act of arson.

So... on September 3, a young woman supposedly goes to look for her dog. On September 4, her house burns. Her car is found a mile away, most of her necessary personal effects inside.

Her mother refers to a difficult year of coping with something, but will not go into detail. Police, when asked if husband Scott Morris is a suspect in connection with his wife's disappearance, simply say that everyone is a suspect.

Searchers, number more than 100 by September 12, wonder why Scott Morris hasn't been a part of the effort. One of them speaks to reporters with WTVD in Raleigh Durham and says that Scott is "probably the only one that knows anything."

Based on statistics about these sorts of things, I'd imagine that is true. But Scott Morris hasn't been called a suspect, or anything. So for now, we'll just act as if he isn't.

It is worth it to note, however, that there's a weird pattern to the disappearances of many women. The ones who are married, sometimes in difficult marriages, often disappear while "jogging," or doing some other kind of outdoor activity.

Laci Peterson did. She supposedly went for a walk. Her purse, keys, and cell phone were left behind.

Lori Hacking vanished while jogging. She never came home, never went to work.

Kelly Currin Morris went to find a dog. She left her keys, cell, purse behind. Never came back, never returned to work. And then her house burned. Fire deliberately set.

We can't write the rest of Kelly's story yet, because we don't really know what's happened to her. But don't you get the feeling the script has been written, and that the next acts will be horribly predictable? I know I do. One person may think this story isn't predictable. But just as time passed and the fire was proven to be arson, a few more days will go by and we'll hear the police making less neutral-sounding statements. They know this script, too. They're just building a strong-enough case to bring it to its proper denouement.

If you have any tips about this case for the True Crime Report, my e-mail address is embedded in my name on the right side of the page.

[NBC17.com, NewsObserver.com, HendersonDispatch.com, WTVD, ABC in Raleigh-Durham, NC.]