Viswa Vanapalli
After Terry Dwayne Morrison was sent to prison for stalking, the authorities took another look at a homicide from September 2011, where he was the prime suspect. Pristina Tyner was in a hotel room in Springfield, Missouri, when she was brutally killed after someone knocked on her door. The case remained unsolved until new witnesses came forward, leading to a renewed effort to solve the slaying. Netflix’s ‘I Am a Stalker: Close to Death’ shines a light on Pristina’s case and what happened in the aftermath. So, if you’re curious to know more, we’ve got you covered.
How Did Pristina Tyner Die?
Pristina Tyner was a 37-year-old in Springfield, Missouri, at the time of the incident. She was in room 212 at the Homestay Inn motel on North Glenstone Avenue along with a friend, Christine Casper. Pristina was a sex worker and was believed to be scheduled to meet someone when the tragic incident happened. At around 11:06 pm on September 23, 2011, the authorities got a call regarding shots fired at the motel.
The police rushed to the area and found Pristina shot in the head. She was on the floor near a stairwell and was bleeding profusely. While Pristina was trying to say something, she ultimately couldn’t. First responders rushed her to the Mercy Springfield hospital in Springfield, but unfortunately, she succumbed to her injury soon after. This led to an extensive investigation that the authorities took a few years to get to the bottom of.
Who Killed Pristina Tyner?
The authorities questioned Christine Casper, and she told them that a black man had knocked on their motel room door before the incident in September 2011. She then claimed that he took out a gun and pointed it at Pristina. At that point, Christina stated that she had run out of the room and later heard a gunshot. The authorities found a piece of paper inside the motel room, with one number belonging to Terry Dwayne Morrison. Later, Christine picked Terry out of a lineup.
When questioned, he mentioned knowing Pristine and said he was to meet her at the motel sometime during the evening on the day of the murder. However, Terry claimed that he didn’t go. Furthermore, when asked why anyone would want to kill Pristina, he said it was possible “because she was a snitch.” With the evidence that the authorities had against Terry, he was soon arrested for murder. However, the charges were dismissed soon after because Christine changed her testimony; she refused to identify the shooter and said she was scared for her and her family’s safety. As a result, Terry was free to go.
Later, after being charged with aggravated stalking in April 2014, Terry was sentenced to four years in prison. The authorities then began to take a second look at Pristina’s murder, hoping for new information. According to the show, the woman that Terry stalked, Sadie, had told the police that he admitted to killing Pristina in 2011. With that, the authorities began digging for more clues and witnesses. They soon found two men who claimed to be with him on the night of the murder. Keith Like and Darryle Dancy AKA Deebo testified against Terry.
Keith said that all three of them were on the porch of someone’s house, smoking marijuana and drinking. He stated that the house belonged to “Shorty.” He then mentioned Shorty driving them to the hotel and he and Terry getting out of the car. According to Keith, someone screamed, “He’s got a gun,” after which he saw Terry chasing after Pristina. He then heard a gunshot, and Terry returned, with all of them leaving the area. While Keith said the gun was Darryle’s, the latter denied it. He didn’t remember seeing a firearm or owning one at the time and wasn’t sure why Shorty drove them to that motel.
Keith, however, claimed that Terry killed Pristina because she was going to testify against Shorty. Christine also changed her mind and testified against Terry. She admitted to being high on crack cocaine when the murder happened and on the day she picked Terry out of a lineup. Christine mentioned Terry came to their room, swung the door open, and said, “Do you remember me?” After a struggle between the three, she claimed that Terry pushed her away and chased after Pristine, who ran out of the room. Christine then closed the door and recalled hearing a gunshot soon after.
The defense said Darryle could be the killer because earlier in the investigation, Christine mentioned he could be the shooter, not Terry. The attorney urged the jurors not to believe Christine because she didn’t have an issue with lying under oath. At the beginning of Terry’s trial in 2017, all three witnesses were serving time in prison for unrelated charges. Nevertheless, in March 2018, Terry Morrison was found guilty of killing Pristina Tyner and was sent away for life. He, however, maintained that he was innocent.
Read More: Where is Terry Dwayne Morrison Now?
