Michael McMorrow: Everything Homicide: New York Leaves Out About The Brutal Central Park Murder (2024)

The death of Michael McMorrow is a gruesome and strange case that's covered in the true-crime series, Homicide: New York, but the show doesn't catch everything. One of the many Dick Wolf crime-focused TV shows, Homicide: New York is a documentary crime series that spends each episode investigating a different horrific and challenging homicide in the city, told through the eyes of the detectives and prosecutors. There have been five episodes of the true-crime TV show and the second is titled "Central Park Slaying".

In the episode, Michael McMorrow's violent death and the subsequent investigation into adolescents Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez are depicted in detail. Abdela and Vasquez were frequent visitors to New York City's Central Park, as are many New Yorkers, as was Michael McMorrow in May 1997. While Homicide: New York makes an effort to adhere to the facts as much as possible, these long, winding cases cover much more than any one-hour episode could ever completely report on.

Michael McMorrow Was A 44-year-old Real Estate Agent From New York City

McMorrow Was An Aspiring Musician

Michael "Irish" McMorrow, as he was known to his friends, was a 44-year-old real estate agent. Michael was a single man and lived with his mother on 93rd Street and Second Avenue in order to take care of the elderly woman. An aspiring musician, Michael was also a hard-partying drinker who had a large group of friends and a close-knit family (via Den of Geek).

On an evening in May 1997, police were led to McMorrow's body after receiving a call from Abdela. His corpse had been brutalized, with 30 stab wounds, including six to his heart and a gutted abdomen. McMorrow's head and hands were nearly severed from his body.

The Documentary Leaves Out That Daphne Abdela And Michael McMorrow Met Through Alcoholics Anonymous

McMorrow, Abdela, And Vasquez Drank Together In Strawberry Fields

According to the documentary, this was a case of McMorrow being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there is more to it than that. Barbara Butcher, who appears in the series as an analyst, also wrote a book about New York criminal cases, extending from her time as a Death Investigator in Manhattan, What the Dead Know: Learning About Life As a New York City Death Investigator. She writes in more depth about the "Central Park Slaying" and reveals that McMorrow frequently went to Central Park and had met Abdella in Alcoholics Anonymous, so there was history.

According to Butcher, McMorrow was a friendly man who enjoyed binge-drinking in a section of the park known as "Strawberry Fields", an enclave named for its dedication to John Lennon of The Beatles. Abdela and Vasquez were also drinking in the park and witnesses claim that the two approached McMorrow and his friends to hang out. Somehow, McMorrow, Abdela, and Vasquez went deeper into the park, alone, where they continued to drink. From that point, there aren't even secondhand sources to say exactly what happened with McMorrow's murder.

Daphne Abdela Made The Call That Led Police To Michael McMorrow's Body

Abdela And Vasquez Were Found Washing Blood Off One Another

McMorrow's body was found floating in the Central Park Lake in the early morning hours of May 23, 1997 (via FindLaw). The police quickly found the body because they were given a tip from Abdela herself, who called from The Majestic apartment building at 115 Central Park West. Naturally, the police went to the building and, in a detail left out of the show, found Abdela and Vasquez in a bath where they were washing blood off one another. They claimed the blood was a result of a rollerblading accident.

Abdela quickly shifted the blame to Vasquez and presented herself solely as a witness. When the police brought the pair back to Central Park and the crime scene, Abdella shouted out, "I tried to save you!". The detectives present quickly poked holes in Vasquez's and Abdela's story and had enough to bring them in for questioning. Detectives were able to identify McMorrow because he still had his ID on him, and they found his wallet back in Abdela's room. They also found a knife with McMorrow's blood on it in Abdela's possession.

The McMorrow Family Was Furious With The Courts Decision

A Guilty Plea From Abdela Helped Vasquez's Case

As Vasquez and Abdela were the theoretical only witnesses to the crime, detectives only had circ*mstantial evidence linking them to the murder. Still, that was enough to indict both for murder and robbery in June 1997, just a month after McMorrow's body turned up. Abdela was the daughter of a wealthy Upper West Side family and so was able to afford some formidable legal counsel in the form of Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer who previously defended Genovese crime family boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, and Gambino underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.

Brafman also represented Harvey Weinstein during his criminal trials, though he departed from his service sometime into the long case. Despite his storied history, even Brafman wasn't sure he could pull off an acquittal with so much evidence pointing to Abdela, saying (via NYMag),

"The baggage that comes with a remarkable track record is that people feel that you can pull off an acquittal despite what seems overwhelming evidence. But you can’t do it every time."

The case was already piling up against Abdela, and in multiple rounds of questioning, she eventually admitted kicking McMorrow with her rollerblades and instructing Vasquez to gut the body and weigh it down by putting rocks in the clothes. Whatever is true, Abdela admitted to being at the scene of the crime. Brafman counseled Abdela to confess to participating in McMorrow’s killing, and she pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in March 1998. Abdella was sentenced to 39 months to 10 years in prison.

However, as part of her plea deal, Abdela didn't have to testify at Vasquez's trial. This meant that Vasquez's lawyer, Arnold N. Kriss, could blame Abdela for the murder and accuse her of scapegoating Vasquez, and because she wasn't there to refute it, the jury never heard the other side of the story. Vasquez was subsequently acquitted of second-degree murder charges, which would have carried a life sentence. The manslaughter verdict he was charged with carried a 3 to 10-year prison term.

McMorrow's family called the jurors' decision "gutless" (via NYDailyNews). One juror, speaking anonymously, said (via NYDailyNews),

"The travesty was a system that kept so much evidence out of the courts, so that in the end the jury was left with a very limited choice."

Both Abdela and Vasquez served seven years and were released in 2004. The memory of Michael McMorrow is kept alive by a remembrance plaque on a bench in Strawberry Fields that reads,

"IN MEMORY OF

MICHAEL "IRISH" MCMORROW

MAY 1952 - MAY 1997

'OH, FOR THE TOUCH OF THE VANISHED HAND

AND THE SOUND OF THE LAUGH THAT IS STILLED...'"

Homicide: New York

TV-MA

Documentary

Crime

Homicide: New York is a crime drama that follows a team of detectives as they investigate and solve crimes in New York City. The show delves into the lives of the detectives and the victims, exploring the complexities of the cases and the personal toll on those involved.

Release Date

March 20, 2024

Seasons

1