Inside the warped world of strange couple who stole identities of dead babies
A couple convicted of stealing the identities of dead babies lived a quiet life in Hawaii for years before they were discovered, but as investigators learned more about the pair, a truly shocking story emerged.
Walter Primrose and Gwynn Morrison lived under the names of dead Texas babies Bobby Fort and Julie Montague for decades. The pair were convicted of identity theft, conspiracy and passport fraud during a US District Court trial in Honolulu. Their conviction came on Monday, October 30, after the jury spent just two hours deliberating before reaching their guilty verdict.
The couple, both 68, had eight passports between them. Government records said the couple assumed the identities of dead babies from Texas in the 1980s, using those identities to obtain Social Security cards, passports and driver's licences.
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Primose assumed the identity of the late Bobby Edward Fort, somehow obtaining his birth certificate and using it to obtain official government identities (AP)
Morrison also obtained the birth certificate of a dead baby, Julie Lyn Montague (AP)In 1987 Primrose, born in Timpson, Texas, obtained a birth certificate record for Bobby Edward Fort, who was born in Dallas in 1967. Bobby had died of asphyxia at just three months old and was buried in Marble Falls, Texas.
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At the start of the trial, Assistant US Attorney Tom Muehleck said the real Bobby had been dead for more than 50 years. He added the baby had "a bad cough" and lived just three months.
The same year, Morrison, born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, obtained a birth certificate for Julie Lyn Montague, who was born in Burnet, Texas, in 1968. She died at just three weeks old due to instant birth defects, according to her sister, who was a witness in the case.
Primrose and Morrison attended the same high school in Texas, with a classmate who stayed in touch with the pair saying they had planned to change their identities due to substantial debt. But what do we know about their pair and their lives spent living under the identity of dead infants? We've broken down everything we know so far.
Bonded at high school
Between 1970 and 1973, the pair attended Calhoun High School in Port Lavaca, Texas. Then from 1976 to 1979 they reportedly attended the same university.
Both Primrose and Morrison attended Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. A year after leaving college, on August 19, 1980, the pair tied the knot.
They bought a house together on December 21, 1981, in Nacogdoches. However, less than six years later, on October 6, 1987, the bank foreclosed the house. They pair then remarried in Austin, Texas, on August 8, 1981, under their stolen identities - Bobby Fort and Julie Lyn Montague.
The couple hole themselves up in Hawaii for years, living under their assumed identities (AP)Earlier that year, on April 28, Primrose was issued a US passport number in his real name. Just months later, on August 25, 1987, he was issued a Texas driver's licence number under Bobby's identity. On September 30, 1987, Primrose applied for a social security card using Bobby's identity.
The successful application meant he was issued a social security account number in Bobby's identity. He then used this to obtain US passports in this identity five times: November 8, 1996; August 28, 2001; October 3, 2006; February 19, 2009; and February 12, 2016.
Morrison obtained her first passport using Julie Lyn's personal information on November 8, 1996. She went on to execute two more US passport applications using the dead baby girl's identity on October 4, 2006 and April 8, 2016.
The couple reportedly left Texas in the 1980s, telling friends they were entering a witness protection program. During this time, Primrose claimed to be a government agent who could not be photographed.
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Top level security clearance with a stolen identity
In 1994, Primrose fraudulently enlisted in the US Coast Guard under Bobby's identity, making himself 12 years younger than his true age. He was 39 when he enlisted, but Bobby's identity made him 27.
He served for 20 years at Barber Point, working as an avionic electrical technician. He eventually became treasurer of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers' Association's Hawaiian Islands chapter.
Theories suggest that the couple is actually a pair of Russian spies, which is why they assumed their new identities
Gwynn Darle Morrison assumes another identity and appears in a uniform (AP)Primrose retired from the Coast Guard in 2016, and took up a job as a Department of Defense contractor. His years of service meant Primrose had government-issued security clearance, which investigators say he held for more than 20 years. He also held a "secret clearance for six years" according to documents.
Strange discoveries and spy theories
In a court filing, prosecutors released details from a portion of what they claimed to be Morrison's journal. The journal entry in question is titled: '12 things I would take with me if I had to flee my present life (Again?)'.
Other unusual discoveries were made during a search of their home. Polaroid photos of the couple wearing what appear to be authentic KGB uniforms, an invisible ink kit, documents with coded language and maps with different military bases.
The discoveries caught people's attention, with many theories that the pair were, in fact, undercover Russian spies. Court documents produced early on in the trial alleged that Primrose and Morrison may have established additional identities.
Investigators found evidence from the couple's home "in which the greetings in the letters refer to the defendants by names other than Bobby, Julie, Walter, or Gwynn." They also found that Morrison had lived in Romania years ago during the Soviet era.
“Federal agents have also seized photographs from the defendants’ residence that depict the defendants apparently some years ago wearing what have been identified as KGB uniforms," one document states.
However, prosecutors who introduced Russian spy intrigue into the case said they didn't want jurors to hear about photographs showing the pair wearing foreign uniforms. A judge granted the request, ruling the uniforms were not relevant to the upcoming trial for charges of identity theft and passport fraud.
In an email from prosecutors to defense attorneys, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Muehleck wrote that a witness said the photos were taken sometime in the 1990s and US agents were given the “alleged uniform.” In a subsequent email from prosecutors to defense attorneys about seized letters referring to the couple using other aliases, Muehleck wrote, “The United States retracts that argument,” adding that they later learned those were just nicknames “and some of them were the product of inside jokes in relation to Primrose and Morrison.”
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