John Jefferson
Inset: Michael Canty (Hillsborough County Jail). Background: Church’s Chicken in Tampa (Google Maps).
A Florida man allegedly beat a woman to death last June outside a Church’s Chicken in Tampa and left her body to rot near the drive-thru lane.
Michael Canty, 54, stands accused of second-degree murder in the death of 48-year-old Dawn Morrison. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release deputies responded to the fried chicken joint at 2219 E. Fletcher Ave. just after 10 a.m. June 18 for a death investigation. There, they discovered Morrison’s partially-decomposed body under some mulch near the restaurant’s drive-thru area.
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An autopsy determined she died from a blow to the head. Surveillance videos indicated she died on June 15, according to a motion for pretrial detention. Several videos from neighboring businesses showed she and a man walking together behind Church’s Chicken shortly before midnight on the night in question. The cameras did not show the murder itself but picked up a woman’s voice yell “quit it, quit it” and “help,” the motion said.
Video also showed the man walk away from the area, change his shirt and throw away items in a dumpster, cops wrote. Police sent out a photo of the man in the images and a officer found a man that matched the man’s description a few blocks from the murder scene on June 20. Cops identified the suspect as Canty.
Detectives also noted he was wearing the same pants and boots along with a New England Patriots drawstring bag. Canty tried to claim he hadn’t seen the victim since the day before the murder but he changed his tune once showed surveillance images that showed him and Morrison together that night. He then claimed he left Morrison as she sat on a curb near Church’s Chicken. He said he threw away his shirt because it was “dirty,” cops said.
Officers arrested Canty for an open container of alcohol and obtained a search warrant to examine his pants and boots. The Florida Department of Corrections crime lab tested the blood for DNA and they came back as a match for both him and Morrison, according to the motion.
Jail records show Canty was arrested for failure to report as a sex offender in October and again on Feb. 6. During a post Miranda interview with detectives the defendant again denied going to Church’s Chicken with Morrison but when showed the video of him in the area he said it was possible, he just didn’t remember, court documents said. Canty denied killing the victim and could not explain why he would have her blood on his pants.
Canty also is facing a tampering with evidence charge for disposing of his shirt. He remains at the Hillsborough County Jail without bond.
“Our detectives worked tirelessly to bring justice for Dawn Morrison,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “Their dedication and relentless investigative efforts led to this arrest, ensuring that the individual responsible faces the consequences of their actions.”
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