Ann Orr Morris, a 63-year-old female American silversmith, goldsmith, and enamelist, was tragically killed in her hometown of Athens, Georgia. On August 15, 1987, Morris was the victim of a brutal triple homicide that also claimed the lives of her sister, Sally Nathanson, and Nathanson's 22-year-old adopted daughter, Helen. The women were discovered after Morris's husband reported her missing.
The attack occurred in Sally Nathanson's home, located in the Carr's Hill neighborhood. The perpetrator, 16-year-old Clinton Bankston Jr., a resident of Athens, used a hatchet to carry out the murders. This horrific event was not Bankston's first encounter with violence; just four months prior, in April 1987, he had murdered two retired University of Georgia professors during a burglary. In total, Bankston was responsible for a spree of five murders in Athens that year.
Following an investigation, Clinton Bankston Jr. was arrested for the murders. He ultimately pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the charges against him. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. This sentence ensured that he would remain incarcerated for the remainder of his life for the series of violent crimes he committed.
