Sherry Elizabeth Noah, often spelled “Sherri” in case documents, was 37 years old at the time of her death, a female whose race or ethnicity is not clearly documented in public records, living in the Phoenix metropolitan area community of Glendale, Arizona. On March 29, 2003, she died after being attacked in Phoenix and later became publicly known as one of five women killed in a short span of months by serial offender Cory Deonn Morris.
Her obituary records her full name, age, home in Glendale, and date of death, but do not describe the circumstances; those emerged through police investigations and court proceedings that tied her death to a concentrated series of homicides in and around central Phoenix.
Family and friends who wrote in her obituary’s guestbook remembered Noah as a funny, warm, and outgoing person, someone with an “infectious laugh” who was a favorite student and a loyal friend. Former classmates and teachers recalled how easy she was to like, how she enjoyed time with children, and how she accepted people without judgment, details that stand in stark contrast to the way her life ended and the label of “prostitute” that appeared in some early news reports about the victims. At the time, Phoenix police were grappling with a disturbing pattern: between September 2002 and April 2003, the bodies of five women were found within a small radius of a recreational vehicle where Morris was staying behind his aunt and uncle’s home. Investigators noted that the victims were all adult women, many struggling on the margins of society, and that Morris, a part-time karaoke DJ, routinely socialized with them, luring them to his camper with drugs or offers of money for sex before they were found dead.
On March 29, 2003, Noah’s body was discovered outdoors in Phoenix, across the street from a church and within a couple of blocks of Morris’s RV. Reports describe her as having been strangled with a ligature; police records later revealed that Morris told investigators he had used a nylon strap on her. A detailed case summary compiled from investigative and court records notes that her body was found nude and discarded in or near an alley off 9th Street, showing signs consistent with ligature strangulation and a level of decomposition indicating she had been dead for some time before being found. When questioned later, Morris initially claimed that Noah had overdosed on drugs inside his trailer and that he had simply dragged her outside and left her body; however, an autopsy and reconstruction of the scene convinced detectives that this account was impossible, and they confronted him with the inconsistencies. Morris then changed his story, saying Noah had asked him to choke her during sex and that her death had been accidental, a version that prosecutors would later argue was another attempt to minimize his responsibility for a deliberate killing.
By the time Noah’s death was being investigated, police were already connecting several similar homicides in the neighborhood. All of the victims had been found within a tight area around the camper where Morris lived, and witnesses placed him with some of the women before they vanished. The breakthrough came on April 12, 2003, when Morris’s uncle, disturbed by a foul smell coming from the RV, looked inside and found another woman’s decomposing body, later identified as Julie Castillo. He called 911, and officers quickly secured the scene and detained Morris. Under questioning, Morris admitted involvement in the deaths of five Phoenix women, including Noah, though he repeatedly tried to shift blame onto drug overdoses or “accidents.” A grand jury indicted him on five counts of first-degree murder—among them the killing of Sherri/Sherry Noah—and subsequent news coverage reported that prosecutors alleged he had deliberately strangled his victims and dumped their bodies around the neighborhood.
The case against Morris moved through the Arizona courts over the next few years. At trial, jurors heard about the cluster of bodies found near his trailer, his shifting explanations, and the forensic evidence of strangulation, including the specific allegation that he used a strap on Noah. He was ultimately convicted of five counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, a sentence that left Noah’s case officially classified as solved, with Morris as the sole identified perpetrator. He remains on Arizona’s death row at Florence State Prison. No other suspects have been publicly named in connection with Noah’s killing, and there is no indication in available records that anyone other than Morris has ever been arrested or charged for her death.
