In the autumn of 1959, the city of Spokane was unsettled by a series of violent attacks against women, a prelude to a crime that would shock the community. On November 7, 1959, Glorie Brie, a 28-year-old White woman, was brutally assaulted in the supposed safety of her own apartment at 527 S. Lincoln St. The attack was vicious, leaving her severely beaten.
For ten days, she fought for her life at Deaconess Medical Center, but ultimately succumbed to her injuries.
The investigation into Glorie's death would eventually lead authorities to a man named Hugh Bion Morse. Morse, who was known by the alias Chris to his acquaintances in a local motorcycle club, presented a clean-cut and likable facade that masked a dark and violent nature. Investigators discovered that Morse had a history of sex crimes and had been committed to a state hospital in California as a sexual psychopath years earlier. He had a disturbing pattern of disappearing after each of his crimes, only to resurface at a new address.
Morse's connection to the attacks in Spokane, including the assault on Glorie Brie, was solidified when he confessed to the crimes. He admitted to breaking into her home with the intent to rape her and beating her with a pipe wrench. A Spokane police detective, Captain O.K. Sherar, credited Patrolman John Grandinetti with first identifying Morse as a suspect. Grandinetti had received a tip from a mechanic who knew Morse and had spent over 100 hours of his own time investigating him. In 1979, while already serving two life sentences in Minnesota for other crimes, Morse was returned to Spokane. He pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, including the death of Glorie Brie, and one count of first-degree assault.
