In the winter of 1992, 19-year-old Michelle Marie Morales was just beginning her adult life in Phoenix, Arizona. A young woman with her future ahead of her, she became the final murder victim of a predator who had been terrorizing the city. Her life was violently cut short on February 7, 1992, in a crime that would become part of a chilling series of attacks that left a deep scar on the community.
On that Friday, Michelle was last seen near a convenience store.
She was abducted from this public place, her ordinary day turning into a nightmare. Her fate remained unknown for two agonizing weeks until her body was discovered in a deserted area of Phoenix. The scene told a story of a brutal and merciless attack. Michelle had been sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a rock. An autopsy would later confirm she died from blunt force trauma to her head, having suffered a fractured skull and lacerations to her scalp.
The investigation into Michelle’s murder soon connected her case to a string of other violent crimes in the Phoenix area. Between 1991 and 1992, a serial offender had been targeting women and girls, committing numerous rapes and two other homicides. The victims included 40-year-old Margaret Christorf, killed in November 1991, and 21-year-old Belinda Cronin, murdered in January 1992. The attacker’s method of luring some of his victims, who were often walking or hitchhiking alone, involved having a baby seat in his car to project an image of safety. This detail led the media to dub him "The Baby Seat Rapist."
Brave survivors of his assaults provided crucial information to the police. They gave descriptions of the attacker and his vehicle, which was sometimes described as a Nissan and other times as a Chevrolet Caprice. Critically, two victims recalled partial license plate numbers, "ADW-515" and "ADW-519." These details were instrumental for investigators, and on June 27, 1992, they arrested 32-year-old Scott Alan Lehr, a father of three with no prior criminal history.
Lehr's arrest brought an end to his reign of terror, which included at least 17 sexual assaults on victims ranging in age from 10 to 48, in addition to the three murders. The legal proceedings against him were lengthy and complex. He was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, along with dozens of other felonies including kidnapping, sexual assault, and attempted murder. DNA evidence, though inconclusive in Michelle's case, suggested Lehr as a possible contributor to semen found at the scene.
In 1997, Lehr was found guilty of the murders of Michelle Morales and Margaret Christorf. He was initially sentenced to death, but these sentences were overturned in 2002 following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juries, not judges, must impose death sentences. A new sentencing trial was ordered. In April 2009, a jury once again sentenced Scott Lehr to death for the murders of both Michelle and Margaret Christorf. For the murder of Belinda Cronin, the jury was deadlocked on the death penalty, resulting in a life sentence for that crime. Lehr also received a cumulative sentence of 947 years for his other numerous crimes.
Scott Alan Lehr remains on death row in Arizona, his subsequent appeals having been denied. For the families of his victims, the conclusion of the legal process brought a measure of justice, but it could never fill the void left by the loss of their loved ones. Michelle Marie Morales is remembered not as a statistic in a serial killer's spree, but as a young woman whose life, full of potential, was tragically stolen.
