Dontae Rashawn Morris: The 2010 Tampa Murder Series
Background
Dontae Rashawn Morris is an American serial killer whose violent crimes terrorized the Tampa, Florida, area during a concentrated six-week period in 2010. Morris was convicted of murdering four people, including two Tampa police officers, and authorities also charged him with a fifth killing before prosecutors later declined to take that case to trial. The murders involved disputes, attempted robbery and Morris’s determination to avoid arrest.
Morris was born on August 24, 1985, in Tampa. By the time of the killings, he had accumulated an extensive criminal record involving drugs, weapons, theft, battery, resisting arrest and probation violations. His repeated contact with the criminal justice system formed the background to a series of shootings that began in May 2010 and ended with the execution-style murders of two police officers on June 29.
The Murder of Derek Anderson
The first killing for which Morris was convicted occurred on May 18, 2010. Twenty-one-year-old Derek Anderson was walking home to the Kenneth Court Apartments in Tampa after doing laundry at a friend’s residence. Anderson was accompanied by his friend, Joe Anderson, when the men noticed a white vehicle following them.
As they approached the entrance to the apartment complex, Morris confronted Derek Anderson. Evidence presented at trial indicated that the two men had argued earlier on a basketball court. Morris drew a handgun and fired repeatedly as Anderson attempted to escape. Anderson was struck in the back and collapsed near his home. The shooting occurred at approximately 11:20 p.m.
Ballistics testing later connected the firearm used to kill Anderson with the gun used in the murders of Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab. Witness testimony and other evidence also placed Morris at the scene. In July 2015, a jury convicted Morris of first-degree murder. He initially received a death sentence, but that sentence was overturned because the jury’s recommendation had not been unanimous. Morris was subsequently resentenced to life imprisonment.
The Murder of Rodney Jones
On May 31, 2010, forty-two-year-old Rodney Jones was shot and killed after leaving the Cotton Club, a bar on North Albany Avenue in West Tampa. Jones was sitting inside or near his vehicle when he was attacked. Prosecutors argued that Morris intended to rob him and shot him during the attempted robbery.
Investigators reconstructed the events surrounding Jones’s death through witness statements, telephone records and text messages. The evidence showed that Morris had arranged to meet Jones and that robbery was the motive behind the encounter. Jones was fatally shot before Morris fled the area.
The Jones case was the first of Morris’s murder prosecutions to reach trial. In 2012, jurors found Morris guilty of first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery. In March 2013, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the murder, with an additional twenty-five-year sentence connected to the attempted robbery.
The Killing of Harold Wright
Twenty-five-year-old Harold Wright was shot and killed on June 8, 2010, in the Palm River-Clair Mel area of Hillsborough County, east of Tampa. Wright was attacked near a vehicle on or near 51st Street. Investigators believed that robbery was again the motive and that Wright was shot in the head during the encounter.
Authorities reported finding evidence connecting Morris to the crime scene, including fingerprints. An associate also told investigators that Morris had discussed plans to rob Wright. Prosecutors eventually charged Morris with Wright’s murder, making it the fifth homicide formally attributed to him during the 2010 investigation.
The charge, however, was not taken to trial. In December 2015, prosecutors announced that they would no longer pursue the Wright murder case. Because the charge was dismissed rather than resolved by a jury, Morris was never convicted of killing Wright. Wright is therefore generally identified as an alleged or suspected victim rather than one of Morris’s legally confirmed victims.
The Murders of Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab
The most notorious crimes committed by Morris occurred during the early morning hours of June 29, 2010. Tampa Police Officer David Lamar Curtis, thirty-one, was patrolling East Tampa when he stopped a red Toyota Camry near the intersection of East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North 50th Street. The vehicle did not have a properly displayed license plate.
Cortnee Brantley was driving the Camry, and Morris was seated in the passenger seat. Morris gave Officer Curtis his name and date of birth. When Curtis checked the information, he learned that Morris was wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant from Jacksonville involving a worthless check.
Curtis requested assistance, and Officer Jeffrey Alan Kocab, also thirty-one, arrived at the scene. The officers approached Morris and attempted to take him into custody. As they instructed him to turn around and place his hands behind his back, Morris produced a handgun and fired at close range.
Both officers were shot in the head. Curtis died at the scene, while Kocab was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. Kocab’s wife was nine months pregnant at the time. She gave birth several days after his death, but the baby was stillborn.
The traffic stop and the confrontation were recorded by the dashboard camera in Curtis’s patrol vehicle. The recording captured Morris identifying himself and documented the movements leading up to the shootings. The video became one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case and left little uncertainty about the gunman’s identity.
Victims
- Derek Anderson, 21 — May 18, 2010: Shot in the back near the Kenneth Court Apartments in Tampa after returning from doing laundry. Morris was convicted of first-degree murder and ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Rodney Jones, 42 — May 31, 2010: Shot near his vehicle after leaving the Cotton Club on North Albany Avenue in West Tampa. Prosecutors said Morris attempted to rob him. Morris was convicted of murder and attempted armed robbery.
- Harold Wright, 25 — June 8, 2010: Shot near a vehicle in the Palm River-Clair Mel area of Hillsborough County. Morris was charged with the killing, but prosecutors later dismissed the case without taking it to trial.
- Officer David Lamar Curtis, 31 — June 29, 2010: Shot in the head during a traffic stop near East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North 50th Street in Tampa. Morris was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder.
- Officer Jeffrey Alan Kocab, 31 — June 29, 2010: Shot in the head while assisting Officer Curtis with Morris’s arrest during the same East Tampa traffic stop. Morris was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder.
The Tampa Manhunt
After shooting the officers, Morris fled on foot. Brantley drove away from the scene and later abandoned the vehicle. A witness discovered the wounded officers and contacted authorities, beginning one of the largest manhunts in Tampa’s history.
More than one thousand law-enforcement officers and support personnel from approximately twenty-two local, state and federal agencies participated in the search. The operation involved the Tampa Police Department, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
SWAT officers searched hundreds of homes and buildings. Police dogs, armored vehicles and helicopters equipped with thermal-imaging technology were deployed. Wanted posters were distributed across Florida and neighboring states, while the reward for information leading to Morris’s capture eventually reached approximately $101,000.
The dashboard-camera recording quickly established that Morris had been the passenger in the stopped vehicle. Investigators also connected him to Brantley and began searching places associated with his family, friends and acquaintances. Tampa residents were warned that he was armed and extremely dangerous.
Surrender and Arrest
On July 2, 2010, after remaining at large for approximately four days, Morris arranged to surrender. He appeared at a law office in South Tampa, where law-enforcement officers took him into custody without gunfire or further violence.
Morris was transported to the Hillsborough County jail and held under intense security. His arrest ended the immediate danger, but investigators continued reviewing unsolved shootings to determine whether he was responsible for additional crimes. The same firearm was linked through ballistic evidence to the murders of Anderson and the two officers.
Brantley was prosecuted for her conduct following the traffic stop. Authorities accused her of leaving the scene and concealing information while the massive search for Morris was underway. She was eventually sentenced to imprisonment for offenses associated with her flight and failure to assist investigators.
Trials and Convictions
Morris faced separate trials because the murders occurred under different circumstances. His first murder conviction involved Rodney Jones. Witnesses and electronic communications helped prosecutors demonstrate that Morris had arranged the meeting and intended to commit a robbery. The resulting life sentence ensured that Morris would remain imprisoned even if later death sentences were overturned.
In November 2013, Morris was tried for the murders of Officers Curtis and Kocab. Prosecutors presented the patrol-car recording, physical evidence and testimony explaining how the routine traffic stop turned into a double execution. Morris’s recorded statements identifying himself were especially damaging to the defense.
The jury deliberated for only a few hours before finding Morris guilty of both murders. Jurors unanimously recommended death, and in May 2014 a Hillsborough County judge imposed two death sentences. Florida’s appellate courts later upheld those convictions and sentences.
Morris was subsequently tried for the murder of Derek Anderson. Prosecutors relied on eyewitness accounts, evidence of the earlier dispute and ballistic findings connecting the shooting to the weapon used against the officers. The jury convicted Morris in July 2015.
Although Morris initially received another death sentence for Anderson’s murder, the jury’s recommendation had been ten to two rather than unanimous. Changes in Florida death-penalty law resulted in that sentence being overturned. Rather than conduct another penalty proceeding, prosecutors agreed to a life sentence in the Anderson case.
Convicted and Alleged Victims
Morris was convicted of four murders: those of Derek Anderson, Rodney Jones, David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab. Those convictions were supported by separate combinations of eyewitness testimony, electronic communications, physical evidence, ballistic findings and the officers’ dashboard-camera recording.
Harold Wright is commonly included as Morris’s fifth victim because investigators charged Morris with the killing and announced fingerprint and witness evidence linking him to the planned robbery. However, the state abandoned the prosecution before trial. Morris therefore received no conviction for Wright’s death, and the allegation was never tested through a completed jury proceeding.
Legacy of the Crimes
The murders of Officers Curtis and Kocab devastated the Tampa Police Department and the surrounding community. Their deaths transformed a series of killings largely known only to detectives into a highly publicized crisis. The enormous manhunt, the patrol-car recording and the deaths of two officers during a routine traffic stop made the case one of the most memorable criminal investigations in modern Tampa history.
The earlier civilian victims were also central to the investigation and prosecution. Derek Anderson, Rodney Jones and Harold Wright were killed within weeks of one another, revealing how quickly Morris’s violence escalated. Detectives were ultimately able to connect cases that had initially appeared to be separate street crimes.
Dontae Rashawn Morris remains under sentences that include life imprisonment without parole and death for the murders of Officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab. His crimes left five families grieving and demonstrated how a series of seemingly disconnected shootings could develop into a citywide emergency. The confirmed record establishes him as the murderer of four people, while the unresolved prosecution involving Harold Wright continues to account for the frequently reported total of five victims.
