The Perpetual Roller Coaster

The previously published NCIS response letter to Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Elizabeth Warren was a proverbial “double edged sword”. Prior to forwarding the letter to us, Senator Shaheen phoned us to express her sympathy and declare that she had “done all she could”. Once we received the letter,much to our surprise, we learned that NCIS had, in fact, looked into the civilian investigation of Morgan’s homicide in early 2022 and an “Official Report” had been filed at NCIS Headquarters in Quantico, VA. We immediately filed a Freedom Of Information Act Request (FOIA) with NCIS and also asked for expedient action, which, to our pleasant surprise, was granted. On March 23, 2023, we received a redacted copy of the (closed) Report of Investigation (ROI) dated May 22, 2022, which consists of “Results of contact with local law enforcement regarding Morgan Renee Patten”. For anyone who knows the details of Morgan’s homicide case even half as well as we do, the content of this report is appalling and infuriating!
With our knowledge of the key players in this case, we were able to fill in all of the redactions of the Report, except for the name of the NCIS Special Agent who made the contacts and filed the Report; the unredacted version will immediately follow this narrative.
The first point of contention is also the least disturbing, though certainly worth mentioning. While reviewing the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) report regarding Morgan’s homicide, the Special Agent noted that Onslow County District Attorney Ernie Lee and our attorney, James Payne, agreed following a May 21, 2021 meeting that “there was no additional steps to follow up on”. We certainly do not recall such contentment at the end of that meeting and when we questioned James Payne about this statement, he replied,”out of courtesy and charity to whomever wrote that, suffice to say that my recollection differs from that one”. That sounds like lawyer speak for “bullshit”, to me!
It is noted in the NCIS report that a statement from Applebees bartender, Joshua Thornton was reviewed, but no mention of Jessica Brown’s statement. She was serving and tending bar at Applebees on 11/08/19 as well, and her statement is very different from Josh Thornton’s.
The most alarming reference to the OCSO report is this: “Laboratory analysis of PATTEN’S blood alcohol content revealed .20, and no other substances were found in her system.” THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE, and it is now reported in, not only the OCSO Official Report, but the NCIS Official Report, as well. Here are the facts regarding Morgan’s BAC.
- The toxicology report from the NC Chief Medical Examiner’s Office states that an aortic blood sample was taken during Morgan’s autopsy, which occurred 60 hours after her death. The blood alcohol concentration is reported to be 130 milligrams per deciliter, or .13. During the same autopsy, a sample of vitreous humor was extracted from Morgan’s eye, which revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 20 milligrams per deciliter, or .02. When we asked about the drastic difference, we were told by Assistant District Attorney Caroline Fountain that the results were “wonky” but one explanation could be a rapid consumption of alcohol just prior to death. Morgan’s stomach contents did not reveal any quantity of liquid though, so that never made sense. We consulted a private forensic pathologist to help solve the mystery, and here is his conclusion. The ratio of blood ethanol to vitreous ethanol is 6.5:1. This is unusually high and raises the question of the accuracy of the blood specimen. Based on the way ethanol is metabolized and distributed in the various tissues of the body, the true concentration of ethanol in Morgan’s blood at the time of her death was likely substantially lower than the reported value of 130 mg/dL (0.13 gm/dL). The reasons for this opinion are as follows.
As I stated above the 6.5:1 ratio is quite high; 130 mg/dL in blood and 20 mg/dL in vitreous fluid. Blood and vitreous fluid ethanol concentrations roughly equilibrate by 30-60 minutes. This would suggest Morgan had upward to 8 drinks in the hour before the crash. This does not seem likely, suggesting there may be some other reason for this ratio.
The best sample for postmortem toxicology of any kind is what is called peripheral blood. That is blood that is distant from the heart, usually drawn from the femoral veins in the legs. In multiple trauma cases with substantial blood loss, this can be a difficult to impossible task. In Morgan’s case the autopsy pathologist submitted blood from the aorta. This is considered central blood and can yield substantially and artifactually higher levels of ethanol. This is especially true with the degree of organ trauma seen in Morgan’s case that can further contaminate a central sample.
Assuming Morgan had reached equilibrium between blood and vitreous ethanol, her BAC in the absence of any blood sample would have been estimated to be between 10 and 15 mg/dL (0.01-0.015 gm/dL)
There is abundant evidence here to suggest Morgan’s actual BAC was lower than reported in the central blood sample taken at autopsy, and her vitreous concentration suggests she was likely well below the legal threshold of intoxication (80 mg/dL or 0.08 gm/dL)

I know that there are a lot of numbers in here, but how did Morgan’s BAC get misreported in (at least) TWO official Government documents? And why does it matter? It only matters because Staff Sergeant John Edwards, North Carolina Highway Patrol, told us on November 10, 2019, “If Morgan’s BAC comes back above.08 I am going to assume that got into that truck willingly”. It appears that SSgt John Edwards not only adhered to his ridiculous statement, but likely inflated the numbers as he passed along the “facts” of the case.
It is stated in the NCIS Report that NC State Highway Patrol interviewed Charles Cornwall, which NEVER HAPPENED! In fact, on Dec. 18, 2019, SSgt John Edwards and OCSO Detective Johnathan Marshburn told us that Cornwall was still in intensive care at Vidant Medical Center and that his doctors would not allow him to be interviewed, though we learned later that Cornwall had driven home to Montana more than two weeks earlier.
The NCIS Special Agent spoke with Detective Matt Hipple, OCSO, who forwarded text messages between Morgan and Philip Brandon from the evening of 11/08/19. His report states that Morgan was texting with Phil until 10:45pm and that the 911 call reporting the fatal crash came in at 10:49pm. This would lead one to believe that it is impossible for Morgan to be taken against her will and driven 13 miles away in a four minute span of time, and I would likely agree; the problem is, it is more bullshit! The very last text message sent from Morgan's phone was at 10:40pm, to which Phil responded at 10:45. The 911 call was made by Anne Freeman within seconds of the crash occurring across the street from her home at 10:51pm. This leaves a minimum of eleven minutes of no communication from Morgan. The first time we drove from Applebees to the crash site, following directions from Google Maps and traveling the speed limit, we arrived in fifteen minutes seventeen seconds. Hunter Wells would have needed to average 68mph in order to arrive there within eleven minutes, and we know that the truck left the roadway traveling over 93mph.
Though she had told us she had done everything she could, we reached out to Senator Shaheen’s Office one more time, and, reluctantly, they helped us schedule a meeting with Special Agent Kelly Parrish, Deputy Assistant Director, NCIS, though Senator Shaheen’s Office was not willing to have representation at this meeting.
We met with Special Agent Parrish in Jacksonville, NC on April 30, 2023. Also present was Major Mark Scott, OCSO, ADA Caroline Fountain and Senior ADA Mike Maultsby, OCDA, and Special Agent In Charge Stephanie Rushton, NCIS Carolina Field Office. Special Agent Parrish began the meeting by asking us to provide “reasonable suspicion” of a felony level crime in order to get NCIS to reopen the case. We were very optimistic that by pointing out the inaccurate (to use a friendly term) information in the official NCIS Report and replacing it with documented facts, he would agree that reasonable suspicion exists, even conservatively speaking. After more than two hours of presentation, and after repeatedly interrupting us, Special Agent Parrish stated that the inaccurate information in the Report doesn’t matter. In fact, he said that the Report itself doesn’t matter. All that matters, according to the Deputy Assistant Director of NCIS, is what the Special Agent tasked with the investigation knows to be the facts of the case. Go ahead and try to make sense of that statement. He then closed the meeting by saying that we had “not provided proof of a kidnapping” so NCIS would not reopen the investigation. There were many other unpleasantries handed to us by Special Agent Parrish within that room, but I am trying my best to be brief.
In being brief, I’ll end this roller coaster narrative by saying that we have begged for a Federal investigation for more than three years, and still believe that Morgan’s homicide should have been handled by Federal authorities from the beginning, but we were stymied by a bureaucrat in a tailored suit with the audacity to complain to us about having to drive down to Camp Lejeune from Quantico, VA. We believe it would not have mattered if we entered that room with a recorded confession from Hunter Wells or Charles Cornwall; Special Agent Kelly Parrish was sent to Jacksonville to shut us down.


U.S. NAVAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE REPORT OF INVESTIGATION {CLOSED ONLY} 27MAY22 SPECIAL INQUIRY (II) CONTROL: 27MAY22-CALE-00352-7XMA/UI/JACKSONVILLE, NC/RESULTS OF CONTACT WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REGARDING MORGAN RENEE PATTEN, CIV COMMAND/DOD INTEREST/00000 MADE AT/CALE/RESIDENT AGENCY CAMP LEJEUNE/ SPECIAL AGENT
(b)(6),(b)(7)(C)
NARRATIVE
1. This ROI (CLOSED ONLY) was initiated to document contact with several local law enforcement agencies, namely Onslow County Sheriffs Office
(OCSO), the North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NC SHP), and the Onslow County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA), regarding an allegation of kidnapping of Morgan Renee PATTEN, CIV, by Hunter Wells, CIV, former USMC, and Charles Cornwall, CIV, former USMC. PATTEN was killed in a motor vehicle accident, in a vehicle driven by Wells in Mayesville, NC on 08Nov19. Cornwall was a passenger, however was not killed in the accident.

2. Between 13Apr22 and 22Apr22, NCIS reviewed the OCSO Case File (Incident 2019016282); reviewed the NC State Highway Patrol Collision Investigation; reviewed text messages between PATTEN and Philip Brandon, USMCR; spoke with Matthew Hipple, CIV OCSO; John Edwards, CIV, NC SHP; and Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Caroline Fountain, CIV, OCDA.

3. During the review of the OCSO report, it was noted on 21May21, James Payne, Steven Patten, Renee Patten, Fountain, Elizabeth Bailey, Seldon NASON, District Attorney (DA) Ernie Lee met to discuss the investigation. DA Lee and ADA Fountainwere on video teleconference for this meeting. It was noted in the report, the DA and Attorney Payne agreed at the time there was no additional steps to follow up on. multiple people were interviewed including first responders, witnesses at the scene, and the bartender at Applebees Restaurant, Jacksonville, NC, who served PATTEN, Wells and Cornwall prior to the motor vehicle accident. Both Wells and Cornwall were active duty USMC members at the time. During interviews by law enforcement , Wells requested an attorney; and Cornwall could not remember the day of the crash, nor the first week after the crash. An interview of the bartender at Applebees Restaurant, Joshua Thornton CIV, revealed he did not recognize Wells, V/PATTEN, nor Cornwallas being previous customers. Laboratory analysis of PATTEN’s Blood Alcohol Content revealed a .20, and no other substances were in her system. The report indicates no evidence of kidnapping was uncovered during the investigation and OCSO closed their investigation.

4. During the review of the NC SHP report, Which was obtained from OCSO, it was noted NC SHP interviewed Thornton and Thornton advised Patten, Wells and Cornwall drink alcohol at the restaurant, however, Thornton did not observe anything out of the ordinary. NC SHP also interviewed Cornwall who advised he could not remember the accident. Wells was interviewed on 09Nov19, by OCSO as indicated above, and invoked right to counsel.

5. contact with Hipple advised he could not find any indication or evidence of a kidnapping charge. He further advised he took over the investigation from a previous detective. Hipple advised OCSO conducted a complete and thorough investigation. Hipple further forwarded text messages to NCIS which indicated there was no indication PATTEN was in any type of duress. PATTEN was sending text messages back and forth to Brandon from 2202 until 2245 on 08Nov19. Hipple advised the 911 call for the motor vehicle accident came in at 2249 on 08Nov19. In one of the texts, V/PATTEN advises Brandon “people bring in cocaine onto base through pizza just btw”.

6. contact with John Edwards, NCSHP, indicated the night after the motor vehicle accident, he met with Steven Patten, Renee Patten, and Philip Brandon. Edwards stated he believed the family brought up a text about drugs being smuggled onto base. Edwards stated he interviewed bartenders at Applebee’s restaurant and advised there was no indication of any duress on the part of PATTEN and the interaction between her and Wells and Cornwall was very cordial. Edwards further stated there was no indication of kidnapping at the scene of a motor vehicle accident.

7. contact with ADA Fountain indicated the investigative team looked at PATTEN’s text messages, and did not find anything indicating any duress on the part of PATTEN. Fountain stated interviews from Applebee’s employees indicated that PATTEN, Wells and Cornwall were not out of the ordinary and there was nothing indicating kidnapping. Fountain further advised she sent PATTEN’s blood again to be tested for additional substances to the laboratory after the original toxicology test, and still the only thing in PATTEN’s system was alcohol. Fountain indicated there was no evidence to support a kidnapping charge. Wells is currently facing multiple charges in Onslow County, including involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence, felony serious injury by motor vehicle, and felony death by motor vehicle.

​8. this investigation is closed.