Boyfriend of NYC mom killed in murder-suicide says jealous ex made ominous threat before killing
A jealous ex-boyfriend allegedly gunned down a Queens mom in a shocking murder-suicide after he ominously warned her “no one else can have her,” her devasted beau told The Post.
Kenisha Morrison, 35, was a “beautiful, beautiful” girl who was gunned down Friday afternoon by ex Joseph Murphy, the father of her 11-year-old daughter, in the Jamaica home the three shared for years after the couple had broken up, her anguished boyfriend said.
“He was one of those people who couldn’t accept it,” said the boyfriend, who asked not to be named. “Three weeks ago, the guy told her that if he cannot have her, no one else can have her.
“I said ‘You need to report it to the police,’ but she said no because she didn’t have papers,” he added of Morrison, who was born in the country of Jamaica. “She was scared to go to the police because she was illegal. She was scared about her status.”
Morrison was found by NYPD officers with a fatal gunshot wound to the head alongside the body of Murphy, 38, her boyfriend said.
A gun was found near Murphy’s body, police confirmed.
Her boyfriend was left shaken by the tragedy on Monday, describing Morrison as “just very sweet.”
“She’s beautiful, a beautiful girl,” he said. “I haven’t stopped crying.”
Morrison had been dating her new boyfriend for two years, he told The Post, but in recent weeks Murphy seemed to grow more possessive and dangerously jealous.
“She wanted to leave and get out of there but she had just signed a one-year lease,” he said.
Minutes before the shooting the boyfriend had been waiting in a car to drive Morrison to work, but she never showed.
Jason Pacurucu, 21, lives downstairs from Morrison’s apartment and said he heard arguing upstairs before the shooting.
“They’ve been living there roughly six months,” he said, describing the sounds of fighting as “definitely out of the ordinary.”
“Mostly we’d hear them blasting loud music for the most part, not really fighting.”
Pacurucu heard that Murphy shot Morrison, then went outside to call the authorities on himself before returning to the apartment and killing himself.
“From an outside perspective, they were extremely nice. This is definitely unexpected.”
Others who knew Morrison and Murphy were baffled by the shooting.
“I’m lost for words. I cannot understand it. He just didn’t seem like that kind of person. He was so proud of his family,” said Traci Kerr, the manager of a Queens restaurant where Murphy worked for six months in 2022.
Kerr said Murphy, also from Jamaica, “always had this huge smile,” and was “very family-oriented” — even bringing his daughter by the restaurant to eat on numerous occasions.
“He was a proud father. I’m telling you, he was such a proud father,” Kerr said. “He loved that girl, the kid’s mother, so much. He was always talking about them, you get what I am saying?
“Sometimes I do the grocery shopping [for the restaurant] and he once asked me if I could buy an extra case of chicken leg quarters. I asked why and he said ‘That’s the only part of the chicken his daughter and the mother eats.’ It shows to me he was really fond of them and really cared about them.”
Not everybody thought Murphy looked so mild mannered.
“He always looked like a mean guy,” said neighbor Dennis Mitchell.
“He never talked. He never smiled,” he said, adding that Morrison on the other hand was “a nice girl.”
The violent deaths have left the neighborhood shaken.
“I still can’t believe it. I’m waiting for her to come through the door with her smile,” said Roderick Campbell, Morrison’s boss at Fortis Restaurant, where she worked.
“The customers still can’t believe what happened. She got along well with everyone. The news is shocking to everyone.”
The daughter was not home during her parents’ deaths, Morrison’s boyfriend said, explaining the girl is now living with her aunt.
“Her daughter doesn’t want to eat,” he said through tears.
“She’s a beautiful person, I swear.”
