NC NC - Robert Mitchell Foust

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/missing_23105___article.html/car_woman.html

4 March 09

The Alamance County Sheriff's Department is still searching for a 39-year-old woman who hasn't been seen since mid-February, although her car was found last Friday.

Jana Michelle Morton's white Dodge Intrepid was found in the parking lot of Food Lion on South Main Street in Graham, and investigators obtained a warrant to search the vehicle.

"As soon as we got our hands on the car, we executed a search warrant in the hopes that it would lead us to where she is," said Alamance County Sheriff's Capt. Robert Wilborn.

However, the search didn't provide any leads in the case, Wilborn said.

Morton's daughter reported her missing Feb. 22, although Morton has been missing since Feb. 13.

and

Morton is white. She is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 112 pounds. Her hair is brown. Her eyes are hazel. She was last seen wearing a tie-dyed shirt and blue jeans.

more at link

pic

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/reward_23747___article.html/woman_information.html

27 March 09

A reward is being offered for information that aids Alamance County authorities in finding a Snow Camp woman missing since Feb. 13.

Detectives with the Alamance County Sheriff's Office are investigating the disappearance of Jana Michelle Morton. On Feb. 13, Morton left from 6550 Beale Road, Snow Camp enroute to her mother's home in Caswell County. She was driving a white, 1997 Dodge Intrepid. She never arrived at her destination and her whereabouts are unknown at this time. Ms. Morton's vehicle was recovered in the Food Lion parking lot in Graham on Feb. 27.

Morton is described as a white female, 5'3" tall, 112 pounds, 39 years old, brown hair and hazel colored eyes

Crime Stoppers will pay cash rewards for information leading to the clearance of this and other cases and ensures confidentiality of information leading to clearance of these crimes or apprehension of other fugitives. If you have information about these crimes or other crimes, call Crime Stoppers at 229-7100.

Investigators interview inmate in case of missing woman

On March 2, sheriff's department investigators learned that Foust allegedly "spontaneously uttered admission to having possession and control of Jana Michelle Morton's vehicle," states a search warrant obtained that same day.

In that warrant, investigators were seeking Foust's DNA by means of a "saliva/bucal swab."

The sheriff's department obtained a search warrant on March 3 in order to seize all of Foust's personal property stored at the jail, including "any undergarments Foust may be allowed to maintain control of that were not stored in his personal belongings."

Charles Morton, who is raising his stepdaughter and a 7-year-old son that he and Jana Morton had while they were married, said that his ex-wife had some problems in the past.

They married in 1999. It wasn't until five years later, when Charles Morton got sick with a virus that resulted in him getting his left leg amputated, that Jana Morton started struggling, he said.

"She fell apart," he said. "I don't know what happened."

He said she got involved in drugs.

"She was trying to straighten up," Charles Morton said.

Four days before she disappeared, Jana Morton had just finished serving less than two months at North Piedmont Correctional Center for Women. Morton had been placed on probation after she was convicted on drug paraphernalia and attempted shoplifting charges in May 2008. That probation was revoked when she was convicted of misdemeanor larceny and shoplifting in August 2008.

"She was a good person," Charles Morton said. "She just got with the wrong crowd. She knew she needed help."

When Charles Morton heard that Jana Morton's Dodge Intrepid was found, he knew something was wrong.

"I knew she wouldn't give up that car. That was all she had. I knew right then something wasn't right," he said. "... She don't deserve to be laying out there in the woods like discarded trash like nobody cares about her. She was loved."

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/morton-24674-foust-jana.html

Jana is still missing.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/morton_jana.html

http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/years-36848-bodies-cases.html

September 11, 2010 4:55 PM

* Jana Michelle Morton. Morton was last seen leaving her home on Beale Road in Snow Camp en route to Caswell County on Feb. 13, 2009. She did not arrive at her destination. The 1997 Dodge Intrepid she was driving was found weeks later in the parking lot of Food Lion on South Main Street in Graham. She is described as white, 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing about 110 pounds. She has brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a tie-dyed shirt and blue jeans.

If you have information about any of these cases, call the Alamance County Sheriff's Department at 336-570-6300.

Click to expand...

No other info at link for Jana.

Project Jason

http://www.projectjason.org/forums/index.php?topic=5572.0

NamUs Profile

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/5174

North American Missing Persons Network

http://www.nampn.org/cases/morton_jana_michelle.html

DOE Network

(Scroll down)

http://www.doenetwork.org/media/news239.html

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Law enforcement is still trying to find out what happened to an Alamance County mother of two almost two years ago.

Jana Michelle Morton vanished from her home in Snow camp on Feb. 13, 2009. Michelle was supposed to stay the weekend with her mother, Sherry Cloninger, in Caswell County, but she never made it.

"I knew instantly. There was not a doubt in my mind something bad had happened. I knew by (Feb.) 18 something happened. It's her daughter's birthday. She doesn't ever miss birthdays," Cloninger said.


more here + video

http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-story-jana-morton-110210,0,7664189.story

Missing person's case hits two-year mark

Sherry Cloninger just wants to bring her daughter home.

Tuesday marks two years since Cloninger’s 39-year-old daughter Jana “Michelle” Morton was reported missing to the Alamance County Sheriff’s Department. At this point, authorities don’t think Morton will be found alive.

[snip]

Investigators continue to seek information about the case. Now that Foust, who was convicted of first-degree rape in August in an unrelated case, is in prison serving a minimum of 40 years, authorities are hopeful someone will come forward with information about Morton’s disappearance.

[snip]

A receipt to McDonald’s found inside Morton’s car, led authorities to the McDonald’s on North Church Street where they reviewed surveillance tape of Foust alone in the Dodge Intrepid on Feb. 20. They also tested items found in the car — a pink sheet, a floral comforter, a pillow case and a rubber mat — that all had blood stains on them.

Test results indicate it is Morton’s blood.

“It’s just not enough blood that you can say someone died as a result of that blood loss,” Felts said.

More: http://www.thetimesnews.com/news/cloninger-41378-case-wants.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvBK7SaJVOw


INTERESTING.

Sheriff Johnson said they found Morton's body Friday in a shallow grave behind a house after receiving a tip. Morton's body was positively identified by the medical examiner's office just moments before today's news conference.
http://www.digtriad.com/news/articl...al-Killer-Charged-In-Missing-Women-Cold-Cases

Since the two women have now been tied together as being possible victims of a serial killer, I am going to post the links.

Tamara Ann Liner
Identified! NC - ID made - 49 yr old Tamara Ann Liner, Burlington - Remains found 1/03/09 - Page 2 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

http://www.thetimesnews.com/articles/charged-55880-murders-says.html

A suspect in the unsolved death and missing person cases of two Alamance County women was officially charged with their murders Wednesday.

Warrants were issued Wednesday for Robert Mitchell Foust on two counts of second-degree murder, said Alamance County District Attorney Pat Nadolski.

Foust is charged with killing Jana “Michelle” Morton, who went missing in February 2009, and Tamara Liner, last seen in July 2008. He is scheduled to make a first appearance Thursday in Alamance County District Court, Nadolski said.

Click to expand...

According to Sheriff Terry Johnson, Foust has spent a large portion of his life in prison.
“Let’s say he is not a stranger to the criminal justice system,” said the Sheriff.
http://myfox8.com/2012/05/31/41680/

Robert Mitchell Foust, 52, was charged Wednesday with two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Tamara Ann Liner, 49, of Burlington, and Jana Michelle Morton, 39, of Snow Camp.

snip....During a news conference earlier this week, Johnson said Foust may be responsible for as many as four other murders that have taken place over the past 20 years.
http://myfox8.com/2012/06/01/sheriff-womens-murders-were-unrelated-in-serial-killings/

Liner was reported missing on September 12, 2008. Her body was found by hunters in some woods off Dickey Mills Road in January 2009.

In the other case, Morton was last seen leaving her house on Beale Road in Snow Camp on February 13, 2009.
http://www.digtriad.com/news/gms/article/230477/67/Alamance-County-Sheriff-Serial-Killer-Behind-Bars

Robert Mitchell Foust, 52, is now serving a minimum of 40 years in prison on a first-degree rape conviction, and was linked to the Morton case after authorities found a letter addressed to him as well as a receipt to the McDonald’s on Graham-Hopedale Road in Morton’s Dodge Intrepid, which was found in the Food Lion parking lot in Graham about two weeks after she disappeared.

snip...
Foust’s criminal record dates back to 1977. In addition to larceny, shoplifting, motor vehicle break-ins and drug offenses, Foust has been convicted of second-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault on a female and false imprisonment, according to the N.C. Department of Correction.

Foust’s murder conviction was in 1987 in Randolph County. He had a maximum sentence of 40 years but served less than 13 years.

Read more: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/authorities-71655-week-last.html#ixzz1wZPLpkGh

According to Mortson’s family, Robert Mitchell Foust told deputies where to find Morton’s body in exchange for life in prison instead of the death penalty.
http://myfox8.com/2012/05/29/sheriff-serial-killer-responsible-for-death-of-woman-missing-since-09/

Morton's daughter is working on a degree in criminal justice.

From October 2014:

http://www.thetimesnews.com/1.393135/

Another case Sharpe is drawing attention to is the plea to two counts of second-degree murder by Robert Mitchell Foust, 54, in June 2012. In that case, Foust confessed to murdering Tamara Ann Liner, 49, and Jana “Michelle” Morton, 39, in 2008 and 2009. Foust had already done time for second-degree murder in the 1990s and had been sentenced to more than 50 years in prison for a rape and a habitual felon charge.

Foust was suspected in Morton’s and Liner’s murders to begin with, but investigators didn’t have enough hard evidence to charge him with the crimes. Morton’s body also hadn’t been found. After Foust’s rape conviction, Nadolski, Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson and investigators interviewed him in prison and urged him to confess to the murder and divulge the location of Morton’s body.

Nadolski said the case had gone cold and investigators had little left to work with. The plea was arranged to bring closure to both families, to allow Morton’s family the ability to bury her body. Nadolski says both families were involved in conversations about the plea. Foust also pleaded guilty as a violent habitual felon and got a life sentence without the possibility of parole, to begin in 2063.

Click to expand...