On Tuesday, David Allen Morrison, 65, pleaded guilty to the Berkshire County kidnapping of Laura Sheriden in 1981 and the Bennington County murder of Sarah Hunter in 1986. Sheriden told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that the resolution of her long unresolved abduction was complicated – relief that the perpetrator would face justice, but agony that Hunter didn’t escape him.
“I spent 20 minutes with David Morrison and no more, than I escaped," she said. "Having a daughter and a couple kids, I now would share with any woman, fight back. And I know every situation is different, because there can be situations where maybe you can't fight back. So I was - I had luck on my side.”
Hunter was reported missing in September 1986, and her body was discovered in the woods of Pawlet, Vermont, two months later. She was 32 at the time of her death.
"When I kind of fully-processed what this meant for Sarah Hunter, that was really tough, because she wasn't lucky," said Sheriden. "And so that was ... very overwhelming to know that this person would, and I have, without a doubt in my mind, I know exactly what would have happened to me back in 1981.”
As she processes the pain that Hunter’s loss caused her friends and family, Sheriden says she hopes Morrison takes the opportunity to admit to any other crimes he may have committed.
“He's still, he's, I guess, 65-years-old, so he still has time to, in whatever conscience that man has to if he has done more things to other people, other women, to say something," she said. "And so I guess, my hope, would be, if he has something to say that can give some peace to people - I think he does obviously have an amount of self-interest, but there's a degree of compassion that he has, I would hope he would come clean and share that so other families like Sarah's can truly have finality.”
Sheriden said the opportunity to address Morrison before the Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield Tuesday offered some kind of closure for her after years of frustration about how law enforcement originally responded to her kidnapping.
“I never have forgotten it, but I didn't live every day thinking about it, dwelling on," she said. "I still kept my statement. We joke - I still have my statement from back in 1981. So, it was a part of my life, and I always remembered it. I remembered the trial and the disappointment of not having justice then. But again, I didn't dwell on it, just moved on in life. I really admired the police work that was done now, the humility of the officers and the people just involved to focus on resolution and on the right issues. So as it must have been really good work, and that's great, because I don't think they did such a good job back then.”
Morrison is expected to face life in prison in Vermont without possibility for parole for the killing.
