In late 2006, law enforcement officials in Billings, Montana faced the aftermath of a series of gruesome crimes, including the discovery of three dead bodies. Ultimately, he discovered that all of them were linked to a single robbery that took place at an apartment complex. Murder by Numbers: Dog Days of Murder is a documentary series that airs on Investigation Discovery. The series focuses on the murders of Patti Hubbert, Norman Leighton and Gerald Morris. So if you’re curious about what happened and who committed the murders, you won’t have to worry anymore since we’re going to fill you in.
Murders of Patti Hubbert, Norman Leighton and Gerald Morris
How did Patti Hubbert, Norman Leighton and Gerald Morris die?
Patti Hubbert was born in January 1952 and has lived in Billings at her home for almost twenty years. She and Norman Leighton, who was 69 at the time, were roommates in the flat. On September 22, 2006, sometime after 6 a.m., a call was made to the appropriate authorities reporting a fire in the apartment shared by Patti and Norman. After the flames were brought under control, the remains of Norman and Patti, who was 54, were found in the chamber.
While Norman sat on the floor, Patti sat on the bed. Both had coat hangers, duct tape and a phone cord wrapped around their bodies. Patti’s mouth was also taped shut and a rag was stuffed into it. An autopsy determined blunt force trauma was Norman’s cause of death, while suffocation was Patti’s cause of death. They were assaulted for several days and then a fire was created to conceal the fact that the crime had been committed.
On September 23, 2006, the family made the unfortunate decision to report their neighbor, Gerald Morris, missing. On October 4, nearly two weeks later, a worker discovered a decomposing body a few yards down the road south of Billings; the body belonged to Gerald. According to the show, he was dragged to the scene and a gun with a .44 caliber bullet was used to shoot him in the back and neck. Authorities quickly linked the three murders, leading to an intensive investigation.
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Who killed Patti Hubbert, Norman Leighton and Gerald Morris?
When investigators attended Patti and Norman’s home, they discovered that a large sum of cash, in addition to a .44 caliber revolver, had been stolen. The living room looked like it had been ransacked, with clothes strewn all over the floor. The fact that there were no signs of a break-in led authorities to suspect that Patti and Norman let the killer into the house, where he then chained them up, tormented them for days, and eventually killed them.
According to the show, police initially considered Gerald a likely suspect; however, their investigation of him ended when his remains were discovered two weeks after the murder. One of the fabric fibers was discovered on his clothing, and it appears to have come from the upholstery of a pickup truck. On top of that, a single dog hair was discovered on the towel that Patti had stuck in her mouth. Marcia Whiteley, Gerald’s girlfriend, eventually provided a statement to authorities. She told police the last time she saw Gerald was when he was leaving with a friend named Richard Covington. She said so in her statement to the police.
Prior to this, authorities were monitoring Richard. Patti and Norman’s home was the target of a burglary in June 2005, and the fire that broke out there was staged to look like an accident. According to the episode, Richard was investigated as a possible suspect but was never charged with anything. Interestingly, he also owned a dog as a pet. In the end, authorities were able to determine that the hair on the dog was the same as that found on the rag. The fiber found on Gerald matched the fiber found on Richard’s car seat, which was further evidence against him.
Additionally, a maintenance man at the apartment complex told authorities that he bought Richard a .44 caliber pistol. It was determined that Norman was responsible for Gerald’s death because the serial number on the gun matched a card discovered in Patti and Norman’s apartment. Authorities were under the impression that Richard had tortured Patti and Norman, and that Gerald had been murdered around the same time he tried to intervene in the situation.
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Where is Richard Covington today?
In February 2010, the trial of Richard Covington took place. During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Richard did not deny murdering the three victims while talking to a witness. Richard also said he wouldn’t get caught until the authorities did a better job of investigating the crimes. Ultimately, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all charges against him, including murder, robbery, arson, and theft. Richard pleaded guilty the year before the incident, admitting to robbing a woman in a parking lot in April 2007.
Richard, who was 47 at the time, was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole in June 2010. These were to start at the same time as the existing 40-year sentence for the theft that occurred. in 2007. As a result of his criminal history, Richard had been convicted of theft in 1981 and charged with another theft in 1994, which contributed to the length of his sentence. According to inmate records, he is still being held at the Crossroads Correctional Facility in Shelby, Montana.
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