TULSA, Okla. — Jurors began hearing testimony in the murder trial of Christopher Morland, who is accused of killing his wife, 39-year-old Cassidy Ritchie, in January of last year.
Ritchie's body was found under a blanket and clothing inside her impounded car on Jan. 28, a week after she disappeared.
Opening statements and witness testimony focused on one piece of the prosecution's case — a single key tied to a 2006 Chrysler Pacifica registered to Cassidy Ritchie.
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Prosecutors say the blue SUV where Ritchie's body was found is central to their theory. They told the six-woman, seven-man jury that one key was the only key to that Pacifica, and that Christopher Morland was carrying it when he was arrested on January 25.
2 News covered this case from the start and has previously spoken with Ritchie's family; they declined to comment before and after the day one arguments were made. Here's part of our previous conversation with them.
"If you are out there, let us know you are ok.. We love you," Joey David, son of Cassidy Ritchie, said.
On the stand, Ritchie's mother, daughter, and roommates testified they believed Ritchie could not go anywhere without Morland and that her personality shifted from "bubbly" to distant. Several witnesses described frequent arguing after the couple married just weeks before her death.
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"She was so happy on her wedding day. I'm not sure if she was too scared to say anything. He was just a whole different person after the marriage," Kyle Ritchie, brother of Cassidy, said.
Two officers who responded to the missing-person call on Jan. 25, 2024, testified they found the car key in Morland's pocket. Officer Joseph Campbell with Major Crimes said that, after the Pacifica was located off Highway 412 and a search warrant was obtained, investigators searched the vehicle and found Ritchie's body in the trunk.
TPD Major Crimes also testified there were significant traces of blood inside the SUV — on the seatbelt, center console, and elsewhere.
"We love you; we miss you. I wish I could hug you. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about you," Joey David said.
Ritchie's son, Joey David, was in the courtroom, as prosecutors described to the jury the 55 blunt force injuries his mom had - tears rolled down his and his family members' faces.
In evidence shown by the state, Morland admits to Tulsa Police that the two were fighting, and Morland 'hit' Ritchie, walked away, and came back and found her not breathing. Eventually, he admits to driving off and crashing her car off of Highway 412.
Morland's defense claimed the death was a homicide, not murder, telling jurors they're not the same, and they can't find their client guilty of murder because the death wasn't planned.
The trial is will go into its second day. Morland's attorney chose not to cross-examine many of the state's witnesses.
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