Morris Blankenbaker (1942 - 1975) - Yakima, WA | AncientFaces Free Family History (2024)

In 1975 this guy was shot dead and afterwords his killer was also murdered. This was all because Dee Ann was Morris's wife, then divorced him to be Glen's wife. Then divorced him and went back to Morris. Who was this woman that enchanted two men so deeply? What happend to her? Did she married again just once, more than once? Did she had more kids was she happy? What about the kids she already had?

Photo of Morris and his ex wife, Dee Ann from the Daily News Newspaper (Sunday November 21, 1976)

Tuffy Pleasant was arrested on suspicion of the two murders and now the mysteries behind the deaths of Blankenbaker and Moore were explained. In taped statements, Pleasant described how he had idolized his coach, Gabby Moore, the man who had promised that one day he, too, could be a coach at Davis High School Pleasant had seen the disintegration of his idol, his obsessive misery over Dee Ann, and had tried to talk him out of it. "It was Dee Ann this... Dee Ann that." Pleasant said.
"We were so close that what he felt, I felt. If he shed a tear, I shed a tear. This man, he's just tore up. He's not himself, just bleeding inside. He said, if you have a problem, you eliminate it. And Morris was his number one problem. Out of his admiration for his coach, out of his sympathy for the man's distress, Pleasant made a bloody pact. He would "eliminate" Moore's problem for him. Moore called him from the hospital on Nov. 21st and said, "Tonight's the night, while I'm in here." Pleasant borrowed the gun and went out to kill Blankenbaker.
The death of Moore, Pleasant said, was a bizarre extension of the pact. Moore was determined to divert Dee Ann's suspicion that he had played a role in the death of Blankenbaker. He became convinced that he had to suffer a wound from the same weapon so that she would believe someone else was bent on killing both her husbands. He wanted Pleasant to use the 22 pistol to shoot him, "just to wound him," in the shoulder. Then Moore planned to crawl across the street to Dee Ann's sister's house, winning both sympathy and freedom from suspicion. Pleasant said he had refused until Moore started to dial the police, threatening to report that it was Pleasant who had killed Blankenbaker. Trapped, Pleasant had agreed to the scenario. But, he said, Moore had drunk so much whisky to help him endure the pain of the wound that as the shot was fired at him he stumbled and the bullet penetrated lower than planned, and Gabby Moore had died, the victim of his own weird plan.
On August 29, a jury found Pleasant guilty of murder in the death of Blankenbaker and of manslaughter in the shooting of Moore, his beloved coach. He was sentenced to life for the murder and to 20 years for the manslaughter.

Publilhsed Sunday November 21, 1976 in the Daily News (New York, New York)

YAKIMA - Glynn Moore, 44, well-known Yakima Davis High School wrestling coach, was found dead early Christmas Day of a gunshot wound. City police said today he had been shot with a small caliber gun and they are investigating the possibility the shooting might be related to the death of a former Davis athlete a month ago. Morris Blankenbaker, 32, a Wapato teacher, was found outside his Yakima residence Nov, 22 by his former wife Dee Ann Moore. He had been shot several times with a small caliber gun. Police said Mrs. Moore also was the former wife of Glynn Moore.
Police said Moore's son Mike, 16, returned to their home at 816 S. 19th Ave., about 1:10 a.m. Thursday and discovered Moors body inside the home. They said he had been shot by a single bullet which entered his chest from the left side, No gun was found. Police said Moore and his son lived together. Two other Moore children live with their mother, Moore's first wife, Mrs, Larry Pryse. Pryse is former head basket all coach at Davis High School and is an assistant football coach. Police said Moore was a mathematics teacher at Davis. He has taught since 1958. He coached several championship wrestling teams and was an assistant football coach.
Blankenbaker was shot as he came home from a Yakima tavern where he worked part-time. He was a 1961 Davis graduate. Mrs. Moore was recently divorced from Moore. Apparently she and Blankenbaker had reconciled shortly before his death, police said.

Published Friday December 26, 1975 in the Tri-City Herald Newspaper (Pasco, Washington)

YAKIMA (AP) Analysis of bullets used to kill two Yakima County physical education teachers should be completed by early next week. Prosecuting Atty. Jeffrey Sullivan said today. "It still is a very real possibility that they were both killed by the same person, or as part of a common scheme or plan." said Sullivan of the slayings.
The son of Davis High School wrestling coach Tom Glynn Moore, 44, found him Christmas morning in his home. He had been shot once in the chest by a 22-caliber weapon. Morris Blankenbaker, 32, a Wapato High School physical education instructor, was found dead on the lawn of his home on Nov. 22. He also had been shot and killed with a 22- caliber weapon.
The two are linked by a common former wife, Dee Ann Moore. She first was married to Blankenbaker, then to Moore, but, Sullivan said she apparently had resumed contact with Blankenbaker. "There were many other factors that connected these two in their death which were unique to them there is no general plan to kill school teachers" said Sullivan. "The other factors come out of and surround their marriage to this woman." Sullivan said no weapon has been found in either slaying.
No one has been arrested in connection with either of them. The bullets were sent to a crime laboratory in Spokane. Sullivan said examination of them has been postponed while the lab works on matters from other areas in which a person has already been taken into custody.

Published Wednesday December 31, 1975 in The Bellingham Herald (Belingham, Washington)

Dee Ann (Hammerstad)

&

Morris Blankenbaker

Marriage date

Yakima, Condado de Yakima, Washington Estados Unidos

Marriage location

Together

Status