TOLEDO, Ohio — One of Toledo’s busiest intersections is Monroe Street and Secor Road. It’s seen its share of traffic, crashes and demonstrations over the years. But nothing really compares to what played out there 25 years ago.
Feb. 13, 1998, turned out to be one of Toledo's most violent and tragic days. And for many, its impact has never gone away. On that day, in the middle of the afternoon, a Toledo man went on a murderous rampage in what many called a "trail of terror."
Joe Chappell was eventually shot and killed by Toledo police after he killed two people and wounded four others that Friday the 13th. In the end, Chappell was responsible for five crime scenes that included a fatal stabbing, a carjacking, a gun attack, a fatal shooting and the final scene, when Toledo police shot and killed him near the intersection of Monroe and Secor.
“There's not a Friday the 13th that goes by that it doesn't come back into my mind,” said retired Toledo Police Chief Jack Smith.
Smith was one of the officers who fired his weapon and ended Chappell’s rampage.
“Yeah, it was incredible,” says Smith. “You know, it's probably one of the most violent days in the history of the city, and it just seemed to go for hours, and it actually wasn't all that much time involved.”
Chappell worked with and was obsessed with Vivian Morris. A young, single mother of two who scoffed at Chappell’s advances, going so far as to complain to not only supervisors at work but also to the Toledo courts about his stalking.
In interviews with WTOL 11, Chappell's family members said he couldn’t handle the rejection.
Chappell’s rage reached its apex that Friday afternoon, as he drove to Morris’ Brooke Park Apartment, off Jackman Road near the Michigan state line. Police said at the time that he exited his car holding a knife.
“It still feels fresh,” said Vivian Morris’ now 35-year-old daughter Ashley. “You know I was old enough to still remember everything. I was 10. I remember everything. Everything.”
Ashley Morris was 10 when the man stalking her mother repeatedly stabbed her.
“If I can replay it again [it's like] I’m there,” Morris said. “I remember every little detail.”
He attacked Ashley first on that Friday afternoon.
“I got stabbed 14 times," she said. "I remember. I’ve got scars everywhere. After that I had mitral, a valve prolapse. Trauma to the heart. So I had heart problems and tendon problems from being stabbed in my tendons.”
Chappell then went after Ashley’s brother, Adam, before wounding her mom so badly, she would later die in an ambulance.
Chappell didn't stop there. Police told reporters later that night that Chappell had returned home to get a shotgun, carjacked a woman at gunpoint and then tracked down and ambushed the ambulances carrying Morris and her kids. Police say he took direct aim, firing his weapon, wounding two first responders.
After leaving that scene, Chappell again tried to carjack an innocent Toledoan. He demanded keys from 21-year old Brandy Williams in front of her home. Police at the time said Williams refused to give up her truck, turned to go into her home, only to be shot in the back by a shotgun blast seconds later.
Williams did not survive and Chappell fled the scene.
Smith credits fellow officer Sgt. Bob Case, now deceased, for his police work that day and for following a hunch that Chappell, after shooting and killing Williams, might try to “finish the job” at Toledo Hospital.
Smith said Case drove to the hospital, scanned the parking lot and spotted the minivan Chappell stole.
“Bob really, really saved a lot more damage happening that day,” Smith said. “By being sharp enough to think ahead, that one step.”
Once again, Chappell was on the run. However this time Sgt. Case was trailing behind. Smith says Chappell was firing shots at Case as they made their way up Monroe.
He said Case tried to clip Chappell’s stolen van on the back bumper twice, the second time sending him into a curb on the south side of Monroe near Secor.
Smith, who had since arrived as backup, said when Chappell exited the minivan, he raised the shotgun toward officers. Both Case and Smith drew their weapons and fired.
Case struck Chappell multiple times, ending the threat in the middle of the street.
Was Smith surprised such a violent episode would play out in the streets of Toledo?
“Well, I gotta say, it's a fact that there's evil in the world,” he said. “And we're always going to have it, doesn't matter where you're at. You can be in the safest place in the world and bad things can happen.”
Current Toledo Police Captain Joe Heffernan was just a rookie when the so-called “trail of terror” unfolded. He responded to two crime scenes that day.
“Everybody just did everything they could to get that guy. We knew that if we let him continue, it was going to be more and more carnage. He wasn't going to go down easily.”
STRAIN AND STRUGGLE
The last 25 years have not been easy for Ashley Morris. She’s had to be strong since she was a kid, learning how to process trauma and stress at a very young age. She has a tattoo on her hand showing she’s a survivor. She has another tattoo of her mom’s name on her shoulder, serving as a constant reminder.
Morris said she stays in Toledo to be close to the mother and baby she has lost. They’re both buried in the same plot at a nearby cemetery.
Her ink extends to her left arm and a detailed tattoo for the baby. She remembers having friends and classmates who loved and supported her at the time, but admits that was a long time ago.
Still even 25 years later, there are days now that are tougher than others.
“Back then a lot of stuff like what happened to me…that doesn’t happen often, you know," Morris said. "Like it does now. Murders like that happened once in a blue moon. And now it's like all the time. So when I hear stories like that, that brings back memories. I'm into big documentaries and stuff. Sometimes I like to watch it just because I feel like that's happened to me. It's not just me.”
SYMPATHY AND SORROW
Heffernan and Smith have reflected over 25 years on the impact of the crime, both on the community and on the family.
"I'm glad she survived it," Heffernan said. "I hope she uses her life to be a person that can bring out that message, that you can survive something like this and be a vessel for good."
Smith said he continues to think about the victims.
"They and the other families involved, they're always in my prayers," he said. "It was tragic. It was an incredible load for those two to carry the rest of their lives to see something like that happen."
FINDING HOPE
For Morris, the effects of that day will remain a lifelong challenge.
“Yeah, like, why me?" Morris said. “Like, why did I have to get dealt with the cards I got dealt with? Everybody’s like 'be strong,' and saying things like ‘It only happens to the strong ones.’ But how long can you be strong?”
But she is strong. She finds strength in raising her boys and reminding them of their grandma, how she loved her kids and how she would have loved them.
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