Baby girl murdered by own father is reminder to stay away from abusers

Emersyn Morris was murdered Saturday, but nobody had to go looking for the killer.

The 4-month-old little girl was killed by her own father — because she was making “baby talk” noises while he tried to watch television. Cory Morris, 21, of Minneapolis faces murder charges after hitting his daughter approximately 15 times in the face with his fist and another seven times on her chest with his fist. (See his photo below.)

Morris was alone with the baby. He had watched her alone many times. But something different happened this time and the baby’s mother — Morris’ girlfriend, Jenny Andersen — is now left grieving the death of her child and pondering the fact that she chose Morris to be her partner and the father of this child.

The most important decision you will ever make for your child is who the other parent will be.

No woman ever believes a man is going to kill her child — and no man ever believes a woman is going to kill his child — but Jenny Andersen told police that Morris gets angry easily and has “grabbed” her and thrown things in the past. I’m sure she never believed he would hurt her daughter, but why do people choose men or women to be their partners in marriage or raising children when it’s clear that those people have serious issues and can’t be trusted?

I have frequently talked with female friends of mine who admit that a boyfriend has anger issues or maybe even hits them occasionally, but they always say things such as, “He promised he’s not going to do that anymore.” And they frequently say, “Oh, I’m not going to marry him, so it won’t matter anyway.”

But if you date someone who has issues with anger and violence, you frequently marry that person and have children with that person. Nobody sets out to have children — or raise children — with someone who will be physically or emotionally abusive. But if you choose someone who will be abusive toward you, that person will almost always be abusive to your children later.

If you’re someone who thinks, “It’s OK. I can take care of myself,” or, “I’m not worth much, so it doesn’t matter what happens to me,” you’re playing with fire. It’s not just you who you’re putting at risk.

You are running the very real risk of leaving your future child (or existing child) physically damaged, emotionally damaged or even murdered — all because you wouldn’t exercise the judgment to get an angry, abusive person out of your life as soon as it becomes obvious there’s a problem.

The person responsible for baby Emersyn’s death is Cory Morris. Nobody else killed her. But there were obviously signs that he was a bad choice to be a father and a bad choice to be left with a child. At least someone in the family also suggested to police that Morris might be mentally ill. A woman chose him to be her partner, though, and she chose him to be the father of her child — and that was a fatal mistake.

If you’re with an abusive person — man or woman — get away from that person. It’s better to get away before you have children with the person, but if you’ve made the mistake of reproducing with the wrong person, you can still get away and give that child the best chance you can give him or her away from the dangerous person.

If you think it doesn’t matter — or if you’re the typical person who continues to make excuses or fret about the hassles of ending a relationship — remember this angry man beating his baby girl to death because she wouldn’t stop “baby talk” while he wanted to watch television.

Choose the right partner to be your child’s other parent.