Questions remain about Morris' death

There are also purple ribbons scattered throughout the town – a symbol to remember one of their own, Kelly Morris, who disappeared 14 months ago.

Granville County authorities on Tuesday arrested and charged her husband, Scott Morris, 35, with first-degree murder hours after investigators recovered her skeletal remains.

He remained at the Granville County Detention Center Thursday evening, where he is being held without bond.

For the community, the death has taken its toll and has left many wondering why the 28-year-old mother of two was killed.

"Kelly was a nice person, and there's no reason for her life to have ended the way it did," said her former co-worker, Jennifer Williams.

Authorities haven't disclosed how Kelly Morris might have died, and they have kept quiet about the case, including a possible motive.

Family members, however, told WRAL News Wednesday that the remains were in the Tar River Fox Pen along Sam Moss Hayes Road in Creedmoor.

The following day, the house caught fire – officials ruled it arson – and hours after the fire, Kelly Morris' car, keys, purse and cell phone were found about a mile away.

Kelly Morris' family members have said she and her husband had been having marital problems.

Jerry Cates, a local locksmith, said she had called on him to re-key her house a little more than a month prior to her disappearance.

Morris was clearly frightened, he said.

"Just speaking, you could tell it," he said Thursday. "I mean, when she just asked me, 'If you could please let me be gone in case he (her husband) comes up here.' I mean what else was there to do?"

Cates said Morris did not want her husband to see her at home when the locks were being changed, so she left while he changed the locks.

For Cates, he said, seeing Kelly Morris that day at her house is something he'll never forget.

"She was a good person," he said. "She didn't deserve this."