Morrison was dead for 16 hours before her family members said they were notified by police, even as they frantically searched for her. They first realized something was wrong when Morrison failed to drop off her 2-year-old nephew, of whom she had recently gained custody, at a babysitter’s house around noon on Aug. 21. By 2 p.m. that day, Morrison should have clocked in at the local motel she managed, and when she never showed, it triggered warning bells. Her loved ones said she never missed a shift — even when she was sick — and often picked up extra hours at work. It was Morrison’s tireless work ethic, often doing the jobs of several people, that allowed her to work her way up from housekeeping to the front desk and eventually management.
Morrison’s family members called the Pennington County sheriff’s office throughout the day, but law enforcement officials told them they had no knowledge of her whereabouts. After finishing her workday at the local jail, her sister, Raena Cross Dog, drove to her mother’s home to await further information, which arrived in the form of a visit from the Oglala Sioux Tribal Police around 11 p.m. Tribal police said they had been asked to deliver the news of Morrison’s death on behalf of Pennington County and, though Cross Dog pleaded for more information, the officers merely expressed their condolences. “I just remember slamming the door, but I think I blacked out because I was laying on the floor and my son’s dad was blowing in my face,” she told BuzzFeed News. “I checked on my mom, and my brother was holding her and they were all crying.”
Since then, Morrison’s family has been left with more questions than answers as they attempt to piece together the last moments of her life. That night, Morrison drove to a trailer park on the northern outskirts of Rapid City to meet up with a man that friends and family said she had initially connected with on the gay dating and hookup app Grindr. Phone records obtained by BuzzFeed News indicate that she’d spoken to the same unlisted number four times in the 36 hours before her death, beginning with a 2:30 a.m. incoming call on Aug. 19 that lasted for just two minutes and concluding with a nine-minute conversation the following day at 11:51 p.m., shortly before sources believe she drove to the residence where she was killed.
Family members said the sheriff’s department informed them that Morrison and the property owner decided not to go to bed together after a brief conversation over drinks, but he refused to let her drive home, asserting that she was too inebriated to get behind the wheel. He directed her to sleep on his couch instead, and the man claimed that she refused to leave the following morning, resulting in a struggle over a gun. It accidentally fired, family members said investigators told them, and she was fatally wounded. The property owner did not respond to multiple requests for comment from BuzzFeed News, but local news reports said he has been cooperating with the investigation.
Morrison’s loved ones said that explanation doesn’t match up with the person they knew or the little information they do have about the incident. While the man claimed that the shooting was in self-defense, Morrison was allegedly “bruised and beaten” in photos of her body shown to the family 10 days later. “He said Acey was trying to attack him on his property,” Muffie Mousseau, a local Two-Spirit activist who has been working with Catches, told BuzzFeed News. “That’s the story that’s out, but that’s not what really happened. How did Acey get beaten up between 1 and 7 a.m.?” Morrison was shot directly in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun, Mousseau said, which she believes does not suggest that the gun was accidentally triggered during a physical altercation.