17-year-old found dead in Grand Prairie identified

The body found Tuesday in a wooded area in Grand Prairie has been identified as Desiree Morris, 17, police said Wednesday.

Morris’ body was found about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in a “heavily wooded area” near the 2400 block of Pioneer Parkway, Grand Prairie police spokesman Lyle Gensler said.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office had not reported the cause and manner of her death late Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators have linked Morris’ boyfriend, Ivan Arellano, 29, to her killing.

On Monday before fatally shooting himself, Arellano told a witness he had killed a woman, police said. He killed himself in the parking lot of a Lowe’s home improvement store in Arlington.

Gensler said Morris had filed multiple domestic violence complaints against Arellano since March 10. Police issued a domestic violence warrant for Arellano’s arrest on March 25.

Morris’ abuse injuries were “violent and severe,” Gensler said.

He said it was clear she died before Monday, when Arlington officers responded to a disturbance call about 5 a.m. at a La Quinta Inn off Arbrook Boulevard.

Officers found Arellano barricaded in a white van in the Lowe’s parking lot. The officers heard a muffled shot from inside the van, so they shut down the Lowe’s, blocked off the entrances to the lot and called a SWAT unit, Cook said.

Officers found Arellano dead in the van about 7:30 p.m.

Gensler said investigators believe that Morris had likely been living with Arellano and two other adults for a few months before the domestic violence warrant was issued. In the past two weeks, investigators determined, Arellano had been homeless.

“He was living out of his van and would seek friends to stay with,” Gensler said. “We think that was a result of him being wanted.”

One of Arellano’s friends, detectives found, lived at the Ashton Park Apartments off Pioneer Parkway. When police went to the apartment complex Tuesday morning, they began searching the wooded area and found Morris, Gensler said.

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "17-year-old found dead in Grand Prairie identified."