ST. PAUL, MN - A man in his thirties has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend after he learned she was cheating on him with a married man. After he stabbed her to death, he put their child to sleep as if nothing happened.
Joseph Davis, 35, pleaded guilty to the death of 33-year-old Christine Morris at their home in St. Paul. He faces up to 40 years in prison, which is the maximum allowed under the law, Law & Crime reported. His sentencing hearing has been set for October 26.
According to a probable cause affidavit, St. Paul police conducted a welfare check in the early morning hours of May 2, 2025, at a home in the 300 block of Edmund Avenue after Davis called a family member and said he killed Morris and that he was "sorry." Upon entering the home, police heard a dog barking and a child coughing.
They found the child, the two-year-old of Davis and Morris, sitting on a couch in the living room. In an upstairs bedroom, they found Morris' body covered by a blanket. She had suffered several stab wounds to her head, neck, chest and back, according to the affidavit. She also suffered sharp force injuries piercing her lung, kidney and spleen.
Morris' friends, who were interviewed at the scene, reportedly said she told them if she or her daughter ended up dead, Davis was responsible. Davis had at least three domestic violence arrests with Morris as the victim, the affidavit stated.
The suspect's ex-girlfriend also had a restraining order against Davis and feared he would hurt her. Officers also spoke with a friend who was with Morris the night before the stabbing. The friend said that Morris said Davis accused her of cheating on him. Morris arrived home around 11:00 p.m. and texted the friend that she had made it home safely.
After the police recovered the victim's phone at a nearby park, they focused on Davis, eventually locating him at an apartment in Minneapolis. The SWAT team coaxed Davis outside.
The tenant at the apartment said she met Davis about a month earlier on a dating app and they had been talking. She said Davis contacted her earlier in the day and said he was running from the police and asked her if he could stay at her place. He refused to tell her why he was in trouble, according to the affidavit.
After reading Davis his Miranda rights, detectives said they told Davis that they found Morris and she had been "pretty messed up." When asked how it happened, Davis said Morris "had been f*cking him over for five years by cheating on him, manipulating him, and lying to him," detectives wrote.
He also claimed he had set up a recording device in the home that captured Morris having sex with someone a few days before the murder. Davis said it was a married man. The defendant said an argument turned physical when he confronted her about lying.
"Davis said, 'I should have never did that to her … That s— was brutal. I—I definitely feel bad,'" police wrote. He said the stabbing started on the bed and then the victim rolled off. Davis watched Morris "take her last breaths" before he covered her body with a blanket.
"She suffered, bro, she definitely suffered," Davis told detectives, adding that the stabbing wasn't planned. After he "did the stabbing," he laid the baby down for a half hour or so until she fell asleep, and then he left the home. He drove to the park and threw Morris' cellphone out the window, the affidavit stated.
A GoFundMe describes Morris as a "loving mother, sister and friend." It went on to say that Morris' greatest legacy is her daughter, who is a "bright, strong young girl who now faces life without her mother."
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