BAYTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASE
Lieutenant Steve Dorris
Public Information Officer
(281) 420-6617
steve.dorris@baytown.org
2016-63030
Police seeking person of interest in double homicide
Update 11-15-16
Murder charges filed in brutal murder of 16 year old
On November 8th at 10:30 am the bodies of 37 year old Cynthia Morris and her 13
year old daughter, Breanna Pavilicek were found murdered in their Baytown home.
During the investigation detectives discovered Cynthia’s 16 year old daughter, Kirsten
Fritch and her boyfriend, 21 year old Jesse Dobbs were missing along with Cynthia’s
2008 Chrysler PT Cruiser. An amber alert was posted for the vehicle as well as Kirsten
and Mr. Dobbs. Due to the circumstances, Mr. Dobbs was considered a person of
interest in the murders of Cynthia and Breanna at that time.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., Mr. Dobbs and the PT Cruiser were located in Texas City.
Mr. Dobbs was located by Texas City Police at a bar and the vehicle was located in an
apartment complex across the street from the bar. Kirsten however was nowhere to
be found. When police attempted to detain Mr. Dobbs he offered resistance and was
ultimately arrested and charged with resisting arrest or detention and booked into
the Texas City Jail. Baytown Detectives attempted to interview Mr. Dobbs about the
murder; however he refused to offer any details about the deaths of Cynthia and
Breanna, or the whereabouts of Kirsten.
On Wednesday November 9th, detectives from the Baytown Police Department, Texas
City Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety as well as K-9 teams from
Alpha Search and Rescue searched the area around the bar for Kirsten until darkness
hampered their efforts. On Thursday, Detectives requested the assistance of Texas
Equisearch in searching the area once again, in an effort to broaden the scope of the
search. At approximately 12:40 p.m., search teams from Texas Equisearch located the
body of 16 year old Kirsten Fritch in a wooded area north of the bar, an area which
had not yet been searched.
Today, November 15th at approximately 4:00p.m., Homicide detectives from the
Baytown Police Department formally filed murder charges on Jesse Dobbs, through
the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, for the brutal murder of Kirsten
Fritch. Dobbs remains in the Galveston County Jail on $500,000 bond on these new
charges. Detectives are continuing their investigation into the murders of Cynthia and
Breanna, in which Dobbs remains a suspect. A motive for the murders has yet to be
determined as Dobbs continues to refuse to cooperate with detectives.
