Instagram model Miss Mercedes Morr was found deceased at the bottom of her staircase in her apartment by her father on Sunday (Aug. 29). As the news spread of the 33-year-old’s passing, so did rumors on social media that she had died of a virus. However, according to the Fort Bend County Medical Examiner, she suffered from a traumatic concussion and showed signs of being strangled to death. Morr’s father, Mark Gagnier, further clarified that the rumors were not true, and that his daughter was possibly murdered by a crazed follower who was obsessed with her.
“It went from false accusations of HIV or COVID, to other things,” Gagnier told ABC13. “My monthly conversation is, Jenae you have all these followers. Some probably because they love you, some because they like your look, some more crazy, and some obsessed.”
Gagnier made his way to his daughter’s apartment located at 5200 Pointe West Circle in Richmond, Texas, just southwest of Houston, after he did not hear from her over the weekend. What he found devastated him and his girlfriend, who was also present at the apartment on Sunday.
“I know my daughter and when I got to my daughter’s house and it was locked up and she’s not answering my phone call, which is not like her, I knew something was up,” said Gagnier. “So I didn’t hesitate to kick the door down. What I saw, I wouldn’t want any parent to go through.”
Morr’s alleged killer, Kevin Accorto, 34, was found on the second floor of the apartment with a knife in his neck, surrounded by confessional writings on the wall. By the time police arrived, Accorto had died. Richmond authorities ruled the incident a murder-suicide, suspecting that there wasn’t a prior relationship between Morr and Accorto.
“I don’t know how he found her and I don’t know how all this happened,” said her father.
Morr, birth name Janae Gagnier, was followed by the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Snoop Dogg, and Cardi B, and had nearly three million followers. She was the oldest daughter of Gagnier and her mother Jeaneta Grover.
“She’s a person, that was our baby,” said Grover. “She was so famous in her world, and so loved in ours.”
