Gwynn Morrison High School head shot

Pictures demolish defence claim

THE EXTRAORDINARY saga of a US couple suspected of spying for the Russian KGB has taken a fresh twist as a National Security News investigation uncovered high school pictures of the woman who has been clinging onto the stolen identity of a deceased baby.

Gwynn Morrison is in federal custody in Honolulu after she and her defence contractor husband Walter Primrose were arrested for fraudulently cloaking themselves in the identities of two deceased Texan infants for the last three decades.

The suspected links to Russia are based on raids which uncovered photographs of the pair dressed in KGB uniforms, along with an invisible ink kit, documents in coded language, and maps showing military bases.

However, when the pair appeared via video link before a U.S District in Honolulu, Morrison not only pled not guilty to the charges, but maintained that she was not Gwynn Morrison. She claims she is actually Julie Lyn Montague, who prosecutors said died in 1968, when she was two weeks old, and later had her identity stolen.

That defence now appears to have been demolished by our investigation, which shows Gwynn Morrison in her senior year at Colhoun High School in Port Lavaca, Texas, in 1973 – 14 years before the authorities say she fraudulently applied for birth certificate for Julie Lyn Montague so she could be issued with a Texas identification card in the late infant’s name.

Gwynn Morrison High School head shot

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

The graduation picture of the bespectacled smiling alleged spy, shortly after her 18th birthday, is quite clearly a youthful version of the 67-year-old Ms Morrison who was arrested along with her husband during a July 22 raid on their home in Kapolei.

Another snap from the school’s 1973 yearbook show Ms Morrison wearing a high school jacket with the school’s initials on her chest taking a break from rehearsals in its thespian club. Once again it is quite clearly the woman in custody who has been claiming to be Julie Lyn Montague.

Mary Lou Guidry, Joni Srubar, Mando Cumpian, Gwynn Morrison, Don Corrick

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

Morrison is also pictured as a member of the school’s Colour Guard, a group of four cadets responsible for guarding a regimental flag or colours; as well as the school choir; and band.

Burney Pemberton, Peggy Krause, Gwynn Morrison, Vicki Hotz, Abbas Shahdadi, Mr. Nathan Linton

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

choir colhoun high school

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

colhoun high school

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

The 1973 Coloun High School year-book also has photographs of Walter Primrose, although he never appears alongside Morrison.

colhoun high school yearbook photo

Credit: National Security News/Colhoun High School

None of the pictures show a Julie Lyn Montague, whose father John told reporters of his shock last week, while branding Morrison “despicable.”

John Montague, now 91, said: ‘When I heard about it all it was a shock to me. It was sad too that someone would use a little deceased baby’s name like that, after all these years.

‘My wife died in 2003, but she would have been upset about this whole thing too. My whole family is just in shock. I haven’t heard anything from the police or FBI, the first I heard about it was a reported asking me about my daughter.

‘Julie Lyn only lived for two weeks. It brings back really sad memories, it was hard on us when we lost her, and it’s been 54 years.’

Primrose stands accused of stealing the identity of Bobby Edward Fort, who passed away in January 1968. He assumed the identity of the late tot in 1987, and he and Morrison married under their assumed names a year later.

The pair were detained without bail during a court appearance by video link on Thursday and face up to 17 years if convicted.

One of the many areas of investigation now being probed is how the couple built up a multi-million-dollar property empire despite Primrose retiring from the U.S. coast guard six years ago, before subsequently applying to be registered as a defence contractor.

Inquiries by National Security News revealed that in addition to owning a 3,606  sq foot home valued at more than USD $900,000, the couple also own a property of almost identical size next door. This has been rented out to U.S. military personnel. They are also linked to a string of properties in Texas, including commercial premises.

Primrose acquired the three bedroom house where the authorities found the KGB pictures and invisible ink kit in February 2009, paying more than £535,000 dollars, with help from a USD $408,000 loan from Central Pac Homes to the fake identity if Bobby E. Fort. All property taxes are up to dates and there are no liens recorded against it.

central pac home loans in to bobby e fort

Credit: National Security News

The adjoining property is only a two-bedroom house but has a current market value of USD $817,000. Records show the pair acquiring it in 2002 under the names Bobby and Julie E. Fort under a government-backed scheme for service veterans, in which they were loaned USD $193,800. Primrose, again using stolen identity of Bobby E. Fort the borrowed USD $291,000 against the house in March 2006, and a further USD $30,000 in October of the following year. Julie L Montague then took our a USD $30,000 mortgage loan with Wells Fargo Bank in April 2013.

Below: The two adjoining Honolulu homes owned by Primrose and Morrison – the one on the left is rented out to U.S. military personnel.

The two adjoining Honolulu homes owned by Primrose and Morrison - the one on the left is rented out to U.S. military personnel.
Credit: National Security News
ownership timeline of the house

Credit: National Security News

Primrose and Morrison are next due in court on September 26.


Author

  • Dennis Rice

    National Security News (NSN) welcomes the appointment of Dennis Rice, former Chief Reporter of the Daily Express and Investigations Editor of the Mail on Sunday, as its Launch Editor. He brings with him three decades of experience covering national and international news, which has also included a stint working as a producer at Channel 4 Dispatches. Commenting on his new role, Dennis said: “NSN is a digital platform which exists purely to break stories and uncover new twists and exclusives around existing ones. Whether it’s reporting on the cloak and dagger world of espionage, cyber terrorism, subversion, or intelligence we are very much looking forward to giving the existing media a run for its money.” Dennis Rice is a veteran investigative journalist who has finished as a runner up in Journalist of the Year category at the British Press Awards. He also worked as Investigations Editor of the Mail on Sunday, Chief Reporter of the Daily Express, and as a senior journalist at the Sunday Mirror and the News of the World. His Dispatches credits include working as a producer on How To Stop Your Nuisance Calls (an expose on charity fundraisers) and Murder in the Sky: Flight MH17 (reporting on the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down over the eastern Ukraine). While at the Mail on Sunday he wrote a series of articles which resulted in the resignation of BP Chief Lord Browne, and earlier David Blunkett as the then Work and Pensions Secretary. In 2011 he was paid damages at the High Court after his former employer the News of the World admitted hacking his phone.