By Nate Reens | The Grand Rapids Press
May 11, 2010, 5:11PM
Brittany Murray | Press Telegram
These photos and supsect description were posted on the side of a Homeland Security truck on Monday.
As a gun was being held to Ivy Bodkins' head by her estranged husband, the Zeeland native's concern wasn't for her own life -- which was about to end -- but for that of their 2-year-old son.
"Don't take my son, take me," Bodkins pleaded with Donovan Morris, whom she was divorcing, outside her Long Beach, Calif., apartment Monday. "Don't hurt him."
Ivy Bodkins
Authorities say Morris granted Bodkins' wish, abducting her and forcing the 1999 Zeeland High School graduate to an underground parking structure, where he shot and killed the 29-year-old woman.
Later, her son, Kalin, said to his aunt, who swept the boy inside to safety: "That man hurt mommy." Both Kalin and Angelica Eyre, Bodkins' step-sister who lived with her, were unhurt.
Morris, hours after the homicide, was shot and killed by Los Angeles police outside an electronics store, ending a manhunt spurred by the domestic violence slaying.
It was a dramatic end to a story that unfolds all too often when women leave abusive spouses, said Brad Bodkins, the victim's father.
"She was so strong and she was over that situation. She was moving on to a better life for her and her son," Brad Bodkins said. "She had the nerve to get out and she didn't look back."
Morris didn't have as easy a time letting go, authorities said.
Court records in North Carolina show the 34-year-old was convicted of assaulting Bodkins last September, pleading guilty to the misdemeanor offense that landed him on probation.
He also admitted to threatening Bodkins, documents show.
The suspect was ordered to serve 105 days in jail for violating oversight terms, earning his release on April 6.
Ivy Bodkins obtained a restraining order on April 7.
Brad Bodkins said Morris tracked his daughter to California, where she had moved to resume a job as a consultant and life skills curriculum developer for the Los Angeles County Regional Occupational Program.
"He was a predator," he said.
Bodkins recalled his daughter as a positive, intelligent woman who earned academic and athletic honors at Zeeland High School. Ivy Bodkins claimed the most valuable player award as the starting goalie on the Chix soccer team and also played basketball.
She went on to graduate from Western Michigan University, where she was frequently on the dean's list.
Bodkins said his daughter was a doting mother -- she'd already taught Kalin to begin reading -- who also enjoyed cooking and cars.
She was excited to settle back into her life in California after being laid off and forced to move to North Carolina for work. Ivy Bodkins began her teaching career in Flint, left for California and briefly relocated to North Carolina, relatives said.
"She was where she wanted to be," said Brad Bodkins, a retired educator who flew to southern California Monday. "The weather, the lifestyle, her friends, she was elated to be back here.
"It's just tragic. It's hard to describe your child's life when she's gone."
Bodkins' family declined to discuss how long she had been married to Morris, or details of their relationship.
Ivy Bodkins chose a career in education as a way to affect children's lives. She wanted to help young people overcome obstacles and achieve, said her uncle, Mike Bodkins.
"It's a senseless tragedy," Mike Bodkins said. "She's going to be greatly missed by a lot of people. She made an impact on everyone's life when she encountered them."
Brad Bodkins said his daughter fought through the death of her mother, Kelly Lynn Greene, to brain cancer in 1997. Ivy Bodkins named her son Kalin by combining her mother's first and middle names.
"That was a way to memorialize her," Brad Bodkins said. "She helped me tremendously during her mother's illness and she was only a (high school) sophomore."
The boy's grandfather said he and his second wife, Linda Bodkins, hope to adopt Kalin this week. They intend to bring him back to Michigan, along with Eyre, his wife's daughter.
Eyre, whom Kalin calls "Tia" -- the Spanish word for aunt -- had been helping Bodkins raise the boy in California. Once here, they will all care for the toddler during the transition.
"We've got a lot of healing to do, all of us," he said. "We'll do it together as best as possible."
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