Family Of Christina Morris Vows To Keep Searching

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MCKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) – She was ordered not to talk to the media during the trial of Enrique Arochi, but now the mother of Christina Morris is speaking out about her daughter and the man convicted of kidnapping her.

This has been a rough trial for all of Christina Morris's family members, and at one point the judge barred Jonni McElroy from the courtroom because she would later be called as a witness.  Now that's she's free to talk, she opened up about her feelings.

Enrique Arochi could have received only a few years behind bars, so when Judge Mark Rusch sentenced him to life in prison for the aggravated kidnapping of Christina Morris, her mom's reaction was understandable.

"An answered prayer.  An answered prayer, not only for me, but for Christina and our family," McElroy said.

But one prayer that remains unanswered is finding her daughter's remains.  McElroy tells us she would have been fine with any plea deal for less prison time in exchange for a location. When that didn't happen, she says the family vowed to find Christina without any help from Arochi.

"We're going to find Christina.  Know why? Because we're stronger than him. He's the weak one," McElroy said.

After the sentencing, McElroy was able to give a victim impact statement and speak directly to Arochi.

"It was a sense of relief to finally tell him exactly how I feel about him, what he's done, and to let him know, you messed with the wrong family, buddy," McElroy said.

Now as she moves past the trial, McElroy says she's grateful for a sense of relief this sentence has given her.

"Enrique's taken enough from us.  You know.  No more," McElroy said.

With a life sentence Arochi is required to serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole.  McElroy vowed in court to be at every parole hearing to ensure he never gets outs of prison.

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