They didn't know one another, but they looked similar and even stranger still, they had the same name.

Mary Henderson Morris and Mary McGinnis Morris were both curly-haired brunettes with round faces and brown eyes. Both women were loving wives and mothers who had no enemies. But, tragically, both women were found murdered in their cars within days of each other.

With no explanation, no leads and very little evidence, investigators were left baffled by the striking similarities between victims and the unanswered questions that lead their investigation to a dead-end.

So what happened?

Mary Lou Morris left her Houston home at around 6 a.m. on the morning of October 12, 2000. As she always did, the 48-year-old woman left home early and drove to her job at the Chase Bank in Houston's Spring Valley.

At about 10:20 a.m. firefighters received reports of smoke billowing from an isolated drainage site, but they dismissed the call as burning leaves and declined to investigate.

It wasn't until about 5 p.m. that an driver of an off-road vehicle spotted the charred remains of Mary Lou Morris' Chevy Lumina.

A police investigation determined that the badly burned remains of the victim inside was indeed Mary Lou Morris. They suspect that her murderer had stolen her wallet and wedding ring before dousing the car with accelerant and setting it on fire.

While many details of this crime were troubling, investigators could not consider robbery as the motive for killing Mary Lou because all of her other jewelry had been left behind.

No one could account for where she was between when she left home at 6 a.m. and when the fire was reported around 10:20 a.m. when the fire was reported.

With no suspects and not motive, the detectives were left stumped.

Just three days later, police were called to a second crime scene, not far from the first. The victim's name? Mary Morris.

There were many similarities between the women, but one striking difference that many believe is the key to the reason both women were murdered.

The second murdered Mary, was found beaten in her car with a gunshot wound to her head. Not far from where the first Mary's body had been found, 39-year-old Mary McGinnis Morris was killed in her car.

The successful nurse practitioner was in charge of several clinics for a major industrial corporation and she had many friends. According to her sister she got along with everyone, but further investigation revealed that not one, but two people could have reason to want this Mary dead.

After speaking with her friend, Laurie Gemmell, investigators learned that she had felt threatened by the new male nurse on staff. Mary told Laurie that she had found things out of place on her desk and "death to her" written on the male nurse's desk. She assumed it was about her.

Mary's husband, Mike Morris, told investigators that she had asked him to provide her with a gun for protection and to show her how to use it. Then she instructed him to place it in her car under the driver's seat.

But police grew suspicious of Mike after they tried to question him. According to Det. Wayne Kuhlman, Mike wouldn't meet without an attorney and refused a polygraph test.

Then it was discovered that Mike and Marry were having serious problems in their marriage, and that Mary had a life insurance policy worth $700,000.

Some family members and friends suspect that Mary Lou Morris' death was a result of mistaken identity. That Mike or the male nurse had hired a hitman to kill 'Mary Morris,' but that the contract killer got the wrong one.

While detectives haven't ruled out Mary McGinnis Morris' co-worker or her husband, both cases show little sign of ever being solved.

What do you think? Was it a case of mistaken identity, or terrible coincidence?

[h/t Unsolved Mysteries]