Maurice Hall was a 16-year-old aspiring dancer who was murdered in 1984 by his older brother, Grant.
History[]
Maurice is the son of Pat Hall and younger brother of Grant Hall. The Halls run their own grocery store in working-class Kensington. Maurice lived in Grant's shadow as his older brother was an Olympic amateur wrestling prospect. Maurice, however, had his own ambition: He wanted to be a dancer like his late mother, who had inspired him. Maurice would stand outside Dr. Leroy's dance academy and imitate the lessons. He was once caught by Grant and his brother questioned his sexuality, which led to Grant punching Maurice. A student named Crystal Stacy saw them and came to Maurice's rescue by claiming that she was his girlfriend.
Crystal taught Maurice some moves and advised him to try out for the school but he was confronted by another student, Carlos Garcia, who had a crush on Crystal. Maurice was told by Carlos to meet him there the next day at 5 PM.
The next day, it turned out that Maurice was not being challenged to a fight but to try out just like Crystal said he should. Maurice's amateurish dancing angered Dr. Leroy, who ordered him to leave. This escalated into a shouting match over their respective failures and Maurice stormed out. They met again at the grocery store and hashed out their differences. Dr. Leroy couldn't teach Maurice at the school because he couldn't afford it so he and Crystal taught him at the grocery for free and in secret.
One night in the storage room, however, Maurice was caught dancing by Grant (who just came back from an Olympic wrestling camp). They got physical and Grant blew out his knee, crushing his Olympic dreams. An angry Pat forbade Maurice to audition for the school.
Maurice went anyway and nailed the audition. His father and brother also came to see him. Pat was moved by his son's performance and tried to talk to him but Maurice bolted as soon as he saw his family.
Maurice came back to the grocery store that night and found Grant. His brother revealed that Pat was proud of Maurice and admitted he was never injured; Grant was so intimidated by the other wrestlers at the camp that he just pretended to be a bystander, but he also didn't want to disappoint their dad so he faked the injury. This resulted in the brothers' last fight as Maurice wanted to tell Pat that Grant was not injured and tried to assure his brother that he can still go back to wrestling. In a rage, Grant beat up Maurice with his crutches and ended up fatally hitting him in the head. Maurice's last words were to call out for his father. Grant left his body in a dumpster.
The case of Maurice's disappearance was reopened after his mortal remains were found in a landfill in 2007. After the case is solved, Lilly Rush saw Maurice dancing through the entrance of the grocery store (just like Dr. Leroy used to).