Laura Moser

Laura Lynn Moser is a character in the Showtime series DEXTER.

She is Dexter Morgan and Brian Moser's biological mother. She was brutally murdered in front of them when they were very young.

Personality
Little is known about Laura due to her limited screen time but from what was shown, she cared deeply for both Brian and Dexter. Her habit of painting each of her fingernails a different color became a factor in the Ice Truck Killer Case decades later.

Early Life
Laura Lynn Moser was born on 20 June 1946 in Bannon, North Carolina to Emily and Dean Moser. She graduated Sherman Valley High School in 1964 at the age of eighteen. Some time later, she moved to Miami, Florida. She gives birth to two sons, Brian and four years later Dexter. Dexter's father was a man who later uses the alias Joe Driscoll, but it has never been made explicit whether he also fathered Brian.

Police Informant
Laura began to use drugs and sell them. An arrest led to her working as a confidential informant for Harry Morgan, a detective with the Miami Metro Police Department, and he started an extramarital affair with her. Another of Harry's confidential informants, Valerie Hodges, was hurt when he broke off his affair with her to be with Laura.

Harry's goal was to collect evidence against Hector Estrada, a drug lord. While helping Harry, Laura became fearful for herself and her boys, but Harry insisted that she continue her job for him and obtain drugs from the cartel. Harry promised to protect her.

When the drug dealers found out that Laura was a police informant and had a sexual relationship with a police officer, Estrada targeted her to be murdered.

Shipping Yard Massacre
As reported in an October 3, 1973 news article: On October 2, 1973, Laura Moser, her two young sons (Dexter and Brian), as well as three drug users, were forced into the shipping container CBAN 348 9 by Estrada and his two henchmen. Santos wielded a chainsaw, while the others prevented anyone from escaping.

As Dexter and Brian witnessed the brutal dismemberment of their mother, they became permanently damaged. The boys were subsequently left in the shipping container for two days until police found them, sitting in blood. The trauma of seeing their mother butchered caused them to develop murderous urges. Because he was so young, Dexter did not remember what happened until three decades later. However, Brian, who was a little older, never forgot the experience.

Season One

 * "Seeing Red."

Dexter had a flashback of her when he returned to the Marina View Hotel, and entered the room that the Ice Truck Killer had covered in buckets of blood. Dexter remembered her telling him to close his eyes and that she loved him. He also remembered himself crying as she was murdered by chainsaw.


 * "Born Free"

Dexter had another flashback of her when he went to her old house during his search for Debra. He remembered Laura playing hide-and-seek with him and Biney (Brian) when they were young..

Season Two

 * "The Dark Defender"

Laura appeared in Dexter's dream when he, as The Dark Defender, saved her from her killers Following the advice from Lila West alias Lila Tournay, Dexter looked into his past and discovered that Laura was a police informant. Dexter listened to a recorded conversation between Laura and Harry and heard him ask Laura to get some drugs as evidence against drug dealers. This soon led to her being killed. Dexter also became aware that Laura and Harry had a more personal relationship.


 * "Dex, Lies, and Videotape"

Dexter learns more (from recordings) about his birth mother's secret relationship with his adoptive father, and questions Harry's motives about his own adoption.

Season Three

 * "Turning Biminese."

While thinking about his relationship with Rita at a beach resort, he imagined his mother alongside Harry.


 * Do You Take Dexter Morgan?"

Laura's police files show up for the first time, Later, Dexter thought of her with Harry at his wedding.

Trivia

 * Her full name in her obituary is Laura Lynn Moser while her name on her police file is Laura R. Moser.
 * Laura was both a drug addict and a drug dealer, confirmed in "Born Free".
 * Laura was alluded to in the name of the hurricane that blew through Miami in "Remember the Monsters?"
 * Laura's brutal murder was presented as the reason why Dexter felt a need to kill. Since Hector Estrada ordered the massacre, he's partially responsible for the deaths of Dexter's victims.
 * After Dexter learned of Harry's affair with Laura, he struggled with accepting the two of them together. Laura was the third person that Dexter envisioned, with the first and most frequent being Harry, and the second being his brother, Brian. Most of the time, when Harry was shown interacting with Dexter, it was actually Dexter arguing with himself about the constraints of the Code of Harry.

Related Pages

 * Brian Moser (son)
 * Dexter Morgan (son)
 * Joe Driscoll - possible alias (Dexter's biological father)
 * Harry Morgan (Dexter's adoptive father)
 * Hurricane Laura
 * Laura Moser's House
 * Laura Moser's Killers
 * Shipping Yard
 * Shipping Yard Massacre

Gallery
Laura Moser