This case is definitely an old one from pre-1990-91 I would guess. There was a middle-aged man whose throat was painted with some kind of substance that prevented him from speaking. He was able to write some things on paper. Later, he was found murdered, shot execution style.

I think this may have taken place in a western state, possibly a dessert community. I also think one of the clues examined my have had something to do with a book, but I'm not sure.

I know for a fact this was a UM case. Does anyone remember this one?

Update: (gotta love Google) I just got this one. Charles Morgan from Tucson, Arizona. Aired 1990--I saw it originally on NBC and still remember!

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Charles_Morgan

I hope it can be solved someday.

That case was definitely a bizarre one. They later linked it to the Doug Johnson and Danny Casolaro cases, both of those also still unsolved.

This is actually in my "Top 5" favorite cases UM has ever had!

There have been suspicions for years that this had to do with him knowing too much about possible money laundering through the mob. Charles was an escrow officer who managed a title company and had been dealing in multiple transactions for the mob that potentially involved a lot of money being laundered. These also included the purchase of large amounts of gold that for me raised a huge red flag. Unfortunately this case is now over 30 years old, therefore the chances of it being solved are probably very slim, though you never know. Some other UM cases have been solved around 20 years after airing.

I agree that it would be very difficult to solve this one, considering so much time has passed and there is mob involvement (possibly with the police corruption that can come with that) that may deliberately hinder the investigation.

IMO, the best chance to solve it would be figuring out the code he wrote on the $2 bill. I think it was deliberate and not the incoherent ramblings like we see in the David Stone case.

David Stone's note said something like this: "they think the word is in the safe. six knives in Rob's room. you's buys you's tea's and you's takes you's chances. Halloween." Charles Morgan's note, while seeming weird, probably means something.

The only way I would think otherwise would be if we actually knew what the heck his throat was painted with. He said it was an hallucinogenic that could kill him. I have a hard time believing that. When he got back home after that assault, he was incapacitated to the point that his wife had to feed him with an eyedropper. It caused him to not be able to speak, so he had to communicate by writing things down. Obviously his hands worked. Why couldn't he feed himself with an eyedropper?

Did he really get dosed with dangerous drugs? If so, that may have caused him long term effects that would explain the odd situation of having money with a nonsense code written on it found in his underwear. I'd love to have the real info on this case, beyond what UM provided. That might take some of the mystery out of why all those things happened to him.

I agree that it would be very difficult to solve this one, considering so much time has passed and there is mob involvement (possibly with the police corruption that can come with that) that may deliberately hinder the investigation.

IMO, the best chance to solve it would be figuring out the code he wrote on the $2 bill. I think it was deliberate and not the incoherent ramblings like we see in the David Stone case.

David Stone's note said something like this: "they think the word is in the safe. six knives in Rob's room. you's buys you's tea's and you's takes you's chances. Halloween." Charles Morgan's note, while seeming weird, probably means something.

The only way I would think otherwise would be if we actually knew what the heck his throat was painted with. He said it was an hallucinogenic that could kill him. I have a hard time believing that. When he got back home after that assault, he was incapacitated to the point that his wife had to feed him with an eyedropper. It caused him to not be able to speak, so he had to communicate by writing things down. Obviously his hands worked. Why couldn't he feed himself with an eyedropper?

Did he really get dosed with dangerous drugs? If so, that may have caused him long term effects that would explain the odd situation of having money with a nonsense code written on it found in his underwear. I'd love to have the real info on this case, beyond what UM provided. That might take some of the mystery out of why all those things happened to him.
I wonder what "hallucinogenic" drug his throat was painted with too, and why his wife had to give him water with an eyedropper. Do you think he was being dishonest, or was he told it was a drug that could kill him? Puzzling case, and I doubt it will ever be solved.

Do we actually know that his wife had to feed him with an eyedropper? IIRC, RS is narrating that his wife nursed him back to health while a video re-enactment of her feeding him with one is shown.

I'm just wondering if UM just took a simple dramatic liberty when making the segment. I think the producers overall did a great job with the series (afterall, I'm a member of this board) but it bears mentioning that they had a show to make. It could have been a real fact from the case, it could have been added to make his condition more dramatic, or it could have been added because they didn't know how she "nursed" him back.

The hard part about our perspective, as viewers of UM, is seperating the real case from the segment.

I actually remember seeing a news clip years ago about an actor that had played in a re-enactment (I think on AMW, not UM) being briefly arrested/detained because of viewer tips that he was the wanted fugitive. On the news interview afterwards, he was in fairly good spirits about it, but swore he'd never do another segment.

Maybe this is a bit too much talk over an little eyedropper. ;) But this has always been one of the most interesting UM cases for me personally, especially with the Casalero/Deveroux connections.

Haha I think they said that she did, but it has been a few years since seeing this case. I could be remembering the story wrong. Either way, such a tragedy.

I wonder what "hallucinogenic" drug his throat was painted with too, and why his wife had to give him water with an eyedropper. Do you think he was being dishonest, or was he told it was a drug that could kill him? Puzzling case, and I doubt it will ever be solved.

I don't really think he was being dishonest. If that's what he was told, he probably believed it. I have a hard time believing that's what was really done to him, tho. The whole painting his throat with drugs thing is so weird.

Morgan's case is the only time I've run across this type of drugging being done in a crime. All the other crimes where the victim is drugged are very different. Usually, they are forced to ingest drugs (not have drugs painted on their throat) in order to gain control of the victim immediately, not to inflict pain or intimidate for the long term after being released.

But, if it was an hallucinogenic, maybe it caused him to have confused thinking which could explain why he'd write a note that doesn't make sense.

I am beginning to suspect that there is a significant fact in this case that UM did not show because they believed that people who knew about it specifically would potentially be able to solve the mystery.

Hmmmm....interesting point.

Also, does anyone know of any type of drug that is painted on?
I have never heard of such a thing.

I'm not sold on Casolaro's death being anything other than a suicide, but there's no doubt in my mind that Charles Morgan was murdered and Doug Johnston was murdered because whomever killed him thought he was Don Devereaux.