Charles Morgan...Suicide?

[TheCars1986]

Ok, after rewatching this case today, the internal skeptic came over me and began to think about the legitimate possibility that Morgan did in fact commit suicide. There are several confusing parts and little tidbits left out of the UM segment that would make the case for homicide or suicide more clear. Like where exactly was the gunshot wound and the trajectory of the bullet, etc. Then I thought about simply analyzing this case, and not the other 2 cases connected to it (Casolaro & Doug Johnston). Because if we were to ignore the Casolaro/Johnston conspiracy theories, it would get a better grasp on what happened to Morgan back in 1977, IMO. Anyway, I got to thinking about it and came up with a list of unconfirmed things presented in the UM segment:

-http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/cold-case-strange-evidence-found-in-on-near-man-s/article_e84a1034-c078-5a43-81a1-e602f52eda02.html

This article talks about extensive modifications done to Morgan's car, as well as several weapons, ammunition, and a CB radio. In addition to his bullet proof vest and his .357 magnum, Morgan also was carrying a knife in his belt. The guy was definitely paranoid and afraid of something.

-The UM segment says that a lady identified only as "green eyes" called in to the Pima County Sheriff's department to report that Morgan had met her in a motel shortly before his death, where he showed her a briefcase containing $60,000 in cash. The article I posted above makes no mention of this meeting, but does go on to say that the authorities determined that Morgan was hiding out in a motel room for several days before his death. UM makes it seem like Morgan "disappeared" in the same manner as his first disappearance.

-"Green eyes" has never been identified. But if her information is real, why exactly did Morgan meet her at the motel? Was he having an affair? Was she some sort of contact to his eventual killers? "Green eyes" makes the case much more confusing to me. For argument's sake, if this was a mistress that had met Morgan at the motel, would the guy who was said to have been petrified for his life decided to throw in one final fling with his mistress? It just makes no sense to me.

-http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1995/10/13/1171-news-of-the-weird/

This article says Morgan's wound was found at the top of his head. Which would seem to indicate that a suicide wouldn't be as unlikely as the UM segment made it seem. Tack on the fact that Morgan's gun was found next to him, AND that his gun was the one used to kill him, I don't think suicide should be written off simply because the guy was wearing a bullet proof vest.

-To my knowledge, I don't know if the $60,000 has ever been verified. There would have to have been a record somewhere of Morgan obtaining this money. I don't think it's ever come out, outside of the "Green eyes" informant.

-The 2nd article posted also mentions gunpowder residue on Morgan's hands. I'm no expert on guns, but if Morgan were ordered to kneel down before being executed, I don't see how residue would have gotten on his hands.

-Morgan's first disappearance was never verified by anyone outside of his wife and family. Not saying that his wife had any reason to lie, I don't think she was, but there is no way of knowing as to whether or not Morgan was in fact abducted, and if in fact his throat was painted with an hallucinogenic drug. The police were never notified of this first disappearance, presumably because Morgan feared for his life. But then again there was no proof that he was ever abducted outside of Morgan's own word.

-Even after Morgan's second disappearance, his family did not report this to the authorities. At that point, despite Morgan's fears of retribution to his family for going to the authorities, don't you think his family would have reached out to someone if they had no idea where he was the second time?

-Morgan's wife said he had come close to telling her what he got himself wrapped up in. But he never did. How would these shady characters know whether or not Morgan told his wife anything about what he was involved in? Why not kill her as well just in case?

-According to Don Deverux, the FBI were "all over the case like a blanket" initially. Had Morgan really been working with the government as an informant, they surely wouldn't have helped cover up his death and agree that it was a suicide. In addition, the UM segment aired 12 years after Morgan's death. No new leads, tips, or anything remotely suggesting ANY viable suspect who would want Morgan dead had come in at that point. And there is still nothing that has been discovered up to the present.

-The only piece of evidence found at the scene of Morgan's death that suggested someone else was there were a pair of sunglasses and the handwritten directions found on a piece of paper. UM simply says that the sunglasses were not Charles Morgan's. I don't know how the authorities would be able to determine whether or not they were Morgan's, but this and the handwritten directions found (in Morgan's handwriting), do suggest Morgan was there to meet someone for something.

-His cryptic $2 bill reminds me a lot of the David Stone case. David Stone wrote similar eerie "clues", that some speculated were a call for help. But in reality, Stone was probably going stir crazy at the time and was not of sound mind when writing his "clues". The same thing could have applied to Charles Morgan.

I could imagine a scenario where Morgan, either fearful of some crime syndicate for leaking information to the US government wanting him dead OR fearful of getting in trouble with the law for helping these organized crime rings launder money, began to seriously panic and slowly lose his mind. For all we know, he may have imagined that someone was out to get him. Who's to say Morgan's first disappearance wasn't simply a ruse to get out to either: see his mistress (if indeed "Green eyes" was a mistress and was really involved with Morgan somehow), or leave town for a few days until things cooled off (if he felt the pressure caving in on him being that he was helping these criminals illegally obtain money)? Or what if the justice dept paid Morgan a visit one day and he got cold feet and decided to take off? Both of these, IMO, seem equally plausible as the abducted by the mafia presented in the UM segment. I'm not in any way sold 100% on the theory that Morgan's death was a suicide. But based off of the information presented in the UM segment, and the scant information found on the web, I don't think people should write it off and believe it was murder. Despite UM's best efforts to play up how ridiculous a suicide would have been, I'd say it's a 50/50 shot of being a suicide.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The 2nd article posted also mentions gunpowder residue on Morgan's hands. I'm no expert on guns, but if Morgan were ordered to kneel down before being executed, I don't see how residue would have gotten on his hands.

My (limited) knowledge of gunpowder is that if you're anywhere near a gun when it's going off, you're going to end up with residue on your hands.

Despite that, you've put a TON of thought into this, TheCars1986! I agree that if you take his connection to the other mysterious murders out, it becomes a lot more fuzzy.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

My (limited) knowledge of gunpowder is that if you're anywhere near a gun when it's going off, you're going to end up with residue on your hands.

Despite that, you've put a TON of thought into this, TheCars1986! I agree that if you take his connection to the other mysterious murders out, it becomes a lot more fuzzy.

Thank you. I was hoping that my rambling wasn't confusing.

That article actually says the gunpowder residue was found on Morgan's left hand. I can't envision a scenario where Morgan's kneeling down, with his back turned to his killer, where residue would show up on one hand and not the other.

ETA: I also think it's entirely possible that Morgan's first disappearance was real, but he still could have committed suicide.

[Xytras]

Fantastic post, TheCars1986. From someone who strongly believes Danny Casolaro committed suicide, I think you make a great case that Morgan did so.

[TheCars1986]

Something else I just thought of: if Morgan was indeed abducted during his first disappearance, why not just kill him right then and there? Why release him only to kill him two months later? It really makes zero sense. If the guy was in fact working for the US government and this mafia group abducted him to intimidate him, why on Earth would Morgan continue to do work for the government if he was that fearful for his life? The only concrete proof anyone had for Morgan being involved with these shady characters was that he did escrow work for a certain mafia family in the area. The rest, IIRC, about the money laundering and working for the US government in secret was just rank speculation. The whole segment seems like something out of a John Grisham movie.

[RobinW]

Lots of interesting points here, but one thing that hasn't been addressed is the two mysterious men claiming to be FBI agents who ransacked Mrs. Morgan's house looking for something. Of course, she could have simply made the entire story up, but she never struck me as a liar in her UM interview.

Don Devereux said he inquired about this incident with the FBI, but they claimed they never even heard of Charles Morgan. While this would lend credence to the theories that these guys weren't really FBI agents or the visit never happened, Devereux mentioned that their claims never hearing of Morgan contradicted the fact that they had initially investigated the case.

Of course, it's not impossible that Morgan could have been committed suicide either way, but if the visit from those two agents really happened, I'm still convinced he was involved in something shady.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by RobinW

Lots of interesting points here, but one thing that hasn't been addressed is the two mysterious men claiming to be FBI agents who ransacked Mrs. Morgan's house looking for something. Of course, she could have simply made the entire story up, but she never struck me as a liar in her UM interview.

Don Devereux said he inquired about this incident with the FBI, but they claimed they never even heard of Charles Morgan. While this would lend credence to the theories that these guys weren't really FBI agents or the visit never happened, Devereux mentioned that their claims never hearing of Morgan contradicted the fact that they had initially investigated the case.

Of course, it's not impossible that Morgan could have been committed suicide either way, but if the visit from those two agents really happened, I'm still convinced he was involved in something shady.

Yes, I had forgot to address that part in the segment. My best guess is either:

-Two men posing as FBI agents from the mafia family that Morgan was doing escrow work for searched through Morgan's house for a document that tied them to the money laundering scheme.
-Two agents of some US government agency searching Mogran's house for proof of the illegal money laundering activity going on.

Either way, the appearance of the two men would not rule out a suicide, IMO. Had these men been mafia hired guys posing as agents, why not just eliminate his wife right then and there? And maybe I misheard Devereux in the segment, but I thought he said he contacted the FBI after the visit from the two men and that they had been on the case "like a blanket" at the time, but they never had any record of two men going to Morgan's house. I think it's just another red herring in the case.

[RobinW]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

And maybe I misheard Devereux in the segment, but I thought he said he contacted the FBI after the visit from the two men and that they had been on the case "like a blanket" at the time, but they never had any record of two men going to Morgan's house.

I've copy-and-pasted this quote from the page on the UM website. Devereux makes it sounds like not only did the FBI have no record of the two agents visiting the house, they had no record of the Morgan case at all:

“When I made a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI, they had never heard of Mr. Morgan, despite the fact that they obviously opened an investigation, despite the fact the FBI interviewed Mr. Morgan’s attorney. They were all over this thing like a blanket for a while. But now they’ve never heard of the guy. He never existed. No card, no file, no nothing.”

Of course, if the FBI did investigate the Morgan case right after his death, it's pretty suspicious that there wouldn't be anything about it at all in their files. But given that around ten years had passed at this point, maybe the FBI just didn't consider it a priority any more and the records simply got misfiled somewhere.

[DanCart]

The first article states that he was shot in the back of the head , that to me sounds a bit unusual , usually executions occur like that not suicides. Then , he was wearing a bulletproof vest , hmmm.....why ? If he just wanted to kill himself then that doesnt make sense. Why the knife and extra precautions he was making ......unless maybe he because paranoid and delusional bu t there is no mention of previous mental health issues. Charles was afraid of someone who most probably killed him ....

As stated above, if you are near a gun firing then there is going to be some gunpowder residue on you, so its difficult to jump to conclusions without knowing the exact amounts of residue found on his hand. That residue could also bee explained as being from a defensive move such as raising a hand while he was being shot for example..

I found the connection to Danny Casolaro quite disturbing the Octopus was real and many people have died mysteriously and been ruled suicides way too often .......either a lot of suicidal people were involved ( Morgan , Casolaro etc) or there is something very fishy and it stinks real badly !

[TheCars1986]

I just find it odd that if Morgan was in fact giving information to the justice department, who was then murdered by some mafia family hired hitman, that the justice department would then deny ever knowing the guy and unwillingly help cover up his murder. It just doesn't make sense.

[DanCart]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I just find it odd that if Morgan was in fact giving information to the justice department, who was then murdered by some mafia family hired hitman, that the justice department would then deny ever knowing the guy and unwillingly help cover up his murder. It just doesn't make sense.

Interesting point , this is the same Justice Department which a few years later violated copyright law and stole Inslaw`s software PROMIS then refused to honor the contract and pay Inslaw for using their software which then drove Inslaw into chapter 11, then when a judge ruled that the Justice Department had violated the law in stealing the software that judge has his tenure not renewed for no apparent reason

Danny Casolaro looked into this Inslaw saga which is connected to the Octopus and he also commited suicide Maybe it wasn`t in the Justice departments interest to pursue the Morgan case as murder as a whole can of worms would have been opened given the allegations about what Morgan was involved in as stated in that UM segment ......

[TheCars1986]

My personal take on Casolaro was that he was investigating a scandal which he thought to be much, much bigger than it really was and ultimately committed suicide over the fact that his research led him nowhere.

As for Morgan, his death just seems like it was too contrived to be real. Either way, there was never any evidence that surfaced as to Morgan's involvement with the government or with shady money laundering. It was only implied.

[ChrissySnow]

This case is so intriguing.
Forgive me if this has been answered, but what exactly, did Charles Morgan do for a living?
I only saw that he was a "businessman."
That could mean many things.

I just don't see a man wearing a bullet proof vest shooting himself.
I can't get past that.
Unless he had undiagnosed severe mental illness.

[TheCars1986]

I believe Morgan was an escrow agent. Somehow the guess was made that because he did escrow work for a mafia family, he may have also been involved in smuggling gold across the Mexican border.

[Xytras]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

My personal take on Casolaro was that he was investigating a scandal which he thought to be much, much bigger than it really was and ultimately committed suicide over the fact that his research led him nowhere.

Agree 100%.