FBI fugitive Joseph Eli Morrow arrested in Philippines

[TJ]

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/S...119787,00.html

MENLO PARK -- A Menlo Park fugitive suspected in the disappearance of his wife 11 years ago was watching a soap opera and eating potato chips when he was captured this week in the Philippines, authorities said.

Agents from the FBI and the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation located Joseph Eli Morrow, 54, Tuesday in the town of Imus, just south of Manila. Authorities say he had slipped into the country using a friend's identity.

Morrow was returned to San Francisco Wednesday, and is being transferred to Colorado to stand trial on federal charges of passport fraud.

Police expect he will be returned to California to face murder charges in the death of Donna Morrow, 37, who disappeared from her College Avenue home on Dec. 19, 1991, following an argument with her husband. Her body was never found.

Authorities on Friday said Morrow's capture Friday was the result of 11 years of following leads, and cooperation between local, state and federal agencies.

The case has grabbed national media attention, including a segment on a recently aired episode of the television program Unsolved Mysteries.

"Our police department has never given up or forgotten the victim or her family," added Menlo Park Police Chief Christopher Boyd.

In January 1992, Morrow dropped his children off at his mother's house and asked her to care for them. He didn't return and she reported him missing.

The next day, he was discovered semi-conscious in a motel in Bodega Bay, having overdosed on Halcion sleeping pills in an apparent suicide attempt.

A few days later, police searched the Morrow house and found a plastic bucket in the garage with a blood smear. Tests confirmed it was Donna Morrow's blood type.

Later that year, Donna Morrow's mother Shirley Rubio filed a wrongful death suit against Joseph Morrow on behalf of the couple's four children. But Joseph Morrow disappeared in June 1993, when he was supposed to report to Santa Clara County Jail to serve time on a fraud conviction, according to court records.

Although Morrow was a prime suspect in his wife's disappearance, police did not have enough evidence to charge him with murder until 1997. A San Mateo County judge issued a $10 million warrant for his arrest that year and he was declared a fugitive by the FBI.

Boyd declined to comment on any evidence in the case, other than to say investigators are certain Morrow was responsible for killing his wife.

"We have significant evidence to believe Donna Morrow is dead and significant evidence to believe Joseph Morrow killed her," Boyd said.

Investigators are still unsure what Morrow was doing in the Philippines and exactly how long he had been there, according to FBI Special Agent LaRae Quy .

Quy said Morrow had just returned home from playing tennis and was sitting on his couch watching TV when agents arrived at his home Tuesday.

Quy said it's unclear whether Morrow was working there, but she doesn't believe he had a wife or children in the Philippines.

Menlo Park Police are asking for anyone with information about the disappearance of Donna Morrow to contact the department's investigative unit at 251-8808.

[TJ]

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.as...3&nav=5D7lDRWP

MENLO PARK (BCN) -- The Menlo Park man that police believe killed his wife over a decade ago was found hiding out in the Philippines and has been arrested and brought back to the Bay Area, where he is expected to eventually stand trial for murder in San Mateo County Court, the authorities said Friday.

Special agents with the FBI and the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation tracked Joseph Eli Morrow to the town of Imus Cavite, the Philippines, and nabbed him Tuesday on a federal passport fraud charge.

Morrow, 54, was deported by the Philippines government, arrived in San Francisco Wednesday and was arraigned Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero.

Today in Menlo Park local and federal authorities applauded the stamina of investigators who pursued Morrow for over 10 years, but were closemouthed about how they found Morrow halfway around the world or what evidence ties him to the alleged 1991 murder of his wife, Donna.

Menlo Park Police Chief Chris Boyd said the investigation has been "ongoing and active since Donna Morrow's disappearance," and credited his department's generation of publicity with the advancement in the case.

"We followed up on a lead that panned out for us," was all Boyd would say about the break that led them to Morrow. However, he did note that the case was aired on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" several times, including last week.

A $10 million arrest warrant was issued for Morrow in 1997, although Donna Morrow's body has never been found and no information about Morrow's involvement in her Dec. 19, 1991, disappearance has been stated publicly.

Boyd said today that "significant evidence" leads police to believe that Donna Morrow is dead and Joseph Morrow killed her.

He would not comment on a report that a spot of blood matching Donna Morrow's DNA was discovered in Morrow's garage in the early 1990s. At the time of Donna Morrow's disappearance, she and her husband lived with their four children in a house on College Avenue in Menlo Park.

Boyd said that to his knowledge neither the now-grown children nor any other relatives of the Morrow's remain in the Bay Area. He had spoken with members of Donna Morrow's family following the apprehension of Joseph Morrow but declined to comment on their reaction.

FBI Special Agent LaRae Quy said today that bureau agents in Manila got word that Morrow was nearby in the Philippines and they found him at home Tuesday, sitting on a sofa eating potato chips and watching a soap opera on TV, apparently having just returned from a tennis game, according to Quy.

It is unclear to investigators exactly how long Morrow had been in the Philippines, although, the FBI issued a warrant in September 1999 charging Morrow with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, based on information given to them by Menlo Park police.

Quy said she did not know why Morrow was in the Philippines, how he was supporting himself or if he had a wife or children there.

Special Agent in Charge Doug Quiram with the U.S. State Department said Morrow is being held in San Francisco for allegedly acquiring a passport in Colorado under a false identity.

Quiram did not know whether Morrow would be prosecuted for the alleged passport fraud in San Francisco or if he would face that charge in federal court in Denver.

Authorities were also unable to say when they expect Morrow would be formally charged with his wife's death by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. Boyd did say his department would hand their investigation over to the district attorney in the "near future."

Boyd commended the unflagging determination of Menlo Park police Sgt. James Simpson, the lead investigator on the case since the day Donna Morrow went missing 11 years ago.

[Kane]

http://www.nbc11.com/news/2497692/detail.html

I know I posted this link on another post, but I figured that I should put it under this subject as well.

As you see, it mentions that, in September of 2003 (two months ago) the remains of Donna Morrow were found. They were recovered from her husband Joseph Morrow's property.

Click on to the site for more info.