The Mysterious Death of Charles Morgan | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

start the show start it hey weirdos I'm Elena I'm Ash and this is [Music] more oh yeah you said it I did I was
going to also saying this is morbid I was just blinking really weird at her before and then she said start the show
start the show start it and I couldn't it made me think of Sutton when she says n name them start the show start it
start it name them name them namum oh man namum we're in a place of Wy today yeah I just had a little DC I got my
little caffeine from a dc. Coke didn't know what that was for a second I'm not going to lie I know I saw you looking
around the room like what did she recently have I was like what did she have that I
didn't know about and I had a little perfect bar they make mini ones now so it gave me a little sugar from the
chocolot little sug little Su and I feelo you feel and seem cuckoo I feel jaavan
actually how do you feel really you're in a place of Real Housewives at all times yeah we not establish that every
day on my life that I wake up just got to point it out yeah I mean please please never don't I I never won't never
don't I never won't you don't have to worry it's a little bit of a later in the day recording so yeah you know those
can get a little Wily yeah we won't get Wily once we get into this because whoa but we won't trust me but we figured we
just start you off with how wly we are yeah been through a lot of different subjects today yeah hit a lot of
different things kind of silly kind of really please really Mikey you're [ __ ] the tone
with which you just said that really really really D keep it in keep it in mention it all mention it all another
real like are you guys all right we are not no I don't really think there's a way to transition into this I'm just
going to go for it yeah we're never going to get there no we just got to get there so the bandid off today as you can
tell from the title we're going to be talking about the mysterious death of Charles Morgan this is a twisty turny
case I love a twisty turny case it's very twisty turny it is unsolved oh and I am not going to tell you what I think
and you're not going to say what you think because you'll see oh okay so you guys
can figure out whatever you think but I don't have any fig I'm not sharing my thoughts I'm just telling you the case
oh okay okay okay so in March of 1977 Arizona businessman Charles Morgan he went missing from his home in Tucson
Arizona only to turn up 3 days later in the middle of the night shoess traumatized
and with broken plastic handcuffs over his wrists and ankles completely unable to speak he wrote that he had been
drugged by an unnamed individual kidnapped but refused to tell his wife more than that and refused to let her
call the police or otherwise report the assault okay 3 months later Charles Morgan's body was discovered in the
desert with a gunshot wound to the back of his head one of his teeth wrapped up in a handkerchief and a $2 bill pinned
to his underwear I have heard of this have you it was the $2 bill to the underwear that
made me think it yep yeah I don't know all the details no I don't know all the details I know that part and I think
that's as far as I know but oh yeah I want to just start you off by like really bringing you in I'm not going to
tell you any more than not right at the top we're going to get into some other stuff but the tooth and the handkerchief
the tooth and the handkerchief so the thing was from the outside Charles Morgan appeared to live a very normal
and for lack of a better word unexciting life but when investigators started digging into his background to find out
who would have wanted him dead they discovered a very complicated and very bizarre story of supposed government
agents mobsters and really a mystery just straight out of a movie wow but now we're
a little bit backwards let's go backwards so let's do that Charles Chuck Curtis Morgan he was born March 16th
1938 in Everett Washington he was the oldest of two children bored to Leonard and Doris Morgan and he was raised in
Tucson Arizona so pretty much lived there his whole life yeah in 1958 he married a woman named Ruth and they had
four daughters Megan Aaron Heather and Colleen friends describ Chuck as quote quiet and dedicated to his work family
in Masonic Lodge life uh described by his colleagues as an escro genius which like wow you're you're awesome that
feels Niche an escro genius it is a little niche he took a job with the country escro service where he worked as
an agent managing accounts and working on behalf of clients to mitigate risk offer Financial advice execute
transactions quickly and smoothly the whole nine this was the first of his two stints with the county escro service and
outside of work he continued exploring his interests in real estate finance and quote dabbled in personal real estate
deals okay so he's kind of he he's got like a money mind he understands money money mind and although he was
considered to be a true profession professional by true professional true professional and by most accounts really
easy to get along with like most people liked him in February of 1977 he did get
into a rather uh heated argument with his supervisor at Western Title Insurance or title insurance excuse me
and and that resulted in his being fired for insubordination oh which seemed really abrupt yeah but after his
departure from Western Title Insurance he ended up borrowing $330,000 from a Tucson based lender in order to purchase
a controlling interest in Statewide escro service with plans to build up the company okay but in order to secure the
loan Chuck took out a third mortgage on his home to use as collateral hoping that the risk would pay off once the
business started growing yeah but the Arizona State banking Department flagged the transaction as suspicious and they
put a hold on the transfer which ultimately delayed the sale by more than 3 months oo and this was for a reason uh
oh but for people who didn't know that the states hold on the transfer of shares seemed pretty odd because for
people who knew Chuck they were like he's done stuff like this before like he's an escro genius yeah he's not like
a suspect kind of guy or anything why are they putting why are they so sus of this transaction yeah but what was
equally confusing was was was was was that the delay was followed by warnings and threats from the state banking
Department to deny Chuck a license to operate Statewide escrow huh so now they're not only delaying the
transaction itself like the the loan but they're saying we're not even going to let you operate Statewide escrow what's
going on however by early may it became clear that the state's interference with
the transaction and the operation of Statewide was an attempt to force Chuck Morgan's cooperation with their
investigation into the lender that he was going through banko International what the [ __ ] M on May 4th 1977 he was
actually subpoenaed by the district attorney to testify against three banko officials the following week whoa and
after this escalated very quickly didn't it and after his testimony they released
their hold on the Statewide share transfer and the sale was approved so it was very clear that the
they had this was like we're not going to let you have this until you testify he did and he
got now the case involved what amounted to insider trading and other acts of fraud committed by at least three Bano
officials with whom Chuck Morgan Had close relationships and following his secret testimony provided in May Chuck
told several individuals quote that he feared for his life damn insider trading is pretty [ __ ] scary yeah that [ __ ]
can get really really wild gets super Wily not worth it my friends I don't want to know anything about it I don't
want to know anything about anything you trading inside I don't know anything keep me out of it trading inside I don't
even know outside I don't know don't even do that don't Just sh don't worry about me I know I don't know sh I don't
know hush but however when State officials offered physical protection for Chuck and his family Chuck declined
the protection and rarely spoke of the matter again huh now it's interesting that he would the offer of protection
because now we're going to go back a little bit here sorry we're kind of doing like forward backward forward
backward but we're going backward here before he testified okay on the morning of March 22nd
1977 Chuck said goodbye to his wife Ruth and left the house to drive their daughters to school just like he did
every other morning no one knew it at the time but the state banking Department was breathing down his neck
pressuring him to testify in this B case it turned out that the case against Bano
was only one of the secrets that Chuck was keeping at the time oh journalist Don Deo told producers from Unsolved
Mysteries in 1990 exactly that's the one so don Deo told them he was around the edges of a
couple very large organized crime groups in Arizona at the time it was very easy
to get in over your head he was doing perhaps upwards of a billion dollars of escrow work in bul Boolean and platinum
these were transactions that only existed on paper he was a straight businessman that probably got a little
too close to the flame he flew too close to the Sun yeah and that's not good so basically he's saying he's involved in
Shady Sopranos type [ __ ] yeah that's like high level Shady stuff oh you just wait it gets higher level like I can see
why he was scared yeah immediately because he's like I know what I've dipped into right allegedly perhaps
allegedly he was like I'm a little worried about what I allegedly possibly dipped myself into exactly allegedly
perfect way to say that I think that was very smooth I think that was great not clunky at all nope at all so when Chuck
failed to return home that evening his wife Ruth obviously became worried and she continued to worry as one day turned
into two and there was still no sign of Chuck but finally on March 25th 3 days after he'd left the house Ruth was
awoken by a loud thump at the back door in the middle of the night and she remembered she was laying in bed and the
dog started barking truck had come home but it wasn't that simple Ruth was obviously super relieved that Chuck was
home now but once she took a look at him her relief slowly started to fade away she said I got up went to the door and
opened it and there was Chuck he was missing a shoe and had one plastic handcuff around one ankle and a set
around his hands when he motioned to his throat and didn't say a word I asked him
can you talk can you write he shook his head yes that he could write so I went and got a tablet and a pen he wrote that
his throat had been painted with a hallucinogenic drug and that the drug could drive him irrevocably insane or
destroy his nervous system and kill him I wanted to call a doctor and the police
but he was adamant that that would be signing a death warrant for the entire family his
throat had been painted with a hallucinogenic hallucinogenic drug that could drive him insane yep or or just
like blow up his nervous system and he's like don't get a doctor nope we're just going
to wait this one out we're just going to see what happens here and Ruth obviously
like wanted to call a doctor wanted to call the police she's scared what does that mean but he's he's sitting there
saying like if you do that our whole family is going to die so she's like okay I guess I won't but like what the
[ __ ] I hate this yeah how do you paint someone's throat I don't really want to
know personally that was my first question yeah that was mine too and then I said don't ask yourself that I got to
stop asking questions you should for sure but I still have that question yeah I think against their will is the best
answer oh my goodness I'm upset yeah I don't like this at all but according to Chuck he'd been kidnapped and the
kidnappers had tortured him before administering this mysterious drug but he refused to elaborate on who they were
quote unquote Ruth insisted that they needed to go to a hospital at the very least very least and Report The Assault
to the police but Chuck was like nope that will put me you and all four of our daughters at serious risk for further
harm so Ruth was like okay like I guess I won't do that and she just nursed him back to health at home holy [ __ ] and he
ended up recovering now a short time later once his voice had started to come back which like his voice took a little
while to come back Ruth said and you wonder if it really was what he said what they had told him it was you know
what I mean or if it was a scare tactic yeah and they did something else that you know [ __ ] him up for a little
while that was just like made you lose your voice who knows like what does that I just I don't know what this is
upsetting it's so upsetting but once his voice had started to come back he claimed that his captors um he had
escaped them near Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport but he would not go any further than that he just said he got away from
them but he would make vague Illusions to being uh to his being some sort of a secret agent for the US
government later Ruth would tell Unsolved Mysteries he wrote they took my treasury Iden ification that was the
first I'd heard of it then he told me he'd been working for them for about 2 or 3 years and that was it but the only
other bit of information that Chuck imparted to his wife was that quote a $2 bill he always kept with him was
temporarily taken in the kidnapping and remember I said when Chuck is eventually
found dead a $2 bill is attached to his underwear what the [ __ ] and he said to
her this first time that he was kidnapped and allegedly escaped his kidnappers and came home that they
temporarily took it and why did he say the word temporarily like they're going to give it back to me right like you're
going to meet meet up with these people again somehow or like or you're going to
try and go get it back sounds to me like they made it seem like they were going to see him again and give him that
that's what it sounds like like maybe it was and this is me totally speculating cuz obviously I have no [ __ ] clue
what's going on no that perhaps they told him like he had to do something in he does it he gets that back his $2 bill
and maybe his like something else like those are being held as collateral for something else and maybe he didn't he
wasn't able to do the thing I think that's a pretty good he told to do pretty good uh speculation I hate this
czy this is very upsetting it's crazy I know I keep saying that but it is it's upsetting me no it's crazy I I just keep
saying it's crazy I feel bad for this family like wow I feel so bad for this family cuz they never got answers yeah
ever oh that's awful but what Chuck didn't tell his wife but later told his friend and employee Jeff tuberville was
that his kidnappers had stolen several platin excuse me seven platinum bars from the trunk of his car worth
approximately $50,000 he just had those in his car I literally wrote you know the kind that
everybody has laying around in their trunk like what this was the first of multiple strange and unusual statements
that Chuck made to family and friends after this alleged kidnapping in the weeks that followed Chuck who always has
like was completely clean shaven and kept his hair tidy and short started growing his hair out and letting his
beard grow and he also started telling his wife and his close friends that he quote had damaging potentially
embarrassing information on prominent uh TUC tucsonans and that uh area uh politicians involving escrow and land
deals and laundering money he had all that kind of information on people most of the time those vague Illusions made
no sense to anybody around him like the time he told Jeff tuberville that an unnamed employer of his was quote
somehow messed up in the mafia and had threatened his family but there wasn't any direct
evidence of anybody having threatened him but still Chuck became hyper Vigilant and paranoid about his safety
he started carrying around a gun on him at all times and always had at least one
gun in the car he also started wearing a bulletproof vest everywhere he went what
the [ __ ] and refused to let his daughters leave the house unescorted and never allowed strangers in the house or
near the children I mean which like I can't say I blame him I don't blame him at all after that but despite the lack
of evidence and the fact that one doesn't immediately think of Tucson Arizona in regards to organized crime
Chuck's vague statements about the mafia and the land fraud are at least somewhat
rooted in history actually huh in the early 1960s New York City Crime Boss Joe bonano moved to the Phoenix area and he
remained somewhat active in organized crime while he was out there in 1960 Tucson police discovered the body of
Arizona real estate promoter leis serota in the trunk of his car strangled to death with the ropes still around his
neck holy [ __ ] and his murder was the first of very few Gangland style murders
in the Tucson area but it was suggested that while not totally common to the region there were some organized crime
related murders in this area so it wasn't completely out of the frame of possibility of possibility kind of thing
exactly and in fact in his 1999 autobiography Joe banan's son Bill claimed quote he ran a crew of 25 to 30
men in Arizona that was into gambling and shylocking but never admitted to any crimes of violence damn so that's from
from the family himself know I didn't know that that was all happen in there I don't know either who who knew who knew
now the bonano crime ring wasn't the only criminal operation running in Tucson or Phoenix at the time there was
also a number of gangs and smallscale Rings running drugs across the border and and using Arizona real estate to
launder the money throughout the 1970s Arizona actually had laws and regulations that allowed land to be
purchased through a blind trust which meant that the actual owner couldn't be traced oh making it kind of the perfect
arrangement for money laundering yeah and these deals would almost certainly require an escrow agent in the buying
process making that escro agent a participant willing or unwilling depending on the circumstance oh [ __ ]
yeah and they would be involved in fraud and moneya laundering oh damn which is actually kind of ironic because the
entire idea behind having an es agent in the first place is to avoid fraud if something goes wrong with the deal so
it's funny that it's like this is actually showing fraud yeah but you could actually find yourself wrapped up
in it like even completely unwillingly yeah but and then at that point there's nothing you can do yeah what can you do
you're involved exactly damn now it should be noted that there were rumors about uh Chuck having done escrow work
for the bonano family and Ned Warren another known criminal but investigators didn't make any mention of it in their
reports and there's no direct information in the Contemporary contemporary reporting of this so that's
all alleged okay but people do say that there are rumors okay now if Chuck was paranoid after his disappearance in
March he became decidedly more so after testifying in the bankco international Case in May because remember the state
was breathing down his neck and he agreed to testify but before the time he testified that kidnapping took place
that alleged kidnapping then he testifies in May and afterwards he's like super freaked out he continued
wearing a bulletproof vest nearly everywhere he went continued to carry guns on his person and keeping them in
the car and he also had his car equipped with a CB radio and a police scanner that allowed him to monitor all kinds of
criminal activity in law enforcement in the area like just so he always knew what was going on just knew what was
happening his car had also been fitted with a special lock that unlocked the doors from a release under the front
fender of the car huh yeah now on the afternoon of June 7th 1977 Chuck went to a work meeting around lunchtime and
called his office a little before 1: p.m. to let him know let the office know that he was on his way back and he'd be
there in about a half hour but he never returned to the office that day or any other after what happened the first time
Chuck disappeared Ruth this time didn't waste any time reporting this second disappearance to the police but the
problem is that there's no laws preventing an adult from completely abandoning their responsibilities
without telling anyone and there was no evidence of a crime so there really wasn't anything they could do to go find
Chuck oh that must have felt so helpless especially with what she woke up to in the middle of the night like a couple
months earli she knows what was what happened there or she doesn't know what happened there but she saw the aftermath
yeah and she's like I know that you had said like if if I reported this people were going to come after us have they
come after you anyway yeah and it's like are they now going to come after us yeah
you're probably just imagining like all worst case scenario what do in that scenario I have no idea but chuck had
been missing for nine days when Ruth rece received a mysterious call at home from an an an an anonymous caller Ruth
recalled that this she said this woman said Ruthie I said yes she said Chuck is all right Ecclesiastes 12 1-8 and then
she hung up up which that's like a verse from the Bible I was just going to say is that a yeah
eclesiastes 12 1 through as far as Ruth knew that particular passage had no special meaning or relevance to her or
Chuck but one section jumped out at her the woman said and this is a quote men are afraid of a high place and of
Terrors on the road remember him before the silver cord is broken and the Golden
Bowl is crushed then Dust will return to Earth as it was and Spirit and the spirit will return to God who gave
it okay so she just receives this I like I have chill saying this this weird ass
phone call and she's sitting there trying to pick apart what this message means this is a nightmare a absolute
nightmare now 2 days later around 8:00 in the morning Chuck's body was discovered oh he was found by two
teenagers alongside Arizona rout Route 86 about 15 miles east of cells Arizona when they arrived at the scene
investigators found Chuck lying about 10 feet away from his car which had been pulled off the road his body was Face
Down On The Desert floor with a large hole in the back of his head that appeared actually to have been made with
his own 357 Magnum which was lying by his left hand strangely his eyeglasses which he always were or excuse me were
attached to his left wrist and he was wearing a black belt that concealed a large knife but there was wasn't any
evidence that he had tried to to draw the knife at any point huh otherwise there didn't appear to be any struggle
at the scene and there weren't any Footprints to be found what the [ __ ] mhm when officer searched his car they found
that CB radio in the police scanner as well as quote large amount amounts of ammunition and several weapons but one
of the more dis disturbing discoveries came when technicians found a piece of one of his teeth in the backseat of the
car wrapped in a white handkerchief with no idea how it ended up there what it's like it's
so did he have like injuries like that he had been in a fight no like somebody had punched him no to me that feels like
it's like you get punched and break break a teeth break a teeth break a teeth break a tooth and
like I don't I'm trying to like wrap my brain none that were listed because they
it's like what the [ __ ] or it's like or maybe just broke his tooth and wrapped
it in a white handkerchief and threw it in the back seat of his car I don't know
it's [ __ ] weird I mean this whole thing is weird I have no idea I'm trying to find any kind of normaly in here
there's none don't don't even look wow the the tooth in the back seat of the car is very strange to me the piece of
the tooth I should say but the strange discoveries continued once the scene had been cleared and the body was taken away
to be processed the pathologist determined that Chuck had been dead no more than 12
hours meaning that he had been alive nearly the entire time he'd been missing so when that person called and said
Chuck is fine they were telling the truth he still alive and now the bullet had entered quote the top back of the
head and launched in the soft pallet behind Chuck's front teeth okay so there's that doesn't explain the
tooth in the back seat that just explains where the gun gun uh the bullet lodged and you wonder like cuz it's like
the doesn't sound like there was any blood spatter in the car to indicate that he was killed in a car no and it's
like you wonder if there was blood spatter on the ground at the scene I think I assume that there was some kind
of blood blood spatter but cuz this sounds like a like execution style yeah and that's the thing and even more
strange there were no fingerprints on the 347 Magnum but there was gunpowder residue on Chuck's left hand indicating
that he had fired a gun at the at the very least very recently though not necessarily the gun used in his death
now this fact struck Ruth as among the strangest elements of the case because according to her Chuck was right-handed
and she said he could do practically nothing with his left hand hm strange yeah like that this gun this uh
GSR on his hand right and on his left hand on his left hand okay indicating that he had fired a gun recently but
maybe not necessarily this one with his left hand but his wife is saying no he can't do anything with it's like did
they make did they put their hand around his hand and make him essentially do it
with their help and maybe there's no that's why there was no fingerprints on the gun but it's like even that's such a
strange angle too cuz oh it's such a strange angle doesn't make any sense but it's like I don't know
yeah the top and that's well I guess the top back of his head so that's not that
strange of an Ang it's still a weird angle it's weird but if you're but doable you know yeah try we're both
sitting here like trying to make it work with this is wow this is a weird one it
is and I would I would love to know like the the analytics of like this the crime
scene yeah like the like any blood spatter and like what direction it looked like it was going in cuz it's
like did it look like he was looking this way did it spatter that way did it right CU it's like that is an easy
way to do it if you turn your head to the side yep than doing it back there cuz then your angle gets weird you get
kind of smed this your angle's a little more yeah and if somebody was holding your hand to make it look like you did
it kind of thing that's an easier angle to go about it but mhm that's the only reason I could think of that he has GSR
on his left hand right which he doesn't use right and that there's no fingerprints on the gun because maybe
they just wiped it down I guess yeah and maybe they wore gloves right because then the only fingerprints would have
been his which obviously makes sense if the gun is not in his hand well it only gets stranger oh good so finally and
perhaps strangest of all the pathologist discovered like I said at the top of the
story a $2 bill pinned to his underwear mhm it was unclear whether this was the same $2 bill that Chuck kept with him at
all times and he claimed had been taken by his kidnappers in March but somebody had marked the bill significantly on the
front of the bill there were seven SP names beginning with letters a through G and above them the note was Ecclesiastes
12 oh yeah so that really was someone calling absolutely on the back of the bill the signers of the Declaration of
Independence were each numbered one through 7 and there was a crudely drawn map that led to an area between Tucson
and Mexico quote to the towns of Robel Junction and Salis City both known for smuggling oh so it's like is this some
kind of map to say like he was involved in some [ __ ] up [ __ ] yeah what is this now the
crime scene if that's what it was even because at this point they don't know was deeply strange and mysterious but as
far as every anybody could tell like investigator wise there was no evidence of a murder even the county pathologist
couldn't say whether Chuck's death had been homicide or suicide so law enforcement uh officials luckily pursued
it as though it could be either they didn't rule one or the other out I'm glad for the pumac county sheriff's
detectives the mystery surrounding the case was more frustrating than anything else because on one hand the incredibly
bizarre circumstances surrounding Chuck's disappearance and death suggested a conspiracy like right out of
a fiction novel it really did like this this seems like something you would see in the first scene of some like wild new
crime show yeah you know wild new crime movie and you go back get you right out of the gate and you figure out what
happened there and it's like this how is this real right and all these like weird
strange details symbolism and the Bible being involved and stuff it's like what's going on here the Bible the
signers of the Declaration of Independence like and they're numbered they're numbered 1 through I have no
idea and then there's because all the the signers are numbered and then there was also Seven Spanish names that were a
through G written on the front of the bill wonder if anybody I hope I'm I'm assuming someone has like tried to find
some kind of pattern here you know absolutely but on the other hand the physical evidence strongly supported the
theory that Chuck's death had been a suicide a strange and elaborately planned one but a suicide they were like
it's possible we could see both sides of this according to one sheriff's deputy Morgan could have pulled the revolver's
trigger with his thumb even though it would have been awkward and blood and dirt found on the gun could account for
its lack of fingerprints okay which like I guess but like fired it with this thumb did we
know if did we know if the handwriting on the bill was not his like they knew it was not his I don't know anything
about the handwriting on the bill actually so maybe I would assume if it was his like similar to his that would
be like a that would be kind of like a that would kind of be the thing that it's like okay he wrote this yeah
exactly but I'm wondering like what who wrote that because I'm like I could buy the cuz I he seemed like he was in a a
big state of paranoia obvious like rightfully rightfully so with what he had gone through and he had all this
stuff kind of closing in a little bit mhm so it's like you wouldn't be shocking it would be very tragic but it
wouldn't be wouldn't be like the craziest thing world like you can kind of you could see why that could be the
outcome right but like then you look at the that $2 bill and stuff it's like who
wrote on that and somebody calling that's the thing the fact that that the writing on the $2 bill correlates with a
woman calling Ruth and referencing the same Bible passage and the thing it's like so we know he wasn't just like out
there you know going through it and then ending it this way it's like he was obviously he could have been going
through it but obviously he was with other people like obviously somebody knew where he was to call and do that
exactly so it's like I this is just a really this is a wild one it's a strange one and the
suicide Theory held no weight with Ruth or any of Chuck's close friends and associates they all insisted he was
quote just not the kind of person who would kill himself of course we know that people don't usually believe their
loved one would take their own life uh but in this case the evidence was not that of a man on the verge of ending his
own life at least how Ruth and and close people to him saw it yeah and I mean they're the ones who know him yeah so
and family friend Ronald Newman told reporters he had everything going for him he was a family man and real active
in the lodge he had just acquired a new business which he had been trying to do for a long time he had finalized one of
his goals s yeah and just driving that point home even further in the months between his disappearance in March and
his death in June Chuck definitely seemed very deeply concerned for his own safety to the point that he never went
anywhere without being heavily armed so they're saying why would he go so hard on this safety thing to protect himself
only to end it yeah which I I could see people saying well like maybe that just got to be too much and he couldn't
handle it anymore and if anybody was gonna end his life it was gonna be him like you could make that argument but he
was going so hard and why why go for such a strange angle yeah to do it like that I can't get over that
like they're saying like oh he could have done it with his thumb why though why why would he do that right like why
would he do why would he do that what would the point be like this is an awful thing to think about but it's like why
would he not just do the you know unfortunately like a lot of times like the gun in the mouse like yeah or side
of the temple even or in the you know what I mean like as awful as that is to think about why would you pretzel
yourself like that and make it difficult and do it with your left hand and randomly out in the middle of the and
beforehand pin a $2 bill to your under with strange writing all over and when you look at the writing cuz you can find
a a picture of the dollar of the $2 bills so you can see the writing if you look it up um it's it's clear that
person tried to disguise their writing because write all in capital letters right so and that's an easier way to
disguise soes sense it feels like somebody trying to disguise their writing right which there's so many
strange little yeah none of this is making S I don't right now to me it just doesn't feel like it makes much the most
sense as a suicide but I don't know there's just a lot of bizarre details there's a lot of bizarre details like
and this is so sad yeah I mean he had four daughters and family obviously had no idea what was
going on and they have no answers and you don't even know what he knew what was going on it's like what the hell's
going on here and then like we said beforehand like is Ruth just spending the rest of her life thinking people are
going to come after her and her kids at this point you know yeah but the first lead in the case came just a couple days
after the body was discovered and it only made things even [ __ ] weirder when Pac County Sheriff's detectives
received a call from a woman who called herself green eyes that's when the first
lead came in according to the caller green eyes she was the person chuck had gone to meet on the afternoon that he
went missing and she was the one who called Ruth and gave her that Bible passage Greene eyes told the detectives
that Chuck had met her at the motel where he showed her a briefcase containing thousands of dollars in cash
telling her quote that the money would buy him out of a contract the mob had put on his life huh now the story green
eyes told detectives was for sure very unusual and would likely have been considered a prank call or grouped in
with tips from unreliable callers except that green eyes seem to know quite a lot
about Chuck's whereabouts and his personal life to the point that chief deputy sheriff Clarence D dupnik
believed her to be credible he told reporters this proves that Morgan was not really
missing and that's because Greene eyes explained that she had met Chuck about a month before his death and she had quote
been seeing him socially from time to time she said she'd seen him at least four times in the time since he had been
missing from his home and she had visited him at the E8 Motel which is where he showed her that briefcase of
cash so investigators followed up on the information that they' been giving given
and they confirmed that he had been staying at the E8 Motel the whole time he was missing what and that briefcase
that supposedly contained thousands of dollars was discovered in his car but when they discovered it quote it only
contained business cards so all the cash was gone if there had been any in the first place the call from Green Eyes
gained further credibility when the sheriff received a call from a man who referred to himself as the husband of
green eyes and this man told him quote Morgan and his associates were involved in buying gold bars and gold coins in
Mexico the man wouldn't wouldn't answer any more questions from the sheriff and unfortunately investigators were never
able to identify either caller what but they had all this weird that was then some of it at least
validated what do you mean they were never able to come on cuz it was the 70s I guess they didn't oh I didn't even
think of that I'm sitting here like what they couldn't like trace it back this was 1977 when he went missing or excuse
me when he was killed Bonkers yeah yeah wow so to everybody that knew Chuck the details of his death and the leads
coming from Anonymous callar seemed wildly Off the Mark as far as they knew he was was just this mild mannered escro
agent dedicated family man not some kind of like government agent trading in gold
and silver across the Mexican border like what but the more and more that investigators dug into Chuck's Affairs
the more the tips from callers like green eyes seemed potentially legitimate wow going through his personal papers
and Records detectives discovered that he was what they called quote a collector a man who collect uh collected
records and not notes of every type oh according to investigators he had been keeping notes and Records on prominent
people in and around Tucson oh quote as well as very detailed notes on his alleged gold and land deals oh so he was
presumably involved in Gold dealings yeah because he was keeping record of it he was keeping record of it while the
purpose of the notes would remain a mystery they did seem to corroborate what chuck had told Ruth about his being
targeted as a result of what he knew about powerful people so while the notes about people in and around Tucson and
Phoenix didn't seem to be connected to anything in particular the notes about gold and land deals may have been
significant a few weeks after Chuck's death investigators got information from the US Customs Service regarding an
investigation that they had launched in 1973 according to their report Customs officials had received a tip that Chuck
himself and two Associates had been involved in what they called a scam to sell non-existent gold also according to
that Customs report investigators weren't able to find enough evidence to secure a Federal indictment and the US
attorney's office decided not to pursue a case what the [ __ ] which makes you wonder like was somebody involved in
this yeah that's that's exactly what I was thinking I was like what's going on here now this is interesting to me
investigators thought it seemed unlikely that this was connected to Chuck's death
which I'm like I actually feel as though it's very related to his death I'm going to have to disagree with these
people here if it was a murder then wouldn't that be a perfect motive he has all this information he's involved in
Shady dealings and people are pissed off about it like I think that actually sounds like the very beginning of a
murder that's the motive exactly so they felt like it was unlikely that it was connected but at the very least it was a
possible explanation they felt for the voluminous records telegrams notes and figures is about buying and selling
millions of ounces of almost pure gold that Chuck had been exchanging with people as far as Mexico Switzerland and
England damn that's deep like you don't think that's connected like that's deep that that is rolling very deep my friend
right yeah so by the end of the month the pumac County Sheriff's Office was starting to put together a timeline of
Chuck's movements from when he disappeared quote unquote on June 7th to when his body was found Ruth Morgan Had
described her husband as missing for this period of time but green eyes had referred to it as Chuck being in hiding
but from what investigators could tell while he may have been staying in a motel he didn't exactly appear to be
hiding he registered at the motel under his own name and several people reported
seeing him as he quote conducted routine business in the city in a normal fashion huh so he's just not going home
calling his wife during this period of time which is strange because people know him as a dedicated family man yeah
but he had supposedly was checked into this Motel under his own name and people said that they saw him in the city which
we know I would so that makes me wonder was was that Chuck who was checked in yeah or is
that somebody checked in as Chuck trying to make it seem like Chuck is in a motel
this whole time no he's he fine huh but then at the same time get weirder and weirder and it will only continue to but
then at the same time was it Chuck that was registered at that Motel because remember when he was found he'd been
missing all this time but they presumed that he was only Dead about 12 hours when they found him yeah that's true so
so it's like where was he before that if he wasn't there right and he was it does
make sense maybe he was at the motel possibly that that was him yeah because like again where where would he be yeah
if he wasn't like where was he all that time if he wasn't in the place where he's registered at and even stranger the
same appeared to be true for his disappearance in March when he claimed that he had been kidnapped and drugged
according to investigators quote the day after the abduction was alleged to have
taken place he was seen in Tucson when he was supposed to be in Phoenix so it didn't look like he had
gone into complete hiding it appeared that for some reason or another he was hiding from his family and his
friends I wish I could put these pieces together in any way the only thing that I can think of is why he's staying away
from his family and his friends is because he feels like his status as a target has heightened and he doesn't
want them wrapped up in it that's honestly the only thing I could think of too was was like you know going with
that you know dedicated father and dedicated husband and like family man he's trying to keep it away from the
people he cares about the most that's the only thing I can think of but then he returns home in the middle of all
that but maybe he thinks he [ __ ] has like died down a little bit it's like whatever that like $2 bill thing was or
like maybe he was supposed to do something and they were like you know we'll leave you alone or whatever do
this and you'll get it back and it's like so maybe he had to go back to start that process of whatever it is they were
having him do or wanted him to do y and maybe maybe that's the only reason he went back cuz he thought he was going to
end up helping his family in the long run by like getting this taken care of whatever this is and remember if if he
did think that he was taking care of it maybe that explains the Briefcase full of cash that he thought was going to get
him out of this hit maybe this was supposed to be like you get this we do this you'll get
all your [ __ ] back at the end of it like we're holding it for collateral right so
he goes away from his family and everything to try to keep them out of it but then he comes back to try to do
whatever it is he needs to do goes back or doesn't do it in time but it sounds more like he just went back to finish
off the deal cuz he had that if if if he had that Briefcase full of money right and was at that Motel maybe it's like he
was there cuz he was told to go there like maybe that was part of the thing like you go to this hotel you check in I
want you to have a briefcase full of this much money in this denomination kind of thing you know like when you see
in the movies y and was like and then we will meet you here or you will meet us here with that
briefcase and then we will send you on your way right and maybe that's what he thought was going to happen and maybe
they did everything they took that money from him because and they they Ked it in
the end yeah whoever it is maybe and then it's like the $2 bill of it all is so weird because they're keeping a $2
bill for collateral well and it's like an the writing on it what the [ __ ] does
that mean and the fact that green eyes said she's the one who called Ruth and yeah alluded to that
same Bible passage that's then written on the $2 bill it doesn't yeah but then like was like that's all I'm going to
tell you bye and it's like was she scared was she trying to like I don't know I don't know I don't
know this is this is fkers this is just such a weird one it really is so and the
problem with all these Fantastical leads if you can even really call them that coming into the Sheriff's Office was
while they were certainly interesting and compelling as we're sitting here trying to dissect them they didn't seem
to go anywhere that's the thing they Chas down a lead and then they'd be like okay what what next like yeah we're
stumped cuz even if you're sitting there coming to the the whole like okay maybe
he was he had to go do something and they wanted him to have this money and he they he was supposed to meet them
somewhere who's them who's them you can't you don't even know where to begin you're like who the [ __ ] is them yeah
and rumors and stories of him buying and selling gold could have gone way explain his Mur if
what it but they never were more than rumors and similarly the stories of Chuck having gone into hiding seemed to
be somewhat exaggerated because it's true he had checked into a motel but it seemed at least to the investigators
like if he was trying to hide from somebody he wasn't trying very hard using his own name and being seen in
public yeah that's the thing like it really doesn't feel like that's what it was so rather than focusing on the
majority of excuse me focusing the majority of their attention on things they couldn't improve investigators
toward their attention toward the evidence and leads that were more likely to be fruitful as far as anybody could
tell Chuck's paranoia and his very strange Behavior began around March shortly after he left Western Title and
set out to purchase that majority share in Statewide escro service it was that decision that led him to bko
International where he had eventually secured a loan but it was that relationship that led to his being
pressured to testify in the state's case against Bano and several of its agents the testimony in that case was
confidential and has actually never been released to the public but the documents
and information that is available to the public indicates that the case was related to several instances of fraud on
the part of three members of Banko's board who were trying to buy majority stake in the bank okay and because the
case involved Chuck's former employer Western Title and because one of the board's members in question was a man
who was actually representing Chuck in the purchase of a majority stake in Statewide his testimony was essential in
securing the conviction so that tells you something like Chuck was a a key witness for this case so I mean that's
something right there and that's going to put you in danger you have all these higher ups and these big companies doing
insider trading and [ __ ] all kinds of [ __ ] stuff I was going to say all kinds
of [ __ ] that I even wrap my brain around yeah like I can barely do simple division but I know it's I know it
doesn't it probably doesn't bring a lot of great people around you and I'm not trying to [ __ ] with that no but the case
was eventually settled out of court and then in August of 1977 and two investigators they didn't think that
that was related to Chuck's death huh which is weird because I'm like come on sound like it could be it's I mean that
sounds like a again another perfect motive for someone another Shady dealing you know what is going on here so the
death of Chuck Morgan started out as a case obviously shrouded in mystery and Intrigue but with each passing week
investigators Drew closer and closer to what they felt was a more plausible explan explanation he had taken his own
life they thought that was way more plausible which to me I don't know I don't know I don't know I'm not going to
say it doesn't seem like the most plausible yeah that does not seem like the most plausible when we get to the
end it still won't by the end of June there were a number of factor factors in the case that were causing Sheriff's
detectives toward the suicide Theory and these included the location where Chuck
had been discovered the fact that it was very public and quote did not indicate that somebody was trying to cover up a
murder okay which it's like okay but then also is it a show of like don't [ __ ] with us yeah like that it could
very much be that they might not be trying to cover it up and so you're saying he decided to end his life in a
very public setting like yeah in a very public area that's I don't know I don't know they said if Morgan had been killed
because of something related to a land deal or money laundering the killer like likely would have rifled through his car
or belongings to remove any incriminating evidence but all of his papers and business documents appeared
to be untouched which that's strange that is strange and he was known to push himself professionally and had been
known to regularly overwork himself quote until he had a nervous breakdown and had to take the week off so they
were like did he just work himself up into a nervous breakdown and this the end of it Poss maybe so while those
closest to him flatly refused to accept that possibility that he could have taken his own life others who did know
him not like super close in his Circle but knew him well enough they were less certain that he wouldn't have done that
okay several colleagues and friends told reporters that Chuck often struggled with social relationships and quote was
an insecure man who seemed to need the approval of others more than most according to one friend Chuck quote
tended to create a crisis once in a while just so he could solve it and although Morgan appeared to be a
brilliant man he always seemed to be in financial difficulty okay and others who
knew Chuck echoed those sentiments according to Pat Baldwin who took over Chuck's position at Statewide after he
died quote the entire board of directors resigned once they knew he was buying the firm whoa but I'm also
like there were also people that still worked there that were probably involved in some shady [ __ ] that he testified
against or they just worried so is this all just wrapped up in that like that part of it you know like that could be a
whole different kind of scenario exactly or was it that like yeah CU also he was known as an escro genius so
you're going to leave I don't know I don't know because he's involved like it doesn't really make a lot of sense to me
but a little over a month into the investigation no new evidence had been found and all the leads had dried up so
with no evidence to support a murder case and no new tips coming in from the public the sheriff's department issued a
statement on August 10th announcing that based on the evidence and statements collected from those who knew him
Chuck's death was being considered a suicide wow in a statement to the press the sheriff Sergeant Joe jet said we
have found no evidence that anyone took part in the death but himself and Jet went on to say that the biggest factors
in labeling the death of suicide was one all the fing and these are all quotes all the fingerprints and Footprints at
the scene were Morgans there was no sign of a struggle of any kind two the bullet that killed Morgan was
fired at very close range from his own 357 Magnum Revolver which lay inches from his body and large deposits of
gunshot residue on his left hand indicate that he held the revolver Barrel in that hand when he fired into
the top of his head and three Morgan was in deep financial trouble at the time of
his death records indicate that he had cash assets of about $400 and debts of more than
$40,000 including a third mortgage on his East Side home wow which like that's a lot yeah and this is interesting so
the sheriff's department is like we're going to go ahead and rule this a suicide the county Pathologists didn't
didn't challenge the sheriff's department conclusion but they declined to classify the death as a suicide huh
and Chuck Morgan's death on paper with the pathologist remains classified as unknown interesting that to me is very
very interesting interesting because like if the pathologist isn't willing then that gives me pause yeah
and it's like is there war that maybe wasn't released to the public that the pathologist has access to that maybe
just wasn't recorded on interesting yeah cuz when they when a pathologist refuses
to to bend to the sheriff or somebody else to with that I'm like that's big what's going on like what what else is
there what kind of feeling did you have what did you see yeah initially what did
you think that made you question it yeah oh that's interesting I thought so too and the sheriff's decision to label the
death as a suicide came as a big surprise to Ruth Morgan Chuck's wife and those closest to the family who remain
convinced that Chuck was murdered and I feel really bad for them cuz it's like cuz then you don't have any answers yeah
Ruth told Unsolved Mysteries in 1990 there's no way chuck would have committed suicide and if he had even
contemplated suicide he would have left a letter for his girls and for me and I can understand her thinking that yeah
and I I mean obviously I don't know Chuck from a hole in the wall but yeah wouldn't you like just based off of the
descriptions of how much he like he wouldn't even let his children leave the house unprotected he wouldn't let
strangers in the house he wouldn't let Ruth go to the police because it was going to endanger the family yeah to me
it seems like and for her to say that for her to say there's no way something wouldn't happen without him leaving
communication for me and for his girls yeah that's her saying like I know him as a man and as a father and as a
husband and I know that he wouldn't have left this world without talking to us with a note at least giving us like just
giving us some kind of communication for why and it doesn't I don't think from what she's saying again I also don't
know Chuck I don't know this family but I don't know it just doesn't seem like he would have wanted to leave all this
mystery for his children and his wife I agree with that cuz that's a lot to Grapple with for them to have to Wonder
mhm so what she's saying I think makes the most sense to me which is he would have left notes for us I think so too
explaining what was going on and what happened right yeah yeah and uh journalist Don Deo who I mentioned
earlier he agrees with the family's theory he said I've never seen in all my years as a journalist a fellow take
himself out in the desert wearing a bulletproof vest and shoot himself in the back of the head that's true like
he's wearing a bulletproof V and he shoots himself that doesn't make any sense and Deo cites the statements from
Greene eyes and the man who identified himself as Greene eyes husband as compelling evidence to support the
theory that maybe he was organ uh maybe he was involved in organized crime and that he was working as an agent of the
government perhaps that's what makes the most sense to me to be honest right and
he elaborated saying there's a great likelihood that Mr Morgan was in fact doing something with the government I
think this was a guy who was extremely naive about a lot of things I think somebody blew his cover and he got
killed damn I don't know I don't know I mean all of honestly all of these theories you could say that makes sense
yeah all of them exactly so now sadly Ruth Morgan unfortunately passed away after battling cancer in 2006 but
according to their children she remained steadfast in her belief that Chuck was absolutely murdered their daughter Megan
told reporters in 2010 my father had a lot of information about people here in Tucson uh that could have been very
detrimental there was a lot of information about politicians people who are still alive that work in our
government he had a lot he had that information and they wanted to silence him that's awful which I have chills you
that's awful to even think about now the 1990 segment of Unsolved Mysteries featuring Chuck's story actually
generated a light flurry of interest in the case and resulted in quote more calls than any other in the show's
history up to that point and the Sol mystery was the way to go man you want to get a case out there that was the way
to go especially the original one oh so creepy but among those tips was one from
an anonymous source that quote pointed to a paid Hitman then living in the Wilks bar Scranton region who may have
traveled briefly to Arizona to carry out a murder contract according to this Anonymous caller The Hitman supposedly
quote shot a Tucson businessman in the head in 1977 because he knew too much and then came back to Pennsylvania
loaded with money that's why it's wild to me that they're like I don't no this got like it
doesn't seem like somebody who would murder someone would leave the scene like this and I'm like I don't know a
Hitman would like he just goes and does his job and leaves plenty of people would like they just peace out they're
not worried about like staging a crime scene here they're just they're doing what they were paid to do and they're
out a job that they've done countless other times too which is like why you didn't find probably yeah now a second
airing of the Unsolved Mysteries episode a few months later generated more call some of which were actually routed to
the sheriff's department and generated a new potential suspect according to Sergeant Dave Thomas of the County
Sheriff's Department investigators interviewed at least one former wils bar area resident but are not releasing the
suspect's name for legal reasons interesting he noted that the case was never closed and investigators were
following up on leads as they received him but he added that in the absence of any further good Witnesses he said we
probably won't be able to to go any further with this which that is such a that is such a like concrete statement
like I don't think we'll be able to go any further with this nope probably not bye huh I don't know now despite the
activity and interest generated by the unsolved mystery segment the leads unfortunately went nowhere and Chuck's
case was put back on the Shelf jeez but the case popped up in the news again 2 years later when 35-year-old Tucson
computer technician jug Johnston Doug Johnston excuse me was found dead in his car from a gunshot wound to the Head
investigators were unable to find the gun but without evidence to support a murder Theory the case was labeled a
possible suicide and detective cited his mounting debt as a possible reason and the case was closed Don Deo on the other
hand believes that the death and this is [ __ ] crazy was the result of a mistaken hit that had been meant for him
what according to Deo Johnston drove a car very similar to his own own and the two men look generally similar similar
to one another resulting in Johnston receiving a bullet meant for Deo in order to stop him from further
investigating Chuck's story because he was going like deep into it trying to get
answers uh nevertheless Deo hedged I'm not here to tell you for certain that the bullet Johnston took was meant for
me nor that there's a known that or that there's a known contract out on me for looking into the conspiracy but I do
know that I'm concerned and that will probably come around again and this time they'll make it look like an
accident I have no idea what happened and I'm not going to look any further into it that's the thing I didn't look
super deep into anything I don't know what happened we just looked very surface level into this but wow and
those are just the facts of the case but as of now the death of Charles Morgan remains an open and unfortunately
inactive case with the county sheriff's department and no new leads or suspects have been identified since the ear early
90s and I don't know anything I don't know anything isn't that a crazy tale what a wild wild case a wild story I
feel for his family not having any ansers and I feel for Ruth she went she lived the rest of her life with all
these questions yeah but luckily she was safe for the rest of her life at least glad that his daughters were unharmed
and jeez but it's a spooky one very spooky and one I will never read any further into nope me either and so with
that being said we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but not swear that you look any further
into this case love you so much [Music] bye [Music]

In March 1977, Arizona businessman Charles Morgan went missing from his home in Tucson, only to turn up three days later in the middle of the night, shoeless, traumatized, and with broken plastic handcuffs on his wrists and ankles. Unable to speak, Charles wrote that he had been drugged by an unnamed individual and kidnapped, but he refused to let his wife call the police or otherwise report the assault. Three months later, Charles Morgan’s body was discovered in the desert with a gunshot wound in the back of his head, one of his teeth wrapped in a handkerchief, and a two-dollar bill pinned to his underwear.

From the outside, Charles Morgan appeared to live a very normal and decidedly unexciting life. Yet when investigators began digging into his background to find out who would have wanted him dead, they discovered a complicated and bizarre story of supposed government agents, mobsters, and a mystery that one would have expected from a Hollywood screenplay, not the life of a middle-aged Arizona escrow agent. The increasingly bizarre details of Morgan’s life and death comprise a fascinating mystery that remains unsolved to this day and endures as one of Arizona’s most baffling cold cases.

Thank you to David White, of the Bring Me the Axe podcast, for research assistance

References

Bassett, Edward, and David Dykes. 1977. "Mystery death a suicide?" Tucson Citizen, June 22: 1.

Bassett, Edward, and Richard Wood. 1977. "Slain businessman's bank dealings probed." Tucson Citizen, June 27: 3.

Flanagan, Ray. n.d. "Did 'hit-man."

—. 1990. "Did 'hit-man' with ties to region figure in Arizona death case?" Tribune, September 25: 3.

Heltsley, Ernie, and John Rawlinson. 1979. "1977 shooting ended Tucsonan's two lives." Arizona Daily Star, February 4: 1.

Jordan, Tracy. 1990. "City residents asked to drop a dime on hit man." Times Leader, October 22: 3.

Kwok, Abraham. 1992. "Phoenix death a mistaken 'hit'?" Arizona Republic, May 6: 10.

Matas, Kimberly. 2010. "Strange evidence found in '77 on, near man's body." Arizona Daily Star, March 31: A08.

1990. Unsolved Mysteries. Directed by John McLaughlin. Performed by John McLaughlin.

Salkowski, Joe, and Enric Volante. 2002. "Mob faded locally long before key figure died." Arizona Daily Star, May 19: 1.

Svejcara, Bob. 1977. "Sheriff finds no foul play in Morgan death." Arizona Daily Star, August 11: 13.

Svejcara, Bob, and Ernie Heltsley. 1977. "Slain businessman seen during 'absence'." Arizona Daily Star, June 23: 1.

Tucson Citizen. 1977. "Sheriff's probe says Morgan was a sucide." Tucson Citizen, August 11: 4.

Wood, Richard. 1977. "Slain Tucson executive: solid citizen... mystery man." Tucson Citizen, June 21: 2.

—. 1977. "Woman says Morgan hid, trying to buy off his life." Tucson Citizen, June 21: 1.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

Charles Morgan's mysterious death in 1977 remains unsolved, involving kidnapping, organized crime, and cryptic clues.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Charles Morgan. Charles Morgan went missing and was later found dead under bizarre circumstances.
Paranoia and Protection. After his kidnapping, Morgan became paranoid and refused protection from authorities.
Kidnapped and Drugged. Charles Morgan returned home after being kidnapped, claiming he was drugged and tortured.
Chuck's Disappearance. Chuck went missing after a work meeting, leading to a frantic search.
Mysterious Phone Call. Ruth receives a chilling call about Chuck's well-being, referencing a Bible passage.
Strange Discovery. Chuck's body is found with a gun and a mysterious $2 bill pinned to his underwear.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What the [ __ ]?

7:42WatchJan 29, 2024

Tension

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