The Mysterious Death of Charles Morgan | Morbid | Podcast

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.
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[@kluafoz]

So i only found out about this story because of Red Thread with Wendigoon and friends but this popped up and loved this presentation!!! Definitely subbed and now i get to binge all their shows tytytyty!!!

[@KittyCatDonut]

The fact that the wife got a call from a woman who mentioned what was written on the 2$ bill shows it wasn’t suicide and someone was with him imho. Man this story was crazy. Keep up the great work you make my work days fly

[@lisacarpenter1994]

😊

[@sherielowe4256]

Sounds like Chuck was a "loose end". Who are these Elites.😮

[@horbagger19]

The “Barre” in Wilkes-Barre is pronounced like “bare” or “bear”. You’ll find lots of connections in the greater Philadelphia/Lehigh Valley area - the big city mobs migrated to less-dense areas over time, and meshed with local governments and (believe it or not) biker gangs. Youngstown, OH is another unlikely hotspot. We had a friend growing up who’s dad was wild, and we never knew how he always was loaded - the guy looked near homeless, despite a wife, kids and mortgage. Decades later, we find out he was moving $15k/month in meth & heroin through our town for a gang (this was mid-90s, crazy money for the time), and was absolutely protected by the state & local police via org crime connections.

[@VictoriaPolikarpova]

Bad start with that silly laughing

[@bbvaldez3086]

Is there any possibility Chuck could have been schizophrenic? He was incredibly paranoid about lots of things. And while he could have very well been involved in shady stuff, it could have also fed into a delusion. And, while I know lots of police work can be shoddy, I think all the evidence could really actually point to a suicide.

[@sylviawagner2859]

How soon after the first kidnapping did he have to testify? Were they trying to silence his voice until after the trial?

[@tannerclark4019]

I’m not sure this fits 100% but my husband and I both thought that the man sounded like a paranoid schizophrenic.

[@bbvaldez3086]

That's what I was thinking!

[@thatswhatshesaid6326]

Interesting story. Sounds like someone wanted him gone.

[@kaiaroxby2559]

Me driving thru Everett while you say he was born in Everett wa😂

[@pr0cessa]

I'm strongly left handed but can definitely hold and fire a gun with both hands or just my right hand (not exactly a gun person,was forced to learn, and just as surprised as anyone at the ability to use the right hand, sonce I can't do much of anything else with it)... Nothing about suicide makes sense to me at all, it's inherently illogical, maybe he tried to make it look NOT like suicide, even though it was, to spare his family from the sigma