Article 9 – 'Rita Morgan's Tragic Death'
Miami Daily Herald Newspaper article, written by reporter Mike RePort, 1/18/10
"Suspected Miami Serial Killer Arrested"
"Dexter Morgan Charged with Multiple Murders"
The last few days have been very eventful to say the least; in fact that is an understatement! First the facts then I will give you the background. One note, this reporter played a pivotal role leading up to Dexter Morgan's arrest. Here are the facts.
Dexter Morgan, a MMPD forensics expert in Blood Spatter Analysis, was arrested at 9:15 p.m. last night by a multi-agency task force. The agencies involved are the MMPD and the FBI. Mr. Morgan was arrested a short time after he entered a rented cargo container on an industrial site used for storing such containers and other miscellaneous construction equipment. The arrest was made without incident. He was taken to the local MMPD jail where he was booked and then moved into a private cell away from other prisoners. At least one FBI agent is watching Dexter Morgan at all times.
His sister, Detective Deborah Morgan, was not part of the task force initially as well as most of the other Detectives in the homicide department until after the arrest. Dexter Morgan, with his attorney present, has been undergoing questioning by the FBI along with the MMPD. I have been told that he is cooperating fully. It remains to be seen if he will actually stand trial or work out a plea agreement to keep the death penalty off of the table. This is part of the ongoing interrogation and negotiating process that has been set up by his attorney.
The full extent of the fallout from Dexter Morgan's arrest remains to be seen. New evidence obtained from the cargo container matches evidence from the Bay Harbor Butcher case. The possibility is very real that the MMPD pinned the Bay Harbor Butcher murders on the wrong man, Detective Sgt. James Doakes. It will take some time to do the initial sorting through and summary analyzing of all of the evidence just obtained but between the FBI and the MMPD I have been told it will take no more than a week or so. Please note this is just the beginning, the first pass.
This process would normally take longer but it is my assumption that because Dexter Morgan is cooperating with both agencies the process will be shortened considerably. The complete list of the key evidence has not yet been released but it was leaked that there were over a dozen glass slides in a small box with blood samples. The DNA work is being worked on now to match these blood samples to missing persons. According to one of my sources Dexter Morgan can put a name to each slide. His alleged kill tools and a computer were also found in the cargo container. The computer could contain information relating to the victims. There was more evidence but as of this printing I could not get any additional information.
These are the facts as I have them. Of course as new information is released I will be there and report everything to you, the reader. The background leading up to the arrest is the next part of this article. When I started this series of articles I made the following statement.
"My name is Mike RePort and I work for the Miami Daily Herald Newspaper. I am a reporter. I work the crime scene beat and the human interest beat. The two overlap so often it's actually difficult to separate them so I have stopped trying. I prefer to do both to bring stories of interest to you, the reader, about our community and its inhabitants. Truth is stranger than fiction, believe me, it's true! "
This story about Dexter Morgan proves this to be true. I do not take pleasure in reporting this type of story to you because of the victims, more on that to follow, and even more so because of the lives of those affected by Dexter Morgan's misdeeds. These include his family and his co-workers. You have the right to know what these affects are and it is my duty as an investigative reporter to bring this information to you. This is the story behind the facts.
As I wrote in a previous article the tragic death of Rita Morgan brought a larger group of seemingly unrelated events together to be looked at like a puzzle but still with some missing pieces. I took the information that I had gathered to the FBI, specifically the task force assigned to the Trinity Killer case. Once presented with my information the FBI brought in a MMPD Detective, Lt. Maria LaGuerta, the unit commander for the MMPD Homicide Department which also includes the forensics staff and lab. Of course Mr. Dexter Morgan was a member of this forensics group filling the position of the Blood Spatter Analyst. I presented my information once again. This time the FBI added some additional details that they had gathered, in part due to the efforts of the late Frank Lundy, retired FBI Special Agent.
What came out of these meetings was a plan. The information pointing to Dexter Morgan as a person of interest in multiple murders at this point was formidable but not enough to convict. Too much of the information was either circumstantial and or lacking confirmation to be presented as credible evidence. The plan set up a series of steps to bait Dexter Morgan into making a mistake. As I stated in my first article,
"I will use the words of Dexter Morgan once again to illustrate the irony of my articles. His comment was made in response to a detective concerning the Trinity Killer during the MMPD's investigation; paraphrasing here, "This is a little hard to believe that this is the same guy that never made a mistake in 30 years." Dexter Morgan's reply was, "I'm sure he made mistakes. We just weren't looking."
Well, Mr. Dexter Morgan, we are looking now."
These words proved to be prophetic. They were published to be just that. That was one of the first steps in the plan, but not the first. The first step was to obtain several court orders to allow information gathering via several methods. One was a phone tap of course for Dexter Morgan's cell, home, and work phones. Another was a tracking device, several in fact, placed in his vehicle. At this point the FBI could listen in and follow Dexter Morgan without his knowledge. Once these steps were in place I started publishing this series of articles. I intentionally made provoking and slanted remarks to entice Dexter Morgan to take action.
The action the FBI hoped for was to push Dexter Morgan to cover his tracks by destroying any evidence he still had. In this type of situation timing is everything. If the FBI was late or missed an opportunity then all evidence could be lost. My role was to be the antagonist via my articles to cover some of the information that I had gathered, but not all, so that Dexter would feel the need to protect himself. That is exactly what happened.
The FBI followed Dexter Morgan to the rented cargo container then had to get an additional court order to search the container. The people were in place ready to do this ahead of time so that when the moment arrived to make their move they would not waste a single moment. With the search warrant in hand the multi-agency task force moved in while Dexter Morgan was still in the container.
The FBI worked with Lt. Maria LaGuerta to help facilitate the arrest itself knowing that not everyone in her department had been told ahead of time of the ongoing investigation. This was done with the specific intent to keep those closest to Dexter Morgan from letting something slip that would let him know he was being watched.
Once arrested additional search warrants were obtained for Dexter Morgan's home and his work area at the MMPD. All of his case files while he has been a Blood Spatter Analyst for the MMPD were also a part of this seizure of material items and information. One of the ramifications of this investigation is the possibility that every case he worked on may have to be reopened and reviewed which could lead to new trials if not outright dismissals of all charges. This information has already reached the private sector and dozens of attorneys have already filed various motions with the courts and many dozens more are expected if not hundreds more. This part of the investigation, of all his cases that he worked on, could be the single largest review of criminal cases in the history of the United States of America, if not the world. He has worked for the Miami Metro Police as a forensic specialist in blood splatter analysis for over fifteen years. One of the cases back in 2006 that I read the transcript of stated, per his testimony, that he had been involved in 2,103 cases. Add three more years to that count.
This reporter cannot make any assumptions about the real number of cases that will be reopened by the courts and on what grounds but the possibility exists that each one could be and if that were true and if a great many of these cases were overturned there could be hundreds if not thousands of convicted criminals released back into the streets of our city. The cost of this portion of the investigation could run into hundreds of millions of dollars and consume years of court time. Our courts are already full and our city is already strapped for money in these economically troubled times. Add to that the lawsuits asking for restitution. The dollars involved in this backlash effect could cost more than the reopened cases themselves.
In closing for today's article I must say that this is the biggest story I have ever covered and may well be the biggest ever of my career once I retire. My next article will take a closer look at the MMPD and the people that Dexter Morgan has affected. Part of my negotiations with the FBI and the MMPD in doing these articles has given me an insider's pass to interviews and an exclusive first interview with Mr. Dexter Morgan. Of course I will need everyone's permission and cooperation and to that end I remain your eyes and ears to gather then report the truth.
Article 9 – 'Rita Morgan's Tragic Death'