Arthur Morgan III, Father Of N.J. Toddler, Tierra Morgan, 2, Found In Shark River, Found GUILTY of Murder.

Father whose toddler was found dead in river strapped into her car seat charged with murder
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New Jersey girl Tierra on court-approved visit with dad
She was found with arm sticking out of water in stream.

By Mark Duell
Last updated at 10:36 PM on 23rd November 2011
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The fugitive father of a two-year-old girl who drowned while strapped into her car seat in a New Jersey park was today charged with murder.

Tierra Morgan, of Lakehurst, was on a court-approved visit with her father Arthur Morgan III, 27, on Monday but he never brought her back.

Now authorities are looking for him after she was found dead on Tuesday by teenagers in Shark River Park, who told park rangers what they saw.

Tragedy: Tierra Morgan, right, of New Jersey, was having a court-approved visit with her father Arthur Morgan III, left, on Monday but he never brought her back

A warrant charging Morgan with child endangerment was issued before the girl's body was found and an autopsy will be done this morning.

But an abduction alert for Tierra was not issued because the state had no reason to believe the child was in danger until she was found dead.

He met the child’s mother Imani Benton, 24, at a supermarket on Monday to take her out for the rest of the day, reported the Asbury Park Press.

Morgan had not visited the child in a month and planned to take her to the park and watch the film ‘Happy Feet Two’ at the cinema, friends said.

He was legally-obliged to return Tierra by 9pm but when he did not come back Ms Benton called police, the girl’s grandmother told the newspaper.

'Student-aged children came across what they were concerned was a child in the creek'

A 15-year-old boy was one of three teenagers who saw her hand sticking out of a river in Shark River Park and realised it was that of a child.

Park rangers then called police, saying ‘student-aged children came across what they were concerned was a child in the creek’.

The creek, about 20 miles north of where she lived, is up to 7ft deep in the area where the body was found, near an overpass 15ft above the creek.

Ms Benton was told on Tuesday night her daughter was dead, just over 24 hours after she had left her with Morgan.

'The detectives came to my door and told me she was dead in the woods. I don’t know what I’m going to do'
Imani Benton

NJ Transit, Amtrak and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey were assisting the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service in a search for Morgan on Wednesday.
Their hunt included train and bus stations, airports, bridges and tunnels.

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Arthur Morgan III will face a Monmouth County judge on charges that he murdered his 2-year-old daughter on Monday, authorities said Friday.

Morgan's initial appearance has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday before Superior Court Judge Thomas F. Scully.

Morgan, a former Eatontown resident, has been charged with murder in connection with the death of 2-year-old Tierra Morgan-Glover on Nov. 21, 2011, in Wall. Morgan was arrested in San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday by members of the United States Marshal’s Service.

Morgan, 27, agreed to waive extradition and is being transferred to New Jersey to face prosecution on this matter and charges of Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Interference with Custody that were signed in Ocean County.

Morgan on Friday was released from the San Diego County Jail, where he had been held since his arrest, according to jail records.

Tierra's family in Lakehurst declined to comment on Morgan's court appearance and said Friday evening that it is unclear if they will attend the proceedings.

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I hope he gets the DP!!!

That mug shot above sickens me. I see indignance in his eyes. I think he should get a lethal injection +plus+ the E-Chair, just to make sure the jerk gets his due!

Wholeheartedly agree!!

Two Year Old Strapped Into Carseat, Then Tossed into Creek
Posted on December 6th, 2011 by Jan Barrett

I have written a lot of articles in the past few years about missing children that ended up dead but I think this case has really gotten to me. It is so sad.

A 27 year old New Jersey man, Arthur Morgan III appeared in front of a judge yesterday facing charges of murder of his two year old daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover. Any murder of a child is bad but when it is from the hand of one of that child’s own parent it is just harder to accept.

Apparently Morgan and his girlfriend had been fighting over their daughter, ending with both sides taking each other into court with the fights. Morgan had been fired from his job a week earlier, but still he made arrangements on November 21 with his girlfriend, Imani Benton to take the child to see a movie about dancing penguins. After a few hours he failed to return his daughter to her mother so Benton notified the police.

Morgan took his daughter and strapped her into her car seat. He then tossed the car seat while she was still in it, off a bridge into a running creek. Before throwing it into the water, he took a spare car jack and attached it to the back of the car seat to make sure the car seat didn’t float, using it as an anchor. He then walked away without a care in the world.

He went to a friend’s house and had a few drinks. He gave away his car and most of his things and then headed for the train station. Tierra’s body was found still in the car seat partially submerged into the cold water in Shark River Park, by some children playing nearby. The area where she was found was not too far from the train station. Her death has been ruled as “homicidal violence, including submersion in water.”

About a week later Morgan was caught in San Diego. He had made his way to California by train and bus and was only a few miles from the Mexican Border. He apparently had planned on never coming back.

While in court yesterday he stood before Superior Court Judge Thomas Scully in his jail jumpsuit appearing to be relaxed. When the judge asked Morgan is he wanted the criminal complaint against him read in court, he answered, “No, that’s fine.” At one point during his appearance he was seen leaning forward and yawning as though he was bored.

The judge placed Morgan on a 10 million dollar bond even though his court appointed attorney tried to argue that amount down. Allison Tucker told the judge, “Despite how many times the prosecutor says he did these things, my client is due the presumption of innocence.”

Richard Incremona, Monmouth County’s deputy first assistant prosecutor, said, “Anyone that could do this to his own flesh and blood, a 2-year old baby, is clearly a danger to others. Morgan has not entered a plea yet to the charges which also includes custody violation and interstate flight to avoid apprehension.

Once again did the Child Protective Authorities fail a child? Well according to the Washington Post the New Jersey child protective authorities had investigated the parents of this child due to all the fighting between them and they failed to find that she was in any danger. Now there are two investigations into whether the state Division of Children and Family Services acted properly are under way.

New Jersey has abolished the death penalty in their state so is Morgan is found guilty on these charges he is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole. Personally I think they should strap him inside a seat and throw him in a river with an anchor to assure that he sinks. For the life of me I will never understand how anyone can do this to anyone else let alone their own child. Reports are that little Tierra was awake, alert and totally helpless. I can only imagine the fear that this poor precious baby had in her. She is now where she will never be in fear again. God is taking care of her now, bless her little heart.

Jan Barrett

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FREEHOLD, N.J. — A man accused of tossing his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while she was still strapped in her car seat was indicted Monday on a murder charge.

Arthur Morgan III of Eatontown has been in jail on $10 million bail since his arrest in San Diego in November.

Tierra Morgan-Glover's body was found partially submerged in a park creek on Nov. 22. Prosecutors say Morgan had asked the girl's mother if he could take Tierra to see a movie about dancing penguins. When he didn't return her after a few hours, the mother called police.

In addition to the murder charge, Morgan is charged with interference with custody and child endangerment.

According to prosecutors, Morgan tossed the car seat, with his daughter strapped snugly inside its protective belts, from an overpass into the chilly water of the creek. To ensure that it sank, he had attached a car jack, the heavy metal contraption used to raise a car's chassis to change a flat tire.

Her cause of death was listed as "homicidal violence, including submersion in water." An autopsy determined that the child was alive when she hit the water.

Morgan's public defender declined to comment Monday.

Should Morgan be convicted, prosecutors say they will seek to have him imprisoned for the rest of his life without parole – the harshest punishment available in New Jersey since state officials instituted a moratorium on new death penalty cases several years ago.

An arraignment date in Superior Court hasn't yet been scheduled.
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Lawyer: Dad doesn't deny tossing toddler in creek
Associated Press By WAYNE PARRY
3 hours ago

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — The lawyer for a man charged with killing his 2-year-old daughter by tossing her into a creek while still strapped into her car seat said Wednesday the real question for the jury is not whether he did it but whether he was thinking clearly that night.

Arthur Morgan III of Eatontown is accused of weighing down the seat with a tire-changing jack so it would sink. He is charged with killing his daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover, in what prosecutors claim was a premeditated, jealous rage because the girl's mother would not get back together with him.

The child's body was found partially submerged in a creek at a Jersey shore park on Nov. 22, 2011, one tiny black and purple sneaker sticking out of the water.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Ryan Moriarty told the jurors their task is to decide "what form of homicide applies to this defendant."

"We're not asking you to presume Arthur Morgan innocent of responsibility," he said. "It is our contention that he did not act knowingly and purposefully on that day but, rather, recklessly. Can your ability to think clearly be affected by lack of sleep, losing your job, staying in your car? By homelessness, by the end of a major relationship in your life?"

It matters in terms of the sentence he could receive. If convicted of "knowing and purposeful" murder, Morgan could be sent to prison for life without the possibility of parole. If convicted of a lesser charge, such as reckless manslaughter, he could get a sentence with the possibility of parole in as little as five years.

"Was Tierra thrown off a bridge, or was she placed there, still alive, for God to determine the outcome?" Moriarty said.

Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Jordan Williams told the jury that Morgan was driven by extreme jealousy and anger toward the girl's mother, Imani Benton. She had refused to let him see Tierra the previous weekend because he was homeless and living in his car, Williams told the jury.

And Morgan suspected Benton had a new boyfriend, Williams said.

Despite her initial reluctance, Benton eventually agreed to let Morgan take Tierra to see "Happy Feet 2," a movie about a dancing penguin. As he drove away with the girl strapped in the pink car seat that Benton had provided, he yelled at Benton, angry over the missed visit and suspicious she was seeing someone else, the prosecutor said.

Instead of taking Tierra to the movies, he drove around for four hours, calling her mother 57 times on a cellphone before making his way to Shark River Park in Wall Township, about 20 miles north of Benton's Lakehurst home.

Authorities say he attached a car jack to the back of her car seat and tossed her into the chilly waters of a creek inside the park. Then he went to a liquor store, bought alcohol for rum and cokes that he downed with a friend and caught a train to begin his escape to San Diego, where he was tracked down and arrested days later by a fugitive task force.

"This is Arthur Morgan," Williams told the jury. "He had a beautiful, adorable daughter. He no longer has a daughter because he decided to kill her. He murdered her by dumping her in a creek. She was just a little girl. He dumped her in that dirty, cold stream and just walked away. She went into that water wide awake, alert and helpless, old enough to know what was happening to her and unable to do anything about it."

The prosecutor said Morgan gave a statement to authorities in San Diego after his capture indicating "he could have done it that way" when asked if he had tossed the child into the creek.

Asked why he attached a tire jack to the car seat, Morgan replied, "To keep her where she was," Williams told the jury.

"Like an anchor?" the detective asked.

"Yeah," Morgan replied, according to police. "Like a ball and chain."

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He should get the DP!!!

FREEHOLD — According to his lawyer, Arthur Morgan III’s mind was clouded by lack of sleep and worries about a loss of a job and homelessness when he placed his 2½-year-old daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover, strapped in her car seat in a Shark River Park creek in Wall to let God decide her fate.

But that’s not what the prosecution told the jury during opening arguments in the murder trial of Morgan, 29, of Eatontown. They told a tale of a man who planned ahead by pawning jewelry to finance a getaway to “sunny California,” tossed her off a bridge in order to wrest control of the girl’s life from her mother, and said to detectives, when asked if he had tethered the metal car jack to the child’s car seat so it could serve as an anchor, “Yeah, like a ball and chain.”

“The state intends to show he didn’t just leave her in that stream in shallow water so she could die,” Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Jordan Williams told a jury of 14 people. “The state will show he threw her from the bridge 20 feet below.”

Ryan Moriarty, deputy assistant public defender, questioned the prosecution’s assertion that Morgan intended to murder his daughter. He said Morgan’s state of mind was clouded by lack of sleep, loss of a job, worry, homelessness, the end of a relationship with Tierra’s mother, and having to sleep in his car at a Garden State Parkway rest stop.

“Was Tierra thrown off a bridge or placed there and left for God to determine?” Moriarty asked the jury.

'Cold, calculated'
“This is cold, calculated logic,” Williams said. “This is a man who put this young child into the stream, knowing that no one could find her under that bridge, knowing that no one could save her, knowing that she couldn’t extricate herself.”

Moriarty’s opening argument was about five minutes, in sharp contrast to Williams’ hour-long presentation in which he outlined the state’s version of the events leading up to Tierra’s death and what happened afterward.

Tierra wore a pink Old Navy pea coat on the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2011 when her father picked her up from her mother in the parking lot of the Dollar General store in Lakehurst for an afternoon outing, Williams said. Morgan was supposedly going to take his daughter to see dancing penguins in “Happy Feet II,” the assistant prosecutor said.

The girl wore black tights, a “Hello Kitty” hat and black Nike sneakers with purple accents in a child’s size 8, when she walked with her mother to meet her father that day, Williams said.

“She was excited, of course,” Williams said. “She was on her way to see her father – the father whom she loved, the father whom she trusted very much.”

Tierra carried with her a “Dora the Explorer” bag, a juice box and a green-and-gray LeapPad that she played with in the back seat of her father’s white Cadillac as he drove around for hours instead of taking her to the movies, Williams said.

The following day, a ranger at Shark River Park in Wall, alerted by teenage boys who saw a pink car seat in a stream, made his way into the water and “saw something no one should have to see – a little black shoe with purple accents, Nike, child’s size 8, attached to a little ankle,” Williams said.

An autopsy revealed she was alive when cast into the water, authorities said.

Her mother, Imani Benton, reported the child missing earlier that day after Morgan failed to return her to Benton’s Lakehurst home following a visit a day earlier.

Before the murder, Morgan had pawned some jewelry and cashed his last paycheck to obtain money for his getaway, Williams said.

Minutes after he threw the child into the creek, Morgan gathered Tierra’s belongings into her “Dora the Explorer” bag, tossed them into a Dumpster and went to a liquor store with a friend, with whom he consumed some rum and coke, Williams said. He also told his friend he wanted to sell his white Cadillac, the assistant prosecutor said. That friend would later drive Morgan to the Asbury Park train station, from where he began a a journey that would take him to San Diego, Williams said.

'Dirty stream'
“This defendant took his beautiful little daughter, strapped her in a car seat, locked her down, attached that heavy, metal carjack to it and dumped her in the dirty stream, and then made his way to California,” Williams said.

The state presented three witnesses before the luncheon break. Sgt. Sean O’Halloran of the Wall police testified he was in Shark River Park on an unrelated operation on Nov. 21, 2011, when he noticed a white Cadillac similar to Morgan’s parked there.

Travis and Carol Abel, a husband and wife, testified that they saw a light-colored car on the narrow bridge in the park that night. The man was hunched over, rummaging through the backseat of the vehicle, they said. The next night, when the road through the park was closed by police, the couple said they told authorities about seeing the car on the bridge the night before.

“We had a discussion: ‘That’s odd, someone parked on the bridge that’s narrow,’ ” Carol Abel said.

Investigators later tracked Morgan to San Diego, where agents with the U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended him on Nov. 29, 2011.

The state’s case against Morgan is being presented by Marc LeMieux, first assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, and Williams. Morgan is being represented by Jeffrey Coghlan, deputy public defender for Monmouth County, and Moriarty.

The trial is before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci Jr.

Morgan could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted of the toddler’s murder. He remains in the Monmouth County jail, unable to post $10 million bail.

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video of opening statements..above link.

Testimony: Tot wasn't only target in NJ killing
Mar. 13, 2014 10:59 PM

A man accused of fatally throwing his 2-year-old daughter, still strapped in her car seat and tied to a car jack, into a New Jersey creek said he planned for the girl’s mother to accompany him the night the little girl died, according to a letter read Thursday at his trial.[/size]

“You should have came with us,” Arthur Morgan III wrote in the jailhouse letter to his ex-girlfriend, Imani Benton. “It would have been so different, I’m sure. That was the plan, to go as a family.”

Morgan is on trial in the November 2011 death of the couple’s daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover. The toddler’s body was found in a creek in a Jersey shore park.

Benton testified that she believes she, too, would be dead if she had gone along with Morgan on an outing that was supposed to be a father-daughter trip to a movie.

Benton tearfully described to the jury how she learned of the girl’s death, hours after her father angrily sped off with their daughter in his car.

She called police after Morgan was four hours overdue bringing Tierra home.

Police came and took a report. Hours later, they returned, this time with an FBI agent who asked about a specific item of clothing Tierra was wearing, a pink Hello Kitty hat.

“I never told police about the hat,” she testified. “When they asked, I knew something was wrong. I started hyperventilating, I had a panic attack and I would end up in the hospital.”

Morgan, 29, of Eatontown, is charged with killing his daughter in what prosecutors claim was a premeditated, jealous rage because Benton would not get back together with him. Benton testified that days before the child’s death, she broke up with Morgan for the last time.

Morgan’s state of mind the day of his daughter’s death will be a key part of the case. In his opening statement, defense attorney Ryan Moriarty indicated Morgan would not deny responsibility for Tierra’s death. He told the jurors their task is to decide “what form of homicide applies to this defendant.”

The letter Morgan wrote from the San Diego County Jail also accuses his ex’s family of depravity including incest and child rape, but that portion of the letter was read outside of the jury’s presence.

“Incest, child rape, drinking. No, no, no. Not my baby. Not our baby,” he wrote.

The letter did not specify which family members Morgan accused of abuse, nor did it say against whom the alleged abuse was carried out. Superior Court Judge Anthony Mellaci Jr. refused to let the jury hear it, noting that both sides in the case agreed before the trial not to raise those accusations.

In her testimony, Benton described ending up in a hospital, where an officer showed her a photo and asked if she could identify the person in it. The photo showed Tierra’s lifeless body, her eyes closed, Benton said.

One of the items the child was wearing when she left with her father that morning was a necklace, Benton testified. It had a pendant that read, “Daddy’s Little Girl.”

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Pink jacket caught eye of teens who saw toddler's body

On the third day of Arthur Morgan III's trial in Freehold, N.J., the discovery of Tierra Morgan-Glover's body found in a stream, strapped into her car seat and weighted down with a car jack, is detailed. Thomas P. Costello, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
Kathleen Hopkins, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press 8:43 p.m. EDT March 19, 2014
031814tierra-arthur-morgan

FREEHOLD, N.J. — A ninth-grader found the body of a toddler in a creek more than two years ago as he walked from school with two friends, the teen said Tuesday in court.

The toddler's father, Arthur Morgan III, is accused of tossing his 2½-year-old off a bridge in Shark River Park in Wall Township, N.J., the day before. Tierra Morgan-Glover was discovered still strapped to her car seat, which had been weighted down with a metal car jack.

"I looked over to them (his friends), 'Hey guys, there's something in the water,'" testified Joshua Sanford, now 17, of Neptune, N.J. "They both looked over and said, 'Oh, my gosh! What is it?' I don't know."

Sanford said he had looked over the bridge into the water on Nov. 22, 2011, because he often fished at that spot. But what he saw was so unusual that the teens waited for a park ranger who was heading toward them to ask him to check out the strange object.

"At first he shivered because it was cold water in November," Joshua said. "I could see his face just getting scared or sad."

Then the ranger said to Joshua and his friends, "I believe you boys discovered a dead body, and I need you boys to go sit down while I call the police," the teen said.

Ranger James Gregory saw a bright pink jacket swirling in the water, so he waded in, he testified.

"I saw a foot that kind of would fluctuate and come up to the surface with the current," Gregory said. "I saw a shoe. ... I believe it was purple, black and purple, maybe."

Gregory said he went back to the spot where he had left his phone and called his supervisor, asking him to call Wall Township and Neptune police.

At one point during Gregory's testimony, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Jordan Williams displayed a photograph of the toddler, strapped in the car seat, her eyes closed and her head leaning to one side. Gregory identified the image as that of the toddler pulled from the stream that day.

With that, the child's mother, Imani Benton, abruptly got up from her seat in the front row and left the courtroom for a while.

Also testifying Tuesday were the police officers who retrieved the girl in her car seat from the creek.

Vincent O'Rourke, a Wall Township detective who is now retired, and Patrolman Douglas Borst both told the jury of the difficulty they had retrieving the body from the middle of the stream. Both described having to walk down a slippery, steep embankment covered with brush and briars to try to hook the car seat in deep water in the middle of the stream with a pole that firefighters had given them.

O'Rourke said once he was able to hook the pole onto the car seat, both he and Borst were needed to pull it to shore because it was so heavy. Initially, O'Rourke said he thought the weight came from water-logged clothing but they soon saw the real reason — the car jack.

"It was like an anchor," Borst said.

Monmouth County prosecutors Marc LeMieux and Jordan Williams say Morgan drowned Tierra after he picked her from her mother, telling Benton that they were going to see the penguin movie Happy Feet Two. He is on trial for murder in Monmouth County Superior Court.

Public defenders Jeffrey Coghlan and Ryan Moriarty do not deny Morgan's responsibility for his daughter's death but say he may be guilty only of manslaughter for recklessly placing Tierra in the stream. They maintain that Morgan, his judgment clouded by homelessness, lack of sleep and loss of a job, placed the girl there to let God decide her fate.

The stream was running fast that day, faster than the fastest swimmers, other testimony showed. Rather than throwing Tierra from the bridge, the creek's current could have moved little girl and her car seat to where it was found. But O'Rourke and Borst said the car seat remained stationery in the water until they were able to retrieve it because of its anchor.

Tierra's mother reported her missing the night she was supposed to be brought home from the movies, and the toddler's father also was nowhere to be found. After a weeklong manhunt, Morgan was captured in San Deigo, almost 3,000 miles from where his daughter's body was found.

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Video of testimony at above link.

Dad charged with killing girl, 2, suggested TV movie after he was arrested
Murdered tot's mom testifies she was possible target, too

Written by
Kathleen Hopkins | @KHopkinsapp

FREEHOLD — After he was arrested for the murder of their 2½-year-old girl, Tierra Moran-Glover, Arthur Morgan III sent a letter to Tierra’s mother Imani Benton from the San Diego jail, suggesting a television movie would be made about their story, Benton testified.

“We’re famous, infamous,” Benton, reading from the letter in testimony at Morgan’s trial Thursday, said he wrote in it. “Don’t just let anyone play me in the TV movie. Write the book, baby. I love you.”

Morgan had been captured in San Diego after a cross-country manhunt to find him. He is being tried this week for murdering his daughter, accused of dumping her strapped in her car seat off a bridge into a Shark River Park stream in Wall.

He also referred to a video of Tierra’s funeral, including that he saw Benton trip coming out of the church, she said. “The day of Tierra’s funeral, my legs actually gave out,” Benton explained.

“You looked amazing coming out of church – my wife’s wedding day,” Benton said the letter went on to say.

LeMieux asked her what he was referring to. “Tierra’s funeral,” Benton responded.

She said there was a picture that Morgan had drawn, contained in the letter, and underneath it, he wrote the words, “Daddy’s Girl.” The day Tierra was handed off to her father, she was wearing a gold necklace with a pendant that said “Daddy’s Little Girl,” Benton testified earlier in court Thursday.

Morgan, in the letter, also referred to the day Tierra died, she said. “You should have come with us,” Benton said he wrote in the letter. “It could have been so different, I’m sure. That was the plan – for us to go as a family.”

LeMieux asked the witness what she took that to mean. “If I was to go to the movies, that we wouldn’t have gone to the movies, but we all would have died,” Benton replied.

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Arthur Morgan dreamed of supporting his family, but spent money on Gucci clothes, witness says

Written by
Kathleen Hopkins | @KHopkinsapp

FREEHOLD — In the months leading up to the death of his toddler daughter, Arthur Morgan III had visions of his family living together, his girlfriend staying home to take care of their baby, and him supporting the family, according to a co-worker who worked alongside him for six months.

The problem was, Morgan, who was homeless, would get paid on Tuesdays and be broke by Friday, and he wasn’t spending his money on his family, said Tulio Bazan, who worked alongside Morgan as a machine operator at Creative Building Supplies in Lakewood in 2011.

Morgan, now 29, was fired Nov. 15, 2011, six days before he picked up his 2½-year-old daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover, from her mother in Lakehurst for a visit. Prosecutors charge he then brought the child to Shark River Park in Wall, strapped her into a car safety seat, weighed down the seat by tethering a metal car jack to it, and then threw the contraption off a bridge and into a creek. His murder trial began last week.

“He liked to spend his money on clothes,” Bazan testified at Morgan’s trial. “He showed me the Gucci sunglasses, a wallet, Gucci, and the shoes, Gucci.”

The Gucci wallet cost $400, or almost a week’s pay, Bazan said Morgan told him. Bazan said he figured the other items cost just as much.

Arguments with Tierra's mother
Morgan spent most of his time on the phone, fighting with the baby’s mother, Imani Benton, Bazan said. The arguments, except for one, were not over Morgan being able to see Tierra, Bazan testified. Instead, they were about Morgan trying to control the child’s mother.

“He told me his girlfriend wanted to work and his girlfriend wanted to go to school,” but Morgan wouldn’t let her, saying he wanted to support her, Bazan testified.

“I told him, ‘You want this, Artie, but you cash your check on Tuesday, and Friday, you have no money. How will you support them?’ ” Bazan said. “ ‘How will you get your family back if you spend your money?’ ”

Morgan already had split up with Benton by the time Bazan started working with him in May 2011, Bazan said.

Morgan told Bazan he was going to court to get full custody of Tierra. But Bazan told him, “Artie, no judge in the world will ever give you custody of a child, because you’re living in a car,” Bazan testified.

Morgan was fired from the job he had held for almost a year because he was habitually late and talked on the phone when he was supposed to be working, Dale Hugo, general manager of Creative Building Supplies, told the jury.

Morgan’s lawyer has not denied Morgan put his daughter in the creek, but says Morgan, troubled by the loss of his job and homelessness, put her there alive to let God decide her fate, rather than throwing her off the bridge, as prosecutors say.

Within hours of the act, Morgan was seen making his way to Newark Penn Station, where he talked his way onto a bus bound for Richmond, Va., without a ticket, according to testimony of other witnesses on Wednesday, some of whom told the jury that Morgan’s demeanor was normal and polite.

Just before 8 p.m. on Nov. 21, 2011, Morgan was seen getting off an NJ Transit train from Asbury Park to change trains in Long Branch for a northbound train to Newark, according to testimony from NJ Transit Police Sgt. John Sullivan.

After the train pulled into Newark Penn Station at 9:16 p.m., Morgan is seen making a purchase at a liquor store in the station before heading to the Greyhound bus terminal outside, according to slides obtained from video surveillance at the station that Sullivan reviewed and narrated for the jurors.

Talking his way onto a bus to Richmond
There, Morgan spoke to Orin Lupe, a Greyhound customer service agent, Sullivan said.

Lupe testified that the man, identified as Morgan on the videotape, approached him that night and told him he wanted to take a bus to Richmond, Va., and from there, he planned to head to San Diego. Lupe noted it was Thanksgiving week and told the man all of the buses were sold out, he testified.

Lupe said he suggested that Morgan wait for a Richmond-bound bus that was due from New York after 10 p.m. to see if there were any empty seats on it.

When that bus pulled into Newark Penn Station, Morgan approached the bus driver. He explained he had arrived at the bus station after it had closed, so he was unable to get a ticket, but he wanted to get on it anyway, Richard Lee Brockwell Jr., the regular bus driver on the Greyhound route from New York to Richmond, testified.

Brockwell said he told Morgan he would see if there were any extra seats on the bus after he had loaded on the people who had tickets. Then he forgot about Morgan until a homeless man who frequents the bus station reminded Brockwell about him, Brockwell said.

The homeless man knocked on the bus door as Brockwell was about to pull out and said, “You gonna take this guy who doesn’t have a ticket?” Brockwell testified.

The bus driver said he had some empty seats, and for Morgan to get on, he said.

The bus pulled out of the terminal with Morgan on it just before 10:15 p.m., Sullivan testified.

Morgan got off the bus when it reached Richmond about 4:20 a.m. the next day, Brockwell said.

“He was very polite, normal,” Brockwell said of Morgan when questioned about his demeanor. “There was nothing unusual about him.”

Morgan was captured in San Diego a week later, following a nationwide manhunt.

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Oh my gosh it's so hard to read and understand that he weighted her down to insure she would drown...

WARNING GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION!!!
How Long Does It Take To Drown?
Answer:
Drowning is a process, not a single event. That is, drowning takes a rather extended time period, rather than an instantaneous action.

At its most basic level, drowning is suffocation, depriving the body of oxygen cells need to function. From a medical standpoint, the most critical cells are brain cells; other cells can die, but if enough brain cells die, then the body dies, no matter how much of the rest of the body's remains alive.

For this discussion, let's assume that drowning starts at the moment the person takes their last breath of air, NOT when they fall in the water. After that moment, the bloodstream does not get any new oxygen. So, as it circulates, cells remove the last of the existing oxygen from the blood; this process takes a handful of seconds (perhaps as many as a dozen). After the bloodstream's oxygen is depleted, cells switch from aerobic (with oxygen) to anaerobic (without oxygen) chemical processes to get their needed energy. Depending on the physical fitness of the individual, a person can burn anaerobically for up a couple of minutes at full speed; think about the time that you can hold your breath - that's the time you are burning anaerobically at full speed.

After this time, the body recognizes that it is in immediate danger, and begins to shut down various functions, in an attempt to conserve any stored energy. In the brain, this shutdown quickly leads to loss of consciousness. The body continues to slow down as much as it can, while still burning reserves anaerobically to provide energy. Eventually, the body runs out of reserves, and cells die. When enough brain cells die, the person is dead.

Restoring oxygen to the person at any stage above can revived them, though, if the person has been without air for an extended time, brain cells may have died, which is permanent. That is, recovery may be possible, but brain damage is permanent.

Assuming a normally fit person, otherwise conscious and uninjured, who is drowning in warm (21C/70F) water, I would estimate 2-3 minutes before full loss of consciousness, and 5-10 minutes before brain damage, and 15 minutes before irrecoverable death.

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This is one of those cases that is extremely tough to comprehend/read.

Detective re-enacts tossing toddler in stream

Kathleen Hopkins, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press 12:33 a.m. EDT March 28, 2014

FREEHOLD, N.J. -- A detective walked down a steep, slippery embankment, carrying an 8-pound car-safety seat with a 39-pound sandbag strapped in it and a 5-pound metal car jack tethered to the back, and he placed it in a creek.

The detective repeated the activity, but this time, he dropped the 52-pound object into the stream from its bank.

Then he conducted a third experiment: He tossed a second car seat, identically weighed down with a 39-pound sandbag and a 5-pound car jack into the stream from a bridge 20 feet above.

Only one of the actions resulted in the child safety seat winding up in the same location where the body of 2 1/2 year-old Tierra Morgan Glover was found on Nov. 22, 2011, strapped in her car seat with an automobile jack attached to it. That was the act of tossing it over a guard rail from the bridge and into the stream, the detective who conducted the experiment told a jury on Thursday.

Ryan Muller, of the prosecutor's crime scene unit, explained the experiment he conducted in Shark River Park on Dec. 2, 2011, to a jury that will consider murder and other charges against the child's father, Arthur Morgan III, 29, who was homeless but last had an address in Eatontown.

Prosecutors allege that Morgan picked up Tierra from her mother in Lakehurst on Nov. 21, 2011, took her to Shark River Park in Wall, strapped her into her car seat, attached the car jack to the seat and then threw the contraption from a bridge into the stream. Public defenders claim that Morgan walked down the embankment with Tierra in the car seat and merely placed her in the stream to let God decide her fate.

On Wednesday, the jury viewed a videotaped statement of Morgan telling detectives he left Tierra in the stream, but that he blacked out and didn't know how she got there. He did tell detectives on the videotape that he had tethered the car jack to the seat to keep Tierra in the stream, "like a ball and chain."

Before Muller got on the witness stand, a land surveyor for Monmouth County testified the water at the spot where Tierra's body was found in the stream was about knee deep 1 foot, 10 inches.

Muller, testifying about the experiment, said child safety seats identical to the one Tierra was found in were used, as well as automobile jacks identical to the one that was tethered to Tierra's seat. The 39-pound sandbags were put into the seats for the experiment because that was what Tierra weighed when an autopsy was performed on her, Muller said.

First Assistant Prosecutor Marc LeMieux asked Muller how long it took for the object to sink when he tossed it from the bridge.

"It was immediate," Muller responded. "It never had time to float or bob. It just entered the water and stayed underwater."

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Originally published: April 1, 2014 6:19 AM
Updated: April 1, 2014 7:00 PM

The trial for a Monmouth County man charged with tossing his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while still strapped into her car seat continued Tuesday. (4/1/14)
FREEHOLD - The defense has rested in the trial of a Monmouth County man charged with tossing his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while still strapped into her car seat.
Arthur Morgan III, of Eatontown, did not take the stand in his own defense.
Morgan is charged with killing his daughter, Tierra Morgan-Glover. He is accused of weighing down the seat with a tire-changing jack so that the seat would sink. He has admitted his role in her death.

Morgan's attorney, Jeff Coghlan, asked the jury to consider the lesser charge of manslaughter instead of murder, adding that his homelessness, unemployment and lack of sleep contributed to his state of mind at the time of the crime.
"There was not rational thinking or solutions going on in Arthur's mind during these days. He was distraught, he was sinking out of focus, he was not clearly thinking right," Coghlan says.
Attorneys have argued that Morgan placed his daughter in the Wall Township creek as a way to cleanse her like in a baptismal, leaving her fate to God. But the prosecution called that nonsense, saying Morgan purposely and knowingly murdered his daughter.
"It's not reckless," says prosecutor Marc Lemieux. "He's a narcissist and he knows exactly what's going on and he's trying to make himself look better."
Prosecutors argued that Morgan's attempts to contact News 12 New Jersey to tell his side of the story indicated that he only cared about himself.

The child's body was found by a group of teenagers in the creek inside Shark River Park. The girl's mother reported the child missing after Morgan failed to return her following a trip to see a movie. An autopsy determined that the child was alive when she hit the water.

The prosecution is expected to call its final witnesses in the coming days.

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must see video above.

Agree and have little doubt he'll get the max sentence.

Originally published: April 1, 2014 6:19 AM
Updated: April 2, 2014 5:52 PM

FREEHOLD - Jurors considering the case of a Monmouth County man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter by tossing her into a creek, still strapped into her car seat, will resume deliberations Thursday.

Prosecutors in Monmouth County say Arthur Morgan III killed Tierra Morgan-Glover in a jealous rage in 2011 after the child's mother broke off their engagement.

The defense rested their case Tuesday without calling any witnesses.

The jury asked the judge to replay two parts of Morgan's videotaped interview with detectives before retiring for the evening. Specifically, the jurors wanted to see the part where the detectives read Morgan his Miranda rights. They also reviewed when Morgan described how he put his daughter in the creek.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Coghlan has argued Morgan dreamed of reuniting the family but that desire turned into an obsession when Morgan was not thinking clearly. He has asked the jury to consider a charge of manslaughter, which would mean they saw Morgan's actions as "reckless."

Morgan could face life in prison if convicted of "knowing and purposeful" murder. If convicted of a lesser form of homicide, he could be freed in as little as five years.

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Originally published: April 3, 2014 12:22 PM
Updated: April 3, 2014 3:25 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FREEHOLD, N.J. - A man who tossed his 2-year-old daughter into a creek while she was still strapped into her car seat was convicted Thursday of her murder and smirked as he was led out of court in handcuffs to spend what will probably be the rest of his life behind bars.

Jurors found Arthur Morgan III guilty of killing Tierra Morgan-Glover, whose body was pulled from a creek in a park near the Jersey shore in November 2011. They also found him guilty of child endangerment and interference with custody.

Because the jurors determined that Morgan's actions were "knowing or purposeful," the 29-year-old is likely to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors had said he killed Tierra to get back at her mother for breaking off their engagement. They said he weighed down her pink car seat with a tire jack to ensure it would sink. Her body was pulled from a creek in Wall Township, about 20 miles from her Lakehurst home, with one tiny black and purple sneaker sticking out of the water.
"We finally got justice for Tierra Morgan-Glover," said Marc LeMieuxm, first assistant Monmouth County prosecutor.
"God bless her," added county prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni. "I hope she's in a better place."

The girl's relatives gasped when Morgan smirked broadly as he was led out of the courtroom after his conviction, his hands and feet shackled. Immediately after leaving the courtroom, several of them collapsed into sobs, with one woman wailing, "Oh, God!"

Defense lawyers had asked the jury to convict Morgan of reckless manslaughter, which could have seen him freed in as little as five years.

Morgan's state of mind the day of his daughter's death was a key part of the case. In his opening statement, defense attorney Ryan Moriarty indicated Morgan would not deny responsibility for Tierra's death but told jurors their task was to decide "what form of homicide applies to this defendant."

After her death, Morgan fled to California and was arrested several days later in San Diego, with a newspaper account of the killing in his pocket.

The Monmouth County medical examiner said the toddler died from "homicidal violence, including submersion in water." He said the girl may have been conscious for three minutes after starting to breathe in water and could have remained alive for nearly five minutes after that.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Coghlan told jurors Tuesday that Morgan believed Tierra's mother's family wasn't raising her properly and that Morgan wasn't thinking clearly at the time Tierra died.

On Wednesday, jurors asked the judge for a second glimpse of Morgan's video statement to police in San Diego. In the video, a detective asked Morgan if he said anything to his daughter before leaving her to die in the creek.
"I told her I loved her, and I gave her a kiss," Morgan replied.
Morgan insisted his daughter was not dead when he left the area.
"I still heard some noises," he said. "I heard her. She sounded like she was crying."

He said he drove away and never returned.

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