John Jefferson
Joshua Russell Morrow (West Virginia State Police). Background: The West Virginia home Morrow is accused of torching after allegedly stabbing to death his fiancee and her mother (WSAZ).
A West Virginia father and convicted murderer is accused of fatally stabbing his fiancee and her mother in his home, then burning the property and taking his 15-month-old daughter to a friend’s house before he went on the run, prompting an Amber Alert that led to his arrest and the baby being found unharmed.
Joshua Russell Morrow, 42, faces murder charges in the deaths of his girlfriend, Britney Brown, 34, and her mother, Irma Brown, 57. He also faces a charge of first-degree arson, according to West Virginia State Police.
Police said the series of events leading to the bloodshed and fire began at 7:54 p.m. on Sunday when a neighbor’s surveillance video allegedly showed Morrow pulling up to his house on Spring Valley Drive in Wayne County and then leaving 28 minutes later.
The complaint said a glow of light coming from the home after he left was “indicative of the increasing intensity of the structure fire,” according to the complaint obtained by local ABC and Fox affiliate WCHS.
At 9:42 p.m., he allegedly dropped off his daughter at a friend’s house in Hamlin, about 40 miles northeast of where her mother and grandmother were killed.
Citing a complaint, local ABC and Fox affiliate WCHS reported witnesses told police Morrow had to come to the home and asked them to take care of his daughter because people were trying to “put him in jail.”
He also allegedly said they were “all gone” and went up in a “blaze,” the station reported the documents saying.
Firefighters responded to the fire at 10:40 p.m. and discovered the dead women in the rubble after the fire was put out.
Police, called in to investigate, found stab wounds and blood stains on the bodies and the deaths were deemed homicides, the complaint said.
Police quickly linked Morrow to the crime. Neighbors tipped off police that the baby and her father were missing. Police also learned through a neighbor’s surveillance video that Morrow was seen in a vehicle as he allegedly drove out of the driveway as the fire spread, local affiliate WSAZ reported, citing court documents.
An Amber Alert was issued to find the baby, and a warrant was put out for Morrow’s arrest in the double murder and arson.
The baby was found safe an hour later at the friend’s home.
Police caught up with Morrow before dawn on Friday in Huntington, about 20 miles north of the crime scene.
Morrow was 18 when he was indicted in 2001 in Kanawha County for murder, local NBC affiliate WSAZ reported, citing court documents. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison before getting out on parole in 2017.
It’s unclear whether Morrow, who did not have custody of his daughter, will face charges related to taking her, but authorities said the case is ongoing. Morrow is being held in the Western Regional Jail without bail. He’s set to appear in court on Monday.
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