West Virginia Man Attacked Fiancee, Her Mother, Burnt Home, and Fled With 15-month-old Daughter: Police

West Virginia Man Attacked Fiancee, Her Mother, Burnt Home, and Fled With 15-month-old Daughter: Police

WPBN: A convicted murderer from West Virginia is accused of killing his fiancée and her mother with a knife, setting his house on fire, and taking his 15-month-old daughter to a friend’s house before fleeing. This sparked an Amber Alert, which resulted in his arrest and the baby’s safe recovery.

In connection with the murders of his girlfriend Britney Brown, 34, and her mother Irma Brown, 57, Joshua Russell Morrow, 42, is charged with murder. West Virginia State Police have also charged him with first-degree arson.

According to police, the sequence of events that resulted in the carnage and fire started at 7:54 p.m. on Sunday when a neighbor’s surveillance footage purportedly showed Morrow pulling up to his Wayne County home on Spring Valley Drive and departing 28 minutes later.

The complaint, which local news outlet WCHS received, said that a glow of light emanating from the house after he left was “indicative of the increasing intensity of the structure fire.”

He is said to have dropped his daughter off to a friend’s home in Hamlin, approximately 40 miles northeast of the murder sites of her mother and grandmother, at 9:42 p.m.

According to WCHS, which cited a complaint, witnesses told police that Morrow needed to visit the house and beg them to watch his daughter because someone was attempting to “put him in jail.”

According to the station, he also claimed added they were “all gone” and vanished in a “blaze.” After the fire was extinguished, firefighters found the deceased women among the debris when they arrived on the scene at 10:40 p.m.

According to the complaint, when police were summoned to investigate, they discovered bloodstains and stab wounds on the bodies, and the deaths were determined to be homicides.

16-Year-Old Arrested for Killing Four Family Members in New Mexico House

Morrow was immediately connected to the crime by the police. Police received a tip from neighbors that the infant and her father were missing.

According to court documents cited by local affiliate WSAZ, police also discovered from a neighbor’s surveillance footage that Morrow was spotted in a car as he reportedly sped out of the driveway as the fire spread.

A warrant was issued for Morrow’s arrest in connection with the double murder and arson, and an Amber Alert was issued to locate the baby.

Woman in New Jersey Arrested for Bludgeoning Her Mother to Death

An hour later, the baby was discovered safely at the friend’s house. Morrow was apprehended by police near Huntington, approximately 20 miles north of the scene of the incident, before daybreak on Friday.

In 2001, WSAZ claimed, using court documents, that Morrow was indicted for murder in Kanawha County at the age of 18. After entering a guilty plea to second-degree murder, he was given a 40-year prison term before being released on parole in 2017.

More Coverage:

REFERENCE

profile
With more than two years of expertise in news and analysis, Eileen Stewart is a seasoned reporter. Eileen is a respected voice in this field, well-known for her sharp reporting and insightful analysis. Her writing covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to culture and more.