Cops say crossing paths with killer cost tourist his life
One was a convicted killer who took up a city’s offer to help the homeless, among the many people staying for free at a hotel during the pandemic. The other was a father traveling to see his relatives in South Florida, making a nighttime stop during the stormy weekend weather.
The two men had little in common, but a series of events brought them together at Rodeway Inn & Suites in Dania Beach. It ended with the killer stabbing the family man to death in Room 3104, authorities say.
The encounter has left Charles Morgan’s family with questions about how and why he came to be killed in his hotel room, presumably by a stranger he had just befriended. “I want justice for my husband,” his wife, Jackie Morgan, cried Friday. “They snuffed his life out.”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested Alphonso Washington on a murder charge, but the agency declined to release the victim’s name, citing Marsy’s Law privacy restrictions.
Traveling to see family
Charles Morgan, 59, of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., was on his way to visit his brother and father in West Palm Beach, said Jackie Morgan. She said police told her he was stabbed to death and there were no signs of self-defense.
Morgan, the father of a 19-year-old girl, was a hobbyist guitarist and master carpenter by trade who built custom houses. He missed his first scheduled flight to Florida on Saturday. When he flew in late, Morgan said he got a cab from the airport and asked him to take him to any hotel, it didn’t matter where.
Morgan checked into the Rodeway Inn at the cabbie’s recommendation at 9:30 p.m. Saturday and called his wife, she said.
He decided to stay at the hotel until his family could pick up him Sunday, because Tropical Storm Isaias was coming, and his father was worried about the weather, according to Jackie Morgan.
Jackie Morgan said police told her that her husband and his killer became friendly, which didn’t shock her.
“My husband is so friendly and such a regular guy, and we live in a community where you say hello to somebody and they say hello back. They befriended each other.”
She said most of his belongings were accounted for, except for his iPad.
Helping the homeless
Washington, 59, was among dozens of homeless people staying at
the Rodeway Inn & Suites as part of a humanitarian effort to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Fort Lauderdale handed out free hotel vouchers in early May to dozens of homeless people to get them off the streets and help curb the spread of the coronavirus. The program ended in mid-July when the city ran out of money. Several of the homeless guests were taken to shelters or chose to return to the streets.
But 38 people, including Washington, stayed behind at the hotel after the political group New Florida Majority agreed to pay for their rooms.
Washington has a lengthy rap sheet: A state records check shows Washington was convicted of killing a young woman in Miami-Dade decades ago. Washington was arrested in the death of Patricia Benjamin, 27, whose naked body was found by children arriving to school early for music club practice in 1985, the Miami Herald reported at the time.
Her body was left outside of a portable classroom at a Homestead elementary school, her clothes in a bucket outside of another classroom. She died of blunt force trauma.
Records show he was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to up to 17 years in prison. He was released after four years, in 1991, according to public records.
His arrest report shows that most recently, he was under conditional release in Miami-Dade County for robbery, and records show he got out of prison in February.
Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom said the city had not conducted background checks on the people given hotel vouchers, and someone who had been in prison would not have been precluded from getting a hotel voucher.
“Our goal was to get people without homes off the street during the pandemic,” he said.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said Friday that the city’s intention “for fear of homeless spreading or contracting the virus,” the city gave them a safe space. While Fort Lauderdale was in charge, they assigned case managers to deal with the homeless residents’ needs, which could include programs such as addiction treatment or psychological issues.
“We didn’t just create a dormitory,” he said, instead the city used full-time staffers who deal regularly with the homeless to try to help them. “We take no responsibility for what happened after we left the site.”
Hanging out at hotel
The hotel’s general manager said that the body was found once cleaning crews let themselves in.
The alleged killer and his victim were seen “hanging out” together at the hotel, said Izzy Fintz, the general manager of the Rodeway Inn & Suites. “When one turned left, the other turned left,” he said, based on what hotel workers saw and cameras recorded. “There is video of them walking around together, being in the lobby, smoking together.”
The surveillance footage showed the victim had let Washington into his room, Fintz said. “There is no forced entry.”
He said because investigators knew who they were looking for, they were called when Washington returned to the hotel. He was found hiding in his hotel room, Fintz said.
He said authorities confiscated the tapes from all 86 cameras for evidence.
Fintz also said that Morgan had received telephone calls from his family, but those calls weren’t picked up when they were forwarded by the front desk.
Fintz is saddened the hotel was dragged into the situation. He said the homeless were housed in a separate section of the hotel, and everyone was tested for COVID-19 for protection.
“No good deed goes unpunished,” he said. “We did it at a distressed rate. Now because of this murder we’re all over the news.”
A family friend of Morgan’s said it was inconceivable that he knew his killer for long, given he was only passing through.
“He was always doting on his wife and family,” said one longtime friend who was at his wedding in November 1999. “If you needed something he would take the shirt off his back.”
Jackie Morgan was her husband Friday.
“He loved me, he spoiled me,” she said. “He cooked every meal. He loved his daughter, he was proud of Mary. His daughter went to college in New York City — he used to wear her Pace [University] hat.” mourning
Staff prepare to administer a rapid antigen coronavirus test Wednesday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
primary diagnosis of the new coronavirus: 1,619 patients, an increase of two since Thursday. Next is Broward with 1,021, a decrease of 19. Palm Beach County has 442, a decrease of 12.
Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 29,730 residents have been hospitalized, according to the state health department. That’s an increase of 2,758 patients since Aug. 1, when the total stood at 26,972.
Deaths
Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida reached 8,051 on Friday. That figure includes 124 people who were not residents. T
he three South Florida counties account for 3,566 deaths, or 44.3% of the state total.
COVID-19 is the state’s deadliest infectious disease. For the entirety of 2019, there were 2,703 deaths attributed to the flu and pneumonia in Florida, records show.
Seniors: At least 3,378 deaths have occurred among residents and staff of nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 42.6% of the state total for coronavirus deaths of residents.
Miami-Dade County has the highest number of long-term care facility deaths, with 625, or 18.5% of the total. Palm Beach County had 372 deaths, or 11%, and Broward accounted for 228 deaths, or 6.7%.
Nationwide: Florida has reported an average of about 155 deaths per day, or 1,084 total over the past seven days. Florida’s death rate ranks 18th in the United States when compared with other states and the District of Columbia, with 36 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s COVID Data Tracker.
New Jersey has the highest death rate with 178 deaths per 100,000. New York, with figures for New York City excluded, has 80 deaths per 100,000. Texas has 26 deaths per 100,000, and California has 25. California and Texas are the most populous states, followed by Florida and New York.
Global view
U.S.: The coronavirus death toll in the United States reached 160,157 as of 10:35 a.m. Friday, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has reported almost 4.9 million cases, the highest total in the world.
Worldwide: The global total reached almost 19.2 million cases Friday, with at least 716,083 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported.
The U.S. has 4.3% of the world’s population, but 25.5% of the world’s cases and 22.4% of the world’s deaths.