Mom seeks justice in son’s 2007 killing

Eleven years ago, Deborah Morgan recalls she was mailing graduation party invitations for her 18-year-old son, Anthony. He was four weeks away from earning a diploma at Beechcroft High School on the North Side.

Hours later, those plans quickly changed.

She was told she would be planning a funeral. Her son was shot in his 1994 blue Ford Crown Victoria in South Linden. He had worked and saved to buy the car on his own, forgoing Air Jordans that most teens coveted. A gunman opened fire on the car in the 1000 block of Rosewind Drive around 10 p.m. May 13, 2007.

He was struck once in the upper body. He got out of the car and began to run before collapsing near a home in the 1300 block of Saint Clair Avenue.

Morgan spent that Mother’s Day grieving the loss of the younger of her two sons.

“I know everyone describes their loved ones the same ways,” Morgan said. “He was an incredibly loving and loyal person.”

Two young women were in the car with Anthony, including one who lived on Rosewind Drive, and there was a 17-month-old baby he had been caring for that belonged to a friend. He loved cars. He hoped to own his own body shop some day, Morgan said.

The women were later charged with falsification when they weren’t Morgan forthcoming with police. A 29-year-old man was charged with Anthony’s death a year later after his fingerprints were found on Anthony’s car. Prosecutors declined to take the case to a grand jury and the charge was dropped.

The Columbus Division of Police’s cold case unit is now reviewing the files and hoping that with Central Ohio Crime Stoppers offering a reward, someone will come forward, leading to an arrest or indictment.

“I think this is a solvable case,” said cold case unit detective Jay Fulton.

Fulton, who was reviewing the electronic case last week, said witnesses would need to be re-interviewed.

“There are people out there who know who did this,” he said.

Every year, Morgan marks the anniversary of Anthony’s death in a different way. Last year, she had a balloon release at the cemetery. This year, she called Crime Stoppers and asked that Anthony’s case be publicized.

“Every time I go to the cemetery, I talk to him and I pray to God. I’m not giving up until justice is served. I know it’s going to be solved, not in my time, but in His time. The way that God does things, He does it right,” Morgan said. “But somebody out there knows.”

Anyone with information can call 614-461-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online at stopcrime.org. Tips also can be submitted by downloading a free application called P3 Tips onto a smartphone. All tipsters remain anonymous.