A West Virginia man was charged Friday with the murders of his fiancee and her mother and setting fire to his own house to hide the crime.
Joshua Russell Morrow, 42, took his 15-month-old daughter from the home, dropped the baby off at a friend’s, and then went on the run, WCHS reported.
An Amber Alert was issued for the baby after emergency after neighbors told police they’d seen Morrow leaving the home in Wayne County on Sunday but didn’t know the child’s location. The baby was found about an hour later, and the Amber Alert was canceled.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators found the remains of Britney Brown, 34, and her mother, 57-year-old Erma Brown, in the burnt home, which belonged to Morrow. As investigators were removing the remains, they found what appeared to be stab wounds and blood stains, and the state Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed that both women had multiple stab wounds to their torsos.
Britney Brown was the baby’s mother.
The affidavit says that Morrow was seen on a neighbor’s surveillance camera arriving at the home just before 8 p.m. on December 15 and leaving about 30 minutes later. According to the document, a glow of light coming from the home after Morrow left was “indicative of the increasing intensity of the structure fire.”
Morrow arrived at his friends’ house in Hamlin at about 9:42 p.m., leaving the child and asking the friends to “help take care of his daughter.”
Crews were called to the fire about an hour later.
Morrow was found and arrested in Huntingdon on Friday. Investigators found two knives and a handgun in his vehicle when it was found in Hamlin, WSAZ reported.
According to WCHS, Morrow was convicted of a murder in Kanawha County in 2002 and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He served 15 years.
He has been charged with two counts of murder and one count of arson and is due in court for a preliminary hearing on Monday.
