Gastonia, NC: Man charged in girlfriend's murder says he tried to save her life

Corey Friedman
2009-12-15 18:04:54
Lindsey Morgan said he lunged for the rifle, but before he could wrestle the gun away, his girlfriend had fired the shot that would end her life.

Jurors in Morgan’s first-degree murder trial on Tuesday watched a video recording of his first interview with police detectives after the death of 27-year-old Stephanie Belk King. The 33-year-old is accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, but he maintains she committed suicide.

In the interview, Morgan tells Gaston County Police detectives Reggie Bloom and John Ferguson that King was threatening to kill herself because he planned to leave her and take the couple’s 6-month-old child.

“I was telling her it’s over,” he said. “I was ready to call it quits, and I was taking our baby with me. I come back from the bathroom, and she had the gun up to her head.”

Morgan said he tried “calling her bluff,” challenging her to pull the trigger because he didn’t believe she would shoot herself. Finally, he said, he tried to grab the gun.

“If I’m not mistaken, when I went for the gun, that’s when she shot herself,” Morgan said in the 2007 interview.

King was shot in the face in a bedroom of the mobile home she and Morgan shared on W.H. Kiser Road south of Lincolnton in rural Gaston County. Six children — four hers and two his — were in the home.

Crime scene photos projected to the jury during police testimony Tuesday showed a rifle lying on a bare mattress soaked with bloodstains and a Confederate flag hanging from the wall behind the bed. Specks of blood dotted the wood paneling on the wall beside the mattress.

Morgan called 911 and told a dispatcher that his girlfriend had shot herself. He was cradling her body when police and paramedics arrived.

“Why in the hell would somebody want to shoot someone and then want to hold her and love her?” Morgan said in the police interview.

Police say the evidence contradicts Morgan’s claim, but he refused to admit guilt or change his story when pressured by the detectives. Police told him that King was in emergency surgery and had identified Morgan as the one who had pulled the trigger. They also said King’s children refuted his claim that one of the kids had accompanied him when he fired his gun earlier in the day.

“Between what the kids are saying and what Stephanie’s saying, it’s not looking good for you,” Bloom told him.

Morgan was adamant that he was telling the truth. He was skeptical that his girlfriend had blamed him for the shooting.

“I don’t see how she’s going to be able to talk or comprehend what’s going on right now,” Morgan said.

Bloom admitted on the witness stand Tuesday that King never said who pulled the trigger. Morgan’s claim about firing the gun was later verified, and he was charged with causing injury to personal property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allegedly shooting out a car window with at least one of the children present.

Ferguson left the interview several times to check on information and re-entered questioning Morgan’s account of the shooting. Morgan grew irritated with the scrutiny, once standing up and saying he would walk out.

“I’m sitting here telling you something truthful, and you’re coming back and saying I’m a liar,” he said.

Morgan, who had not yet been arrested, signed a voluntary statement after the 1 hour and 45 minute interview. Bloom read the statement in court Tuesday.

You can reach Corey Friedman at 704-869-1828.