Family Slay Fugitive Caught

A fugitive charged with killing his wife and three children and dumping their bodies in a forest was captured Saturday after a two week manhunt, prosecutors said.

Edward Morris, 37, was arrested without incident in the parking lot of a Rite Aid drug store, said Baker County District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff. He had been described as "armed and dangerous" but authorities did not say whether he had a weapon.

The place where he was taken into custody is about 350 miles away from the Tillamook State Forest, where the bodies of his wife and children were found by hunters on an isolated road.

Authorities haven't said exactly how the victims died, but do say that "homicidal violence" was the cause of death for Renee Morris, 31, Bryant Morris, 10, Alexis Morris, 8 and Jonathan Morris, 4.

Investigators also haven't said anything about a motive for the killings.

Prosecutors charged Morris with murder while he was still a fugitive. He had lived with his family in Portland.

Tom Stubblefield, spokesman for the family of Renee Morris, said they are "really elated, relieved" about the arrest. "Overall I think the family will sleep well tonight," he said.

Two witnesses spotted Morris's gray 1993 Dodge Caravan near the town of Durkee, called police and followed him about 20 miles to Baker City. A $50,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the arrest; it was not immediately clear whether that money would go to the witnesses.

"We saw it at the same time, and we said, 'Oh, is that it, is that the number?' " said Linda Martin, who was traveling with her brother, Thom, when they recognized the van. "We sort of played tag with the van. I didn't want to look at him, it's scary," she told television reporters.

"We both had seen the news reports, where they flash the license plate. And it kind of registered with both of us that he might be the one," said Martin, 58, of Portland.

When the van pulled into the parking lot of a Rite Aid, Thom Martin called 911 from a pay phone.

Tips during the search had placed Morris as far away as Washington and Canada, but police now say he never went north.

Morris is now at the Tillamook County jail, where he is under a suicide watch at the county jail.

Morris mouthed "no" when a reporter asked if he had anything to say, although he spoke with deputies escorting him, and at one point even smiled briefly.

He is to be arraigned on Tuesday.

Defense attorney Charles Fryer has no comment on how his client intends to plead at the arraignment.

Relatives and neighbors describe the Morrises as having been extremely religious and dedicated to their children.

Edward Morris had trouble holding a job and started several roofing and landscaping businesses over the past years. The Morrises filed for bankruptcy in 1993 for one of those businesses, Sunrise Roofing, according to court records.