85-year-old Utah man accused of killing wife dies day after being jailed

An 85-year-old Lehi man who told police Friday he brutally beat and strangled his 83-year-old wife died after suffering a medical emergency in jail on Saturday, the day after his arrest, authorities announced Monday afternoon.

The suspect, Ronald J. Morgan, suffered the unspecified medical emergency Saturday while in custody at the Utah County jail, according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. He was taken to a hospital, where he died a short time later. His death remains under investigation.

Police were called to the Lehi homicide scene Friday, when the victim’s sister called 911 to report that Morgan’s wife was “covered in blood,” according to a probable cause statement. When officers arrived at the home Morgan and his wife shared, near State Street and 600 East, they found her body in a bedroom. She had suffered “multiple traumatic injuries.”

Morgan was also “covered in blood” and uttered that he had killed her, according to the probable cause statement. As Morgan was loaded into an ambulance for unspecified reasons, he saw members of his wife’s family and also “yelled to them” that he had killed her, police said.

At the hospital, Morgan made multiple, unsolicited comments, according to police, including that he was “exhausted” because what he had done “wasn’t as easy as shooting her,” according to the probable cause statement.

After he was treated at the hospital and taken to the Lehi Police Department, Morgan told detectives he had been frustrated with his wife “for several months, and that frustration had been building and building until he just lost it,” the probable cause document states.

A Lehi detective wrote in the document that when he asked Morgan what he meant by that, the man “smirked and stated that he had killed her” by “strangling … punching … and stomping on her,” the document states.

The man was booked into Utah County jail on suspicion of aggravated murder. He was being held there without bail until suffering the medical emergency Saturday, which authorities said led to his death.

Morgan had not been formally charged with a crime at the time of his death, court records indicate. As of Monday afternoon, authorities had not identified the woman killed.

Editor’s note • Those who are experiencing intimate partner violence, or know someone who is, are urged to call the Utah Domestic Violence Link Line, 1-800-897-LINK (5465), or Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 801-736-4356 (English) or 801-924-0860 (Spanish).