After monthlong search, officers arrest Darius Morgan after getting a tip he was hiding out in Fairbanks
State and federal law enforcement officers on Wednesday captured a North Pole man wanted for the fatal shooting of a teenager near Fairbanks in October.
State Department of Public Safety spokesperson Austin McDaniel said Thursday that Alaska State Troopers and U.S. Marshals located 18-year-old Darius Morgan after receiving a tip that he was at a residence in Fairbanks.
“ They were able to quickly respond to that tip, which led to Darius Morgan's arrest” McDaniel said.
Morgan is being held at Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges of first- and second-degree murder and weapons misconduct. His bail is set at a million dollars.
McDaniel said two others also were apprehended Wednesday for hiding Morgan at their house in Fairbanks.
“After Troopers and the U.S. Marshals located him at that residence,” he said, “two other people that were aiding in his ability to hide from us were arrested there as well for hindering prosecution.”
A DPS dispatch issued Thursday identified those two as 19-year-old Maya Kokrine and 21-year-old Matthew Wintter. Both are Fairbanks residents.
Troopers have been looking for Morgan ever since a 15-year-old was fatally shot at an Oct. 25 house party off Farmer’s Loop Road. A witness told Troopers that they saw Morgan at the party with a handgun. That would be a felony, according to a charging document, because it would’ve violated the conditions of Morgan’s probation after he was convicted last year of robbery.
McDaniel said the effort to find Morgan involved several law-enforcement agencies.
“ The U.S. marshals that were assisting us as well as Troopers from the Mat-Su area worked together to run down several leads and tips of where Darius was this week, which ultimately led to his arrest at the residence off of Lathrop.”
He also thanked members of the public who provided tips and information about Morgan’s whereabouts. And he encouraged them to help with other cases under investigation, including a homicide and shots fired at two ore-hauling trucks on the Richardson and Steese highways.
He says anyone with information about those cases should call Troopers at 907-451-5100.
