Inset left: Alexander Paul Wardell (Utah Department of Corrections). Inset right: Morgan Kay Harris (Family). Background: The storage shed where Harris was burned to death (Murray Fire).
A Utah man who previously avoided prosecution for his girlfriend”s death is now facing homicide charges for that alleged crime.
On Feb. 18, 2023, Morgan Kay Harris, 27, died in a fire while she was trapped inside the storage unit she and her boyfriend called home – along with her dog, Huck.
In May 2024, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill all but exonerated the boyfriend, Alexander Paul Wardell, 33, saying a lengthy investigation did not point to him starting the fire.
On Thursday, the Beehive State’s top law enforcement official took the reins – and took the case in the exact opposite direction. Wardell now stands accused of murder or, alternatively, manslaughter, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office. He is also charged with one count each of kidnapping and aggravated animal cruelty.
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The evidence surrounding the timing of the fire was cited as one of the major reasons the local DA declined to press charges.
“The testing showed the fire was most likely between 6-15 minutes long,” Gill said, according to Salt Lake City-based NBC affiliate KSL. “Wardell was away from the unit for a total of 22 minutes, making it unlikely that Wardell intentionally caused the fire before leaving the unit.”
The investigation cited by Gill was conducted by multiple agencies — including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Gill also sent two prosecutors from his own office to conduct controlled burns on replicas of the storage unit at the ATF’s Fire Research Lab in Maryland.
The DA’s final report on the fire summarized its results as follows:
[W]hile other causes could be eliminated from causing the fire that killed Ms. Harris, the following were all possible and could not be eliminated as possible causes: an accidental smoldering fire caused by discarded smoking materials from cigarettes; an accidental fire caused by the use of candles; or while “not likely” an intentional fire set by Mr. Wardell.
Still, questions lingered — and backlash followed — due to the circumstances of why Harris was even in the storage unit at the time.
Wardell allegedly admitted he closed the storage unit and then locked the door — knowing the woman and the dog were inside — while he walked over to a nearby Walmart, according to Salt Lake City police.
In the immediate aftermath of Harris’ death, Wardell was arrested on suspicion of negligent homicide and kidnapping.
Again, Gill had an answer to his office’s critics. The DA said there was simply no evidence that either inhabitant of those poor quarters did anything other than lock the door each time they left. The prosecutor also said there was no evidence Harris was held there against her will.
“How do I prove she did not consent to that? With what evidence do I do that? Who do I put on the stand?” he asked out loud in comments reported by KSL at the time. “We found no evidence going through her phone, his phone, all the material that we could gather, that led us to get to any of that point … we looked. We scoured, we looked if there was any humanly possible way to articulate to meet those elements for the purpose of filing charges. We could not get there.”
The initial decision not to follow up Wardell’s arrest with an indictment soon led to a broader indictment of the Utah justice system itself. The boyfriend, it turned out, had previously been convicted of domestic violence on two separate occasions. In fact, two days before she died, Harris bailed Wardell out of jail for the second time; he had been arrested for violating his probation on the latest domestic violence conviction. As of his indictment, Wardell is in the Utah State Correctional Facility serving time for those convictions.
“The justice system failed before she died in that he was a convicted criminal, convicted and sentenced to five years, which he never served, and was still allowed to even be around another woman,” Harris’ mother told KSL in May 2024.
Still, yet more evidentiary barriers prohibited the local DA from moving forward. One of the final major questions was the position of Harris’ body. Gill said it did not appear she even made it to the door during the fire – so the fact of the unit being locked was “irrelevant in her manner of death.” In sum, the DA said it would not be “ethical” to indict Wardell based on the evidence he was able to marshal.
State investigators reached a different conclusion — largely based on evidence culled from a duffel bag originally obtained by police in Murray, a suburb of Salt Lake City located immediately due south.
“In it, investigators found an extra-large blue button-down long-sleeve shirt wadded up in the center of other extra-large clothing,” the new charging document obtained by KSL reads. “Blood stains and burn marks appeared to be on the shirt. A rapid DNA test revealed the tested red brown stains to be blood and the DNA in the blood matched (Harris’) DNA.”
The AG’s office also says they obtained evidence the couple were angry with one another for some time — several days prior to and including the day of the fire.
“The body posture of (Wardell and Harris) supports that (they) were arguing,” the new charges read, referring to surveillance footage.
Additionally, 10 days before the fire, Harris allegedly sent Wardell the following Facebook message: “Guess I’m gonna apply to live by myself at an apartment you won’t know about so you can’t (expletive) abuse or kill me.”
The new prosecutors also claim to have found evidence Wardell was mad about Harris spending money and that he “performed Google searches for ‘how to obtain a passport'” in the days before her death.
“The charged death is supported by substantial evidence, which includes evidence provided by multiple witnesses,” the new charges read.
