VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Editor's Note: The Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office initially reported Morton's sentence would be served concurrently but later said he would serve his time consecutively. This story has been updated to reflect the correction.
A Norfolk man was sentenced Friday to more than 106 years in prison for killing a Virginia Beach woman and dumping her body in a trash can in 2022, as well as the strangulation of another woman two years earlier.
In the 2022 murder of Marie Covington, the charges Gary Morton was convicted of include first-degree murder through abduction, abduction, malicious wounding and shooting at an occupied vehicle.
According to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, the situation unfolded on the night of Aug. 17, 2022, when Morton, Covington, and her family got into a heated argument outside of her home in Virginia Beach.
Morton got into Covington's vehicle and she joined him to calm him down. Prosecutors said she tried at some point to get out of the car, but Morton sped off without allowing her to exit the vehicle.
The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said, that same night, Morton shot at a driver on Larkin Street in Norfolk after he urinated in the middle of the road. The driver drove off and called the police, reporting the man who shot him (who was later determined to be Morton) was standing near his vehicle and a woman inside didn't appear to be moving.
The following evening, Covington's family members reported her missing because she hadn't come home.
After the Larkin Street shooting, Morton fled to Pittsburgh and then returned to Norfolk days later, the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said.
On. Aug. 17, Morton was linked to Covington's murder after he led Virginia State Police and Norfolk police officers on a vehicle chase on the interstate, as well as residential areas off Chesapeake Boulevard. After Morton was caught, investigators confirmed the vehicle was registered to Covington.
Covington was found in an outdoor household trash bin the following night, along with used cleaning supplies and a car seat cover. The Medical Examiner's Office ruled Covington’s cause of death as a gunshot wound to her left temple.
During police questioning, prosecutors say Morton admitted to fatally shooting Covington, hiding her body in a trash can in the Huntersville area and eluding police because he was scared of being caught.
Two years before Covington's murder, Morton attacked a woman inside her downtown apartment on Sept. 26, 2020. In relation to that incident, he was convicted in July of strangulation, abduction, intentionally damaging property, and assault and battery.
For the charges connected to the 2022 murder, Morton was sentenced to an active term in prison of 98 years in prison. For the 2020 incident, he was sentenced to eight years and 10 months in prison, plus additional suspended sentences.
The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said the two sentences will run consecutively, meaning Morton's total sentence is 106 years and 10 months.
“Gary Morton committed serious crimes that called for a serious sanction, and that is why he will now serve a sentence of over 106 years,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release.
“My heart goes out to Mr. Morton’s victims — living and dead — and my appreciation goes out to the witnesses and surviving victims for their testimony and to the Norfolk Police for their work in helping us hold Mr. Morton accountable. I will keep the victims and their families in my thoughts as they continue on their journey of healing from Mr. Morton’s crimes.”