VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The man accused of killing a Virginia Beach woman and dumping her body in a trash can was found guilty on all charges he faced Thursday morning.
The charges Gary Morton was convicted of include first-degree murder through abduction, abduction, malicious wounding and shooting at an occupied vehicle. He was accused of killing Marie Covington in August 2022.
At the end of Morton's bench trial, the judge said the physical evidence of Covington’s death, combined with her daughters' firsthand accounts of what happened pushed him to make this decision.
Marie Covington's brother celebrated the verdict as he walked out of the courthouse.
"We're happy with the way the Commonwealth presented the case and that the judge took everything into consideration before giving a verdict," said Jeff Covington. "My family can finally start the healing process."
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. She tried at some point to get out, but Morton sped off without giving her a chance to exit the vehicle.
The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said, that 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 police, but he didn't know Morton by name. He reported that Morton was standing near his vehicle and he saw a woman inside that didn't appear to be moving.
The following evening, Covington's family members reported her missing because she didn't come home. After the Larkin Street shooting, he fled to Pittsburgh but 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.
During questioning, 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.
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.
Morton is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 15.
“I grieve for Ms. Covington and her family. Their loss is a heavy one,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi wrote in a news release.
He continued: All people deserve to be safe from domestic violence, and we will seek a sentence that will hold Mr. Morton appropriately responsible for this terrible crime.”