OH - Todd Morgan, 41, murdered in his home, Cleveland State professor, shot in head/torso - Hudson, 19 Apr 2023

[ssn774]

I am surprised by the police not requesting public help and tips soon after the murder.

Especially since the driveway of the crime scene home is located on a busy street (W. Streetsboro) with a daily traffic count of 15,000 cars.

A suspect's car leaving the driveway would definitely be seen, since this road is two lanes total with a 35 mph speed limit.

How many cars have dash cams these days? Tow trucks? School buses? Even police cars on routine patrol?

See below image from a country traffic study from 2014 with the 15,000 figure. Source is page 3 of the pdf file at the following link: https://www.hudson.oh.us/DocumentCenter/View/3997/07-Transportation-and-Mobility?bidId=

The crime scene home is located directly on W. Streetsboro St and to the left of where Hartford Rd is shown on the map.

 

[RickshawFan]

I am surprised by the police not requesting public help and tips soon after the murder.

Especially since the driveway of the crime scene home is located on a busy street (W. Streetsboro) with a daily traffic count of 15,000 cars.

A suspect's car leaving the driveway would definitely be seen, since this road is two lanes total with a 35 mph speed limit.

How many cars have dash cams these days? Tow trucks? School buses? Even police cars on routine patrol?

See below image from a country traffic study from 2014 with the 15,000 figure. Source is page 3 of the pdf file at the following link: https://www.hudson.oh.us/DocumentCenter/View/3997/07-Transportation-and-Mobility?bidId=

The crime scene home is located directly on W. Streetsboro St and to the left of where Hartford Rd is shown on the map.View attachment 418391

I’m surprised, too, but that’s why I think LE might have their perp already. They might have tips, or cell data, door to door….Were the kids home? Unfortunately, they could be witnesses.

 

[airportwoman]

They probably know exactly who did this, and where they are, but just need a little more evidence to make an arrest.

 

[jbc]

From a CSU profile in 2021. Two children and statements of having a partner with plans to marry in Spring, 2022. I can't tell in the pic if the older female is a child or not. Anyway, sounds potentially complicated.

 

[arielilane]

No updates that I could find, however, obituary was interesting read. Funeral services held on May 1. Didn’t post the link because I wanted to be respectful of photos of his children. Really a sad event and hope that more information is forthcoming. Moo

 

[realanastasia]

Thanks for the heads-up on the obit, @arielilane.

i counted 3 kids, one was a stepchild from his first marriage, A., one child born to him and his first wife (different A. name), and the youngest (C.) born to him and a different woman.

TM was married for 10 years to his first wife (TR); they got married in October 2010 and thus must’ve been officially married until 2020 if i am reading obit correctly.

His youngest child was born in 2018 to him and a woman who wasn’t his wife, MAC. Wonder about any reactions from then-wife and/or other folks to this news.

Finally, the use of Morgan (rather than Dingess) as his last name is interesting. Both appear in the obit so i presume he must’ve used D.at some point in his life but later changed to Morgan. Maybe he felt Morgan just sounded better, but it struck me as unusual (not bad) to see both last names in the obit.

 

[RickshawFan]

Thanks for the heads-up on the obit, @arielilane.

i counted 3 kids, one was a stepchild from his first marriage, A., one child born to him and his first wife (different A. name), and the youngest (C.) born to him and a different woman.

TM was married for 10 years to his first wife (TR); they got married in October 2010 and thus must’ve been officially married until 2020 if i am reading obit correctly.

His youngest child was born in 2018 to him and a woman who wasn’t his wife, MAC. Wonder about any reactions from then-wife and/or other folks to this news.

Finally, the use of Morgan (rather than Dingess) as his last name is interesting. Both appear in the obit so i presume he must’ve used D.at some point in his life but later changed to Morgan. Maybe he felt Morgan just sounded better, but it struck me as unusual (not bad) to see both last names in the obit.

“Professor Dingess” would be problematic.

 

[Cryptic]

I'll throw in some more ideas:
--he's in a tenure-track job; shot by a losing candidate
--the term is ending: was he on someone's doctoral/masters committee?
--did he give a student a grade that would have prevented them from getting into a high-end biz school for an MBA?

All possible, but he was an assistant professor. This is evidently one of the lower ranks on the academic totem pole- behind full professor and associate professor.

I am thinking that this would eliminate a tenure dispute, and quite possibly a doctoral candidate based dispute. Would an assistant professor review masters level work?

There is still a grade based motive potential, however. This could include not only "raw" grades, but also say initiated discipline actions after identifying a student as plagiarizing or now, "Chatgpting".

 

[jbc]

All possible, but he was an assistant professor. This is evidently one of the lower ranks on the academic totem pole- behind full professor and associate professor.

I am thinking that this would eliminate a tenure dispute, and quite possibly a doctoral candidate based dispute. Would an assistant professor review masters level work?

There is still a grade based motive potential, however. This could include not only "raw" grades, but also say initiated discipline actions after identifying a student as plagiarizing or now, "Chatgpting".

I think these kinds of murders are fall less probable than you might imagine (not impossible though/I work in academia). I'm leaning toward a more personal reason, for one of the classic motivators - sex, drugs, or money. There may be clues in the obituary and CSU profile. I'm usually wrong, though...

 

[RickshawFan]

All possible, but he was an assistant professor. This is evidently one of the lower ranks on the academic totem pole- behind full professor and associate professor.

I am thinking that this would eliminate a tenure dispute, and quite possibly a doctoral candidate based dispute. Would an assistant professor review masters level work?

There is still a grade based motive potential, however. This could include not only "raw" grades, but also say initiated discipline actions after identifying a student as plagiarizing or now, "Chatgpting".

So, let me flesh this out a bit.

Assistant Professor jobs are EXTREMELY hard to get, and very competitive, though I don't know specifically for Business Administration. Assistant Professors are tenure-track, which means if all the stars line up they can become tenured. That would be Associate Professor level.

I can totally see an evil person knocking off a successful candidate for an assistant professor position.

And yes, assistant professors regularly oversee masters theses. There's no reason for them not to oversee doctoral candidates, either.

The other possibility I pointed out.... a violent student. You never know who you're going to get for "office hours" or what the effect might be if no student got an A on the midterm. In some courses (e.g. organic chemistry), students are especially volatile over grades. And when doctoral students are terminated, we've had a few cases kinda recently that became fatal (Colorado and Arizona?).

While I do imagine this professor was murdered for personal reasons, the ivory towers can be a murky brew of extreme emotions.

 

[Cryptic]

Assistant Professor jobs are EXTREMELY hard to get, and very competitive. And yes, assistant professors regularly oversee masters theses. There's no reason for them not to oversee doctoral candidates, either.

In some courses (e.g. organic chemistry), students are especially volatile over grades. And when doctoral students are terminated, we've had a few cases kinda recently that became fatal (Colorado and Arizona?).

Thank you for the clarification regarding assistant professors and what their duties are.

You might be able to add 'Idaho' to Colorado and Arizona in regards to unhinged graduate students (evidently Kohberger's ascension to a doctorate had started to badly falter shortly before the murders).

Though I agree that extracurricular motives are statistically more likely than ivory tower derived motives, its clearly worth pursuing any master's thesis or doctoral candidate that did not work out, the possibility of jealous rivals etc.

Interesting point about organic chemistry and the stress derived from it being a make or break / weed out course for those with dreams of medical school.

I don't know whether business degrees have an organic chemistry equivelant. But... I remember that accounting degrees do. I wonder if a business professor could also teach the mega stress producing accounting weed out course? Or, would there be an "organic chemistry" in a business masters program?

 

[starlightstarbright]

I’m in academia (though thankfully outside the IS system now, which is brutal). As @RickshawFan said, an Assistant Professor would definitely oversee all types of students from undergrads to PhDs.

But I think it would probably be unlikely that these two cases are connected because of the departments are unlikely to have much overlap even in undergrads. I’m in a health sciences department and I couldn’t even tell you where the business school is. Do we even have one? No idea! I only know a few colleagues outside my own research institute and they’re In related fields.

Undergrads do take courses more widely but I think it would be unusual for someone to be taking both physics and business classes - and be disgruntled enough by both professors to harm them.

I would assume this is something personal if connected (though personal networks rather than professional ones), or just entirely coincidental.

 

[arielilane]

The 2001 Dartmouth College murders came to my mind. IIRC, that was about robbery, but I lean more toward personal reasons with this case. No updates on MSM so LE may have a suspect and are holding it close to the vest for now. moo

 

[jbc]

Why no news on this murder?

 

[fred&edna]

It's been more than a month since he was murdered. What's going on?

 

[ssn774]

Arrest made!

Cleveland woman indicted for April shooting death of Cleveland State professor

A Cleveland woman has been indicted for the homicide of Cleveland State professor Todd Morgan in Hudson.

www.news5cleveland.com

A Cleveland woman has been indicted for the killing of a Cleveland State professor in Hudson.

Terreionna Paschal, 31, is charged with aggravated murder and several other charges, including aggravated robbery.

 

[Lyanna]

Arrest made!

Cleveland woman indicted for April shooting death of Cleveland State professor

A Cleveland woman has been indicted for the homicide of Cleveland State professor Todd Morgan in Hudson.

www.news5cleveland.com

A Cleveland woman has been indicted for the killing of a Cleveland State professor in Hudson.

Terreionna Paschal, 31, is charged with aggravated murder and several other charges, including aggravated robbery.

Felony Friday!
Good to hear an arrest has been made.

moo

 

[Mert]

Cleveland woman charged for alleged murder of Cleveland State University professor

An arraignment date for Terreionna Paschal has not yet been determined.

www.wkyc.com

Indictment included at this link.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Cleveland woman charged for alleged murder of Cleveland State University professor

An arraignment date for Terreionna Paschal has not yet been determined.

www.wkyc.com

Indictment included at this link.

DBM

 

[Mert]

Wow, I tried to scan over it on my phone and did not catch that. Thank you for the info!