Wife charged; details emerge

Myra and Jereleigh Morton's 27-year marriage spiraled out of control this year after the former North Philadelphia handyman-turned-millionaire met a young Muslim woman from Morocco on the Internet and married her in concert with Muslim law that allows men to have multiple wives, Montgomery County prosecutors said yesterday.

At one point, as the couple's relationship deteriorated, Jereleigh told his American wife, "If you don't like polygamy, get a divorce," according to his Moroccan bride, Zahra Toural.

Instead, Myra allegedly fired two .40-caliber bullets from her husband's Glock semiautomatic handgun into his head early Sunday morning on the eve of his scheduled trip to Morocco, where Toural waited to give Morton the son he yearned for. She was ovulating, investigators were told.

For Myra, no longer able to bear children, the trip apparently was the final indignity.

She surrendered to authorities yesterday morning and was charged with her husband's murder, appearing in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court dressed in a flowing black abaya that revealed only her eyes and her hands.

Her lawyer, Brian J. McMonagle, called her a "decent and compassionate woman" who had been "a devoted wife and mother." He called the case a "tragedy."

Myra Morton, 47, had reluctantly given her consent in March to her husband's desire to take a second wife and had even attended the Muslim ceremony in Morocco. But arguments ensued and the following month, according to Risa Vetri Ferman, Montgomery County's first assistant district attorney, she sent the federal government a "poison pen letter" that suggested her husband was somehow involved with terrorists. It prompted the State Department to open an investigative file.

"She talks to him on [the] computer, on Yahoo everyday or by phone about bombings in Casablanca," the letter said, alleging that Morton's new wife was somehow linked to al-Qaeda. "I am afraid for my family sometime when she goes over there," it said.

Ferman said Myra Morton may also have worried that her husband would squander on his new wife the $6 million remaining from a $14 million malpractice claim the couple won after the death of their 13-year-old daughter in 2001. The couple moved from a rundown North Philadelphia rowhouse to a $1 million mansion in Whitpain Township in 2005 after receiving the settlement.

"Six million is an awfully large motive," Ferman said.

Jereleigh Morton met Toural in December through an online dating service, Qiran.com, that specializes in matching Muslim men and women.

By then, Myra Morton was noticing that her husband was paying less attention to her and spending more time on his computer, according to court documents.

In early 2007, Morton confided to a friend that she was "unhappy with her marriage," and that she had found her husband's computer password and learned he was "talking online to a girl from Morocco."

About that time she purchased a $2,200 "satellite tracking device" designed to be hidden in a car to secretly record its movement.

Myra Morton said her husband wanted to have a son, and that although she herself was unable to conceive, the other woman was "of childbearing years." Toural is 35.

Toural told police Myra Morton "was jealous of her." She said the American couple "fought both inside and outside the home and frequently screamed and argued."

At 1 Sunday morning, Myra and Jereleigh Morton arrived home after seeing a movie, The Bourne Ultimatum.

Myra Morton told police her husband soon went to bed and was asleep when she lay down next to him and fell asleep herself.

By her account, she was awakened by two gunshots and saw "a figure" running out the ground-floor bedroom's sliding door. Morton said she gave chase, screaming, "Somebody help me!"

The Mortons' daughter, Amina, and her husband, Harouna Sokhouna, said they did not wake up until Myra Morton ran into their bedroom, screaming, "Someone just shot Dad!" Sokhouna called police.

Jereleigh Morton had been killed by two bullets fired from his own Glock pistol. There was no indication he attempted to defend himself.

Police noted the blood spatter on the bed was not consistent with someone asleep next to the victim.

"Clearly, that is not something that could have happened," said Ferman. "She would have been soaked in blood as well."

Detectives could not find any signs of tampering or theft. Jewelry and about $6,000 in cash were found.

On Sunday in Morocco, Toural waited in vain for her husband to disembark from his scheduled flight.

Toural described her concern in a message posted on an NBC10 Web comment box Tuesday.

"i feel something is happened tryed to call him many often i called myra. . . . and i called his home phone no one answer me," she wrote.

To read the new affidavit of probable cause, visit http://go.philly.com/mortoncase

To read the letter from Morocco, visit http://media.philly.com/documents/zahra.pdf

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