The Region - News from Jan. 16, 1985

In a move that could affect a battle over an estate of nearly $1 million, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge formally declared a dead man guilty of murdering his wife and 8-year-old son to collect insurance money. The unusual action by Judge Robert D. Fratianne was requested by Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey C. Jonas, who said he is trying to prevent heirs of Clifford Lee Morgan from profiting from Morgan’s crimes. The insurance money should rightfully go to the heirs of the victims, Jonas said. The bulk of Morgan’s estate of about $920,000 is money that Morgan received from insurance policies he had taken out on his wife and son, who were found stabbed to death in their Van Nuys home on May 21, 1981. The body of Nancy Morgan, 44, was marked with 45 knife wounds. Morgan’s son, Mitchell, was stabbed more than 20 times. Morgan, who was a trucking company executive, and two co-defendants were found guilty of the murders in September, 1983.