Daughter’s Companion Suspected : Armed Ex-Con Sought in Man’s Death

Los Angeles police Tuesday were seeking an ex-convict from Modesto in connection with the shooting death of a popular gas station owner in his Lake View Terrace home last week.

Curtis Ray Morgan, 33, is believed armed and dangerous and is being sought on suspicion of slaying Raymond Dilger, 43, the owner of Ray’s Chevron Gas Station in Sun Valley, Detective Al Ferrand said. Morgan, who police suspect may be in the San Fernando Valley, Modesto or San Bernardino areas, also has threatened several members of Dilger’s family, Ferrand said.

Dilger, a former champion stock-car driver who made many friends by doing volunteer work in the community, was shot twice in the head about 4 a.m. Thursday in the Jiminez Place house he shared with his wife and two teen-age children, Ferrand said.

Police, who would not say for what crime Morgan had been convicted, said Morgan was the common-law husband of Dilger’s daughter, Cheryl, 25, and that the couple had a child. Morgan was upset over the break-up of the relationship and blamed Dilger for it. He also believed Dilger was keeping him from seeing his child, Ferrand said.

“He had lived with Dilger’s daughter and felt Dilger was responsible for keeping his girlfriend from him and had hidden away his child,” Ferrand said. “There was an ongoing dispute between him and other members of the family, too. He just felt that everyone was against him.”

Police say they believe Morgan forced open a sliding door, shot Dilger and then confronted Dilger’s wife, Ferrand said. Dilger’s wife called police, but Morgan fled before officers arrived, Ferrand reported.

Ferrand would not reveal what Morgan had said to Dilger’s wife, except to say that Morgan had threatened several family members shortly after the shooting. “He threatened that they were next, that he would kill them,” Ferrand said.

At one time, Dilger raced cars with Morgan’s father, Ferrand said, and had offered Morgan employment at his gas station.