Rapist Held in Orange County Murder Case

Police officers were returning from Northern California on Tuesday with a paroled rapist in custody for questioning about the beating murder of a Huntington Beach woman last week.

The search for Edward Patrick Morgan, 28, ended Monday night in Quincy, where Plumas County deputies chased him down after he left the home of Sonya Marvin, 22, who was charged Tuesday with harboring a wanted felon.

The battered body of Leonora Annette Wong, 23, was found in Orange early Friday in a parking lot across from the Australian Beach Club, where she and a friend had gone Thursday night.

Police confiscated a videotape from a surveillance camera outside a business near the club, and another recorded by a bar patron Thursday. Lt. Timm Browne, a police spokesman, confirmed Tuesday that the tapes were being held as evidence, but he declined to discuss what they showed.

He said police had presented evidence to prosecutors.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard M. King said that he expected charges to be filed today, but that authorities were reviewing the case and he could not specify the charges in advance.

Wong’s friend, Rebecca Klein, saw her leaving the bar about 1 a.m. Friday with a man matching Morgan’s description.

“I immediately knew something was wrong,” Klein said. “She wouldn’t just walk away and leave.” She alerted police, who later found Wong’s body and began looking for the killer.

Morgan was convicted of rape in 1985 and sent to the California Institution for Men in Chino.

He went back to prison in April, 1991, for unlawful sex with a minor. Two months ago, Morgan was released from Folsom Prison after serving a term for sexual assault.

“We’re glad Mr. Morgan is in custody, and hopefully he’ll never be released again,” said Pat Thayer, one of the detectives who went to Quincy for Morgan.

Authorities in Quincy said Marvin, who was accused of hiding the rapist, had never been in trouble with the law. She works as a typesetter at a local newspaper.

“I love him, that’s all you need to know,” Marvin told reporters.

Travis Burhop, a former Folsom cellmate of Morgan, also was arrested in Quincy on Monday for investigation of harboring a felon and violating parole. He was being held without bail Tuesday.