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Denis Poroy/AP
Arthur Morgan, 27, listens during an arraignment hearing Thursday in San Diego Superior Court, where he waived extradition rights and was ordered returned to New Jersey.
A New Jersey man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter by leaving her in a creek still strapped into her car seat, then fleeing to California, agreed Thursday to return to his home state to stand trial.
Arthur Morgan III was arrested at a friend's house on Tuesday, NBCSanDiego.com reported, ending a nationwide manhunt a week after authorities said he killed Tierra Morgan-Glover, whose body was found partly submerged in a park in Wall Township, N.J.
An expressionless Morgan walked into his extradition hearing Thursday in San Diego and immediately signed papers waiving his right to extradition. If he had fought his return, it would have delayed his return by as much as 120 days.
The judge ordered him to be returned by Dec. 21 to New Jersey, where his bail was set at $10 million. Deputy District Attorney Sylvia Tenorio said Morgan will likely return before then but she said the exact date will not be made public for security reasons.
He is charged with murder, interstate flight to avoid prosecution and child custody offenses.
Child welfare authorities in New Jersey said they investigated the turbulent relationship between Morgan and his girlfriend, Imani Benton, four times in the past 13 months but could not determine that abuse or neglect was occurring.
Benton's family accuses the state's child welfare agency and the court system of not doing enough to help her. The agency said it is conducting a review of its handling of the case.
Morgan took his daughter for a court-approved visit on Nov. 21, NBCSanDiego.com said.
The toddler's body was found Nov. 22 in Shark River Park, about 20 miles north of her home in Lakehurst, N.J. Her cause of death was listed as "homicidal violence, including submersion in water."
After fleeing New Jersey, Morgan was the subject of a coast-to-coast manhunt and had been featured on the website of "America's Most Wanted" after the child's body was found.
The U.S. Marshals Service office in San Diego got a tip from New Jersey authorities on Tuesday that Morgan might be at a home there. About 40 marshals and deputies surrounded the home sometime around 4:15 p.m and attempted to take Morgan into custody, NBCSanDiego.com said. He tried to flee to the back of the home -- but was taken into custody without further incident on the back patio.
Benton's mother, Michelle Simmons, said her family is eager to see Morgan brought to justice.
"We want to know why he did what he did to that baby," she said.
This article includes reporting by msnbc.com staff, NBCSanDiego.com and The Associated Press.
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How many times is child welfare going to mess up? And why couldn't the cops have lost this piece of garbage at the end of a cinder block in the ocean or off some bridge? Would it have been too much to ask?
In China, North Korea, Myanmar, Iran... it's not too much to ask. In America, your suggestion makes the founding fathers vomit in their graves.
If taking people suspected of crimes and dumping them in the ocean is your version of justice, then Iran is the country for you.
How many people on death row have been exonerated by DNA evidence? You can't exonerate the innocent if they are at the bottom of the ocean tied to a cinder block.
I am NOT saying that Mr Morgan is innocent. I'm only saying that he deserves his day in court.
And after he has his day in court....he should be tied to a cinder block and dropped off a bridge into the ocean! No one that commits such a horrible crime against another person, especially a child, deserves to see the light of day again, no matter what country they are in.
Harold, I don't think theres any doubt at all that he killed that baby. He had custody of her at the time she ends up dead & he's taken off to California??? Sorry, but that's not how innocent parents behave, therefore I'm right there with the cinderblock scenario.
This piece of human CRAP needs to jump out of the plane on the flight back to NJ. ( Honest i tried
to stop him but he just jumped with all the chains and the seat he was sitting in.) NOW THAT
WOULD BE JUSTICE !!!!!!!!!!!
rtg... I believe he's guilty, not that it matters what I believe. That's why we have Courts, Judges, and Juries.
My only comment is that the request to have cops act as judge and jury is a bad one. And I know the Founding Fathers would agree.
I'm a parent. The idea of killing your own child is abhorrent to me. That baby trusted her daddy, and he drowned her (which is a horrible way to die). All to get back at his wife. What a piece of chit.
That said, we don't change the laws of fairness just because some piece-o-chit seemingly deserves mob justice. I understand the emotional response though.... who wouldn't?
We have to keep in mind that sometimes a person looks guilty, acts guilty and is innocent. I agree trial first, long walk off of a short pier wearing concrete boots if found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Let us not forget our justice system is flawed, remember the Texas father put to death for burning down his home with his children inside. He swore he was innocent and after his execution it was found the fire marshall was incompetent and the fire had actually been a sad electrical accident, not arson.
awesome comment!!!!!
A $10 million dollar bond sounds right to me. Actually, I take that back. No bail at all sounds perfect.
Too bad Jerry Sandusky's judge wasn't as smart as the judge who set bail at $10 million dollars.
In certain cases where someone actually admits to a heinous crime or no if, ands, or buts about it, that person did it, (Charles Manson, Jeffery Dahmers and a few others) I definitely agree with the death penalty. I don't agree with the death penalty in cases based strictly off circumstancial evidence and the defendant denies it to the end. There have been quite a few of those, too. That is my two cents.
The nation's prisons are chock full of innocent men and women....just ask them....
If this isn't a death penalty case, there is no reason to have a death penalty at all.
Put this miserable excuse of a human being in a prison and let ALL the other inmates know what this "father of the year" did. I bet we wouldn't be waiting very long for this POS to recieve the death penalty at all. Maybe a hour or two.