James David Morgan:1974, Akron, Ohio

    


   James David Morgan was born in 1961. His mother was Doris L. Blankenship. I wasn’t able to find much information online about James. 


   James grew up in the Akron area and attended Goodrich Junior High School. 


   He was officially reported missing on August 15th, 1974. (One article said that he had last been seen on July 23rd, 1974.) His family reported that he had been upset about his brother’s illness. I was unable to find much information about James’ life or his family. 


  Skeletal remains were found in Stow Woods in late 1974. No clothing was found with the remains.  A white comb was found nearby. Dental records were used to identify these remains and they were found to be James David Morgan. 


  His sister identified the white plastic comb as one that used to belong to her. She thought maybe James had taken it with him. 

  There are two suspects that stand out:


  Richard G. Lawler was 21 in 1974. He had a history already of abducting boys. 7 year old D.S. was abducted by Richard G. Lawler in September of 1974. He was kept overnight in a weedy lot. In the morning Lawler took the boy’s clothes away but let him leave. It was not reported if the boy had been assaulted.


  Another boy also came forward. This victim was a 13 year old. He was taken from an arcade and was sexually assaulted repeatedly at a motel before being dropped off the next day at a park. Both of these boys reported the crimes. They described their attacker. Richard G. Lawler was brought in for a police line up and identified by each boy as the man who had abducted them. 

   Lawler was tried and convicted in 1975. He was supposed to serve between 8 and 40 years. He only served about 4 years or less, inexplicably. I wasn’t able to find his exact release date. 

  (This seems to have been a standard practice in Ohio in the 1970’s. Was this a cost cutting measure for overcrowded and under funded prisons?)


  In October of 1979, Richard G. Lawler was out of custody and free again. On October 18th, 1979, he abducted, assaulted and killed 11 year old Kevin Green. He was tried and found guilty of the murder.  He is currently incarcerated in Ohio serving a life sentence.  

Richard G. Lawler 



   Joseph Norman Hill has been mentioned in a 2023 article about James David Morgan’s murder. Hill passed away in 2019 but was linked through DNA to the 1972 Boardman, Ohio murder of Brad Lee Bellino. He is suspected of other murders in the area and possibly in California. Hill moved from Ohio to San Bernardino County, California in 1978. 

Joseph Norman Hill

James David Morgan was just a thirteen year old boy. We have so little information about him. What did he like to do? What was his favorite song? Who was his favorite football team? We will never know what he might have grown up to be. 

James is buried at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Akron. 

Rest in peace, James.


https://www.akronohio.gov/departments/police/index.php


Shareable video about James David Morgan’s case here:

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