Woman fears remains are her son's

PORTALES - Carol Morgan is still hoping her missing son will come home. But she fears it was his remains found last week inside the trunk of a burned vehicle in Roosevelt County.

"I wish he would walk through the door," she said Monday, referring to her son Kristopher Morgan, 43, who has been missing since Sept. 27. "But I know my son wouldn't just go missing."

Morgan said she went to her son's house last Wednesday evening and was approached by law enforcement officers. The 9th Judicial District's Major Crimes Unit was activated earlier that same day, although officials have still declined to identify the precise timing or location of their grisly discovery.

"I stayed in my vehicle and rolled down the window and (an officer) came to my car, and I said, 'Officer, this is kind of a God moment, because I am kind of worried about my son. I would like to make a missing person report.' ... And they said they found remains..."

Morgan declined to say what kind of vehicle her son drove or if it matched the burned vehicle investigators discovered last week. Roosevelt County Sheriff Malin Parker said last week that the incident was being investigated as "suspicious," but declined to answer additional questions.

Parker this week said he had no additional information.

District Attorney Andrea Reeb said she was not aware of any charges or arrests filed in the case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Brian Stover told The News on Saturday that search warrants were being filed on individuals, residences and vehicles but that they were also being sealed in the interest of protecting the investigation.

"The timing of the discovery of the vehicle is a critical piece of the investigation at this point, and so as we're eliminating suspects and talking to suspects. I can't divulge more," Stover said.

Carol Morgan said Monday that she "doesn't have any proof" that her son was in the vehicle. Officials have said it could take weeks to make positive forensic identification of physical remains.

Carol Morgan said she last heard from her son by phone on Sept. 23, and that nothing seemed amiss. Since his job in the past 15 months with a Roosevelt County trucking service had him working nights and sleeping days during the week, she wasn't excessively concerned until trying to contact him Sept. 27 - then three additional days of no response and his failing to show up for work.

Carol Morgan, the nurse manager at the public health office in Roosevelt County, where she has worked for 24 years, said her son has had difficulties since dropping out of Portales High School. Court records show he had a number of charges for felony possession of a controlled substance between 2002 and 2017, as well as a charge of larceny and motor vehicle theft.

But his mother said "He's forgiven and that's forgotten," he earned his GED and that Kristopher "was not in that (lifestyle) anymore."

But she said her son remained in contact with people involved in drugs.

"If it is those people, then it's dangerous," she said. "He's not involved with the drug cartel, but some of the people he hangs with ... He doesn't cut people off just because they're making bad decisions."

Carol Morgan said the last contact Kristopher had with any of his family was between the nighttime hours of Sept. 26-27.

"He had a lot of friends, and that was one thing that he said to his brother the day before he went missing, that everybody loves him," she said. "He was testifying to his brother for hours Thursday night (Sept. 26) from the Bible."

She described him as a "loving father" who also enjoyed cooking for the family at get-togethers, "playing with his daughter, kite-flying, playing in playgrounds."

She is certain he would not disappear without letting her know.

"He is my son and he would not do that to me. He would not fall off the end of the earth," she said. "His life was heading down a better path. He had his own place, had his own car."