Young

The man arrested three years ago in a 4 AM Capitol Hill traffic stop driving a blood splattered car in which police found a 9mm handgun, two fired rounds, a bullet, and a half kilo of drugs has been found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail.

In February, a jury found Bryson Morgan guilty of first degree murder for the January 2021 killing of 21-year-old Autumn Young. Court records show Morgan was sentenced last week to 360 months for the crime.

CHS reported here on the charge leveled against Morgan after his arrest as Young was found stripped naked and shot to death near Seward Park.

Morgan had previous run-ins with law enforcement including being charged in 2018 with felony harassment and threats after students alleged he made threats to shoot and bomb the Seattle University campus, causing his classroom to flee. The incident happened the same day as a deadly school shooting in Santa Fe. Morgan was later acquitted of the charges as lawyers argued his statements were hypotheticals about the possibility of shooting people and not specific threats to the campus. Morgan was also the subject of an Extreme Risk Protection Order requested by SPD requiring him to prove to the court he no longer had access to firearms.

Morgan was originally held on $10 million bail but prosecutors successfully argued for the defendant to be held without bail after learning about arrests in Texas for possession of a large amount of marijuana, and an arrest in Los Angeles for a drug possession and firearm violation.

Prosecutors also said that, in a call made from King County Jail, Morgan asked his family about posting bail and said he had “a plan” after his release. Prosecutors said Morgan’s family, as of 2012, had an estate estimated to be worth “far in excess” of $10 million.

Police say Morgan had only recently met Young before the killing. She grew up in Portland and had extended family in Montana.

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