Norfolk man sentenced to 106 years for murdering girlfriend, strangling another woman
NORFOLK — A Norfolk man was sentenced Friday to more than 106 years in prison for the 2022 abduction and murder of his girlfriend and the 2020 strangulation of another woman.
Gary Morton was found guilty in October of first-degree murder, abduction, and related firearm charges for the fatal shooting of Marie Covington, with whom he had an on-and-off relationship.
He also was convicted of attempted malicious wounding and gun charges for shooting at the driver of a vehicle that honked at him around that same time. He chose to have his case decided by a judge and was convicted of all charges at the end of a three-day trial.
Morton, 44, admitted to dumping Covington’s body in a trash bin but denied intentionally killing her.
According to prosecutors, Morton got into an argument with Covington and her family at her Virginia Beach home on the night of Aug. 17, 2022. The two were sitting in Covington’s Ford Escape afterward when Covington attempted to get out and Morton sped off with her still in the vehicle.
Later, Morton pulled over in the 3700 block of Larkin Street in Norfolk and was urinating in the street when the driver of another vehicle honked. Morton pulled out a gun and fired at the vehicle, striking the driver’s side of the windshield but not the driver.
A few days later, Morton got into a high-speed chase with Chesapeake police after an officer tried to pull him over for driving erratically. He confessed to killing Covington, 40, and dumping her body during an interview with detectives, according to prosecutors. At his trial, he claimed he accidentally killed Covington, who died from a gunshot to her left temple.
Circuit Judge Joseph C. Lindsey sentenced Morton on Friday to 98 years for his convictions in the Covington case, and for shooting at the driver of the car that honked at him, according to a release from the Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. The term was more than twice what state sentencing guidelines suggested.
Judge John R. Doyle III sentenced Morton earlier on Friday to 8 years and 10 months for the strangulation case, the release said. In that incident, Morton attacked a woman in her downtown Norfolk apartment.
In December 2022, Virginia Beach police conceded that two of its officers had mishandled a missing person’s report made by Covington’s family the day after she disappeared.
While a department review determined the murder happened before Virginia Beach police were notified, Police Chief Paul Neudigate said in a statement the department had “failed to meet the (Covington) family’s expectations in trying to locate their loved one,” and that the department would be reviewing its missing person’s procedures to ensure that they “respond with the appropriate urgency.”
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
