The Witnesses Who Still Won't Talk - Episode 60

The $2 Bill Pinned to His Underwear: The Death of Charles "Chuck" Morgan

A man came home at 2 AM with his hands bound in plastic handcuffs, one ankle cuffed, missing a shoe — and a note warning his wife that calling the police would be a death warrant for the entire family. Three months later, investigators found him on a desert highway wearing a bulletproof vest, a gun near his left hand, and a $2 bill pinned to his underwear with a hand-drawn map pointing directly to his own body. He was right-handed.

In this episode, we explore why the Pima County Medical Examiner refused to confirm suicide despite the sheriff closing the case within weeks, what the seven Spanish surnames written on that $2 bill actually connect to, and why an anonymous woman known only as Green Eyes told investigators a ninety-thousand-dollar contract had been placed on Chuck's life — increasing five thousand dollars for every day he stayed alive. Was this a desperate man who reached the end of his options, or someone who knew too much about the wrong people in Arizona?

Case Details

Victim: Charles "Chuck" Morgan, 39, president of Statewide Escrow Service, Inc., Tucson, Arizona.

Date: June 7–18, 1977.

Location: US Highway 86, Tohono O'odham Reservation, approximately 40 miles west of Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Case Status: Currently an inactive cold case. The Pima County Sheriff's Department ruled the death a suicide in mid-August 1977, but the county medical examiner ruled cause of death unknown and refused to confirm that ruling. No charges have ever been filed and no further official investigation has been publicly opened.

Episode Key Points

- Chuck was right-handed, yet the .357 Magnum was found near his left hand, and gunshot residue was recovered only from his left hand.

- The bullet entered from the back and top of his head and lodged behind his front teeth — a trajectory that investigators and the medical examiner found inconsistent with a self-inflicted wound.

- A $2 bill pinned inside his underwear contained a hand-drawn map pointing to the exact location where his body was found — written in Chuck's own handwriting.

- Arizona Attorney General Bruce Babbitt confirmed Chuck had given sworn secret testimony in a state banking investigation and had been offered physical protection, which Chuck declined.

Chuck Morgan, Tucson Arizona homicide, US-86 cold case 1977, Pima County death investigation, Arizona banking corruption, true detective, homicide, forensic science, criminal minds, investigation, murder, unsolved mysteries, true crime English.