VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Virginia Beach police announced an internal probe into the department's handling of a missing person case that soon became a murder investigation.
In a statement released Tuesday, the department said it "has now opened an inquiry into the timeline of our initial response, reporting, and public notification" in the case of 40-year-old Marie D. Covington, who was found dead in Norfolk Saturday night.
The statement also described the timeline of the missing person case. On the night of August 18, officers responded to a missing person call for Marie Covington, the statement said, adding that she was last seen in the car with Gary Morton on August 17.
On August 20, State Police attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle refused to stop, and a pursuit was initiated. When the pursuit ended in Norfolk, the driver, 43-year-old Gary Morton, was taken into custody and troopers discovered the vehicle belonged to Covington. Virginia State Police immediately notified VBPD, the statement said.
Virginia State Police issued an Ashanti Alert on behalf of Virginia Beach Police Department late Saturday night, August 20, and then canceled it just a few hours later, around 1 a.m. on Sunday, August 21, at the request of VBPD.
The alert was canceled shortly after Covington's body was found. In a separate statement issued Sunday, Norfolk police said around 11:30 p.m. on August 20, their officers responded to the 1000 block of Galt Street to assist another law enforcement agency. When officers arrived, they found an unresponsive woman.
The woman, Marie D. Covington, 40, of Virginia Beach, was pronounced dead at the scene. Norfolk detectives then charged 43-year-old Gary Morton with second-degree murder and use of a firearm. Morton was already in custody at Chesapeake Correctional Center being held without bond on charges related to the police pursuit Saturday morning.
