Richmond murder suspect went to Florida after shooting, captured as he walked back to the scene of the crime

The man accused of killing a Richmond woman during a home invasion traveled to Florida after the murder and was on his way back to the scene of the crime when he was apprehended.

Shannon V. Gilday, 23, of Taylor Mill, entered the Richmond home of former politician and businessman C. Wesley Morgan, 71, during the early morning hours of February 22. Armed with a rifle, Gilday entered 32-year-old Jordan Morgan’s bedroom and shot her while she slept. He then exchanged gunfire with C. Wesley Morgan and fled the scene. C. Wesley Morgan suffered non-life threatening injuries. His wife and other daughter, 14, were not injured.

Gilday was arrested the morning of February 28 in Richmond, walking alongside a road about a mile from where he allegedly murdered Jordan Morgan. He had traveled to Florida immediately after committing the murder and was going back to the Morgan’s Willis Branch Road home when he was captured, according to Madison County Sheriff Mike Coyle, the Richmond Register reports.

Coyle told the newspaper that Gilday “came back to carry out his means; that he wanted to get back at that location.”

According to court records, Gilday made several trips to the Morgan residence in the days prior to the deadly shooting, the newspaper reports.

While serving a search warrant at Gilday’s apartment, and according to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader, police found “written notes about the bunker underneath the Morgan’s home and had recorded details of the home and the family’s sleeping habits.”

The Morgan home is on the market for nearly $6 million and contains a survival bunker.

Gilday’s mother, Katie Gilday, issued a statement to her son while he was still on the run encouraging him to surrender to authorities. Included in her statement was an indication that her son may be suffering from mental illness, as she said he thought nuclear war was imminent and had been talking about building a survival bunker (and that the CIA was following him).

A friend of Gilday’s, who first alerted police that Gilday could be responsible for the murder, told authorities that the suspect “had been looking at homes with bunkers.”

During his time in Florida, Gilday illegally obtained a Georgia license plate and put it on his car. On his way back to Kentucky, the vehicle, a 2016 Toyota Corolla, broke down north of Atlanta. He abandoned the car, leaving it on the side of I-75.

It’s unclear how he made it back to Kentucky.

Gilday is being held in the Madison County Detention Center.

By Ken Howlett, News Director

Contact Ken at ken@k105.com