A Rhode Island man facing eviction from his rental home has been charged with murder after he allegedly killed his landlord with an ax blow to the head.
Jacob Morrill, 24, from Portsmouth, was arrested Monday after leading police to the body of the victim, 50-year-old Xue Feng Wu, wrapped in a tarp and stashed in the woods.
Morrill appeared before a judge Tuesday and was arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder.
“We haven’t had an incident like this for a few years now, so it definitely is a shock to see that here in Portsmouth,” Police Chief Brian Peters said during a press briefing Tuesday.
Police said that Wu had left his home in Tiverton early Monday to check on his property in the 1700 block of West Road that Morrill had been renting, reported the station ABC6.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m., police arrived at the house looking for the landlord, whose concerned family members requested a welfare check because they could not get a hold of him.
Cops encountered Morrill at the home, who told them that Wu had paid him a visit earlier before heading to court in Providence.
Shortly after 6 p.m., Morrill called the police and allegedly confessed to killing his landlord.
According to investigators, during Wu’s visit that morning, he and Morrill got into an argument in the garage, and the tenant grabbed a small ax and struck the homeowner in the head, killing him.
Morrill then allegedly wrapped Wu’s body in a tarp and dumped it in the nearby woods, where the victim was later found under a piece of wire fencing and other debris thanks to information given by the suspect.
When police executed a search warrant at Morrill’s home, they said they recovered the murder weapon.
Morrill was arrested behind a Mobil gas station near his house, where he agreed to meet the police.
Wu, who was married with a young daughter, had been trying to evict Morrill and had a court hearing scheduled for the morning of his killing, reported WPRI.
Morrill was ordered held without bond pending a bail hearing set for June 6.