“So crazy…”: Perez Hilton reacts after man gets charged for allegedly burning girlfriend and her dog alive: Details explored

Pop culture commentator and podcaster Perez Hilton often reports on crime stories in his “True Crime” blogs on his website. In his September 3 blog, Hilton reported on the case of a man charged with murder two years after allegedly locking his girlfriend inside a storage facility, where she died in a fire.

In his blog, Hilton reported that in 2023 a 27-year-old woman named Morgan Kay Harris was locked by her boyfriend, Alexander Wardell, in a CubeSmart Self Storage unit in Murray along with her dog. Soon after Wardell left, a fire broke out in which Harris and her dog were burned alive.

As per the blog, Wardell was arrested and booked on the suspicion of negligent homicide and kidnapping back then. However, he was released a year later after the DA office of Salt Lake County declared that with the then available evidence, charges couldn’t be filed. Perez Hilton noted new developments in the case that came after the woman’s mother requested a review in Attorney General’s office.

Citing People, Perez Hilton reported that Wardell was charged with felony murder-domestic violence, kidnapping-domestic violence, aggravated animal cruelty, and a few other charges in light of new findings. Reacting to the news, Hilton wrote,

“So crazy…”

Earlier, while reporting about the incident in his February 2023 blog, the media personality raised eyebrows on the death of Harris and her dog.

“As of now, it’s unclear why exactly Wardell locked his girlfriend in the storage unit, and the cause of the fire remains unknown. However, we have to say, the two events happening back to back doesn’t exactly seem like coincidence,” Hilton wrote.

Perez Hilton detailed new developments in the case

As mentioned above, the victim’s mother, Laurice Williamson, requested the Attorney General’s Office to review the case. After reinvestigations, new charges were pressed against Alexander Wardell on August 28.

Perez Hilton, in his recent blog, shared that legal documents suggested that surveillance cameras captured an altercation between Harris and Wardell before she was locked inside the storage facility. Wardell had earlier said that there were no candles inside the storage unit when he walked out of it.

Hilton included the statement from charging documents that suggests that the fire was initiated within the unit itself.

“A burnt cardboard box was located near where (Harris’s) chair had been. Inside the box was an intact candlestick. A lighter was found on (Harris’s) body,” the charging document read.

The blog further stated that Harris was lying unconscious on a chair inside the unit when the fire broke out and she sustained burn injuries on the left side of her body. When she woke up, she breathed burning air, due to which her larynx and upper airway sustained burns. Harris laid on the ground along with her dog in an attempt to breathe fresh air from underneath the door.

While questioning the unconsciousness, Perez Hilton highlighted that the Attorney General’s office issued a search warrant for Wardell’s duffle bag during investigation.

“In it, investigators found an extra-large blue button-down long-sleeve shirt wadded up in the center of other XL clothing. Blood stains and burn marks appeared to be on the shirt. A rapid DNA test revealed the tested red brown stains to be blood and the DNA in the blood matched (Harris’s) DNA,” the charging documents stated.

Perez Hilton raised eyebrows at blood stains found on cloth. He stated that this implicated “violence before the fire.” The blogger further raised a serious suspicion and wrote,

“Maybe that’s why she was unconscious in a storage unit? Maybe she’d been knocked out? And it no longer looks like negligence — it looks like murder!”

Perez Hilton, in his February 2023 blog, reported that Alexander Wardell had been released from jail one day before this incident took place. Wardell was facing charges for reportedly beating his ex-girlfriend with a golf club and threatening her with a knife in 2018.