Bio

Richard E. Lynch was born on June 19, 1953. By 1998, Lynch was married but became involved in an extramarital relationship with Roseanna Morgan. The affair lasted from about August 1998 to February 1999. During the relationship, the two accumulated credit-card debt. After Morgan ended the relationship, Lynch wanted her to help pay the debt they had built up together.

Before the murders, Lynch wrote a letter to his wife admitting the affair. In the letter, he directed her to send Morgan’s letters and pictures to Morgan’s family. He wrote that he wanted them to understand “why it happened,” language later used by the state to argue that he had planned a murder-suicide.

On March 5, 1999, Lynch went to Morgan’s apartment with three handguns. He later claimed he only wanted to force Morgan to talk about the credit-card debt, but the evidence showed that he arrived armed, held Leah Caday at gunpoint, and killed both victims.

Murder Story

On March 5, 1999, Richard Lynch went to Roseanna Morgan’s apartment in Seminole County, Florida, carrying three handguns. Morgan was not home when he arrived. Her 13-year-old daughter, Leah Caday, was inside. Lynch showed Leah a gun and forced her to remain in the apartment while he waited for Morgan to return.

Lynch later told detectives that he had gone there to make Morgan sit down and talk to him about their credit-card debt. When Morgan arrived, the situation turned violent. Lynch shot her several times, then dragged her into the apartment. A neighbor later testified that Morgan was bloody and screaming as Lynch pulled her inside.

After bringing Morgan into the apartment, Lynch switched guns and shot her in the back of the head. He then shot Leah Caday in the back. Both Roseanna Morgan and Leah Caday died from gunshot wounds.

During the incident, Lynch called 911 and admitted what had happened. He also said he planned to kill himself. He called his wife several times during the events, and she later testified that she heard a woman screaming in the background. During one of the calls, Lynch admitted that he had shot someone.

Police responded, and a standoff followed. Lynch was arrested the same day. After his arrest, he confessed to the events. On March 23, 1999, he was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, armed burglary of a dwelling, and kidnapping.

On October 19, 2000, Lynch pleaded guilty to all charges. He waived a penalty-phase jury, and the judge held the penalty proceedings without a jury. On April 3, 2001, Judge O.H. Eaton sentenced Lynch to death for both murders, plus life sentences for armed burglary and kidnapping.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and death sentences on January 9, 2003. The court found that the murder of Morgan was cold, calculated, and premeditated, and that the murder of Leah Caday was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel because she had been held hostage and forced to experience the terror of the attack before she was killed.

Lynch continued to pursue appeals and postconviction relief, but the Florida Supreme Court denied relief in 2008.