Authorities: Man in Pond Drowned Accidentally

A maintenance worker at the Ashford Lakes apartments found the body of Marquis Morgan, 20, at about 8:20 a.m. Tuesday in a pond behind the complex, located at 600 S. Churton Street, police said.

Morgan lived in an apartment complex off U.S. Highway 70 in Mebane, police said. A preliminary autopsy report indicated that he drowned in the past two days.

“We treat everything as a suspicious death until we learn otherwise,” said Lt. Davis Trimmer of the Hillsborough Police Department. “Right now, we don’t have anything that says this is a suspicious death, but the investigation of the circumstances is ongoing.”

Hillsborough officers attempted to serve a warrant on Morgan Sunday morning for failure to appear in court on a shoplifting charge from Durham, Trimmer said.

On Sunday night, an officer responding to a call about a disturbance at a South Churton Street convenience store, recognized Morgan in line, but he ran from officers when they approached him, he said. The officers lost sight of him near the Ashford Lakes complex and couldn't find him after searching for 30 to 45 minutes, he said.

“Since this is a minor warrant from another jurisdiction and since we knew who he was, we did not do a big manhunt,” Trimmer said, adding that police don't think Morgan was involved in the disturbance at the store.

Residents of the complex said the discovery of the body shattered the area's serenity.

"I hang out on my patio a lot because I love the view of the lake. I feel like I'm in a state of shock right now," resident Nancy Augustine said.

Officers taped off the pond to keep people away Tuesday morning, and they canvassed apartments to gather information.