Police: Suspect Arrested After MSU Employee Escapes Attack on Campus

KSMU | By Jennifer Moore

Published May 24, 2019 at 3:48 PM CDT

MSU's Cheek Hall, which borders National Avenue in Springfield, is where the university's mathematics department is based. It also has classrooms and a computer lab.

Police say a woman escaped her male attacker Thursday morning in a women’s bathroom on the Missouri State University campus, calling 911 to alert authorities, who responded and arrested the suspect.

According to the Springfield Police Department, the woman, an MSU employee, was exiting a stall in the bathroom of Cheek Hall when the male suspect grabbed her. Police say the woman fought the suspect and fled the building.

MSU campus safety officers apprehended the man and detained him until Springfield Police Officers arrived, according to the SPD.

Missouri State University routinely alerts faculty, staff and students to safety concerns on campus, but no campus-wide alert was issued Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the university, Nikki Donnellson, told KSMU the university did not issue an alert because the suspect was apprehended immediately and it was determined there was no further threat to the campus community.

Cheek Hall is home to the university's mathematics department, and the building borders National Avenue.

SPD has identified the suspect as Gregory E. Morton Jr., a 32-year-old male from Springfield.

A search of Missouri’s online court records shows a man by the same name has been charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors over the past decade, including failure to register as a sex offender.

The SPD said Morton is a suspect in several other crimes, and that the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges of First-Degree Burglary, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and First-Degree Attempted Rape with no bond.

MSU’s 2019 Spring academic semester ended on Thursday, May 16 with final exams, but many staff members work throughout the calendar year on the Springfield, West Plains and Mountain Grove campuses.

Detectives investigating the attack encourage anyone with information to contact the Springfield Police Department at 417-864-1810 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 417-869- TIPS.

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