US army confirms man who murdered Denise Morgan was former soldier

Denise Morgan had ended her relationship with Joed A Taveras when she was killed.

The US army has confirmed that the man who murdered a Louth woman at her home in New York was a former soldier.

Denise Morgan, from Tullyallen suffered a gunshot wound to the head and neck during a row with her former partner Joed A Taveras in Queens on October 21.

The mother of one had ended the relationship and was preparing to move to a new apartment with her daughter when she died.

When police arrived on the scene, they discovered the remains of Ms Morgan and Mr Tavaras, who had turned the gun on himself.

In a statement, the US army press office told the Irish Examiner  that Mr Tavaras held a previous position of “specialist” within the defence forces.

Joed A Taveras was an M1 Armor Crewman [19K] in the regular Army from March 2011 to July 2014. He deployed to Kuwait from October 2013 to April 2014.

“He held the rank of specialist at the end of service," it said.

“Due to Privacy Act constraints, we are unable to provide the characterization of discharge for any soldier.

“Army policy controls a current soldier’s access to government firearms and participation in live fire exercises but does not extend to possession of personal firearms by former soldiers."

Denise Morgan's sister Lisa Morgan, niece Kayleigh Kennedy, mother Deirdre Morgan, and sister Shannon Morgan. Picture: Ciara Wilkinson

Ms Morgan’s family previously told the Irish Examiner  that they will “never get justice” for Denise, but that they wanted to warn others about the dangers of controlling behaviours.

Lisa Morgan said: “He was trying to cut her off from people.

We don’t know why he had guns in the apartment. We never knew this.

“I was though, afraid of what he would do if he knew Denise was leaving. There were red flags and we knew he was controlling. But no one expected this. We just hope that people will be careful when they are leaving an abusive relationship because she was living with him for five years. You would never see this coming."