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Slain US bigamist's Moroccan wife reeling from death, across Atlantic

SALE, Morocco: In a dust-caked cement apartment block near Morocco's capital, Zahra Toural befriended an American woman with a million-dollar home — a woman now charged with murdering the husband they shared.

"We did everything together, and she was a sister and a friend," Toural, 36, told The Associated Press in an interview in her home Tuesday, dressed in traditional mourning garb of a white gown and headscarf. "She said she was happy here."

Toural and her extended Moroccan family are reeling from the death last week of Jereleigh Morton, shot while sleeping at his home outside Philadelphia. His first wife, Myra Morton, turned herself in Thursday to face murder and related charges.

The killing happened hours before Jereleigh Morton was to travel to Morocco to try to conceive a baby with Toural.

The death shocked their Pennsylvania community, and its repercussions reached across the Atlantic to this neighborhood on the outskirts of Sale, near the Moroccan capital Rabat.

A long series of rundown apartment blocks runs down the street like a line of old teeth. Laundry and satellite dishes adorn rooftops. An empty lot nearby serves as a communal garbage dump.

Toural said that for Myra Morton, the neighborhood became a second home. "She said she loved Morocco and the whole family loved her. She brought us gifts and helped me improve my English," Toural said.

But according to friends and family, Myra Morton, 47, was against her husband's decision to take a second wife after Myra lost the ability to have children.

Islam allows men to marry up to four women, provided they secure the approval of their other wives and are able to provide equally for all of them. Prosecutors have said they aren't sure whether Pennsylvania's polygamy ban would apply to a marriage in a foreign country.

Montgomery County prosecutors charged Morton with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and related counts. They suggested that jealousy and control of the Mortons' more than US$6 million in assets were possible motives for the killing.

At least some of Jereleigh Morton's estate may go to Toural if Pennsylvania courts choose to recognize her marriage in Morocco to Morton, said her lawyer Patrick Artur, reached by telephone in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

The Mortons, who hail from North Philadelphia, converted to Islam over 20 years ago. They lived in a small Philadelphia row house until a medical malpractice settlement over their teenage daughter's death netted them a reported $8 million in 2005.

They paid US$1 million cash for a sprawling suburban home, and Jereleigh retired from his job as a handyman to dabble in real estate. They lived in the home with their surviving daughter and her family.

Jereleigh Morton met Toural on the Internet in December 2006, and Toural said she and Myra Morton became instant friends when the Mortons first visited Morocco last February.

"Jereleigh said from the beginning that he wanted to have children, and Myra didn't have any problem with him taking a second wife," Toural said.

Toural acted as witness to Jereleigh and Myra Morton's official conversion to Islam before a Moroccan judge, a prerequisite for Jereleigh Morton to be able to marry Toural. Morton bought a large house for the trio to use in Casablanca, Morocco's commercial capital.

"He was talking about getting into business in Morocco and building a big aquarium, because that's something we don't have here," Toural remembered. In her handbag, Toural keeps a photo of the Casablanca house's living room, furnished with overstuffed divans and embroidered drapes.

Myra Morton spent all of last May with Toural and her family while Jereleigh was in the U.S., Toural said. "She said she loved Morocco and the whole family loved her. She brought us gifts and helped me improve my English."

However, Montgomery County authorities said in the affidavit that Morton had complained to friends and family about Toural. Her mother-in-law, Delzora Morton, told detectives that she advised Myra Morton to "walk away" from the marriage.

In April, Myra Morton sent a letter to immigration authorities that ended up at the U.S. State Department.

In it, she wrote that her husband was trying to bring Toural over on a tourist visa. She also urged the government to keep Toural out of the United States, going so far as to accuse the other woman of having connections to terrorists.

"How could she do that?" said Toural, her voice breaking. "I'm not a terrorist. I'm a good person. I took care of her."

Toural said she finds it equally hard to accept that she is a widow.

"I'm still in shock. I still ask myself if (Jereleigh) is really gone."

Toural and the other adults in her extended family haven't told her young nieces and nephews that Myra Morton may have murdered her husband. But Toural's traditional mourning garb betrays the fact that he is dead.

"I feel sad. I lost my husband after I just started with him five months ago." She stopped and sobbed a little. "I miss him."

Slain US bigamist's Moroccan wife reeling from death, across Atlantic