ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ)– Almost a week since Altoona resident Richard Morgan was found dead his family is reflecting on his life and sharing a warning.
Morgan was allegedly hired by Austin Kline, 22, of Cambria County to do some excavation work and was killed by him after. Morgan’s son Dustin Beckwith says that their family is still stunned by what happened.
“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions off and on,” Dustin said. “The family is still a lot in shock. We’re finding out stuff that we didn’t even know from the news and the newspapers.”
Dustin says that his father had purchased a mini excavator to do small projects in his retirement so that he wouldn’t become a homebody. Richard was set up to work for Kline through Facebook for his first excavating job.
“If you’re going to take a job through Facebook Marketplace, anything like that, make sure you go in with partners because we would’ve never thought that something like this from some random stranger would have ever happened to him,” Dustin said.
Dustin says that his dad loved spending time with his family and enjoyed fishing, hunting and camping. Morgan’s daughter Ciara Beckwith says that there was never a dull moment with Morgan around, especially when he was around his grandchildren.
“Pappy took to my little boy just like you know I would say he did when I was a baby, that’s how he took to me,” Ciara said. “That relationship carried on. He actually retired and we made the joke that he’s not one of the guys you ever see being a stay-at-home pappy daycare and my little man made him that.”
As the family continues to learn more about what happened, Ciara says that she never could have imagined something like this happening in our area, let alone to a loved one.
“I like crime shows, I like the crime scenes, I like to watch it,” Ciara said. “I never thought a day in my life at 25 I would actually be living it.”
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Kline remains in Cambria County Prison after he was denied bail. His preliminary hearing is set for June 8.