A Memphis man has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal 2023 beating death of a South Memphis father, nearly three years after the victim was discovered unresponsive in a grassy field off Rayburn Street. Alfred Draper was convicted in the killing of 46-year-old Shanqualus Morgan, whose death investigators say followed a vicious attack that left him with fatal head trauma.
According to WREG, Morgan died after being beaten with a pole and left for dead. Memphis police officers responded to the 1600 block of Rayburn Street in South Memphis on Oct. 11, 2023, where they found a male victim unresponsive in a grassy field, the station reported. The victim was rushed to Regional One Hospital in critical condition before dying days later from his injuries.
Separate reporting from fox13memphis.com identified the victim as 46-year-old Shanqualus Morgan and confirmed that MPD officers responded to a man-down call on the afternoon of Oct. 11, 2023, to a field on the 1600 block of Rayburn Street, where they found an unconscious man. The outlet's records show Morgan was described in court documents in connection with the case. His cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, according to a report citing the Shelby County District Attorney's office.
Surveillance Footage Allegedly Showed the Attack
Investigators alleged that Draper was seen on surveillance footage striking Morgan with his car, chasing him down, and beating him unconscious with a pole, per the same report from the district attorney's office. The Memphis Police Department issued a warrant charging Draper with first-degree murder in 2023, but he evaded capture for months after the attack.
Draper remained at large until July 31, 2024, when authorities apprehended him in East Memphis. According to localmemphis.com, authorities found Draper inside a vehicle parked behind a shopping center near Park Avenue and Getwell Road. The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that Draper, 31, was captured that day in connection with a murder in which a man was beaten with a pole and left in a field.
Victim and Suspect Had a Long History
The case carried an added layer of grief for Morgan's family because the two men were not strangers. Morgan's sister told WREG that Draper and Shanqualus had known each other for years, and in a separate account she said Draper had known her brother since childhood. That detail underscored how personal the violence was for a family already grappling with the loss of a father.
Court records reviewed by local outlets reported conflicting bond figures for Draper following his arrest. Localmemphis.com reported he was being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $750,000 bond, while a separate report citing the district attorney's office put the bond at $1.5 million. The discrepancy between the two figures has not been resolved.
With the first-degree murder conviction now secured, the case marks the end of a yearslong effort to hold someone accountable for Morgan's death, which began with a man-down call on a South Memphis street and ended with a jury's verdict. Further details on sentencing had not been reported at the time of publication.
