A Detroit man who allegedly committed three murders after being released on a low bond following a violent attack has been charged with committing an additional murder prior to his original arrest.
On June 4, 2022, the body of 24-year-old Natayla Morse was found in a field on Detroit’s east side. For nearly a year, no one has been charged with her murder, until now.
Jonathan Welch, 23, has been charged with murdering Morse with “blunt force trauma” to her head before stealing her car and setting it on fire, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release. It is unclear how Welch and Morse knew each other.
It is the latest development in Welch’s alleged crime spree. Welch was originally charged with multiple felonies, including torture, in crimes unrelated to Morse’s murder, Fox 2 Detroit reported. On June 12, he allegedly attacked and sexually assaulted his ex-girlfriend, Zlayiah Frazier, and was arrested and charged.
Welch allegedly strangled Frazier, poured gasoline on her, burned her with a metal spatula and threatened to assault her with a drill. He also allegedly attempted to sexually assault her with a pole. Welch allegedly did all this because was upset about Frazier potentially talking to someone else on her phone and demanded to see her conversations. He attacked her when she refused to hand over her phone. During the assault, the couple’s young child was in a room nearby.
Despite these facts, Welch’s bond was set at $100,000 with a 10% cash surety, meaning he only had to pay $10,000 to be released from prison.
Within a few days of leaving prison, Welch allegedly murdered Frazier, then barricaded himself in his mother’s house and shot at police.
“They let him out of jail, he killed my sister, he killed my sister,” Frazier’s sister, Breonna, told Fox 2 Detroit in July 2022.
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After shooting at police, Welch allegedly set his mother’s house on fire, and is also accused of killing his stepfather and critically stabbing his mother.
“They should’ve never let him out of prison,” Breonna told the outlet. “I don’t have nothing else to say.”
Welch was arrested again and charged with 19 counts, including first-degree murder. No bond was set after the deaths.
“Because he was not incarcerated she is now dead, his father is now dead, his mother is in a hospital bed,” Attorney James Galen, Jr told Fox 2. “He’s got a baby out there that most likely will never see his father again and will never have a chance to know the baby’s mother.”
“He’s 23 years old, a timebomb. I’m not saying the magistrate or judge could’ve predicted that, but with the charges and the nature of the charges, it should’ve been apparent that society needed big protection,” he added, referring to the low bond that allowed Welch to leave prison and go on his alleged killing spree.