Bismarck Tribune

By VIRGINIABy VIRGINIAGRANTIER

Valley City people interviewed Thursday who know Moe Maurice Gibbs, 34, could only come up with good things to say about him, couldn't come up with anything negative - couldn't even think of any self-destructive habits like smoking that he might have had.

Kristi Schweitzer, manager of the Wagon Wheel Inn in Valley City, said the community is rocking from this, in part because of who was arrested - out of all people.

Schweitzer said he's known as a nice guy.

She said the arrest of Gibbs, in connection with the murder of Mindy Morgenstern, has devastated her son - and she thinks there are probably "a lot of upset little boys"in Valley City.

Schweitzer said Gibbs this spring was the basketball coach for her son's Valley City Parks and Recreation league team.

"He was an awesome coach,"she said.

Gibbs was arrested Wednesday and charged with Class AAmurder for the death of Morgenstern, 22, a Valley City State University student who was found dead Sept. 13 in her off-campus apartment. The criminal complaint filed against him alleges he killed Morgenstern by cutting her throat.

Schweitzer said everyone felt so fortunate to have someone of his talent coaching the boys, who were ages 8 and 9, and really looked up to him. "He was such a good coach. He could get down to the level of 8- and 9-year-old boys."

She said she also knew him as an employee.

Schweitzer said Gibbs, who lived in the Fargo area, wanted a job at the Wagon Wheel Inn in Valley City so that he could be near his fiancee.

Schweitzer said Gibbs' fiancee had worked at the inn a long time ago and came with Gibbs for the job interview to explain their situation and to help him get the job.

Schweitzer said it was explained to her that Gibbs lived in the Fargo area during the week and wanted to come to Valley City on the weekends.

Behind him was a life that started, according to his birth certificate, on Aug. 10, 1972, in Merced County, Calif., when he was born to a 15-year-old mother and a 20-year-old father, who was then a maintenance worker, employed with Merced College in California.

He started out with a different name:Glen Dale Morgan Jr. He had that name until 2005, when he petitioned the Cass County District Court for a name change, and gave as the reason on the petition: "My father abandoned me and has never been a part of my life. I want to no longer be known as having the same last name."

The petition stated that the petitioner "has never been convicted of a crime or a felony." The court OK'd the change in June 2005.

At age 18, Gibbs was in the U.S. Navy, serving from August 1990 to July 1999 at Whidbey Island, Wash., according to a resume he provided Barnes County when applying for a job as a Barnes County correctional officer.

In the Navy, he was a search and rescue supervisor, according to the resume. He was a night supervisor of 15 to 35 personnel; trained all new incoming personnel; created schedules and directed duties to all personnel; and assisted and was directly involved in all search and rescue missions.

Gibbs also provided this information in his resume, which the Tribune was unable to confirm:

From 2000 to May 2003 he studied "medical assisting"at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Wash. From April 2002 to May 2003 he was lead shipper at a company called Fast Cap in Bellingham.

Then he was in Texas:From August 2003 to May 2004, he was studying medical assisting at the Hallmark Institute of Technology in San Antonio, Texas, and was working at Sea World in San Antonio in the shipping and receiving department from June 2003 to December 2004.

Also during that time, according to Texas' boxing association - the Texas Boxing and Wrestling Program - he was licensed as a boxer from August 2003 to August 2004.

Then he was in North Dakota:From June 2004 to May 2005, he studied physical education at Mayville State University and was working as a housekeeper at Fargo's Wingate Inn from June 2005 to December 2005.

It was in December 2005 that Schweitzer gave Gibbs a job at the Wagon Wheel, which he kept through March, when he left for something else, she said. She didn't have any concerns about his job performance. She said he did have to miss some weekends.

Schweitzer said it was in the summer of 2006 that he married his fiancee. She said Gibbs' wife, an artist and photographer, has graduated from Valley City State University, and the couple has a daughter, who is 16 months old.

"He seemed like a very loving father to his daughter and new wife," she said.

At the time of his arrest, Gibbs was employed as a Barnes County jailer.

Doug Peters, the university's athletic director, confirmed that Gibbs' wife is the daughter of the university's athletic trainer, George Judd.

"The department is very supportive of the Judd family, as is the entire university,"he said.

Peters said he knew Gibbs as an acquaintance.

He said Gibbs came to many of the athletic events with his family.

"He carried himself well, was always respectful,"Peters said. "There wasn't anything abnormal about the guy."

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)