Medical Examiner: Chesterfield mom, infant shot in the head

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - A Chesterfield woman and her baby daughter murdered late last week had both been shot in the head, the Medical Examiner says.

Last Friday, police found 34-year-old Morgan R. Rogers and 1-year-old Leah Rogers dead inside their home. Investigators suspect Rogers' estranged boyfriend, 46-year-old Stafford L. Shaw Sr., murdered the mother and their daughter. Shaw later fled from police on Interstate 295 and crashed head-on into oncoming traffic, killing himself and two other people.

The Medical Examiner tells NBC12 both Morgan and Leah's deaths have been ruled a homicide.

NBC12 has learned Shaw had a violent criminal history, and that months before Morgan and Leah's murders, a protective order had been put in place against Shaw. A criminal complaint says Shaw had "...grabbed (Morgan's ) throat and began choking her and bit her nose" and "She blacked out." Shaw was serving jail time on weekends for the assault.

Shaw's family says they do not think he would have murdered his infant daughter. According to his brother Charles Scott, Shaw was on the phone with their sister shortly before he was killed in the crash. "This is what he said: She shot the baby as he was holding her and then the hurt from that, he shot her," says Scott. "There's no way he would have killed the child, there's no way."

But Chesterfield police say evidence shows Shaw shot his estranged girlfriend and their daughter to death. We asked if Scott ever thought his brother was violent. "That's not a side that we've seen," says Scott.

But according to court records, Shaw was found guilty of assaulting another woman seven years ago. In 1989, he was accused of murder and arson in Richmond, but that case was dismissed.

Scott says he would have told his brother to turn himself in.

Funeral arrangement for Morgan and Leah Rogers have not yet been made public.