PORTSMOUTH — Nearly three years after a landlord was found dead behind his West Main Road rental property, a Portsmouth man has been convicted of his killing.

Jacob Morrill, 27, was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Xue Feng Wu. A judge also found him guilty of driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent and fraudulent use of a credit card.

Morrill is scheduled to be sentenced April 27.

The charges stem from the events of May 22, 2023, when Portsmouth police were first asked to check on Wu’s well-being. According to testimony and court records, the Tiverton Police Department contacted Portsmouth officers at about 4:30 p.m. after Wu’s family reported that he had left his Tiverton home earlier that day to check on his rental property at 1722 West Main Road and had not returned.

Officers went to the address and spoke with Morrill, who was renting the two-bedroom home from Wu. Morrill told police that Wu had been there earlier but left to attend court in Providence. With no immediate signs of trouble, officers cleared the scene.

About 90 minutes later, police received another call — this time from a different individual reporting possible information about a crime at the same address. As officers prepared to respond, Morrill contacted police himself.

At approximately 6:10 p.m., Morrill told a desk officer that he had struck and killed Wu. He arranged to meet officers behind a Mobil gas station on West Main Road, where he was detained without incident.

According to investigators, Morrill directed officers to a wooded area behind the rental home. There, down a path and in a brush-covered area, they found Wu’s body wrapped in a tarp and weighed down with wire fencing and other debris. Police said Wu had suffered severe head injuries.

Detectives later determined that a confrontation had taken place inside a garage on the property. During that dispute, Morrill struck Wu in the head with a small handheld axe, prosecutors said. Investigators executing court-authorized search warrants recovered numerous items of evidence, including the suspected weapon.

Court records show that Wu and Morrill had been scheduled to appear at an eviction hearing around the time of the killing.

In the months following his arrest, Morrill faced additional charges after authorities alleged he drove Wu’s car without permission and used his credit card, spending more than $100.

Morrill was 24 at the time of his arrest. He had no prior violent criminal record in Portsmouth, police said at the time.

First homicide since 2016

The killing stunned the community. It marked the town’s first homicide since 2016 and unfolded on the same evening as an unrelated fatal car crash on Indian Avenue, stretching local emergency responders.

Throughout the investigation, Portsmouth police said they remained in contact with Wu’s family. At the time of Morrill’s arrest, Police Chief Brian Peters extended condolences to Wu’s loved ones, calling the death a tragic loss.