Monthly Archives: August 2012

What Happened to Morgan’s Rights?

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Remember a post I did quite a while ago, that I hoped the men who wear the hats do their jobs?  I’m sure you all wondered what in the world I was talking about…well here it goes.  I was talking about certified, return receipt letters that had gone out to the Garfield County Coroner’s office, with cc’s to the Garfield County Commissioners, the District Attorney’s office, as well as the County Attorney’s office.  After months of trying to speak with our Coroner Trey Holt, and never so much as a call back, I wasn’t too surprised that he didn’t answer my letters, but I honestly thought at least someone in the County would pick up the phone and ask what is going on here.  That didn’t happen either.

So after months, and months of trying to get the Forensic Pathologist Dr. Kurtzman (he did Morgan’s autopsy that was done the afternoon after she was found on the morning of December 2, 2011) to redo Morgan’s death certificate (the original one said that she died from natural causes, and we knew, based upon doctors, and professors at UCLA Medical Center, as well as San Franciso’s Children’s Hospital, her local doctors, as well as the foremost Medical Examiner in Colorado, that this was not the case.  Steve and I consulted with many, many specialists as well as a very well respected Pathologist/Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen, who had just wrapped up the Aurora theatre shootings, in order to find out the truth behind Morgan’s death.  A healthy 20 year old, with no chronic illness, that had been horribly scared, and stressed by a felony stalker for 4 months straight, does not just up and die, and then Garfield County only releases in their records that a 20 year old female dies an unattended death – what is that supposed to mean?   How is the general public and others in this valley supposed to know what happened?  I am sorry Steve and I didn’t jump into this fight sooner, but we were so shocked and debilitated from losing Morgan that it took a lot to get our power centers back – but we now have them back.  There is no doubt that Morgan died under suspicious circumstances, that is why the autopsy was ordered, due to inadequate investigation at the death scene and everything that followed, this was treated as though some girl that was just enjoying her normal life, and just passed away in her sleep…baloney!  Morgan’s stalker was there that night, and we can prove it.  We are her parents.  We lived in the same house.  We put up 24 hr. video surveillance around the house, and we should have been questioned by the Coroner’s office, and we never were!   Morgan was planning on meeting a friend in the morning for breakfast – it was her last text she ever sent.  And she was planning on going to Frisco, CO to babysit the children of our Military over the weekend, while their parents were at their retreat.  Morgan loved kids.  Morgan had her puppy, and kitty in her room with her…they were her babies, would you commit suicide with your babies lying right next to you? Morgan wouldn’t.  And if the stalker drove her to suicide or an accidental overdose (which didn’t happen) that should have prompted an investigation, but no that never happened.  Under the law, her stalker would still be guilty of murder.  Morgan was happy, and loved life, but she was also stressed, and exhausted from the constant strain of her stalker.  One of the detectives spoke with Morgan at length, on my suggestion, 2 weeks before she died to make sure she was handling the stress OK, and the detective assured me Morgan was fine – she said Morgan used her two point ballet classes per day as a release, and was actually able to talk out her feelings with her ballet teacher Miss K., as well as her friends in ballet 5 days per week, while cooling down from their extreme workout.  The detective said it was the same way she relives stress by being a runner.  Then two days before Morgan was murdered we were in Grand Junction, and on a request from me, Morgan’s doctor took all her vitals and asked Morgan how she was holding up – Morgan told her she was just stressed, and tired from lack of sleep, but also very positive, and hopeful that the stalker would be caught soon, and things would be back to normal…I had said that to her after talking to the detective just the day before, and he had indicated that he was getting the suspects hours next Tuesday, and would overlay them with my timeline.

Now before I tell you the following I would like you to know in the CRS Victims Rights of Colorado it says:

Article II, Section 16a – Rights of Crime Victims

Any person who is a victim of a criminal act, or such person’s designee, legal guardian, or surviving immediate family members if such person is deceased, shall have the right to be heard when relevant, informed, and present at all critical stages of the criminal justice process. All terminology, including the term “critical stages”, shall be defined by the General Assembly.

This did not happen.  Every time I spoke on the phone to Dr. Kurtzman about Morgan’s autopsy (because you see if he puts down natural causes, which he did, then there is absolutely no murder investigation launched – what kind of law enforcement work is this when nothing is investigated, no one asked Steve or I any pertinent questions, possible witnesses were never interviewed, cameras were never reviewed, and I could go on and on.  I would say, “How can a healthy 20 year old that is being horrifically stalked end up dead of natural causes if she had nothing wrong with her?”  He would then give me back a subtle threat, “Only because I did not find any pills, fragments of pills in her stomach, I could not classify her as a suicide or accidental overdose.” Morgan’s tox screen had come back with no alcohol, no illegal drugs, nothing on her labs except a really high level of Amitriptyline.

Steve and I knew she did not take Amitriptyline, we were never asked what prescription drugs, if any Morgan was taking – does this make any sense to you?  His flippant answer was, “the parents are always the last to know.” So after that we went to the pharmacy and had them print out all her medication records, all the way back for two years, and low and behold, no Amitriptyline in the last 1 1/2 years of her life.  We spoke with her doctors and they all concurred that Morgan did not want to take any pills.

  • They need to make it illegal to sell these drugs online.   Every date rapist in the world has easy access to this stuff.   At least make them have to find it on the streets the old fashioned way.

Today we had a reporter contact us that had heard about this website, and blog – and wanted to write an article so the community could know about what happened – he had not heard anything about a stalker or a death due to a stalker in this valley.  He contacted the Coroner’s office, and asked for Morgan’s postmortem examination report – he was told that they had revised it.  He was faxed the report at 12:12 pm this afternoon at the same time as Steve and I.  We have never received a call that they were reclassifying anything until today.  Could it be because they knew we had gone to Dr. Dobersen for a 2nd opinion, and now they had to try and cover their mistakes?  Why didn’t they call or write or email us?  This is NOT VICTIMS RIGHTS!  Morgan’s rights to due process were, and are still being completely trampled.  The suspects rights took precedence over Morgan’s rights, if he didn’t want to be questioned, and he wanted to lie, he was free to do so, it didn’t matter the Detective told us to our faces that there is nothing he could do about it.  This is starting to sound to me like what rape victims years ago (and maybe still sometimes today) have had to go though…get raped by the rapist and then raped all over again by the justice system.

Colorado Victims Rights Laws

§ 24-4.1-302 – Definitions

As used in this part 3, and for no other purpose, including the expansion of the rights of any defendant: (1) “Crime” means any of the following offenses as defined by the statutes of the state of Colorado, whether committed by an adult or a juvenile: (cc.1) Stalking, in violation of section 18-9-111(4), C.R.S.;

(6) “Victim’s immediate family” means the spouse, any child by birth or adoption, any stepchild, the parent, the stepparent, a sibling, a legal guardian, significant other, or a lawful representative of the victim. – So Steve and I are also considered victims, and are sure not being treated as such

The last thing I would like to say is this.  If I make a mistake or my kids made mistakes I always believe in confessing to your mistake, apologizing (if you mean it) and never doing it again.  We are all human, not one of us has never made a mistake.  Why couldn’t the Sheriff’s, after realizing the protocol they were using to protect Morgan wasn’t working for 4 months admit it and change up – try something that works?  Really – the stalker came to our house many times a week, we knew where he was going to be (around our house) the only thing we didn’t know is when he would be there. So was a plan that never managed to apprehend him very good…I don’t think so.  According to the National Center for Victims of Violent Crimes: Stalking and Murder go hand in hand.  Stalking is serious, pervasive,and lethal.  Why couldn’t the Forensic Pathologist, after saying he was willing to change Morgan’s PER to reflect that she was murdered, if he was shown sufficient evidence, never opened an investigation – why were her parents the ones that were supposed to investigate?  She had a stalker and died under suspicious circumstances – is that not enough to open an investigation?  Why wouldn’t the Coroner speak with us – we are Morgan’s parents, we deserved at least that.  Is this a pattern of abuse by Garfield County?  I don’t think this only happening to our family.  We need to take back our valley, and make it the beautiful safe place it used to be.  Community involvement, along with law enforcement, and victims rights should be our main objective.

 

 

September 1, 2011 the 31st day of Morgan’s stalking – she’s not safe during the day either

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Steve left early and was up in Aspen – he needed me to make a deposit for our son, that he had forgotten to take care of.  I argued that I was working, and Morgan hadn’t left the house yet for school, so I couldn’t do it.  Steve said, “You will only be gone for 20 minutes at the most, so please go.”  I left the house at 9:00 am, this is the first time I have left Morgan alone at home since the stalking began.  It was only a 5 minute drive to the bank in Carbondale, while Morgan was getting dressed for her dance class.  Steve thought I would only be gone 20 minutes max.  I told Morgan I would be right back, the dogs were loose, and even though my intuition was screaming at me – NO!  I didn’t listen. 

As I turned out of the subdivision onto County Road 100, it didn’t make sense to be worried, it wasn’t dark out, it was morning, sunny, light, and bright with a few white clouds.  It was quiet and I saw no one out, as I headed for the bank.  Morgan later said she heard me leave, and lock the front door.  A few minutes later Morgan heard the key pad being used on the front door, her puppy started growling, for the first time in her life, sitting and staring up at the front door.  Morgan thought I had forgotten something, and was coming right back in, but then realized it was only a few beeps, not four, and the door lock didn’t disengage.  No one entered, so she was immediately frightened – she knew it wasn’t me.  This was not the first time Morgan or I heard numbers being pushed on the front door keypad lock, but all the other times had been at night. 

Morgan went into her closet, quietly closed the door, and called me on my cell phone…I rushed back as fast as I could.  I immediately called the sheriff’s dispatch number in a panic, and Patrol Officer C. J. came over to the house.  He questioned Morgan, then went outside, looked at the key code lock on the door, did not take fingerprints, and looked at a new footprint in the dirt outside of the bathroom window.  It looked like, from the prints that someone had run alongside one of the pine trees, up on his toes.  I expressed to the officer that we are so frightened that Morgan’s stalker keeps attempting to get into our house.  The officer replied, “No he is probably just trying to terrorize you, just like when he taps or bangs on the windows.”  We now know this was very uneducated opinion in a stalking case…this was very lethal to suppose the stalker was not trying to get in. 

Elliott, our neighbor with two young daughters of his own, saw the sheriff’s car and came over to find out what is going on again.  I told Elliott that I had told Morgan about Brooke’s boyfriend living 3 houses down from us, and how upset Morgan was.  I asked how it was that we had never seen him around.  Elliott said from what he had heard Keenan worked the night shift at City Market in El Jebel.  Another alarm went off in my head, I always sent Morgan there to pick up a few things for dinner.  He could have been her checkout clerk at City Market, and if he had, what if he asked to look at her driver’s license? Our physical address was right there on her driver’s license.

Morgan sent a text to her teacher this morning saying, “I might be a little late, I had an incident this morning and the sheriff needs to ask questions.  Shouldn’t be too late.  Sorry!” Morgan felt awful about how this stalker was not only messing with her life, but how it was affecting everyone around her. 

A Year Later, some more advice.  Do not ever show your drivers license to anyone unless you absolutely have too, if they have to verify your age don’t be afraid to insist on only showing it to a manager – do not have your address written on your checks.  Reduce any way that a complete stranger can find out where you live! You have no idea how thorough of a background check was done on this person before he was hired, or if one was done at all!

When Morgan came home from school the first thing I told her was that Elliott said Keenan worked at City Market in El Jebel.  I asked Morgan if she remembered ever seeing him there, she said, sh…., he was my checker once.  I was buying nail stuff, and he asked to see my license, I don’t like this at all. 

Of course, if Keenan looked at her driver’s license he would have see her address printed on it, and would have known at that time that she lived on Corral Drive, just like his friend Brooke.  I was wondering if he was really her boyfriend or just renting a room from Brooke’s dad.  Elliott had told me that he had moved in to that house at the end of July 2011, while we were on vacation, and the stalking started right after we returned on August 2, 2011.

Jarred (our grandson) came over later that afternoon, looks at new footprints, and thinks they looked like an Etnie type shoe bottom also.  So this is twice with the same shoe.  I called my cousin later for advice and he says “this is horse s…”  he tells me I have to insist that the deputies take a cast of the footprints and fingerprint the front door.  My cousin was in politics for many years in Aspen, and Pitkin County, and he is Morgan’s Godfather – he can’t understand why Garfield County Sheriffs are treating this stalking like it’s not a big thing.

At 6:04 pm Steve sends Morgan a text message, “Hi, we are going to El Horizonte for dinner.  Would you like to join us??”  Morgan replies to Steve, “I’m good.  Thanks though!”  Morgan goes to a play at her school tonight, with a friend from school.  She must have told them what was going on because they sent her a text message that said, “Hi Morgan.  Tom will be at Thunder River Market at 8:30 and will wait for u.”

 

Now this is another perfect example of why I think some law enforcement protocols need to be changed…it will be weeks before we have a detective assigned to this case.  Up until then it is as if it is not really a case.  Essentially they wait two months to see if it goes away first?  And during that time this really isn’t even a case, evidence goes uncollected, except the evidence that we, ourselves, have given to the officers.  A different person comes every time, and Steve or I have to explain the whole growing morass over, and over again.  Nothing that is being discovered is being followed up on, and it cuts both ways, we don’t want to accuse anyone before we are certain of their involvement.  Back then we had only progressed to likely, and not likely.  Likely deserved an interview, a chance to tell their side, but that never happened.  Is this a budgetary issue?  Do they feel most stalkers quit before two months?  Because the stories of stalking that are being shared with me now, always seem to affect people for years in many cases.  After Morgan’s stalking started, Steve would constantly come home with another story from someone he had run into and spoken with during his work day – they told him about how they too had been stalked.  At one point he looked at me and said that at least 75% of the women he met had a stalking story, and worse, he could see how badly it still affected them, even if it had been many years in the past.  He was very mindful of how this would affect Morgan in the future.  He did not want her to end up emotionally scarred for life.

Click here to read about the 32nd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=930

Connecting the dots…

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When the wildlife camera caught the stalker in our driveway, leaning up against Steve’s truck, thumbing his nose at the three Garfield Sheriffs Deputies who had just spent hours trying to find him and who “were certain they had scared him off” there was a major problem we did not understand at the time.  Morgan’s stalker unfortunately had no fear of, or respect for, law enforcement.  This put the danger he represented right at the top of the list of stalkers capable of extreme violence.

Much later the events covered in the last few blogs become extremely important and if the real significance of these events had been correctly addressed at this early stage in her stalking, I believe Morgan would still be alive and with us today.

It is quite amazing how some of the guests that have come to this blog have figured out things in one day that have taken us a year.  So let me share more details about the last few blogs, which were not known to us at the time.  This would fall under the category of things that we feel need to be corrected to really protect stalking victims.

First – remember the wildlife cam that was assaulted following the photo it took of the stalker?

  1. Look at the Deputies leaving in the first two pictures, NONE of the three Deputies – that are highly trained in observation – react to the subtle red glow that the camera makes as it is taking a nighttime picture.  Only the stalker fully realizes and reacts to the fact that a wildlife cam has just snapped his picture.  Is it because he is an avid hunter, and very accustomed to wildlife cameras?
  1. One of the graphic experts doing his magic, while viewing the image that was captured of the stalker, had a way to enhance the photo very specifically focusing on the reflections captured in the window glass of the LR3 parked in the driveway, right next to Steve’s truck.  This expert was able to add more details to our files. He found in the reflection of the glass that the stalker is clearly wearing a “utility belt” that is strapped onto his waist.
  1. Steve tried to recreate an attempt to leap up and knock the camera down, from the rear bumper of his truck.  Now Steve was 55 years old at the time, and would be the first to admit he might have lost a half step, but he is 6 feet tall, and from where the truck was parked that night he was not able to even come close to the camera.  He estimated he was at least four feet short of hitting the camera on his best attempt.
  1. As no branches were found in the yard or anywhere around the house the next day, we then assumed it was something the stalker carried with him, perhaps in this utility belt on his waist.  A one piece or telescoping rod of some sort, like an old school telescoping pointer or TV antenna maybe???
  1. If that “utility belt” was to contain a telescoping rod, or as was demonstrated for me today, a “tent support rod” that snapped together into something 8’ long, the stalker could not only have used it to try to knock the camera off, but for a more sinister reason…just keep reading.

Second – remember the tapping, and banging on Morgan’s window.  Months after her murder we visited a very talented medium – that is also a very good friend, and loved Morgan dearly.  She told us many amazing things about Morgan and what had happened to Morgan with details, and accuracy she could not possibly have know prior to our visit.  We had never mentioned to her about any of this.  But for this purpose, the one thing that is important is that she said to look on the roof, that we would find evidence on the roof of the house – she was very emphatic.  We tried in vain to have the detective go up on the roof, but that never happened, so Steve finally went up on the roof himself to check this out.   Among other things he found was this section of roof gutter that was directly over Morgan’s window – this is the section that is depicted in the photo.

Steve has worked with metal his entire life, and is certain the crack seen in this metal gutter is a stress fracture caused by bending out and then bending back, many, many, times.  Steve also walked the entire neighborhood, checking out every gutter on the entire block and found no other gutter with ANY similar crack in 15 other homes, plus a club house.  Only this section of gutter, directly over Morgan’s window had a crack from being bent.  This made me ill!  As you can see from the photo our windows went all the way to the ceiling, and someone lying on our roof, and using the gutter to help support himself, could have easily leaned over to terrorize Morgan by tapping, banging and looking through her upper window.

Stress crack in the gutter over Morgan's window

Where the stalker could have laid on the roof and knocked on Morgan’s window

 

With the extendable tool that he could have been using it would have been easy to tap or bang on Morgan’s windows from the safety of this position on the roof.  The detectives conducted a stake out one night, and saw our motion detector light, by our master bedroom, go off and on many times.  Back then he suggested that our motion detector light was defective, and should be checked in to.  Later when all of these facts came to light he said that makes perfect sense now – the motion light was going on because the stalker could have been using the Aspen tree that was up against the back of our house as a ladder to get on the roof.  Also the stalker would not have been caught on the video surveillance cameras that were put on the house shortly after this incident happened.  Beside the gutter Steve also saw a perfect place for the stalker to have hid at the top of the roof – from there you can see what’s happening down below, but remain completely concealed from others on the ground that are trying to find you.

After Morgan’s murder, I could not stand to live in our house.  I kept looking at the front door, and expecting Morgan to walk in at any time, and it was killing me.  Steve and I moved out of that house and that neighborhood forever, about six weeks after her murder.

Remember the men that wear the hats? Well guess what – they didn’t do their job…

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Remember a post I did quite a while ago that I hoped the men who wear the hats do their job.  I’m sure you all wondered what in the world I was talking about…we he it goes.  I was talking about certified, return receipt letters that had gone out to the Garfield County Coroners office with cc’s to the Garfield County Commissioners, the District Attorney’s office, as well as the County Attorney’s office.  After months of trying to speak with our Coroner Trey Holt, and never so much as a call back, I wasn’t too surprised that he didn’t answer my letters, but I honestly thought at least someone in the County would pick up the phone and ask what is going on here.  That didn’t happen either.

So after months and months of trying to get the Forensic Pathologist Dr. Kurtzman to redo Morgan’s death certificate (the original one said that she died from natural causes, and we knew she had not after many, many consultations with specialist as well as another very well respected Forensic Pathologist/Coroner that just wrapped up the Aurora theatre shootings.  

Wednesday, August 31, 2011 – the 30th day of Morgan’s stalking

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It is beyond my comprehension that this is now the 30th day of the stalking and I have no idea what to do! It is a sick feeling and yet we are all still trying to go about our daily lives, trying so hard not to let this darkness in, but it is becoming frightening and all consuming.

We all wake up in the morning, and go about our business.  I start work in my home office, Steve leaves for his shop, Morgan takes off for school.  At 12:45 pm Morgan sent me a text, “Graph paper, shampoo, and conditioner (that Moroccan oil one if possible, the long term relationship red herbal essence if not.)  Bobby pins, and a pair of black tights if they have them.  Thanks!  You’re the best :).”  She wanted me to pick her up some stuff at the store after work today.  Everything seemed like life was normal today – at least we wanted it to be, even if only for one day.  I think your mind tricks you into believing the worse is over (on a daily basis), so you can emotionally survive to face another day…anyway that is what I have come to believe.

Later in the afternoon, after work I am standing out in the street talking to a new neighbor that just moved in down on Equestrian Way.  She had stopped her car to introduce herself.  As I was talking to her, a silver car with blackout windows (I later find out it was Keenan’s car) drives into the cul-de-sac, and parks in Brooke Harris’ driveway.  When the person gets out of his car my grandson Jarred notices the guy is wearing shorts, with purple shoes on his feet – he runs over to look at his shoes, with the excuse that he would like to know if he’d like to have his lawn mowed.  Jarred notices that this guy is wearing purple “Etnies”, (Jarred’s mother is out front on our lawn, looking in the direction her son just ran, and notices the shoes too).  I remember at the time I was so excited that we now know someone that lives right here on our block has the same type of shoe as the shoe prints under Morgan’s windows, so I think to myself, this should be easy for a sheriff to go over to that house, ask to see the shoes, and compare them to the shoe prints – but I guess that only happens on TV.  I told the sheriff’s about this, but they said as soon as this case has a detective assigned to the case (felony stalking) they can do those sort of things, but for the moment the patrol officers are not allowed.  Later that night the silver car is gone, and the next day a little lime green Ford Fiesta is now parked in its spot, with paper plates.  (if any of the readers of this blog happen to have a picture of this person wearing purple Etnies, please let me know – you can contact me through the tip line on this website.  You will see it at the bottom of the home page on the site)

At 7:47 pm I sent Morgan a text, “Can we pick you up in about 10 minutes?  We are in Carbondale, and too tired to drive home & back again.  Thanks.”  I didn’t hear right back from her so I sent another text, “M???”  Morgan responded back at 8:28 pm, “I’m so sorry.  I left my phone upstairs.”  I texted back, “Call me please”  Morgan responded, “K. Now I’m ready. :)”  I sent her another text, “Where should we pick you up?  We will be there in 10 – 15 minutes.”  Morgan texted back, “I’ll just walk to Calder’s”  I responded, “By yourself?  I can pick you up where you are right now.”  (I guess you can all tell I am afraid to have her walk down the street with her puppy at night by herself – I keep imagining this stalker following her, and seeing her alone…who knows what might happen, Morgan texts back, “It’s all good.  I’m already going.”  I said, “OK”  We drive home.  Later when we arrive home I have a talk with Morgan.  I let her know how I feel about he being alone, while this stalker is still out there.  Morgan tells me she is really making an effort to always have someone walk with her when she is in town, but this was just one of those times that it didn’t work out and it was just one block away.  I told he it could only take one time if someone is watching you so please keep trying your best to stay in a group and always pay attention to your intuition.

In the backyard, the master bedroom motion light goes on, and then the master bedroom side motion light goes on – no noise heard.  Morgan is still sleeping in the closet.

It has now been a whole month of this terrorization going on and I Steve and I are arguing more and more about what direction to go in with this. When your in the middle of something that you have never been exposed to before, and there is not much direction from authorities on the subject, you kind of make it up as you go.  We now know this is not a good way to do that – there were authorities on the subject out there, but we hadn’t found them yet and our local authorities didn’t have the correct information or protocol.

Today (a year later) we know that significant incidents, containing lots of evidence, have been posted in the last few blogs, but at the time last summer we missed very important things that were going on right in front of our face.  Later on today after work I will post another blog, and try to connect all the dots.  Now a year later, and after all the things we have learned it is much easier to see…I guess that’s what they mean about hindsight.

Click here to read about the 31st day of Morgan’s stalking. She is no longer safe during the day either! https://morgansstalking.com/?p=913