Morgan’s stalker has over, and over again been called a stranger stalker. I know all too well how he did his best to conceal his identity but not his presence, especially at our home. When stalking on the streets he had a different approach, but at the house, to let Morgan know he was right there was almost a particular turn-on for him. The Deputies who first saw the wildlife camera photo of him, leaning against Steve’s truck, and watching them drive away, spooked and angered them. The said they had never seen anything like it.
Stranger stalkers are thought to have a greater affect on their victims because the stalker is unknown to them, hence the stalking takes on a much more frightening feeling. Because the stalker is unknown to the victim, the victim has no idea who to be on the lookout for, who to be careful of or around, and who to speak to, and who to avoid. Although the level of danger connected with stranger stalkers may not in actuality be higher, the stress level most certainly is without doubt. Most experts will tell you that stranger stalking can be one of the most terrifying of all stalking situations, as even the experts themselves don’t know how to deal with it.
In a twist that is especially telling in Morgan’s case a stranger stalker very often suffers from erotomania; a mental disorder that causes the stalker to believe another person is in love with him or her. Due to this disorder, a stranger stalker may fantasize either that they have had an intimate relationship with their victim, or that their victim truly loves them and wants to have an intimate relationship with them. “Erotomania is directed at both men and women, but more men act on the delusion,” according to an expert on the subject.
This helps explain why Morgan’s stalker was almost exclusively at one of the windows of a bathroom she was using. From the beginning until it ended with her death there was always an undeniable voyeur, or peeping tom aspect in Keenan’s approaches to her.
Occasionally, victims of stranger stalking may eventually find out who their stalkers are. Morgan had no idea for a month or so, and then after finding out from a neighbor that Keenan had moved into the neighborhood the pieces started falling together. In fact it was the neighbors that we were not supposed to tell anything about the stalking to (that is what the Sheriff’s said in the beginning, because they felt the stalker was in our neighborhood, and didn’t want to tip him off) that were the most helpful with clues about things they had seen, not the Sheriffs. The Detectives were very careful, and took their time to arrive at the decision that Keenan was the prime suspect, which is good thing I think.
The large number of other stalking incidents in the area over many years all matching his description with a very similar MO had me calling him a serial stalker. Just recently I have found out that this is not that uncommon at all.
Experts feel that over half of the stalkers in America have been involved in prior stalking incidents. Even psychiatrists cannot accurately predict when the stalking behavior will end or happen the next time, but they know that about two-thirds of those showing obsessive stalking behavior have had prior episodes. Law enforcement largely agrees with this theory, as research into the case files for Detectives shows that if a complete background investigation is made into a stalkers past, there are often other cases of prior stalkings.
Morgan’s stalker was a stranger stalker, and most likely a serial stalker as well. That there were people in the neighborhood willing to cover for him undoubtedly made the task more difficult for the Sheriffs. It seems that everyone who was interviewed or questioned, for example with Brooke or Christina Harris, the Sheriffs noted that they detected deception in their answers. A really frustrating part for me is to see a complete lack of follow up on that deception.
As I search for answers for others I know that this is something that has to be more effectively addressed in the future. There are very few reasons for deception in a person’s answers to a Sheriff or Detective asking about a particular individual who is the prime suspect in a stalking. Following up on that deception thoroughly has to be part of the investigation, otherwise it does not seem that there really is much of an investigation going on – don’t you think?