Author Archives: Toni

Why would you ever want to help a #stalker?

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One of the last series of pictures that Morgan took of herself was this picture. This is Morgan holding some ribbon on which she wrote, “Fate, the illusion that you get the things you want without working for them”

One of the last series of pictures that Morgan took of herself was this picture. This is Morgan holding some ribbon on which she wrote, “Fate, the illusion that you get the things you want without working for them”

Morgan truly believed that a person needed to work hard for things that really mattered in their lives – she didn’t think you could just sit back and believe that you deserved them so fate would give them to you some day.  Morgan always worked very hard for everything in her life, and now Steve and I are doing the same thing in our quest to find justice for Morgan.  We can not just sit back and believe that someday it will happen – it has taken a lot of hard work – gut wrenching tears, and tons of support from others all around the world, but we can now see light at the end of this horrible dark tunnel, and we know that our perseverance in the end will also help others that have given up all hope in their situation.  We know Morgan wouldn’t have given up…ever…so we never will either.

And now my question of the day is, “Why would you ever want to help a stalker?”  Doesn’t it seem that if you knew someone close to you was stalking someone, and terrorizing them there would be a moment of “instant distance,” at the very least between you and that person, and you would want to say something to them, or try to put a stop to it?  Or is it just me?  To just ignore, or pretend it’s not happening I could not understand at all.  But that is exactly what happened.

Given enough time to expose themselves, it became painfully obvious that our neighbors helped the stalker.  To what extent, everyone tended to minimize.  Other than the fact that Keenan lived 3 houses up the street, and shared a house with them, not much else was known.  And at first it was the farthest thing from our minds, the Deputies too, and then when Morgan’s case became “felony stalking” and the Detectives came on board, they thought the same.  It seemed to all that it was too big a stretch that two adults, with children of their own, would have the slightest clue, and actually be trying to help the stalker – it was just too strange to believe for any of us at the time.

That was a period of time when we were all confident that when the neighbors reached the conclusion that Keenan, was not only “possibly” the stalker, but most likely was the stalker, all others would take it seriously, and aid in the swift end of this nightmare.

This continued right up until the incident when a group of Deputies descended on the house James Harris was leasing, and tried to question Keenan about the stalking.  There were obvious signs he was there, and Brooke admitted he was, she just would not wake him up.  The Deputy noted there was a freshly crushed beer can in the driveway.  And the Deputy at the door heard a, “commotion,” inside the house as he talked with Brooke.  Since the only living thing inside the house at that time was supposed to be Keenan, the Deputy made a comment about the noise, but was once again denied entry to talk with Keenan.

Further damaging the belief Brooke would have a willingness to help, the next morning Elliott (the neighbor across the street) said he had heard from Christine, Brooke’s mother that the Deputies were at her house the night before because they were supposedly told Morgan had gone missing, and the Deputies had come to ask her about it.  Once I had told Elliott what really happened, and that Morgan had not gone missing, in fact she wasn’t even home while this was going on, that I was the one that got the rock thrown at the window I was standing in front of, that was actually enough for him, he leaped right to the conclusion that they all knew what Keenan was doing, Brooke, and both her parents, and he later told me he called Brooke’s mom back after speaking with me to tell her she better wake up, and do the right thing.

We should have all listened to Elliott, sharing any information with them only served to put Morgan in greater danger.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Once Elliott made up his mind there was no turning him back, except he was still a suspect to the Detectives, so it was complicated.

After the refusal to cooperate at her door, and the lies quickly circulating Corral Drive, Brooke was a suspect too, the Detectives would wonder aloud, off and on, about Brooke’s true involvement in it all, but her parents, being adults with children were off the list.

Except Christine had this behavior of coming up with stories about the stalking at well placed intervals.  All of them explaining away how Keenan was not the stalker. After enough of these stories originating with Christine the Detectives went and talked to her, to clear it all up, and it only got far more convoluted.  That was the incident when Detective Glassmire talked to Christine, the mother, who claimed to get all her information from Brooke, her daughter.  Brooke told the same story in reverse, and Detective Glassmire chuckled and thought they could at least get their lies straight.  Morgan is now dead, and I don’t think looking back he would chuckle any longer.  Now if he had to do it over again he would probably keep interviewing Brooke and her mother to get to the “bottom” of who was actually creating the lies to cover for Keenan and why.

In reality we were all under-reacting to the true threat to Morgan, but at the time we thought we were moving toward an arrest.

The absolute worst part of all this was that days before Morgan was murdered Detective Glassmire was talking with James Harris about the case.  This conversation was only because James wanted to be present as his daughter Brooke was being questioned.

James wanted Detective Glassmire to know that he had “heard” that Morgan’s parents were basically overreacting.  James was then told, “Detective Alstatt is going to formally interview Morgan on Tuesday December 6, 2011.”

My understanding of this interview was that it was very important in order for an arrest to be made. The Detective had to talked to Morgan, Steve and myself usually once a week during this case, but a formal interview was now in order.  Morgan was going to be able to tell, in her own words about the Thunder River eyewitness incidents, other eyewitness incidents, and give her statement about the fear, and deep impact this was all having on her.

Morgan didn’t live long enough to have this interview, and tell on video about every time she had seen Keenan in a stalking situation, and everything else that had been going on to terrorize, and turn her life upside down.

The interview with Brooke, with James Harris present, was on November 27th, four days before Morgan’s murder began, and five days before her body was found.  But we did not know the full impact of all this for months, because I was waiting for Detective Glassmire to question a witness that James Harris had left a telephone message for on the morning we had crime scene tape wrapped around our house – the morning we found Morgan’s body.  A voice message that was recorded on a client’s message machine, in which he said the police knew Keenan was the stalker.  Not the suspect, not allegedly the stalker, not believed he could be – James said the police knew Keenan was the stalker.  So of course James also knew that fact very well.

And another pertinent fact came up many months later.  I found out that James explained his actions to his client the following week as only wishing to protect his daughter.  After all this is added up I come to the conclusion that Elliott was right when he said the Harris’ all knew about the stalking.

And once again the totality of events spanning a week, from three days before Morgan’s death to four days after infuriate me, just some of the highlights:

  • Nov 27, 2011 – 2:15 PM James Harris has a conversation with the Felony Stalking Detectives for a moment about the events occurring in the neighborhood as it relates to the stalking investigation.
  • Nov 27, 2011 – after 2:15 PM James Harris tells Detective Glassmire and Detective Alstatt that he had heard from neighbors what was going on, that he had seen some Sheriff’s Deputies walking around in the neighborhood, and that he contacted one of the Deputies who gave him a synopsis of the case.
  • Nov 29, 2011 – before 5:00 PM Detective Glassmire is over at our house and tells me that he is 100% certain that Keenan Vanginkel is the stalker.
  • Nov 29, 2011 – before 5:00 PM Detective Glassmire tells me that he believes the stalking is going to escalate.
  • Nov 29, 2011 – before 5:00 PM Detective Glassmire tells me that he will be picking up Keenan’ s work record from City Market that coming Tuesday (same day Morgan is due to give her official statement), and when he overlays that work schedule with my timeline he is confident he will be very close to making an arrest for Felony Stalking.
  • Unfortunately Keenan knows that his hours for the period of the stalking are being given to the Sheriff’s department because he signed the release, even worse I believe that Keenan now knows that Morgan’s formal interview is to be held on that same Tuesday, Dec 6, 2011.
  • Nov 29, 2011 – Morgan sleeps at a friends’ house – she is so exhausted, and doesn’t want to sleep in her room
  • Nov 30, 2011 – I tell Morgan about all of the promising developments, and how it may be over soon.  She is very happy about this.
  • Nov 30, 2011 – Morgan wakes me up at 12:45 am, and says she has been getting constant tapping on her window for 15 minutes and can’t take it anymore – I go outside with her and make sure her and her puppy leave for safety to sleep the rest of the night at a friend’s house.
  • Nov 30, 2011 – Morgan sees her doctor in the afternoon, and at my request has a conversation about how she is feeling in general, and about the stalker in particular with her doctor.  Her doctor will later state that Morgan had no suicidal ideology, and did not want the sleeping pills, or pills to help her feel better that were offered, her doctor will also insist on talking with the Forensic Pathologist, I will tell the Forensic Pathologist this, but he will never call her.  She will finally get a hold of him on the phone herself, and he will tell her that her findings just back up his.
  • Nov 30, 2011 that evening Morgan has a friend come home with her to sleep on the couch – she doesn’t feel very safe
  • Dec 1, 2011 10:33 AM – Keenan will end his swing shift at City Market
  • Dec 1, 2011 – Morgan will attempt to spend the evening on the couch at her friend’s Aunt’s house, as the stalker has been very active, and she really needs sleep.  It does not work out, and Morgan comes home
  • Morgan is killed
  • Dec 2, 2011 2:00 AM – Keenan will clock in for another swing shift at City Market
  • Dec 2, 2011 6:35 AM – Toni unlocks car, and drives it out into the street.  First responders are on Corral Drive, and headed for the house – Steve needed her to get off the phone with the 911 operator and move the car so the responders could quickly come up the driveway.
  • Dec 2, 2011 6:37 AM – Keenan Vanginkel clocks out for a break from City Market.  Where he goes, and who he calls on his cell is unknown.
  • Dec 2, 2011 AM – James Harris claims that he knows that the police know that Keenan, his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, is the stalker – and tells people this after Morgan is killed!  (Yet, on Dr. Phil James Harris claims, on camera, to not even know there was a stalking or a stalker)
  • Dec 2, 2011 Late morning – Detective Robert Glassmire goes to City Market and talks to Keenan Vanginkel – so yes – all those stories that he was not even in the state when Morgan was killed are nothing but lies – what else is new?
  • Dec 2, 2011 2:00 PM – Morgan’s body is at the morgue, the investigation into her unattended death under suspicious circumstances ended hours ago, and her death was now declared a mystery. Her autopsy was completed in around 2 hours.
  • Blood samples are sent off for a toxicology screen which will come back with a massive level of Amitriptyline 7,909 and no others drugs or alcohol were found in her blood.  Even the prescription drugs the Sheriff’s will suddenly claim in their reports that she was prescribed, and taking will not show up – because she was not taking them, and they were old prescriptions, not current.  Just one thing showed up in her blood Amitriptyline, about ten times the amount that would have killed her.
  • Morgan never stood a chance, and the first of many memorials for our youngest daughter was then held on Dec 5, 2011.

There will be no official interview of our daughter Morgan Ingram, she will never have the chance to recount the face-to-face meetings with her stalker on camera, or anything else about her stalker, or stalking.  All of her jewelry of value that went missing that Dec 2, 2013 will never be found, nor will the PJ’s she wore to go to sleep that night.  Two dark figures will be caught on video surveillance, and the neighbors that saw odd behavior in her bedroom lights will never be questioned by the Sheriff’s Detective.

As if there was ever a doubt it will now be up to her parents (Steve and I), and our supporters, to get justice for Morgan, while Garfield County will throw up every roadblock they can.

Getting to the bottom of it all – #Stalking and #Murder – Part 1

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blurred mess

What does it mean when the suspects don’t like what the victims of a crime have to say?  Really?  Because there are two choices for victims, go away and keep quiet, or tell what you really know, and see just where the proverbial chips fall.

Now of course the “alleged“ stalkers of Morgan, and the “alleged” killer of Morgan would like nothing more than for us to go away and keep quiet.  They have not yet been charged with any crime, and they want to get back to their life.  And does getting back to their life mean a new target, a new victim?  Or is there a cooling off period, as the FBI believes a serial killer will have between kills?  I believe it is some of both.

Morgan’s stalking was so much more than just stalking, when I type the words now, I can’t help but feel that “stalking” completely minimizes the crime(s).  Not only was there stalking, a stranger stalker, bent on remaining unseen at all costs, most times he presented himself in the yard and he was wearing a mask that completely covered his face.  Height and weight are hard to disguise, and he was all too constant with that part of the description.  But then he was unique at times, in that once behind the wheel of his car he must have thought he was invisible, or that his windshield was a one way glass.  And Morgan ID’d him every time, but one.

In addition to stalking then he should also be considered a peeping tom, standing at a bathroom window, and then knocking after some period of just watching.  Some believe that the knocking was meant to startle, because he needed to see that expression of startle and fear too, in order to fulfill his fantasy, as if his existence is in some other realm.  In Colorado it is called “Invasion of Privacy for Sexual Gratification” and that he did, right along with his stalking.

And of course he was eavesdropping, and anyone, “assisting,” him at any time did the same.  How could they not have?  If you are inches from a partially open window and watching, you will hear the talking, it’s hard to miss.  Of all the Colorado Revised Statutes I have read and reread recently, trying to understand it as best I can, this is the simplest, most straight forward statute.  They eavesdropped – all of them.

There was harassment too, and the Sheriffs favorite, trespassing.  I mean he’s standing at her bathroom window, leaving footprints in the soil we’ve been instructed to keep watered, “for better prints,” he’s looking in the window at her, and when Morgan senses this and goes to close the window he bangs on it.  I’m not a criminal law scholar, but does that sound like trespassing to you?  And one last comment on the Sheriff’s, when you show up a half hour later, and he’s not standing right in those footprints at the window, as if he is magically glued to the ground…are you really surprised?  Did you really think, all those times, that if you circle the house with a flashlight you are going to find him?

Steve and I were reacting, assessing, trying to make the world stop spinning after Morgan was killed.  First a mystery, then natural causes, then sitting with the very first person not from Garfield County, not just medically brilliant in her own right, but instant access to all the medical brilliance she needs, just in case.  And for her there is no doubt – Morgan’s death is anything but natural causes, it is a homicide!!!  Try sitting through a meeting like that three months after your daughter’s death, and not being shocked to the core of your existence.

As if we needed it, agreement from those in the medical profession came as fast and furious as we wanted, or could handle.  Then as we shared this with Garfield County, it then had to be a certain type of doctor, because the rest of them can’t testify we were told, when this is such a lie, doctors testify on death all the time, especially on appeal, when it really matters the most. I have read from court case after court case where the doctors testify, cardiologists about heart conditions, psychologists about behavior, oncologists about the behavior of cancers, neurologists about anomalies of the brain.

And right there, front and center, you’ve all seen it in a movie, or TV show, or even real life,  the court reporter taking down every single word, and I have read those words, from doctors, which is why I say it was such a lie what we were told by Garfield County.  But the forensic pathologist that did Morgan’s autopsy wanted a specific medical professional that was also from the state of Colorado to boot.  As if there is different medical knowledge taught in other states, as if it’s not all the same.  Did he want to exclude the uber experts from the world-renowned, top flight universities?

In the end it didn’t matter, because we have some really excellent  forensic pathologists right here in Colorado.  In a fortuitous turn of fate, his request was answered.  And it was not just a difference of opinion between two doctors that quickly followed.  It was a number that simply can not be that high, and ignored.  It was about supposed genetic testing we had to pay 10’s of thousands of dollars for, or else – that on second opinion was not needed at all!  It was about a medical condition that she was absolutely, never diagnosed with, that had found its way on to her Postmortem Examination Report as a cause of death, when it absolutely, positively can not be, and there was no forensic evidence that it was.  It was about a study that was currently being conducted at the Mayo Clinic, another top flight research facility, and medical center that has helped to redefine medical diagnoses and care, also getting right to the bottom of things, and how Morgan’s tissue samples could be sent there for analysis at no cost, there would be answers, ones that you can take to court, but the forensic pathologist that did Morgan’s original autopsy did not send any samples to them.

Unfortunately, none of this ever happened!  Because the contracted Forensic Pathologist the Garfield County hires would never get on the phone with the very person he insisted that we get, or else he would not talk to them.  Confused?  Believe me, so were we, and when it’s all about the murder of your youngest daughter, to call it mere confusion is also completely minimizing the feelings Steve and I were literally flooded with.

A search for the truth being conducted? In a suspicious, and unattended death?  Hardly!  I would call it Prima Fascia evidence of the complete opposite!

Right about this time, in the world that Steve and I were trying to desperately make sense out of, a real expert on National and International Terrorism had a talk with me.  He had insights into what we were going through, and even compared some aspects to the fight against terrorism, that he has dedicated his life to.  And of all the things that came out of that conversation, he ended it with a simple idea for me – start a blog.

Go away, and keep quiet would have been an option if her death had truly been, natural causes, but as the veritable “can of worms” handed to us by Garfield County opened further and further, it was not an option.  By now the threats to revisit her death, if we did not give up, had started.  And when every other doctor is shaking their head at Morgan’s death being natural causes, and the forensic pathologist is threatening you, there is no such thing as middle ground, so along with every other thing connected with her stalking, and death that was happening at the time, the option to go away was simply off the table – completely.

For two adults that are not even sure what a blog is, and having had a daughter that would always tell us that everything is done through social media nowadays, we just had to figure out what a blog was.  It took us a long time, and how exactly it came to be, “launched,” on Father’s Day I don’t remember, but it was.  As for terms, launched was really generous.

Right there, so clearly, and ever-present in my memory at the time was a poem Morgan had written about me of all people.  I shared it with you all back in April and here is the link – A poem from Morgan.  I love to talk so expressing myself in this blog was good for me, our family was so deeply wounded by everything that had, and was happening, and I was also just beginning to find out about the true extent, and reach of the true terror that stalking is.  And I wanted the truth.

Now I wonder if my friend, the expert on terrorism, knew this all along, but chose not to tell me.  The more I told the truth about Morgan’s stalking, and Morgan’s murder, the less the “alleged” staker(s) and the less the “alleged” murderer liked it.  Even their parents joined in with the not liking it, at all.  They threatened, they lied too, and some day we will perhaps sit in a room, and among all the others there will be that court reporter, taking down every single word along with sounds made by the person on the witness stand that are not even words at all, but sometimes the muffled shrieks tell far more than mere words.  Maybe the “alleged” accomplice will have weeks to tell her side of the story, as has recently happened.  And at the end there will be a judgment – one can only wish…  My Nana talked to me about judgment day, I remember it well, I take it very seriously.  And thank you Nana – I love you.

SO THERE – I have written an entire blog, almost, and not named one name, except for Nana, and poor Steve, but he always gets named.  And seriously, has it changed anything?  Has one single fact of Morgan’s stalking, and Morgan’s murder changed?  Has it suddenly changed the fact that the Sheriff’s Detectives were finally 100% certain of the identity of her stalker, just days before she was killed?

Nothing in the facts has changed, not one single bit, because the truth never changes.  There is still the incident when Morgan got out of her car, against all warnings, to see him face to face, just so she could be 100% certain for the Sheriff’s Department, who would accept nothing less.  There are still all the incidents where Morgan saw him, face to face, and knew his name – first, last, and middle – and told the Sheriffs.  There is still the altercation in the subdivision, witnessed and reported.  There is still a crack, top to bottom, in the gutter, centered directly above where Morgan’s bedroom window was.  There are still the figures caught on wildlife cams images, and on video.  There is the person I myself saw on the porch, and at another time running across the driveway, and heard pressing of the buttons on our electronic front door lock.  There is still the person who chose to terrorize Morgan as she let her puppy out to go potty in the early morning darkness, and if he was wearing a mask, and dressed all in black, was he really just trespassing?  There is still the person who stood at her bathroom windows, watching Morgan bathe, and was he really still just trespassing?  There are, without doubt, the twenty pieces of evidence present at her death scene, none of it collected, which is very unfortunate, only eclipsed by the fact that they existed, right there for all to see.  And finally there is the forensic testing of Morgan’s samples, which, interpreted by an expert who does nothing but testify about what drugs do to a person and how they react after that person is dead, the story is all there.  It is a brutal, and very cruel story of how Morgan was killed, and that will never change… and Steve and I can never bring her back – that too, will never change.

Morgan I’m quite certain would want to help others, in her life it was quite a passion of hers, so tightly woven into her planning of her future.  So, still picking up the pieces and looking forward – it is just before 8:00 am in the morning in Colorado, and 117 people so far have entered some term about stalkers, and stalking into a search engine that has pulled up Morgan’s Stalking for them.  And so much more than writing a blog this morning, I wish I could somehow end their stalking, along with all the fear and terror that goes with it, forever, but that is not something I can do… it is something we are all going to have to do together.

Stalking victims need to accept the help that comes, and to also to find help where they need it most, and to never ever forget this –

You did nothing to deserve being stalked!!!  It is your stalker that is breaking the law, and they are the ones that need to be stopped.

A Walk Down Manipulation Lane

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Morgan walking

Morgan walking

 

Back in August of 2012, I shared on a post some information from the Office of Women’s Programs and Studies at Colorado State University about the manipulation tactics of Stalkers, here’s a link, Manipulation Tactics of Stalkers.  I revisited it with an eye toward the tactics that were relevant to Morgan’s Case, and it goes like this…

No Gifts or Notes: Morgan was not the recipient of gifts or notes, her stalker did not choose this approach.

Constant Communication: Stalkers work to harass their victims with a continual stream of information so that they know the assailant is always lurking out there.

Communication comes in many ways, and through his knocking, and banging he effectively communicated that he was always lurking out there.  One time even showing up, all dressed in black, standing within 10 feet of her in the pitch darkness of the early morning, when she opened the back sliding glass door to let her puppy out to go potty.  Some have suggested he was a complete coward as his preferred time to terrorize Morgan was coming in the dark of night, when emotions of fear and uncertainty naturally run at their highest.  But then he was either emboldened or cavalier in his car as he confronted her 6 times, four in broad daylight, and in a way that she was sure to get a good look at him.

It was an odd behavior because for all his diligence to remain unseen at night, he completely exposed himself in his car.

Surveillance: Most stalkers are very good at tracking. They follow, peep, and record. They usually keep logs or diaries, or memorize as much about the victim as possible. Electronic means of stalking have increased significantly in recent years.

This too was a manipulative tactic of Morgan’s stalker. He used his tracking skills without question, he followed, eavesdropped and peeped whenever he could. And this has always been a question for me. I feel that Brooke would have been so upset at his fascination to watch Morgan through windows.  Did it not upset her, or did she only find out in the end, and then ask for the ultimate form of retribution from Keenan….

Keenan was a trophy hunter, and fisherman too.  Most pictures I have seen of him revolve around being all geared up and ready for a hunt, or after a successful hunt, posing with his kill.  He followed / tracked Morgan in his car, and Steve had the constant feeling that he was testing us.  That so much of what he did was to see what our response would be, as if always preparing for some future moment.  I do not know if he had a log or diary, but it is completely possible that he did.

And as for electronics we know about the night vision glasses, There are also suits that minimize your signature in front of infra-red cameras, as we had around the house.

 Threats of Violence: Threats of violence may be a way to get the victim to do the stalker’s bidding. Also, there are stalkers who make no direct threat but do in fact commit acts of violence against their victims. Even if there are no physical threats of harm, continual harassment and surveillance become a very real emotional and psychological threat to victims of stalking.

 I don’t believe that Morgan ever heard his voice throughout the stalking.  Keenan fit the mold of the stalkers who make no direct threat, but do in fact commit acts of violence against their victims.

Legal Harassment Tactics: Stalkers may file small claims or other legal actions against their victims. These cases are usually eventually dropped, and are strictly used to harass and manipulate the victim.

Morgan was not the subject of any legal action, but Steve and I have been.  Brooke and James Harris filed a restraining order against Steve and I because of this blog, but it was eventually dropped.  It seems that someone within Keenan’s family or friends is always threatening legal action.  It has now broadened out to include all supporters of Morgan’s case.

Libel and/or Slander: Stalkers may make slanderous remarks to victims’ friends or associates, thereby causing victims damage in both interpersonal relationships and associations in the workplace.

Since Morgan’s death the libel and slander against Morgan has been non stop.  Once again from the family, and friends of Keenan.  I still am not sure when it was that he said, “I never worry, because someone has my back,” he was referring to this group now who seems willing to do anything to protect him, almost always under false or nonexistent identities.  Or someone who works within an official capacity, as so many have suggested.

Harassment of Family Members: Stalkers may resort to harassing family members if they are not able to contact the victim directly. A jealous stalker may make threats to a significant other if they view them as a barrier. Some stalkers may harass victims’ pets.

This is another big yes.  During her stalking Steve and I were always harassed by his actions.  When you are constantly awoken at or after midnight, and will have to spend the next two to three hours before the responding deputies have left and everything is calming down somewhat, how that could be anything but harassment, constant harassment, is beyond me.  Indirectly and directly Morgan’s pets have all been harassed,  Wylah especially.

Fraud: A stalker may run up large bills on the victim’s calling and credit cards, or go through the mail to disrupt services.

 This has not happened

Vandalism:  This is a common tactic used by stalkers, causing emotional and financial burden on the victim.

My car has had so much vandalism heaped on it.  Starting all the way back with the “bitch” inscription on my driver’s door, and scrapes up and down the sides.

Trophy Collection: Some stalkers will commit burglary both to further their information gathering as well as spur on their fantasies. Several types of stalkers are known to collect undergarments.

Breaking and entry for information gathering has been supposed by so many it’s hard to imagine that it did not happen.  Mostly before Morgan was killed.  There are in reality so many ways to enter a home such as ours without leaving a mark.  The Sheriffs Deputies said that there was no sign of forced entry, but that has been completely dispelled by so many as they easily enter without so much  as a mark.  And on the night Morgan was killed so many things were taken.

Once again – Share this with your Friends

 

At what point does it all just defy sanity?

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Seeming to defy all logic, yet there it is.

Seeming to defy all logic, insanely perched, yet there it is.

Investigations can be so multifaceted and multilayered, all at the same time, with so much going on that you do not see, or even know about, but then find out about later. Only eventually, later, much later, as you dig into an investigation, especially a, “stalled investigation.” all the things that were or should have been investigated, but never were, become all to obvious.

When the Felony Stalking Detective Robert Glassmire, was talking to us during one of the very first meetings, he repeated that very cliché statement about evidence and the crime that goes like this, “we just follow the evidence, and see where it leads us.” That sounded promising at the time. Steve and I were hopeful for an end, and that it would come through quality evidence was always a fact we understood oh so well. That evidence now at last could be collected by a detective, instead of the, “hands off,” “not allowed”, situation the Deputies were in. This was a big step forward, and we believed it because we wanted to believe – very badly.

However, in practice and in our real word, when your Detective has very limited time, there is inevitably some picking and choosing going on, between interviews, evidence, new leads, stakeouts, and ending a stalking situation before it can escalate to a tragedy, unfortunately something had to give. Far less than ideal.

A really sharp federal investigator told Steve, and I once that you follow every lead to the very end. Not just some leads, you do not pick the most important leads and guess at the others, every single lead, one at a time. It was how crimes were solved, or not, in his experience.

But what about the last day of her fight against a stalker, the day she died? Wouldn’t you think with all that manpower involved there would accomplish a thorough investigation? At least for one day? For an unattended death under suspicious circumstances? The Sheriff choose not to call in the CBI, but do it themselves. Not one officer certified in death scene investigation was present. And as I read the reports, I am shocked. It actually takes a few times through for it to really sink in – to become more than words and more words, all with no meaning. The sum total of written reports both about her stalking, and her death are nothing less than appalling. I can only hope I have enough notes, and other documentation to fill in the holes, and correct all the mistakes.

Morgan was killed by her stalker, and we can not bring her back – but what do we tell the next victim? What is going to change the outcome for that victim? Learning from the mistakes of Morgan’s case has to somehow become the impetus for change, and a more promising future.

So picture Dr. Kurtzman (the forensic pathologist that did her autopsy) for a moment, the contracted forensic pathologist. He is in Grand Junction, over a hundred miles away. He will never see the crime/death scene, only the pictures and reports. His job in this is to use his skills and expertise and see where the evidence leads him.

I would find out all too soon that mistakes would abound on his end as well. Even the position of her body was completely wrong in the report. I found her, Steve was next. We were asked more than once, independently, and together. We answered, Morgan was found lying on her side, looking unnatural, posed, something was wrong. But the report omitted all that and only said she was found face down. Steve and I are not certified death scene investigators and we did not know how to evaluate what we were seeing and discovering. The last thing we wanted to do on earth that morning was to discover and see that our daughter was dead. As for the glaring mistake on body position, it has never been corrected. Everyone quickly blamed it on Thomas Walton, he types the reports. And there the truth ends, swept under the proverbial carpet.

Then came the Amitriptyline level, which should be enough to cause an investigation all by itself. First insignificant to Dr. Kurtzman, then months later, it was massive to others, the certain cause of her death in fact. First there were no sign of pills or fragments in her stomach, that ruled out accidental overdose or suicide, then, eight months later Dr. Kurtzman suddenly claimed that fragments were seen, only, of course they were not collected. Swept under the rug also. How hard would that have been to end all speculation and actually prove something? Collect the fragments claimed to be seen eight months later, and test what they were. Especially since the sample had not changed at all! Only stored for eight months and then sent in for additional laboratory testing, the lab could easily have picked out any fragments and tested them, but they were not asked to.

There were many reasons to do this. First, the doctors volunteering their time for Morgan’s cause, had questions they wanted answers for, and wanted to be a part of any further testing. Here the testing was already done in secrecy, the doctors or even us, the victims also and the parents were not told of this testing, until long after it was over, and the sample exhausted.

But then second, evidence is seen. If during an autopsy the bullet that killed the victim is seen, even eight months later. It is collected as evidence without doubt. If these “pill fragments” could have been the figurative “bullet” that killed Morgan Ingram, then why were they not collected?

And third, exactly how does Dr. Kurtzman see pill fragments in the gastric fluid when it is shipped, frozen in a container to a laboratory for testing? “How did he do that?” Was a question from another doctor volunteering his time to Morgan’s case.

So then, lots of noise about the pills and fragments, except for others it did not matter at all. Forensic Pathologists and Toxicologists, every single one actually, has said the Amitriptyline could have been liquid, injected, or even crushed pills injected, so pill or pill fragments was not important for them at all. There were instead, other, more pressing, questions. Such as being conscious or even unconscious and ingesting that amount in any form without vomiting is a big problem that had to be explained. One of the forensic specialists had a single sentence about it in his opinion. If 1,000 ng/ml would kill her, how does she have a level of 7,909 ng/ml?

For Dr. Kurtzman, this was not a problem, he had a pat answer for most everything, which was, “he had seen it before.” I do not know it for a fact, but I am very confident he has never seen anything remotely like this before, because not many doctors across the country ever have. Even more so after the contents of a date rape concoction found in her gastric fluids are added to the already massive overkill level in her blood.

We assumed he had a list of Morgan’s “medications” or “non medications” from the Deputy Coroner, only now I see it came from the Sheriff’s department. But this list was evidently compiled by wandering through her room and finding old prescription pill bottles. This list of Morgan’s medications is all wrong, right from the beginning.

I wonder how many medicine cabinets or other favorite spots to safely keep prescription medications stored in households across America have old prescriptions medications in them? What if the Deputy Coroner, as a method to discover the true facts, was looking in your medicine cabinet right now and establishing a list of medications for you on the day you died. Would it be correct? What if, like Steve does, you had a box that you put any expired or unused medications for a drop off at the local hospital during a collection drive and Steve was pulling out even older bottles, anything with Morgans name, because he thought that is what they wanted. All this really didn’t matter in Morgan’s death because none of these medications were in Morgan’s body, except the Amitriptyline (which wasn’t hers) – the ones found in her body can all be found on the date rape panel that almost every lab has and can run…Morgan never took or had any of these drugs in our house.

The world is ever-changing, used to be you just flushed old prescription medications down the toilet, just like dumping old paint in the trash, you can’t do that anymore, both for good reason. Then hospitals had collections days, maybe twice a year, then once a year, for all those old medications. Now, after Morgan’s death, I can just dispose of medication I don’t need or want any longer at the pharmacy, best plan yet, but not an available option back then.

So there are pill bottles from around the house compiled, some from her room, some from her bathroom and some from Steve’s closet. Now they are on a list purporting to be the current medications, and all completely false. My isn’t this turning into a botched investigation, any surprise?

Making matters worse, through a process no one has owned up to, words appear on the police reports in explanation for use of the prescription medications. Not from her doctors, or her parents, or anyone else who really knew, but from Sheriff’s investigators, explanations such as, “I later learned that this medication was used to treat seizures.” All completely false again, Morgan never had seizures – how are we ever going to get to the truth when this is the “evidence” we are working with? Maybe that’s why most places require certified death scene investigators, so gross errors such as this do not take place.

Just a little over a hundred miles down the road, in Mesa county. Deputy Coroners are required to be members of two different crime scene certification programs. Treating those killed and their families with respect and proper collection of evidence. Here in Garfield County, nothing, see how well it functions?

Investigators that morning could have asked her parents, but they chose not to. Investigators could have asked any of her doctors, the person who would write the prescription, but they chose not to. The investigators could have asked for the pharmacy records, where her prescriptions would have been filled, and records are kept for years, but they chose not to.

Unbelievable as it sounds the investigators of an unattended death under suspicious circumstances in the midst of an escalating stranger stalker case chose to just guess instead, and came up with a list that might belong to someone, somewhere, but definitely not belonging to Morgan, the murdered young woman whose Postmortem Examination Report was going to depend on this information. No wonder the investigation has been deemed to be “so thoroughly botched by the Garfield Sheriffs department.” Imagine how you would feel as a parent when you heard that? I had no idea the pit in the bottom of my stomach could drop that low until that very instant.

As if proof is required that it was botched, a toxicology screen is run and results come back weeks later with none of the medications the “investigators” write in their reports she was taking, except one. And I then tell Dr. Kurtzman a well-known fact, she was not taking that medication, had not had a prescription for over a year and a half, and none had been purchased at a pharmacy for even longer.

A doctor helping to unravel the insanity for Steve and I suggests we check with every doctor in the valley Morgan has ever seen to see if she asked them for a prescription, not wanting us to know. It’s possible he says. Remembering, follow every lead to the very end, we do. And the answers are unanimous, Morgan never asked any of them for a prescription. The doctor she saw less than 36 hours before her body was discovered reiterates that she offered medication to Morgan to aid sleep, and to feel better, but Morgan had explained how she was managing her stress through diet and exercise and did not like to take pills.

A little ballerina dancing until exhaustion and then sharing stories of her stalker with her teacher and friends as they all cooled down. Dr Kurtzman was told all of this but answered about her Amitriptyline level with the statement, “of course she was, it was in her system.” Is that the benchmark in a proper investigation? Would that satisfy you? If it is found in your system it is because you were taking it? What if it was a bullet? Would it have always been there? Because it’s a prescription drug it can not possibly have been given to you. injected into you, or poured into your stomach through a tube? Or any of the other, progressively disgusting methods we have been told about?

There is a term for the in law, it’s called, “Prima Facia” or, “at first blush,” mainly it means that it is so completely obvious from the facts that exist and are well established that…if you don’t get it, then you just don’t want to.

If there was a bottle of prescription medications in the house, with her name on it, then all that means is that Morgan might have taken that medication, in the past, or maybe she chose not to, and nothing more. When she went to the ER at the local hospital for an ankle injury she was given bottles of prescription medications to take as needed. She didn’t need them, got by without them so she chose not to take them. It happens. That is how some of those bottles end up in medicine cabinets across the country.

So there is Dr. Kurtzman, 100 miles away and waiting for the reports and pictures and Morgan’s body. Because a proper autopsy does not begin with a deceased body on a metal table. Not according to the standards established by Colorado for this autopsy, it has already started with the gathering of vital information at her death scene and he is responsible for what is happening at the house where her body was discovered and declared to be deceased.

I wonder if the investigators conducting this haphazard investigation are at least conferring with Dr. Kurtzman for direction as they make all these incorrect guesses about Morgan. One of the Detectives at our house that morning keeps going out onto the driveway during her death scene investigation to make calls on his cell phone. I wonder if he is keeping Dr. Kurtzman “in the loop” on how things are progressing at the, “investigation?”

Truth is, Morgan was not taking any prescription medications on the day she died, her toxicology tests back that up, and the truth never changes. And further, any medications that may have been in the house on the day she died were not involved in her death, another truth that will never change. A circuitous, very tedious trail has led specialists to the conclusion of the steps involved in her death. It is “Prima Fascia” once all the facts are laid out. The same facts these investigators had to work with. Only for “investigators” who are conducting an “investigation” that, an hour or so into her investigation, has resorted to just guessing at her medications and will later compound their mistakes by filling in incorrect reasons for her to be taking the medication – that she was not talking – would it have been that hard to research and get it right?

And the haphazardness did not stop at medications. On the day Morgan was killed the investigators did take her camera, it was in a camera bag, with all her attachments. The evidence manifest lists the camera, and we did get it back. Only the memory chip was no longer in it. Does that mean the intruder took it? Did the Sheriff’s take it out, and misplace it? We have asked them, but they have never answered this important question.

Morgan was an accomplished photographer. Dr. Kurtzman is an accomplished photographer, and I doubt he brings his cameras anywhere without memory chips. Very tough to take memorable pictures, capture a sunrise or sunset, or even the clouds billowing by in a fascinating manner without a memory chip. She had one in there and it disappeared. Another of the many questions without answers in Morgan’s death.

Like her driver’s license. An investigator at the house writes in a report that he had seen it, but along with the missing memory chip, we can not find her license either. And we did not spend a few hours, it took weeks to carefully pack away all her things. We only found her previous license. Morgan always kept it behind her current license, so I wonder if in a quick glance he slid out her previous license and mistook it for her current license. Just like long expired, old, faded prescription bottles written into reports as current by the same investigators. Morgan is taking these right now, medications that she was not taking at all, complete with made up reasons for taking these medications.

Remember it’s to be treated as a homicide until proven otherwise. When the investigators are just guessing, and they guess wrong, you not only end up with a crime/murder scene that is “so thoroughly botched,” but you end up with Sheriff’s reports that are either 100% false or contain a lot of false information within them. Just add to that list the complete absence of any report at all for incidents that I have well documented, discussed later with Detectives and further documented in emails and that is approaching the state of Morgan’s Sheriff’s reports, and her investigation, both about her stalking and about her death.

And believe me it is a monumental task to correct each mistake, between my notes, my timeline, text messages, emails, phone records, security video and others I can come a lot closer than guessing. And for my daughter Morgan deserves the best I can do. And is it still possible to prove a case with all this haphazard bungling going on? We haven’t stopped and if fact we may have hit the lowest point, and be heading back up again. This has been an extremely gut-wrenching process. Time will tell, won’t it?

And with all this talk about medical records I just want to point out a link in the blog to the position Steve and I take on Morgan’s rights, specifically medical records. Coroners can request them, but then have no right to release them. Anyone who has publicly released information derived from the electronic medical records of Morgan Ingram violates her HIPAA rights. And just like possessing stolen goods is still a crime, possessing improperly released medical records violates HIPAA rights, which most definitely survive death. We only wish to protect what remains of Morgan’s rights, as I’m sure any parent would.

And as for accuracy of information so far, it is so absolutely deflating to see and read now, how Morgan was really treated on the day her body was found, by those sworn to protect her. I really don’t know how it could get any worse. But then I have not finished reading the “official reports” just yet… And while I want to allow access to them all I really believe it is in Morgan’s best interest that the corrections are made before that happens. We have already seen where page after page of guesses, and inaccuracies, printed and given to the world has gotten us. Printing the truth in that arena also promises to be most illuminating.

Law and Order, or is the Beginning of the End of #Stalkers Running Free too Tall an Order?

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Expressions of Morgan

Expressions of Morgan

‘Law and Order’ is such a simple phrase, that means so very much when you find yourself a victim.  Law is the premise, the nucleus, that brings order.  Law is dynamic, very dynamic I’m finding this as I read the Colorado Revised Statutes with all of the year specific repeals, and additions.  Keeping pace with the ever altering landscape that is our lives is graphically displayed.  How one single word changes everything is just as amazing to me.

In Morgan’s case I am troubled to no end, because laws existed, but were not enforced, or maybe brought into play is a better way to think of it.  For example part of a Colorado Revised Statute (or C.R.S.) says:

The general assembly hereby recognizes the seriousness posed by stalking and adopts the provisions of this part 6 with the goal of encouraging and authorizing effective intervention before stalking can escalate into behavior that has even more serious consequences.

Then we had a Sheriff, under whom’s direction, his department assigns a Detective on day 58 of Morgan’s Stalking.  Effective Intervention?  58 days?  What do you think?  And remember Deputies did respond during the 58 days before, but, no sirens, no blinking lights, they can’t collect fingerprints, cast shoe prints or effectively collect evidence, the case has no case number, because it has not opened yet, and as I’m also finding, record keeping is completely shaky at the very best.  The responding Deputies also told me that this was Colorado Law,  I haven’t been able to find the law they talked about, but as you can see the one I did find is quite the opposite.  And that the stalking did in fact “escalate into behavior that had even more serious consequences”, is without question.

And it was not just the nearly 60 days or two months of living hell before there was a Detective, and a case number, along with the hope of a forthcoming plan to catch the stalker(s), and bring about an end to the ensuing nightmare.  It was also that once assigned, our detective had to justify the amount of time he spent on Morgan’s case.  “Higher ups” within the Sheriff’s department saw fit to allow an hour or two here or there.  Was he assigned to Morgan’s case only to have his hands tied?

Our felony stalking detective was angling for an extra hour or two to work her case, and now Morgan is dead, killed by her stalker.  Doesn’t seem right to me in any way, shape or manner, and I suppose it never will.  How could it?  In the name of Morgan having every dream she ever had yet to realize taken from her, the stalking case deserved the number of hours it took to solve it.  Not the best that can be done in an hour or two a week.  And if that is not enough, “oh well”, that’s the best we could do.  We all know how that worked out for Morgan.

Another section of the same law on stalking that I found to be right to the point, especially in Morgan’s case is:

Because stalking involves highly inappropriate intensity, persistence, and possessiveness, it entails great unpredictability and creates great stress and fear for the victim

Morgan was stressed, and she was in fear.  She also had little hope for the simple pleasures in life, like a “good nights sleep”.  The Colorado General Assembly, which drafted and passed the laws on stalking obviously got it.  If you want you can read the entire text of the C.R.S. that was law during Morgan’s stalking here it is, STALKING LAW.

The General Assembly deserves kudos for understanding the evil serpent so well, and drafting an effective response.  I don’t believe the Sheriff got it… at all.  The response that is spelled out in the Colorado Revised Statutes for stalking never arrived for Morgan.  For the sake of all the victims of stalking,  I sincerely hope that changes in the future.  Morgan’s stalker(s) are still running free.

And often I have spoken of another Colorado organization – the CBI, or Colorado Bureau or Investigation.  The big guns of law enforcement here in this state.  Many have pointed to the need for a “microscopic” investigation of an unattended death under suspicious circumstances as Morgan’s was.  The CBI could have been and should have been called in the morning we found Morgan dead, but it would have been the Sheriff’s call and they did not make it.  That would have given Morgan a proper investigation instead of the, “so thoroughly botched,” investigation that unfortunately Morgan did have.

I bring this up because, just recently right here in the Roaring Fork Valley, the body of a man was found in an irrigation ditch, deceased.  Only he was not found in Garfield County, he was found in Pitkin County.  Different County, different Sheriff, and fact is that the protocol there for an unattended death under suspicious circumstances was to immediately call in the CBI, that’s why we have the CBI is my understanding, not just for deaths, but any investigation that is beyond that capabilities of a smaller Sheriff’s department.  The CBI responded, was there within a few hours, and evidently evidence was actually found quite a distance from the death scene, and collected, to be processed.

There is a difference between that, and reading Morgan’s texts, and a old journal from her room.  But her PJ’s she wore to bed the night before, completely missing, her panic button gone from its mount, her body posed, redressed, none of that mattered.  Who were they investigating, really?  How was that going to ID or catch the intruder?  A crime scene such as Morgan’s is to be considered a homicide until proven otherwise.  What gives here, really?

Complete answers to the possible crime just committed sits at the root of prevention of crime, and isn’t that the goal of law enforcement?  To Protect and To Serve?  If a person, usually a woman, is the victim of stalking, doesn’t she deserve adequate protection?  Or is that too much to ask?

And though the following was in response to a different post there is a comment I want to share again with you, this is too perfect a place for it not to – Guardian Angels.