Morgan would sit an wait for hours, to capture the image. Investigators owed her the same respect.

In some cases a simple lacking of knowledge would be better than none at all.  But just what do I mean by that?  I’m focusing on only one thing – the training of the Garfield Sheriffs to carry out a specific task.  A task I wasn’t aware they took on in its entirety.  It is very specialized and training intensive.  Months ago, a typical scenario for another law enforcement agency was explained to Steve and I, so we could identify similarities and alas, there were none.

I am talking about the proper processing of a death scene.  The single most important element to an eventual arrest and conviction of the criminal.  There is undoubtedly no one best way to do it, but then there would certainly be a minimum, a bare minimum.  I researched once into the Deputy Coroner of the Garfield County, Where our daughter Morgan was killed, and then her death scene investigation was conducted.

Before it was so upsetting to discover the fact that just a little to the west, in the next county over, in Mesa County, there is a different coroner naturally.  But this coroner is himself a medical doctor and requires every deputy coroner to complete two different certifications (not so in the county where Morgan was murdered):

1. Investigator to be a member in the Colorado Coroner’s Association (CCA). The CCA sets standards for minimum training to become a member and requires continuing education to maintain membership.

2. The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) ® is a voluntary national, not-for-profit, independent professional certification board that has been established to promote the highest standards of practice for medicolegal death investigators.

This is the minimum in the adjoining Colorado county.  The Garfield County Coroner is not a doctor, which is not required, he was an owner of the funeral home and legally only needed a High School diploma, and the Deputy Coroner at Morgan’s death scene was the funeral home manager at Farnum-Holt Funeral Home and had none of the training required by Mesa County – none. The Deputy Coroner does not need to meet any requirements, not even a High School diploma, but he is responsible for certain filings, etc., which …this is who showed up at Morgan’s crime scene to determine if there was any foul play.  Thomas Walton, the then Garfield County Deputy Coroner – after all our due diligence, collecting all the state documents, we now know he had no training, and did none of the paperwork required for this position, making him legally not a deputy coroner.  He was the one who took the crime scene photos we have, never took a body temp, and said he got all his “facts” from the sheriffs, he never interviewed us.  He later said he could not make any changes on Morgan’s PER unless instructed by Detective Glassmire, because that is where he got all his information. The law clearly shows this is not what should be done.

But I was not there when he wrote up his “Autopsy Request” in which his “facts” were all wrong, and now as  read the unattended death report for Morgan, I find that Thomas Walton – Chief Deputy Coroner of Garfield County – didn’t really do anything, the sheriffs by their recounting, were the ones involved.  But they have no certification in death scenes either!  Is this a search for the truth?  Is this how you would want a suspicious death investigated?  Colorado law clearly states this is not how you do it – but that didn’t stop them in Morgan’s case.

In fact, in the neighboring county, that I refer to, they actually have standards, and the law enforcement officers are not to touch the body, maybe because they are not trained!  There were observations made the Garfield County Sheriffs investigators that are completely wrong and contradict each other, maybe, once again, because they have no training in death scene investigating.  And before the crime scene photos were even taken (maybe before the deputy corner even arrived) someone had illegally tried to close Morgan’s eye, wiped blood off her face, covered her up with a towel, and many other things that they are NEVER supposed to do in a suspicious death investigation.  Incompetence, inadequate investigation, “bumbling” like the DA said, or something more sinister?

So as I look at this more globally, it is a sad state of affairs.  For any death in Garfield County at that time, it was likely going to be presided over by a funeral home manager from Farnum-Holt Funeral Home, with no real training in death scene investigation.  He does not even belong there!  And then doing the actual hands on investigating will be sheriff’s officers with no certification in death scene investigation.  Did the honorable District Attorney even know this when she said that the Garfield County Sheriff’s Department completely botched the investigation?

In Mesa County, Colorado, deputy coroners have two forms of certification in death scene investigation, ongoing education, and law enforcement – look but don’t touch, you are not trained.  In Garfield County, none of the above.  Does apprehending and convicting the criminals mean anything here?  Is it just an after thought?  Not really a serious consideration?  Or is it just women they do this to?

Morgan’s death scene investigation was no investigation at all as far as I can see.  The observations made are contradicted by the contracted forensic pathologist whom none of the experts that have looked over Morgan’s case agree with so I’m left to conclude they are most likely both incorrect.  Is this how my daughter’s investigation should have been conducted?  Untrained, no trained, little training, and please don’t give me an excuse about on-the-job-training.  Experience by doing it with no training a few times, learn from your mistakes.  It is unbelievable to me!  Morgan deserved far more than that.

We can’t bring Morgan back, and we can’t have a do over on her investigation.  What I really want to know is what do we tell he next family and their girl.  I truly and very deeply worry for them now.