Category Archives: Morgan’s Investigation

Ever Wonder About Crime In Your Neighborhood?

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winterbygraveyeard

Above is a picture of an old cemetery in the Roaring Fork Valley – Morgan took this picture when she visited it with her friends

I wonder if anyone really thinks about what is going on in their neighborhood, I, for the most part did not.  I mean, do you really know what is going on in your neighborhood?  Wouldn’t you assume that if something criminal was going on you would be told about it?  

Think about this…have you ever been warned about crimes going on, right in your own neighborhood? Information, so you can take appropriate precautions to protect your family?  Have you ever had the police or sheriffs pass out flyers, or go door to door to warn people to be on the look-out for something or someone? Wouldn’t it be extremely helpful?

Have you ever caught someone clearly in your yard, looking in your house, at you, at night, or heard tapping or banging on your window?

Have you ever thought you might be being stalked, or actually had someone stalk you?  Wouldn’t you think you should let people know about these dangers?  We were specifically told in Morgan’s case not to tell anyone.  And we actually did listen to that request. We now know that was wrong. Experts on stalking suggest you tell your neighbors, co-worker, fellow students, everyone.

In the real world, in most cases, people want to know what is up when they see law enforcement always showing up at a neighbor’s house, usually at night.  They wonder if there is something going on they should know about.  In Morgan’s case did it really help to try and keep everyone in the dark?  I honestly don’t see how. I truly believe, that in the beginning, if we had let everyone know what was going on, there would have been more eyes and ears alerted that could have helped up stop the stalking before it escalated and became deadly.

Please, write to me, as a comment to this blog, or using the contact button on this website. You can share with me and the world about your experiences, if you would like, you can stay anonymous, just let me know – please don’t suffer in silence.  Let people know how horrible being a victim of stalking really is.  By telling your story it helps raise awareness and can help to save someone’s life.  

I have had many people write in to me about their experiences, and I will start telling the readers about those stories very soon now.  We can all learn from other people’s experiences, in order to protect ourselves.  Law enforcement across the world can learn things too, and have already learned from some of the stories on this blog, I know because they write to me and tell me what they have learned.  All that needs to happen is to want to get better, be able to admit you can improve, and you will.  Close that door, and you will stay the same, for better, or more likely, for worse, forever.

I have been warned, so many times, since the beginning of Morgan’s stalking, that we have to temper what to expect out of law enforcement.  They only have so much time, and so much in their budget, and I was told about the man behind the curtain who controls how much is allocated to each crime.  Morgan’s detectives worked four days a week, and out of those four days there was usually a one hour slot allocated for an interview or something else on Morgan’s case.  I no longer accept this because we don’t even have to guess if that was enough, it wasn’t. How much would have been needed? We will never know.  Does this mean that we are not really protected – it’s all an illusion? Or, are we partially protected, and if a felon happens to have more time than the sheriff’s department, then what?  I guess you are in for bad news, just be sure to not tell any of the neighbors, am I missing something here? In a criminal case, when law enforcement can not, or will not allocate what is needed then more regular citizens need to be told, so they can help. 

Stalking

  • Alert Others – Tell trusted friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and/or your HR department to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and so they don’t mistakenly give out information to someone pretending to be a loved one.

We did always have the deputies to call on 24/7.  But, there was one minor glitch – the response times. 15 minutes was unusually quick, 25 to 45 was more the norm.  So, try this experiment, imagine that your daughter just screamed, because she saw someone looking in her bedroom window.  She pulls the drapes, you run outside, circle the house, completely caught by surprise, you are unarmed, and even if you were armed would you shoot into the dark, where there are houses with innocent people in them so close by?  But, it does not matter because you don’t see anyone – you are not trained for this, you are not fast enough.  You then call the sheriff’s department.  Going back into your house, you sit down and wait 25 minutes, which seems like an eternity, then a deputy arrives.  Together you circle the house again, stopping many times, as the deputy shines his powerful flashlight at something nearby.  Do you think it is any more likely you are going to see the intruder this time?   Imagine the deputy next to you, on the minuscule chance you did see anything, do you think the two of you could run the perpetrator down on foot, or would you lose him somewhere out in the brush?  I wonder if law enforcement kept stats, showing they responded to an intruder call, but didn’t see anything – check this box, or damn if he wasn’t still standing right there at the window – check this box. Do you see where I am going with this? There needs to be a protocol that would actually work. When I read from experts on stalking protocol it makes so much more sense then what our sheriffs did…

When the news played a clip on television where Sheriff Lou Vallario said they were out to our house over fifty times and never saw anyone, that is was about the most ridiculous thing he could have said.  This just reinforced the insufficient protocol they used. Notice, there was no mention of the series of wildlife cam photos of the stalker or the witness sightings.  

Here is a link, in case you have not yet seen the stalker watching the sheriffs https://morgansstalking.com/?p=5019 .  One deputy, two deputies, and then “him”, since they never saw a stalker should we call “him” an intruder?  And then there he is, the intruder, trying to knock down the camera.  Deputies came flying back after we saw these images for the first time, and boy were they pissed, he was right there, practically watching them leave.  Could he have been in the back of the truck?  Where was he hiding?  Who is he? Definitely not Morgan’s stalker, because our sheriff Lou Vallario, in the news clip and on TV, said they never saw one.

Time for a change in tactics perhaps?  No way, look how close we were that time – is that what they thought?  A print out in the patrol vehicles, just in case he’s spotted somewhere else?  No way, they said it’s not clear enough to really tell.  But, I do not blame the sheriffs, Steve and I have no one to blame but ourselves.  By the time we figured out that this was entirely up to us to stop – it was too late for Morgan.  We thought the sheriffs knew what they were doing. Do not make the mistake we did.

We were not alone in our experience; so far, all other victims who have written into me about their individual experiences with stalkers have said that law enforcement never saw their stalker either.  But, then in Morgan’s case, to never use the dogs to track the suspect, especially when they told us they believed he was in our neighborhood, especially after telling us they would bring in a tracking dog next time, but never did, well this is wrong with a capital W.

I now know from others who have written to me, that this same peeking in and tapping on the windows happens more often than it is spoken of. It is more an invasion of privacy for sexual gratification than a misdemeanor trespass, and it has been going on in our little area of the valley for at least 4 years. 

I truly believe we were dealing with a serial stalker/murderer and those type of predators do not just stop.  I have had contact from girls and women who lived in subdivisions close to ours, with similar incidents and yes, these incidents were all called in to the sheriff’s department.  Did the sheriff’s ever see the intruder any of those times, when these women were alone in their houses, and called up to report the crime?  No!  One time, and one time only, I was told that they actually put the tracking dog onto the scent, even though the responding deputies never saw the intruder, but they lost him.  I also know that two of these times the woman did get a good visual sighting, and gave officers a very good description – would Sheriff Lou Vallario now say that, like Morgan’s stalker, all those incidents were a figment of their imagination? – That, just because they (the deputies) never saw the stalker, he just didn’t exist? The sheriff’s hired dogs and they tracked him, all the way to the Carbondale Mini Storage, I was told, for a total of about 1 mile, before the dog lost his scent.  They had gotten good descriptions of what the guy looked like – just like Morgan gave them a description, and a name, and a car, but no arrests were ever made, and no residents were ever warned.  I saw this because one of the incidents was two weeks before Morgan’s stalking reports started, same description same M.O.

I am on the GarCo warning system, and I get a text about highway closures. Would you mind if you received a text that an intruder, unidentified was reported in a certain area?  If you have daughters wouldn’t you want to know?

I would think in every one of these incidents, if the officers had warned the neighborhoods close by then there would have been more eyes, and ears to assist in bringing it to an end.  I would think the officers would appreciate the help, since chances are slight they could never make it there in time to actually “see” the perpetrator.  Maybe this little change in tactics would have resulted in an arrest; maybe this would have saved Morgan’s life.  We will never know, but going forward I think this is something to consider…very seriously.  

Another thing I just remembered…the felony stalking detective, assigned to Morgan’s case, printed up a flyer that he passed out one morning to all the Garfield County Patrol Officers, as well as the Carbondale Police, with the picture of the  “suspects” car, the “suspects picture,” Morgan’s picture, a map of our neighborhood, and other details, so they could all be on watch and up to speed on what was happening – now how in the world could this have been distributed, and then after Morgan is murdered the Sheriff Lou Vallario states that they never had a suspect?  Once again, am I missing something here?

I also do not believe just because you live in a small town and your coroner needs to hire a subcontracted forensic pathologist (i.e. Dr. Robert Kurtzman) that you should just accept a substandard autopsy that gives out a manner of death that no other doctor in this state, or in this country has agreed with, and this lets a criminal walk free to continue to perfect their trade.  

We now know, thanks to the many readers of this blog, which include 2 forensic toxicologists, many retired Medical Examiners, another prominent forensic pathologist, many medical specialists, and even pharmaceutical scientists, who have all weighed in on just Morgan’s toxicology results, and explained to us what the findings really represent.  And guess what?  Everyone agrees that it was a lethal dose of Amitriptyline that killed Morgan – an extremely lethal dose, and they either do not see how he (Dr. Robert Kurtzman) could have ignored it, or that he should have known it, or that he should questioned it, and most all do not see why an investigation was not launched right then and there. The extreme amount that was found in her blood stream could not have been ingested, and there was no needle left behind – this was a staged crime scene and law enforcement either incompetent and did not have the training to know this or this was covered up for some other reason…

If our “small” town cannot do the right thing with the crime scene or with the forensic findings, then they should differ to those who can, and just call in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) – that’s what they are there for…they have the professional equipment, they would have been there that same morning – I know, I spoke with them.  The morning Morgan’s body was found (our sheriff and coroner state her death was being investigated as it was a death under suspicious circumstances, and that is why they had crime scene tape around our house, and took her body for an autopsy – they state she was a victim of felony stalking, so why not call in the CBI?  I still do not have an answer to that question.  Did Morgan not deserve it?  Was it not in the budget?  I spoke with the CBI and they said they would have offered their help at no cost to Garfield County. Is there something that can be done differently next time?

I also want the answer to the question of why did Dr. Kurtzman, the forensic pathologist, change Morgan’s manner of death from natural causes (which we knew was incorrect, since she had obviously been poisoned with a massive dose of Amitriptyline) to suicide 8 months later, after running a different test that actually showed the presence of a concoction of date rape drugs, that is conveniently never mentioned in the second report? The results of the second test made her death even more suspicious. Sadly, the designation of natural causes and/or suicide give the sheriffs all the reason they need to never investigate the death.

I believe Morgan was murdered, and the evidence pointing to that fact continues to grow, even in the absence of any investigation, strictly through the efforts of people around the country helping us to seek justice for Morgan.  People can say all these experts are all wrong, or I am making them up, or this is not the conclusions they are coming too, but I know better.  We have accumulated documents, photos and much more – all evidence of a murder and cover up.

The truth will come out. I keep asking myself how will they try to spin it then?  When the real question should be how can any decent person put a family like us through this kind of pain, because of their incompetence, and then blame us, thinking if we only went away and dropped this everything would go back to normal, and all would be good?  Trust me folks not only does that not work, but it will never work. This is why the murder clearance in this country gets worse and worse every year and why so many murderers are still able to walk free and can and in most cases will murder again.

 

Is Media A Good Thing – Even If They Are Stuck On A False Narrative?

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Because of my work with so many families of homicide victims, some years back, I was asked if I thought co-victims, families like ours, should allow the media to showcase their stories. Seems like an easy decision, but it was not. After giving it a little thought I replied, “When it comes to the media you are looking at the good, the bad and the ugly.”

You are always taking a chance that when they tell your story, the media will not reflect the truth, but instead they will float whatever false narrative they believe will gain viewership for their show – it’s all about the drama.

I then continued on to say, “With that in mind, I still believe any, and any media coverage that will keep the story out in the public’s mind is not only a good thing, but it also raises the publics awareness of these types of crimes, which is always good for everyone.”

Life is a constant flow of ups and downs, highs and lows, and I get that. I try very hard not to allow the “downs” to keep me down for very long, because if I allowed that to happen then any forward movement on my part would disappear. So, even though the woman with the ultimate authority for the Oxygen show, when they filmed Morgan’s story back in 2019, chose to air only the things that supported her false narrative, I am still glad I decided to do the show. Why, you may wonder?

At that time, after 7+ years of pressing for answers in the death of our youngest child, Morgan, we had learned many things. We had learned that we are in this for the long haul; we need to keep digging ourselves, along with the help of others, digging for answers, as we seek truth and justice for Morgan. We can’t always do everything ourselves – we need others…others with other resources, so with that in mind, I can honestly say that because of Kelly McLear’s investigation, we were able to receive so much more EVIDENCE, evidence that we did not have before, shocking evidence that is hard to believe law enforcement kept from us, evidence that supports the theory that Morgan was murdered, so you could say the show was bad because they did not air all the evidence that proved she was murdered, or you could say it was good because we now have that evidence and can use it in a court of law, once a new investigation is opened into her murder.

Many questions have been filled in because of Kelly’s great questions and interviews with people that had never been questioned before by the sheriffs. Up until now there has NEVER been an investigation into her murder by law enforcement, even though many, many experts have said there is plenty of evidence that she did not die of natural causes (like the pathologist said for the first 8 months), and she did not die from suicide (which the pathologist changed eight months later, after we would not stop investigating and he threatened me to ‘back off!’ So, again, was the show a bad thing or a good thing? In the long run, just like all families of murder victims, we want answers and we want justice, so I feel, in the long run  it was a good thing…

#JusticeForMorgan

Dandelions & Other Signs…

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Above is one of the many pictures Morgan took of dandelions…this one is my favorite.

Dandelions were such a source of happiness for Morgan. Every spring/summer when dandelions appeared outside, she would wait until they turned white, she would then pluck one, blow on it and make a wish. She would photograph it while it blew in the wind…Morgan loved nature and every gift it presented to her…maybe it was like being closer to the fairy realm?

Every morning when I wake up and every evening when I close my eyes I think about Morgan, she is always on my mind and forever in my heart. So, last Sunday, on the first day of Spring, it was such a wonderful surprise to come upon these two little dandelions blowing in the breeze. I had just asked Morgan to show me a sign, and I immediately saw these two between the curb and the grass. 

I knew right away that Morgan was sending me a sign. A feeling of love, hope and happiness filled me up and I hold this feeling in a place of gratitude.

Are you aware of the signs around you? Do you ever asked a loved one, who has passed over, to show you a sign? Sometimes when we are so consumed with grief we can not see the signs around us. Those signs are such a comfort because they show us that no one is ever truly gone, they are just not here on this planet with us at this time, but they are still around, always.

Love goes on forever and can never be severed. Watch for the signs ❤️

 

 

 

 

 

Morgan’s last week on this planet started 10 years ago on Thanksgiving…

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Steve and I hope you have had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, full of blessings and love with friends and family.

Again, we have so much gratitude in our hearts that you chose to connect with us through this blog, to read and understand what happened to our youngest daughter Morgan, to share your own stories about stalkers, and to help us continue our fight for justice. You are all part of Team Morgan, and that gives us the much needed strength to continue our fight for justice for Morgan. 

This has been a very hard time for us…

On Thanksgiving, not only did we have a deep sadness in our hearts because our precious Morgan could not be with us, (we felt her spirit, but could not see her beautiful smile), to join in on the cooking, eating, and fun times together, but it has now been 10 years since the last Thanksgiving that we had with her, so we will always remember what was happening in that last week before her murder. The hour by hour, day by day memories are etched into our minds, because of the active stalking that was happening, along with the exhaustion, stress, alienation, and sadness that we all felt at that time.

Tomorrow, December 2 is going to be even more painful. Every morning, for the last week, I have been waking up between 4:00 am – 5:00 am with so many thoughts and memories of what happened 10 years ago. Since the morning I found Morgan’s body it has all been so unbelievable to me…but horrifically, it was real. 

Just two nights before Morgan’s murder (Tuesday, November 29, 2011), the sheriff’s detective came over to our house, just before 5:00 pm, like he usually did every week. He came by to give us an update on the felony stalking case against Keenan. He said he was 100% certain Keenan was the stalker and that Brooke was his accomplice. He threw a large dirt clod against our house to mimic the noise the stalker made to startle Morgan. He believed the stalking would not stop, but would escalate. That really upset me, he did not give me the reason why he thought that. He said he was increasing the patrols by our house. He explained that the next week, Tuesday, he was picking up Keenan’s work hours at City Market, and would overlay them with my timeline, then Morgan would also do her official, on the record, interview in Glenwood Springs on Tuesday too, so he believed he was getting really close to making an arrest,” 

The detective then checked their two cameras.  The detective (shown on our video footage) does not put a new zip tie lock back on his camera this time (why?) – I did not see this until months after Morgan’s murder, after I reviewed the footage of that week. This seemingly small act has really been bothering me, because he ALWAYS clipped the old zip tie off, reviewed the camera sim card, then reinserted the sim card into the camera and locked it again with a new zip tie. One time, when he came over, he realized he did not have a new zip tie, so he skipped opening up and reviewing the camera – he said he could not do it unless he could lock it up again afterwards…so, why, just 2 nights before the murder, did he not lock the camera up as usual? This is important because the night of Morgan’s murder, our camera, that was mounted on Morgan’s bedroom side of the house, did capture someone ducking, then running from our house in the direction of Brooke’s house. The sheriff’s camera should have captured movement at the same time, but the detective later told us that nothing was caught on their camera…hmmm.

Approximately 10 minutes after the detective left that Tuesday, I was peeling potatoes for dinner in the kitchen, with our dogs lying on the kitchen floor watching me. No one else was home when I heard a really loud noise, like a gunshot or a backfire (our dogs jumped up). The house shook, I was startled and ran through the house to check everything, including the garage, to see if something fell down or broke. The detective had just put our large ladder back in our garage, but I saw nothing out of place – what made that noise?  I was so shook up that I called Steve and asked if he was on his way home. He was. I felt like someone had done a drive by and shot at our house – it really sounded like that. We reviewed our camera footage and saw a small dark sedan speed by our house at that approximate time, but had no idea if that was the person who caused the loud bang.

Morgan came home early that night, ate and went to bed, as she was exhausted and not feeling so good.  Around 10:?? pm,  I was in bed and saw flashlights in back of house – I figured it was just the sheriff’s patrol officers looking for something, and I fell back asleep – I found out the next day that our next door neighbor’s house has been robbed – with no evidence of breaking & entering, by the way.  What is going on around here?  You would think with a sheriff’s presence constantly coming and going around our house that nobody in their right mind would be breaking into our neighbor’s house – but I don’t think we were dealing with people that are in their right mind.  We have sheriff’s patrol officer’s vehicles driving by our house, keeping a lookout at random times throughout the night and yet someone robs our neighbors house? This is just one small thing that had happened that week, just days before her murder.

Tonight, I will go to sleep with a heavy heart, knowing that I have not been able to get justice for Morgan yet…I say yet, because I have not given up. I truly believe it will happen. My heart has been very heavy, Steve and I have not had great health in the last few years, so, we have not fought for justice as hard as we wanted to. We will not beat ourselves up for that – we know there are times you need to step back and have self-care.

Now we are ready. Ready to start our fight again. Please keep us in your prayers, as we will need all the help we can to fight the establishment, make changes in the way these type of cases are handled, and to finally get justice for Morgan.

There is a huge need in this world for transparency and justice. We will never give up! Please keep Morgan in your hearts and minds tomorrow…10 years since she left this planet.

#JusticeforMorgan

 

 

 

Today’s Memory from August 1, 2011…

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This is a picture of Morgan picking up her adorable puppy, Wylah May, on August 1, 2011. Morgan was soooo extremely happy and in love with her new fur baby. Little did we know the danger that was awaiting us, starting the very next day, on August 2, 2011…the start of 4 months of stalking horror, ending in the death of our precious daughter Morgan.

I have such mixed emotions when I look at this picture. On one hand, I remember Morgan’s excitement, love and happiness, on the other hand I wonder about fate. On that day, I asked Morgan NOT to get the puppy. I had no reason to feel that way, absolutely no reason…it was just a feeling I had. Was it a premonition? Morgan disagreed with me and took Wylah home with us.

Almost 4 months later, many people who loved Morgan tried to get her to leave Colorado to go stay with them, sensing the danger, they were trying to get her away from her stalker. Morgan had only 2 weeks left in her college classes before winter break, and she had made commitments to people to work in Aspen, CO over that break. and yet, the stalking was becoming more and more terrifying for her, so she did consider leaving. She then told me that she had decided not want to leave her puppy behind, when all the options she had did not include bringing Wylah with her. Of course I assured her that Wylah would be fine with her dad and I, but she said she wanted to wait.

2 weeks later, Morgan was dead. If she hadn’t had Wylah would she have left? Would Morgan still be alive? These are just 2 of the hundreds of questions that constantly run through my mind. I know it’s not healthy, and I know it’s not rational, but I honestly do have these thoughts when I am alone, and my mind wanders. My mind is constantly trying to make sense of this horrific tragedy that took Morgan from our lives. I don’t think it will ever make any sense to me.

Wylah May has always been a fabulous, loving and extremely intuitive dog. She is 10 years old now, and we love her with all our hearts. What happened to Morgan on December 2, 2011 was not Wylah’s fault. Wylah was a puppy, only 6 months old and no, she did not bark that night. Wylah had never barked at something, and still to this day, she does not bark. Some dogs are barkers and some are not. The only time Wylah ever barks is when she is playing with another dog, and on the few occasions (in the past 10 years) when she has encountered someone who she thought was a possible threat.

Here is a FACT. The morning we found Morgan’s body, and the EMT’s ran into her room in full gear (all strangers to her), she just sat on Morgan’s bed and never made a sound…so, why are there so many people on the Internet, acting like experts, who are obviously not knowledgable dog people, but insist on stating that since Wylah did not bark that night, no one was in Morgan’s room? This is just an ignorant statement…but then again, I have always heard, “You can’t fix stupid!”