Monthly Archives: October 2015

About the disappearing ranch…

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Aspen Equestrian Ranch and TCThis is a picture Morgan took of the ranch behind our house.  The ranch was originally called Preshana and had been around for many, many years, but was later bought and renamed Aspen Equestrian Ranch.  As per the Post Independence, “Preshana in the late 1970s and ’80s, was a facility for horse-boarding, equestrian events and polo. . When our family moved into the neighborhood called Aspen Equestrian Estates we boarded Morgan’s horse TC at that ranch.  You can see TC (the brown & white Paint horse) on the left side of the photo.

Morgan was so happy that TC was so close and loved to walk down the street to go be with her horse.  After Morgan’s murder TC was never the same.  He knew she was gone, he loved her and I believe he knows who was involved, lucky for them horses can’t talk, or can they? About 2 months after Morgan’s murder I woke up one morning after a horrible dream about TC – the dream left me with a feeling that he was in danger and I had to move him FAST.  So I did – I was able to move him to another ranch only a couple of hours after I woke from that awful dream.  I was able to breath a sigh of relief.  Morgan loved that horse – she used to say she felt like he was her little brother.  Kind of strange considering he was a 1,200 lb horse.

Then sometime after that the ranch was bulldozed down to the ground.  Strange – right?  It’s being used as polo grounds again, which is good I guess, but I still have to wonder if the razing of the ranch had anything to do with the fact that the equine amitriptyline that killed Morgan most likely came from that ranch.  Just some more food for thought.

And then the word #stalker came into play – another story that needs to be shared

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stopvictimblamingPlease read the story below – I really shouldn’t say it is a story because what it truly is is another human being’s current reality due their stalker.  It is horrifying, it has affected her children, it has completely changed her life, and it is so very wrong. The judicial system needs to understand how serious stalking is. Changes need to be made – criminals should not have more rights then their victims!

This is an email I received this morning:

My case with a stalker is going to jury trial very soon.  Due to this, I’m doing my research on Victim Blaming as I’m sure the defense will use this heinous tactic, and that is how I found your site.  My story began 6 months ago while breaking it off with a short-lived relationship.  Although, due to an alcohol problem with this man, I did get  a simple domestic violence restraining order, which of course I thought would be all I would need.  That day would prove to hold so very much more.  I now carry 3 criminal protective orders, he has been incarcerated for 2 months on a no bail warrant.  All I wanted was peace, but his insistence that God told him not to stop pursuing me, several texts and voice mails, him showing up at my house refusing to leave, and my visions of waking up with him standing over me, the “If I can’t have you….” attitude, and finally after several times of calling law enforcement and 2 arrests of violation, the word “stalker” came into play.  He found my new phone #, found me on social media, and followed family members.  One message reads: “If I can’t find you, I’ll have 20 people looking for you”.  As of today (10.13.2015), a new judge said he would grant another bail hearing next Tuesday.  Of course when you’ve gone into hiding twice, and you are looking for yet another safe place, this decision fills you with fear.  The word “Stalker” is used lightly, as it was with me before this time.  But my world has now become a reality of always looking over my shoulder, protecting my loved ones and myself from whatever the “next step”, the “next move” could be.  In all of our minds no one wants to believe these things truly happen, and of course we would rather blame the victim with “if only they had done something different”.  I know I will face that kind of mentality soon as part of the defense, and I dread the day I re-live it all in a twisted story by a defense attorney.  It is my hope my story will one day inspire others to do what they must to protect their family, and never minimize what a person is capable of.  Stalking is a very real crime and like Morgan, your first prison is when it all starts.  My business was shut down, my life has had to start over, and the paralyzing effects of fear are more than one can bear.  Leaving your home alone, being alone, and even falling asleep become burdens you try to avoid.  My heart goes out to all victims of any crime, and if any have had to experience victim blaming, I’m positive it made a negative emotional impact in an already devastating circumstance.  Thank you for allowing me to e-mail this to you, it was only today in what was supposed to be a Felony Settlement Conference (another one) that the decision to revisit bail was put on calendar.  The plethora of charges against continue to mount with not only the felonies, but 8 misdemeanor charges as well.   Please keep me in prayer, and tell others to always be very careful.  If there is one red flag, there are many, many more.  Be safe as you possibly can always.  This is my new reality.

Then she wrote:

Truly one of the hardest things to deal with is the “unknown”  Never knowing the next move, the next step. You can try to block it but it sits in wait in your head. I am not looking forward to taking the stand. I’m doing my homework on Victim Blaming which is a natural response in most people’s minds. People want to believe others would not instill fear, and there had to be a reason, thus blame the victim. In my case he believed in his head, we were going to be together no matter what. It got to a point my 14 yr old son slept with a kitchen knife next to him, my daughter moved in with me.  Two months ago I moved and have basically been in hiding even with him incarcerated. Of course he proclaims innocence but doesn’t realize imprisoning someone emotionally, constant emotional manipulation, is wrong. No one knows if he will attack, take hostage, to get what he wants or not. That is the worst part. And now the judicial system may consider bail after two months of no bail. I want what is fair and just for all of course. It seems as though me having to give up my life, rebuild, start over and continue to wonder when and if he will be out again, does not come into play.  This story needs to be told for anyone who remotely believes it can never happen.
Please post my story, and please feel free to use this as well.  Maybe with more awareness people will realize “stalking” is not only physical, you become emotional prey for the predator. They stalk your mind in order to get their way, and you must do all you can do to protect yourself because, despite what others believe, you do not know what the next step will be, and it must be stopped before it is taken.  Be strong as possible. Be wise. Never minimize.  And do your homework, research, be prepared if it comes to a courtroom.
I hope after reading this you will have a more intimate understanding about the emotional devastation that stalking creates.  Her story should be shared as often as you can in order to help raise awareness about the seriousness of stalking.  Thanking you ahead of time for sharing!

A Must Read – Every Move You Make, by Victoria Heywood

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every move you make

This is a must read!  The new book that just came out, Every Move You Make by Victoria Heywood includes a chapter about Morgan’s stalking.  

I just finished reading it and I must say it is an extremely well researched book and a very powerful read…I could not put it down. You can get the Kindle copy on Amazon for just $9.99.

Every Move You Make: Chilling True Stories of Stalkers and Their Victims starts out with the author talking about what makes stalkers considered stalkers…typologies, etc. (please pay close attention to the explanation about predatory stalkers, this was exactly the type of stalker Morgan had) then she recounts the story of her own stalking.  There are good tips given for app security, etc.  Included in the book are stories about a death trap from a Facebook stalker, a murdered woman at the hands of her stalker/fiancé as she was planning on leaving him, the stalker that made it over the walls of Buckingham Palace to get to Princess Kate, the stalking of Princess Diana, the stalking of Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, and much more.

After you have read the book I would love to hear from you – please let me know if you were illuminated by anything you hadn’t previously known before about stalkers.

Until their daughter screamed…

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I was contacted again by another mother that wanted to share her story of horror.  This story had a better ending then ours and I am so happy their daughter was saved.  It is so important to share your stories in order to educate others about the realities of true crime. Some armchair sleuths seem to think it is impossible for someone to come into your house and do unspeakable things without the family hearing – unfortunately that is not reality…it really does happen.

About 16 years ago at 4:30 am, my husband and I were  awakened by our daughter’s scream.  “Daddy, there’s a boy in my room.”  My husband grabbed his Billie stick and raced down the stairs.  The man had fled.  While my husband looked for the man, I called the police.  When the police came, I asked if it could have been a dream.  The detective knew there had been an intruder. Footprints were left in the dew-covered grass and 10 cigarette butts had been left in a pile behind our house in the garden.  We had accidentally left the garage door open giving the man easy access into our home.  The man walked through our house, opened a liquor cabinet, and walked by our open bedroom door to gain entry into our daughter’s bedroom.  We never heard him and in September, our house was light, not dark.  Whenever I hear police question parents about noise an intruder makes, I become enraged.  No one in our family of five heard anything until our daughter screamed.  Later we learned, the man had tried to stick something in our daughter’s mouth.  I’ve always wondered if if was a substance to make her pass out.

Two weeks later this man was caught.  He had repeated the same crime, following the same pattern in a house three blocks from our home.  It was a neighbor I had never met.  He lived behind us through a short patch of woods.  His rap sheet at 19 was longer than my arm…and he was charged mostly as a juvenile delinquent for earlier crimes.  I never told our three kids that “he” lived behind our house.  They had a difficult time adjusting after the break-in.  He was convicted of the two break-ins and served a sentence of 18 months in jail.  By the time he was out of jail, his parents had moved.  My son still sleeps with a knife under his pillow and my daughter has a protective dog.

I am relaying my story because our daughter had been stalked.  This person knew which bedroom was hers.  He entered our home without anyone hearing him.  Our detectives were wonderful.  They were most bothered by the fact that adults were in the house when he entered both houses..  The detectives worried that this person would become even more brazen if he were not caught.

I urge you to continue to push for the reopening of the case.  In my experience, my faith in the detectives resulted in a resolution and capture.  Although your life is shattered, your goal is to find the killer(s).  Keep the spirit of your daughter in your heart and save your anger for the perpetrator(s).

I wish you and your husband peace of mind.  I wish I had known Morgan.  God bless you and keep up the fight.