I’m going to confess that with the sudden infusion of so many amazing minds pouring over every detail, Steve and I talked and thought that piecing together Morgan’s last 24 hours would be very important. That is my hope with the posts about Amitriptyline and no forced entry. This is officially the third in the series.
So this first image from Google earth, and filled with my notes, was originally something I sent to the Sheriff’s office. After countless visits to the house, and coming up empty I wanted them to have another angle to pursue on the next stalking case they would possibly encounter and the frustration they found themselves in. As you saw from the video, getting onto our roof without a ladder is not difficult, and couple that with this overhead shot where you can see how the roof is formed into a perfect little hiding spot for our stalker, you can almost picture him lying there…I know I can. Steve and I had absolutely no idea this little spot existed until it was too late for Morgan. Also, imagine that from this spot, if a person were to stand up and do a 360 degree turn, you would easily spot anything happening from our house out to miles away – Highway 82, County Road 100, or even the ranch next door. This vantage point had a commanding view of all around us.
The spots on our roof we should have known about!!
Just so there is no question, the spot labeled (A) was where he would have hid, Spot (B) is directly over Morgan’s window, and the place where the stress cracked gutter was, and Spot (C) is where the volunteer climbed the tree in the earlier video. Actually many people have climbed the tree since this discovery, even Steve. And all he could do after he did so was shake his head in disgust. We promise we are not beating ourselves up. Take it all as sage advice, it is meant to help.
If my math is correct there are sixteen houses total on Corral Drive, and if you were to assume that during the stalking, ten of them were actually occupied full time, that would be a good assumption.
Summarizing what is becoming my little series, we have a layout of the neighborhood with a few select spots on our house. A few ways entry would have been gained without so much as a splinter out of place, and a brief primer on the huge dose of Amitriptyline and date rape drug cocktail Morgan could have been killed with many times over. Next up will be a bit of a surprise/shock for those of you living here in Garfield County, just promise you won’t blame the messenger.
I have been faithfully reading your heartbreaking and yet terrifying posts. I am a life time resident of Garfield county with two kids, one of which is 21. We think we are some how sheltered in our valley from any serious crimes. I have been disgusted with what appears to be some really incompetent investigating. I think LE tried but just simply do not have the training or skills that come with “on the job training” because we don’t see a lot of crime.
I have teared up just putting myself in your shoes, as I am sure many of your readers are doing. I pray that the powers that be will reopen this as a homicide and that they put this wack job behind bars so he can’t hurt anyone else’s loved one. I also hope after this is solved some people who made some life altering BAD calls (LE and Holt) get their turn in life to loose sleep over this case.
So sorry for your loss.
We have been in this valley since the mid 70’s so I know exactly what you are talking about…I don’t think we were prepared for this kind of crime and it caught us completely by surprise.
I agree with you that this perpetrator/perpetrators need to be behind bars, and LE and Holt need to stop their arrogant and destructive treatment of our community. Things really have to change in our County and Steve and I want to be a part of that change so other families do not have to ever go through this…I think other families in this County have had similar things happen and were not heard. We want to make everyone’s voices heard.
yes, there are other families that have been victims of horrendous crimes in this valley that were treated poorly. Perp is identified but no investigation takes place then the victim’s calls are ignored by the D.A.’s department, been through it, took our family about 5 years to recover from the pain and suffering. Wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Thank god we are strong.
Hi Mr.& Mrs.Ingram,
I am so very sorry to hear about your beautiful daughter
I think what you are doing is wonderful & I wish you the best in getting the answers you are searching for-God Bless you & your family
I read last night your comment about your trash be taken
Was that last week at your new house?
Yes, Steve thought it was funny, I didn’t.
Wow, so a certain someone could have gone into their backyard and walked all the way through the berm(?) and get directly to your house? While never being seen at night. For me anyway, who it could have been makes a TON of sense.
yes
Toni,
About the trash missing, it could just be some poor people dumpster diving so to speak but it could be more. Get nanny cams for your house ( the kind that can hide in things) don’t post this if you intend on doing something like that so the perp if reading doesn’t know. If the perp thinks you are getting close, and knows you still have items saved from Morgan’s room. He might try to destroy them, or steal them. Just a suggestion and I do not want you and Steve to be paranoid, just cautious.
Terry G
Good point – thanks so much!
I hate to bring up the obvious, but is it possible K has figured out where you are living. I started reading last week and cannot stop thinking of you guys, much like everyone else reading your blog. The trash missing bothers me a lot.
I don’t think the trash being gone is something he would do – seems more to me like someone in the county trying to cover their _____.
CYA, That’s what they’re doing. Please be careful!!!
Tammy – we will, no worries.
When Morgan would go to the equestrian center, how would she get there? I wonder if the path was initially made by her. I do find it strange, though, that out of all the area of the berm, the only really visible path is one behind your house. Although, other houses along the cul de sac seem to have more of a rocky ground in the berm which would not leave much of a path.
She always drove or walked down the street into the side of the ranch, because if you went over the berm to the ranch you would need to jump over a ditch and climb over the fence – that’s why she always just walked out of the cul-de-sac or drove.
The trash stealing is very odd. If this was a murder then do not underestimate what might could happen to both of you from his fear of getting caught. I suggest putting an alarm system in your house and use it when your gone and home. I am worried for you! Your blog/radio interview says people names who have been arrested for stealing, drugs, beating people… Don’t take any chances, if something seems odd then trust your gut.
We are trusting our gut and there have been times we knew there was a problem, but you’re right we should take some precautions now. Thank you, but don’t worry.
?’s dad (and ?) definitely still live in the neighborhood.
I started reading last night and said a prayer for your family before I went to bed. I am from Tennessee, just want you to know your family is in my heart and prayers. I hope the change that needs to happen, does happen!
Oh I didn’t know ?’s dad still lived there but I knew ? did.
Have you all given thought that the stalker might have been tech savvy? Perhaps intercepting the text messages? My husband is an IT pro and suggested that with the right equipment it would be easy to do so.
Many prayers and good vibes to you both. My heart truly goes out to you!
Wow what type of equipment- it might be possible that someone had that.
Here’s a short article detailing a couple of methods. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2007/03/how_do_you_intercept_a_text_message.html
I have wondered the exact same thing about him being able to intercept your text messages since that seems to be the way you communicated the most. I have no idea what type of equipment you would need for that but have heard of it being possible. Also, have you thought maybe he stuck an invisible gps device on her car somewhere to track her??
We checked the cars and didn’t see anything, but you never know.
Tina–
This is an older article but it might explain a few ways one could intercept text messages. If you haven’t seen this, hope it helps!
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2007/03/how_do_you_intercept_a_text_message.html
Ha! Should have scrolled further first. 🙂
have any of the people you’ve named as suspect or involved contacted you at any time since your daughter’s passing?
No none of them.
That seems very odd and telling. It seems like if that person(s) were innocent then they’d speak up and try to clear their name. Another thing that has always stuck in my mind (this is off subject of this blog entry, but I wanted to ask while I am here): your neighbor E(?), he seemed very interested in Morgan after you told him about the stalking that was happening. He even offered for Morgan to come stay at his house if i am remembering correctly. Has he ever been a suspect in your mind? After recently seeing the layout of your neighborhood and where his house was (closer to the entrance of the subdiv.) it made me question more about him. Was he tipping someone off as to when Morgan entered and left the neighborhood?
He was a suspect in my mind for a while definitely.
Hey Toni,
I think that the roof should be checked for any dried DNA samples. I am sure he sat up there and did you know what. A black light at night should let you know if any still exist a year later. If you can pin his DNA on your roof then that is a for sure slam dunk.
This sounds great, but as with most other evidence Garfield wasn’t allowed to collect it and then on this particular point the lead detective told me that it would mean nothing, if we were to find his fingerprints up there it would mean nothing, if we were to find a piece of her jewelry or other “Trophy piece in his house or bedroom he could just say someone gave it to him and it would mean nothing. Thank you for you thoughts. wish so many things were different, but they are not and now and we are moving on to one thing at a time – it is frustrating, but eventually it will all get done. I guess our best bright spot is that there is no statute of limitations on murder.
WHY would it mean nothing to find his fingerprints up there? That is ridiculous! Don’t take these people at their word- press in. Maybe talk to some law enforcement officers from other districts or states and find out what the proper procedures are.
Did you have an attic that would have acted as a sound buffer between the roof and your ceilings? I would think you’d have to in order to not hear even a creak, let alone footsteps, on the roof.
It was said during the account of the camera installation that there was, indeed, an attic. So yes, that space could have very well buffered the sounds.
they had an attic… they just talked about setting the cameras up in there… and if you want to be quiet people can be super quiet… easily could have been on the roof when they weren’t home to find out where creaks and squeeqes are at… my heart goes out to you and steve and the rest of the family and i just dont understand how people could not see the foul play in all this… ur not even completely done the story and i can see it… people are soo stupid sometimes
We did have an attic area and you are right about the buffer I never thought of it as such
Oh, that’s right! I forgot about the camera set up and ripping his jeans.
is he still?
I have a thought… the gutter above Morgan’s room was stressed to the breaking point… what if he was using that to hold onto to jump off of the roof if needed? That is where you originally found the footprint, correct? All he would have to do is wait to see which side of the house Steve was running out of… and since the stalker had to perfect vantage point he could either climb down the tree and run to the grass… or use the area next to her window (because he knew she wasn’t even sleeping there anymore most nights)… so no one would hear him jump down. My guess is, this is where he jumped down from after he saw the police leave, and would explain how he got out there so quickly. Has anyone ever take a few feet of that rain gutter off the roof for evidence? I would bet money that there is a print, even if its a partial… somewhere on it from him having to jump down to get away quickly.
Your points are all very right on as far as I am concerned and what you don’t know is there was an aspen tree right in front of the garage that is practically the equivalent of a fire station pole. Some one did step off of the roof onto it and slip right down to the ground once, but for some reason we did not take a video of that. I will try to find a picture of the tree so you can see just what I mean. Also I love your optimism. They (the Sheriff’s detectives) would not even come to the house to see the gutter, so cutting a section off was out of the question. As long as we had pictures that was good enough, and even if there were his fingerprints he told me it would not matter.
You may not be getting the correct advice about that, get the evidence anyway if you can, and just keep it just in case it may come in handy down the road. You never know!
My parents have a metal roofing/ sheet metal company here in Denver, that also includes gutters and anything related. They actually just got done with a residential project in Aspen. It is definitely possible for them, or to have someone local.. (There are a few roofing companys I know up there, that I’m sure would be willing to do it) but, honestly it is very simple probably take them 20 minutes, have some scrap or left over gutter, same color and put it on and attach it… No one would no the difference at all. I totally recommend looking into it. I think the gutter is solid evidence, metal does not break or bend that easily, it would have to of had frequent pressure on it. Also, like the other post metal hold prints very well, even when wipes away you can still see them. Please let me know if we can help
I think you should try to gather any evidence possible, regardless of what the police are telling you. It doesn’t sound like the police have been on the ball in this case from the get go. WHEN this case is solved, & I have faith that it will be, the evidence you collect may come in handy, not only to the case itself, but in any possible legal action you choose to take against the police themselves or at least to help lobby against changes in the current protocol.