Just like the rings of a tree, every year we grow, always building on what has come before.
Every day I sit in front of a computer and relive a day that led up to my daughter’s death. I was truly uncertain as to how she had died at first, and Steve and I sought out a second opinion. We were shocked, in denial, exercising avoidance, you name a psychological name that protects you from the brutal truth, and there is a good chance it was humming full speed in us at that time.
Along this path to recovery we had a third opinion, a fourth, a fifth, so many we have lost track. All wonderful caring professionals I will never be able to thank enough for the time they took, and the compassion with which they treated our family. Completely diametrically opposed to the way we were treated by the Coroner Trey Holt and the subcontractor who does his autopsies Dr. Robert Kurtzman. At one point I remember Steve pointing out that if the score was being kept it was 12 -1, Twelve professionals certain that the one, Dr. Robert Kutzman was wrong. As you can imagine that did not go over well with Dr. Robert Kurtzman, obviously not used to being questioned or having to answer tough questions he became frustrated and dismissed it all as “none of these other doctors can testify, only I can testify in court, and he was so wrong about that too. But he and Trey Holt had their own agenda, and I really am at a loss to explain what that might have been. The well being of our family as we dealt with this nightmare, and the pursuit of justice for Morgan Jennifer Ingram did not exist for those two.
Even Thomas Walton, of whom I spoke yesterday, he may have really been trying to do a good job, but if his requirements were zero, and his training was zero, and if part of his job description was to make sure his boss got the job of handling the funeral to come, well if that was the case, he did as good as he could have been expected to. They are completely separate entities you know, or at least they are supposed to be. The Coroner’s office – ultimate authority for the cause of death, none higher – then the funeral home is what comes after, and only after the County Coroner has completed his job and released the body. That they are the same person is problematic to be sure, but that is sort of the law here in Colorado.
I have found it really important to share what happened, and along the path to recovery the most amazing thing has happened. Sharing the story has become the rock around which Steve and I rebuild… our family, the search for truth, and justice for Morgan, and even ourselves.
It has been on my mind for a long time and I believe today is the day. So many have shared with me their stories of stalking, as you know there have even been a few arrests across the country, arrests I am told would not have happened were it not for Morgan’s story being shared. People have realized by reading her story that they have a stalker and need to report it and not just keep it to themselves.
So I want to do something, I want to ask all of you who have been victims of stalking to try something. Share your story with Morgan, don’t use your real name, maybe initials. But tell what happened, and how it made you feel, and what you did about it, and the State it happened in, short or long as you want. This is all in the hopes that it will help to heal and, my fingers are crossed here, rip the cover off this crime called stalking for all the country, and the world to see. So keep that in mind as you write. Then send it to me as an anonymous tip. I think it would be a good thing to have a group of stories of stalking. People are so absolutely amazed by the story of Morgan’s stalking, and certain it has to be told. Maybe your story will touch a chord too, and maybe that is the real story here.
The strength of your family against adversity and evil is so compelling and quite honestly a beam of hope. I truly hope one day soon this scumbag is brought to justice and that these sociopaths will no longer have rights and victims will be protected.
That day you speak of will be a wonderful day! Thanks.
I don’t think I should leave a tip- since it won’t help in your search for justice. But I will tell you that my friends and I are all riveted by you and your story as mothers. We are now more vigilant and take more stock in what our children (all be it they are young) are up to and who is aroud out children. Two days ago, at baseball practice with my son’s whole team- there was a man standing by the back stop that I didn’t recognize. He was watching and moving side to side. Rt back stop- left back stop. Back to center. I was watching him. This went on and on. I told my husband- hey do you know that guy? Then my husband started watching him. Within 5 minutes he went over and started talking to him. Low and behold the man left the ball park. I don’t know who he was or what his intention was with 12-7 and 8 year old little boys. But he left and didn’t return during our practice. Thank you again for sharing your story.
Good for you – I am so happy you made that choice and had your husband go talk to him. If everyone watched out and questioned people these creeps would not have so much of a chance to stalk children because they would know parents are watching. Take care!
I do think we all need to be very aware of who is around us and especially who is around children. i watched a true show last night where two young women were abducted by a man that attempted to drug them and rape them. They fought for their lives and managed to get away when a car passed near and the man fled. What struck me was the man told them he had been following and watching them for 6-8 HOURS and knew everything they did from early evening until early the next morning when he coerced them into letting him “drive them home” as a favor as he convinced them they were too impaired to drive and claimed he was working with the police. The young women both said they had NO idea he had been watching them.
Wow! It is so amazing to even imagine how may times you are watched and stalked and don’t even know it – it’s just like a mountain lion waiting for the perfect chance to grab it’s prey!
You posted a picture from the motion camera from the morning of Morgan’s death, did that wake you that morning? What time did you find her? What time were paramedics called and what time did they arrive?
I’m not sure if you can say – but you mentioned you had all her texts, etc…was there anything unusual in those, anything you found out of character for Morgan?
No the were video cameras 24/7 not motion cameras and what we did post was the camera catching a deer going by her room…not any other images. I would have to check the camera back up to tell you exactly when they arrived and I called them right when I found her and Steve started CPR – I do remember they arrived pretty quickly.
We do have all her text messages, calls and FB before she died and nothing was out of the ordinary.
Ok, since you asked for our stories, I’ll try to give mine. It’s a bit difficult, and it’s been 13 years. I dated a guy for a year while I was in college. He got serious way too fast, and I just didn’t feel the same. So, I ended it. He chased me out the door as I tried to leave. The fear I felt was shocking…I’d never been afraid of him. That’s when it all began.
I never reported him, but my roommate, neighbors, and friends did for the next 9 months that he stalked me. He was found in my backyard where my bedroom is most nights but would run off before getting caught. he slashed my guy friend’s tires, hid under a vehicle parked next to my apt, enrolled in my classes although we had completely different majors, tried to run me over in the school parking lot, and showed up at places where I was at…like college bars that I’d never seen him at before. He chased my roommate to our front door trying to get her to talk to him. She was so scared that she was yelling, “don’t open the door!”. Of course, I opened it, and her shirt was ripped from falling…out of fear. He left at that point.
A very nice detective tried his best to help me. I really felt I could count on him. He gave me his phone numbers and said to call anytime. Of course, I was in denial about a lot of this and didn’t feel like anything warranted calling him. My friends thought otherwise, and looking back, I think how naive I was.
The ending of it was his graduation night. A big party night…I was out with friends until real late and ended up staying with one of them. I came home, opened my front door, and couldn’t believe my eyes. He had destroyedmy kitchen…the fridge was open. My bedroom door was closed so I grabbed the phone and walked back there. My bedroom was destroyed, too. He went as far as cutting up every piece of my clothing into shreds. He used meat cutters, and I know this bc mine were gone. So I ran out the front door, called 911, and about 6 cop cars showed up in 5 minutes. Guns pulled, they went into my apt. I was so scared. They caught him down the street in his truck with an illegal knife and arrested him. They dusted for fingerprints but they didnt find any. But, He was charged with stalking and released on bond. His mom begged me to not press charges. It was awful. He didn’t go to jail because I was too scared to press charges and also I blamed myself bc I thought I had caused his pain. And I’m not sure we had enough of a case? I still have bad dreams and don’t trust guys. I’m very paranoid.
However, I did feel that the detective was on my side…it probably helped that this is a very large college town, and the university got involved. This was in Texas, by the way. The hardest part of it all is how people would say, wow, you really did him in or that I was at fault for hurting him. I had no idea he would take it that way. He seemed so normal.
Still, I’m very thankful that I didn’t have to experience what Morgan went through. Not knowing your stalker has to be so very frightening…and her death at his hands is just horrible. I’m sorry for what y’all have gone through and hope justice is served.
CS I am so sorry that you had to go through that – you know it sounds just like years ago when people used to say to a rape victim – well you must have led him on or how could you destroy his life…give me a break, nothing like blaming the victim. Things will only change in this world when we all stand up and say this is completely unacceptable – treat victims with respect and show no respect to the perpetrator!
Dear Morgan, I was stalked in 1986 in North Carolina. I was 19 years old and a college student. I had enrolled in summer school and was working on a campus that was under populated during the summer. I was moving from a dorm to summer housing nearby that was much more affordable. I had just carried my TV down three flights of stairs and had to carry it a long distance to my new place. A fellow student, who I did not know, but had seen before asked if I needed a hand with it. I was thankful for the help. He was friendly and introduced himself. He carried the TV to my new place. I thanked him and that was that, I thought, nothing out of the ordinary. After that we’d say hi to each other in passing. Soon, I began running in to him more and more frequently. Then, I started seeing him in unexpected places. I’d go to the bank, and he’d show up. I’d go to the grocery store, and he’d soon folllow. I began dating someone and he would show up at EVERY single date location. He never spoke to me other than to say hi. On occasion I’d hear him say derogatory things under his breath. My friends and the guy I was dating knew that he intimidated me. I stopped sleeping alone. I either stayed at a friends or they stayed at my place. One night, he showed up at party that I was at, I largely avoided him and left after finishing my drink. On the way home I felt so dizzy and weak that I had to sit on the sidewalk with my head between my knees for about 20 minutes before I could get up and walk the rest of the way home. I didn’t suspect that something had been slipped into my drink until much later. The stalking continued. The guy I was dating had just had surgery and I had visited him in the hospital. Then I joined my friends at a local hang out. I hadn’t seen my stalker all day and was in good spirits. I chatted with a guy that I had dated a year prior, when the stalker came up behind me and muttered something extremely derogatory. It rattled me, and I convinced my friends to go. I wish that I had made different decisions that night. For whatever reason, I decided to sleep in my apartment that night. I had an apartment mate whose boyfriend was a campus cop. I was kind of fed up with the bullsh!t, and tired of it. I had to get up really early for work the next morning and didn’t want to inconvenience my friends. You know how you can tell sometimes when you are sleeping that someone is in the room with you? Well, I was in a deep sleep and started getting that feeling that I was not alone. Next thing I knew, someone was touching me and I was like where am I? I’m supposed to be alone, right? I sat right up and met the eyes of my stalker, crouched byside my bed, mere inches from my face. I started freaking out, and grabbed for the tweezers, the only thing handy. It was 3:36am per my alarm clock. I managed to stab him in the cheek before he ran out the front door. As an aside, he broke into the back door that led directly into my room, but had the presence of mind to unlock the front door once he was in case he had to make a hasty exit from either direction. I remember every single detail, to this day and still see it in my dreams sometimes. He wore a navy blue t-shirt and navy blue adidas shorts with the white strips down the sides. I walked over to my apartment rates room and knocked on the door. She and her boyfriend had both slept through it. I told them that someone had been in my room. Her boyfriend went to go get the campus police since we did not have a phone. While he was gone I told her that I knew who it was, and told her. She was like, Oh my god! She knew I was scared of him also. She asked, are you going to tell? I said, I don’t know. When the cop showed up, I told him the name of the person who had broken into my apartment and assaulted me. I was up the rest of the night, sitting up in bed with the trusty tweezers until sunrise. Then, I went to work, told my boss that I had to go see the dean of students as soon as his office opened that morning. My boss asked if everything was okay, but didn’t press for details when I didn’t offer any. I showed up at the dean’s office the minute it opened, and told him about the stalking, the break in and assault and the name of the attacker. He told me that he thought that the incident should be handled internally (read no need to bring poor publicity to the school by involving LE) and that he would talk to the other student involved. He told me that he was sure that the other student would no longer bother me after he was spoken to. I thougt, are you kidding me, but politely said, no, its not necessary to talk to him, I’ll just be more careful and never be alone again, and left. You see, not only was my stalker a fellow student, he was a star player on the college football team, a 300 lb. bruiser. When I got back to work, I asked my boss to use the phone to call my parents in New York. I called and told them what had happened. I told them what the dean said. I don’t remember much else about the call. I borrowed some cloth tablecloths from the caferia to completely cover the windows to my room, so that no one could see in. Later that day, a friend came by to help put up the table cloths and my stalker walked by looked at us and waved. The next morning, I was at work, when my father walked through the door. I’d never been more relieved to see anyone before in life. He said that he was taking me to the city’s police department to file a report. He got directions from my boss. We went to the police department and filed a report. The told me a detective would be assigned to investigate and would be contacting me. The following day I was contacted by a detective who made appointment to come by and talk to me. My dad had made arrangements for me to move back into a dorm because he felt it was more safe and knew I could not stay in that apartment any longer. He helped me move and then returned to New York. A friend stayed with me while I spoke to the investigator. A few days went by with my attacker still roaming free on campus. The investigator called and told me that there had been a break in of another apartment a short time prior to mine, a house filled with newly arranged Japanese exchange students. They had filed a report but did not know who the intruder was. But the circumstances were similar, so he had met with them, and they had been able to identify him as being the same person as my stalker from the yearbook. He said that they would be arresting him. A few days went by, and the stalker had the audicity to speak to me in the dining hall. He came up to me, put a hand on my arm, and said my name, asked how I was doing, said that I seemed stressed out. WTF!!! Before long, a whole slew of police officers showed up where I worked and arrested his ass right in front of my face, cuffed the football star in front of just about every student still on campus that summer. Because I worked there, everyone was asking me if I knew what it was about. The next day he was out on bail and back on campus. I was asking people if they knew who I was because, because he had no idea and had never met me before. He packed up and moved back to his mom’s out of state. I finally felt safe. There was gossip and talk but it died down. Then school started up again and everyone returned to campus, including the rest of the football team. Rumors were rampant. I had slept with the entire football team. He and I had been seeing each other, I liked rough sex and things got out of hand, etc., etc. A few people told me that he had done the same thing to them, or knew people who had since graduated but would testify in need be. None of them had come forward because they were scared. My stalker’s best friend, fellow athlete, huge dude also, took a job as a campus security guard, IN MY DORM. He had a freakin’ skeleton key to my room!!!! There was a security chain for while I was sleeping or in the room, but he literally had free access to my room when I wasn’t there. I found no evidence that he was ever in there but I was terrified. Fast forward to homecoming weekend. Big football game. A lot of former players now graduated were back for the game. I heard my stalker was in town, but he’d been banned from campus, and I did not see him. The rumor mill was swirling again. I stayed pretty much in my room all weekend. Asked my boss for those days off so that I wouldn’t have to see all of those people. At 3:00am following the big game a huge rock came smashing through the window of my dorm room. A report was taken. The window was not fixed until sometime the following week. Fast forward about six months. I get a call from the DA. The stalker, originally charged with breaking and entering, aggravated sexual assault and attempted rape, had plea bargained down to a simple assault. He would be formally sentenced the following week. He would not serve any time. He would be on probation. He was banned from campus. Following his court appearance he showed up at my place of employment, on the campus that he’d been banned from. I only saw him once again off campus just before graduating. It was at the bank. Years later I heard from a friend that she saw him working as a garbage collector in the same city. Nice job for a stalker, huh? I live far far away now. I’m 46 years old, and I can’t tell you how much that experience shaped the course of my life, in some good ways, and also bad ways. I am a mother now, and have a beautiful daughter who I worry about everyday. She’s 10 years old and she now knows my story. I felt the need to tell her before school started this year and she wanted to walk home from school. I didn’t want her to and she told me that I worry too much.
Sorry to be so long winded. I’m so very sorry that this happened to you and that nothing has changed all that much in the past 27 years. -TT
TT – that was such a horrible thing to happen to you – you do sound strong and it is crazy that in the past 27 years nothing much has changed, but I think now with people telling their stories and demanding rights for the victims, proper protocol for law enforcement and strickter laws for offenders things can change going forward. Thanks for sharing your story with us!
Thank you. This the first time that I have shared my story to the www.
Wow what a terribly frightening experience. It makes me so mad how easily these criminals get off or get charges reduced. Thank you for sharing your story. I have two young daughters and it terrifies me thinking about the evil that exists in this world and how can we keep our children safe.
I live in Melbourne Australia and over the last week we had an absolutely terrifying crime committed in our wonderful city. It has rocked this city to its core. A young woman on her way home late last week was abducted, raped and murdered just 450 metres from her home. It was a completely random crime. Thank god for CCTV which captured a man talking to her minutes before she disappeared. He was identified and arrested just a few days later. Mercifully he admitted to what he had done and led police to her body. The randomness of the crime is what got everyones attention. It could have been anyone.
A peace march was organised yesterday (Sunday) along the same street she was abducted from. An estimated 30,000 people walked in the march.
If you google Jill Meagher you can see details of this crime. I have been following Morgan’s story for a while now and after what happened to poor Jill in my own home town I have become super vigilant about my security and my surroundings.
I can admit to becoming desensitised to some of the awful things we hear on the news these days. It’s random crimes like these that really serve as a wake up call to society that bad things can happen to anybody. It makes it more important to react, call the police when anything suspicious happens and follow through.
I applaud Toni for bringing Morgans stalking case into the spotlight. So many people failed to do their jobs properly. It is only a matter of time before those responsible are on to their next victim.
Thanks Jess for keeping the faith…it is so sad to hear about that story, but you’re right, just like Morgan’s story it wakes us up to what can happen right under your nose, and to make matters worse the people you put your faith in can fail you as well.
Toni, you are an amazing woman, wife and mother. Still praying for hope and righteousness for the Ingram Family and for beautiful Morgan. I am so inspired by you and Steve. There is never one thing that maKes us perfect parents, but millions of little things that make us great parents. You are great parents. Hugs to you both.
Thank you for your kind words and support! We appreciate it.
Your story is truly empowering others. You and your family are smart and thoughtful for doing this for others in the hopes of helping them to be safe, especially in the wake of your own tragedy. How difficult this must be for you all. Thoughts and prayers are with you all in the hopes that justice is met for Morgan. Keep up the good work!
It is anything but easy – but we do feel like Morgan really wants us to do this so we work through it and honestly it is getting a little bit easier every day.
I have been reading your blog furiously for the past two days, starting from day one, at the insistence of my sisters. They shared your story with me and prompted me to check it out. After each blog you posted i would ask myself what i would have done in that situation and sure enough the next post would reveal that you had tried “my plan” too. I am incredulous at the ineptitude and ignorance of your county officials. If we as citizens cannot count on those people to guide us correctly and help us search for the truth, what is their purpose? I commend you and your family for your bravery and persistence in pursuing justice for Morgan. At times i’m sure you must feel like Perseus pushing that boulder up the hill only to have it roll down again but just know that random strangers like me and my sisters are cheering you on through this horrific journey. God bless you and keep your faith!
When you said you and your sisters were cheering us on I thought of pom poms and it made me smile – were you guys ever cheerleaders? You would have made good ones 🙂
I was stalked for about 2 weeks ~ 7 years ago. One morning a man pulled in front of my house in a creepy white van (no back windows) at the crack of dawn, and just sat there where my bedroom faces the street, and revved his engine. Then he would circle around the block and do this on and off for an hour or so. I was scared to death and did not know who it was at first. I told people at work and they said call police if it happened again. Then a day would go by, nothing. So I thought it was just some fluke thing and not directed towards me at all. But then a couple days later I was out walking my dog that same white van was creeping along behind me -hanging back about 3 car lengths. It was the wildest creepy, terrifying feeling -it made me feel terror -that fight or flight anxiety within -I felt it way before I looked back and saw the white van (tinted windows). I tried to walk confidently yet quickly, hurried home and locked the doors. I started to carry my cell on walks and did them early and at different times of afternoon-definitely before dark. My neighbor gave me mace spray to carry. I was a single woman, scared and hyper paranoid -always watching around me, making sure no one was following me -even stopped walking to the bus transit to work, but drove and paid for parking. One morning on my way to work, I saw the van behind me about 4 cars away. I could not catch the plates. He dropped off right before I headed over the bridge to the west side. I was so scared by that point -and it had gone on for about a week of terror…that I begged my ex-boyfriend to come stay with me at night. He did, and brought a bat. Even when he did not reveal himself, I was still in fear of the next time-always wondering when it would be and if it would escalate. I was constantly aware of my surroundings and even asked my boss if I could leave early to be able to exit my care and get into the house before dark.
My timing may seem a little off here, since it is. I cannot recall exactly the sequence all these years later. The second time he revved his engine at the crack of dawn was about a week after the first (and after two times of following me on the street with his van as I walked the dog, and following me towards work). That is when I called Portland police (Oregon). They took me very seriously. They said to get the plate number if I saw him again and to lock my doors and to stop walking my dog alone. But days went by and the van did not show up. At some point I was looking out my back kitchen window and saw a man in his house staring at me out his back window -it was one house down and our back yards butted up to one another -so catty-corner. That sure caught my attention. I put up curtains on all my back-facing windows and would keep the lights out and spy out to see his blinds moving and wedged open, then shut, knowing he was watching me. The next day I drove by that house and saw the white van. I reported it to the police that this was my stalker. They investigated and confronted the man, who denied everything. The next day this man took a chain saw and cut to the trunk all the shrub/trees on his front strip between the sidewalk and street, swearing like a lunatic. Evidently his neighbors called the police -who were then able to get in touch with the stalker’s brother. At the end of the day, it turned out that the man, who was renting from his brother, was on psychotropic medications for schizophrenia or something and had been off his meds. Apparently the brother handled things, and next thing you know the house was on the market. I had no personal experiences with the fella after the police/brother took charge. BUT, the brother lived on MY street in the next block, and I would see that white van there -so I continued to be on guard and scared even though he did not keep stalking me. I chatted up the neighbors on his street, and one woman told me that the man had threatened her granddaughter, whose ball rolled across the street near his house. She sent the school age girl to stay with relatives in Vancouver, WA until things got cleared up. All this was going on about the same time.
I wracked my brain to try to figure out why he targeted me. Had he been watching me all along out the back -as I played fetch with my dog, did dishes, ate dinner? It was too creepy to even go there! Later I learned, though I can’t recall how and when, that it started when I was walking my dog one evening- my dog usually stays on the sidewalk and strip between the walk and street, but this time, my dog walked onto the man’s lawn about 4 ft into it. Harmless, right? She did not even potty in his yard -just sniffed something of doggy interest. Such an innocent little thing, by a cute puppy started all that! Thanks for reading. -M in Oregon
Wow – that was a very upsetting story. I hope you will be safe now. These guys really need to be caught and taken off the street because they do it again and again. Stay vigilant and stay tough like you are. Take Care!
Toni, I just found out about your tragic story and blog yesterday. Since I first started reading, yours and Morgans story has been on my mind constantly, trying to piece things together and make sense of it all.(Can you ever make sense of something so heartbreaking? No but our mind tries.)
There are two things I am wondering about. I read how Morgan was dressed in a totally different outfit when she was found. Were the clothes she had been wearing prior that day still in her room? My thoughts are did someone changed her clothing to hide any evidence. It is just so odd that she wasn’t in pj’s or the clothes she had been wearing earlier that day. Or is it possible she had gone somewhere without your knowledge? I feel like this may be significant for some reason. Also, did she keep a water cup beside her bed? That would be the perfect place to plant something that could quickly subdue her. If someone were familiar with her nightly routines, it wouldn’t be a stretch that something might be put into that.
I am so sorry for what you and your family are going thru. I hope and pray fervently that justice and answers will come.
We are trying to figure that out as well – I found the sweater and blouse she was wearing the night before but not sure about her pants. The ones I found her in were not the same ones. She didn’t leave that night or the cameras would have caught her since she would have taken the car. The night before she had been woken up between 12:30 – 12:45 am got dresses, put her puppy on the leash and had be walk her out to her car so she could get sleep at a friend’s grandmother’s house since she had 15 minutes worth of tapping on her window. Maybe that night the same thing happened but she was attacked before she could leave her room to come get me?
Toni,
This is the second time mentioning being at a “grandmother’s” home in two days before Morgan died.
Could you ask this grandmother if she takes Dalmane as this is one of the drugs found in her system. Reason for asking is that Dalmane is an older drug used for sleep not usually prescribed since the newer drugs like Ambien. Older patients have been known to have this drug if they had been prescribed this for a long time. This very well could be the source of this particular drug found in Morgan’s system. She was having trouble sleeping when she went to stay over at this friends grandmother’s home, she could have been innocently offered this to help her sleep that night and possibly the last night? I know I have had family members offer to give me something that they are prescribed at times if they think it could help me?
I was just thinking about this and thought I would bring this to your attention regarding the drug Dalmane.
Continuing to send prayers that you may find all your questions answered.
Keep going, no matter what others may say.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Answer is no, that grandmother does not take sleeping pills and what about the other 5 date rape drugs that were found in Morgan? Why is it so hard for people to understand that they came from the murderer.
I truly did not mean to cause you more pain as I do not believe this was at all suicide. I was just trying to figure out where such an old type of medicine could have come from. I’m so sorry if you felt otherwise. I’m on your side and was just trying to help. I will quietly continue to read and pray for your family.
So sorry again.
Shannon please don’t be upset – you didn’t cause any pain it’s just that I wish people would try to figure out where all these date rape drugs came from. I have a friend in LE and she said from what she can see it looked like an overkill like some kind of jealousy – that is what causes me so much pain. Morgan really was a loving person – she was very outspoken at times when she saw something wrong she made it known…trust me she was not someone to sit be and ignore. She had a huge vocabulary and was not afraid to use it.
Hi, just thought I would throw into the mix not necessarily a stalking story cause I don’t know if he stalked us but… when I was 18 the drinking age was also 18 and there was a nightclub my girlfriend and I used to frequent. We met the bartender and realized he was a fellow attendee of the same college and he would invite us to the bar and now looking back it was kinda like he groomed us for an upcoming event. On different occasions he would, I think taint our drinks with what now I believe was a date rape drug. Sometimes we would go back to our dorms so drunk after maybe having a drink or two. I think he was trying to see what he could get away with. He would show up at our classrooms or in the cafeteria or be waiting outside of the building our classes were in to invite us out. We didn’t think anything of it we were flattered young freshmen. Free drinks! Well one night he made sure we left with him but my friend got sick and went back to her dorm and somehow I didn’t. Well needless to say I woke up in varying degrees of undress and a very foggy memory as to what had happened. I left in shock not sure what to do. He somehow got my friend back to his apt the next day and he proceeded to do the same to her. Monday at school she told me what happened to her and I told her what happened to me both of us in shock not knowing what to do. Looking back I realize we should have called the police, I think she did tell her parents Well needless to say I never saw this guy again at school or around town(I never went back to that bar). I like to think her dad got rid of him!! Least that’s what has kept me going these past 30 years Anyhow the message I want to impart is you never know with anyone. I always watch my drink being poured now out of habit some 30 years later. I never leave anything unattended food or drink. Girls be careful in bars or at parties even with your own friends. This didn’t happen over night we were friends with him for months, least I thought we were friends. Just always be aware of whats going on around you. Be hyper vigilant. Follow your gut, tell someone if things don’t seem right. They usually aren’t. Looking back it isn’t normal for an older guy to be socializing with two 18 year old girls. I definitely was very trusting.
Thanks Toni for offering this forum for us to tell our stories. Sorry if I rambled. I just hope maybe our story might help some young girl out there on her own. I never told my family out of fear cause I was the one in the bar. Now I know it wasn’t my fault. How cathartic this was. Thank you!!
Justice for the Ingrams’, Justice for Morgan!! ( I do raise a fist every time I type that)
Thank you for telling your story – some young girl may read it and know what to do now in a similar situation so she doesn’t end up like you unfortunately did – by sharing our stories with others and bringing this evil to light makes it so much harder for that evil to win. Thanks so very much for sharing! Take care.
I feel that I may have been stalked, but I am not sure…you see it was about 10 years ago, when I was 21. My now husband and I had just moved into our first apartment. There was an onsite laundry facility (actually there were a couple of them) that I would do our laundry at. in the beginning, I would start several loads and go back to my apartment and then return before the loads were finished to switch/retrieve them. Pretty early on, my underwear and anything that looked like lingerie ( silky camisols, etc) began missing from my laundry. I chalked it up to a fluke and left my laundry unattended one more time only to have it stolen again. I reported it to the apartment managers who literally laughed in my face and told me there must be a woman who needed new undies so she took mine. I knew this wasn’t the case as I had nice expensive pairs along with old and cheap pairs taken and I had some expensive clothing that was left alone. I started sitting with my laundry and one day I left for about five minutes to grab dryer sheets from my apt, when I arrived back to switch the laundry I found my underwear missing again. I never saw anyone in the laundromat that day and mine was the only wash going. it made me feel especially creepy to know I was being watched and someone had my underwear and knew that they belonged to me. my husband started staying with the laundry and that was when my car was broken into. The only thing stolen was a picture I kept of me and my husband that I kept on the dash and a stack of photos that I had in the glovebox that I had just got developed along with several rolls of film. the camera was left in there. scary, right? But I didn’t report it because I felt silly. I started becoming hyper aware of everything while I was in my apartment. we lived on the first floor and I noticed that our blinds didn’t really do much as far as privacy goes, people could still see in or peep if they wanted to, so I made sure to dress in the bathroom and I kept the lights off as much as possible. One day, my husband was sitting with the laundry and I called him to let him know dinner was ready. he rushed back leaving the laundry washing, inhaled his food, and was back in less than 10 minutes. in that time, my underwear was stolen again. we moved shortly after that to another complex about 2 miles away. I felt safer there, but I made sure to stay with my laundry. I talked to people at both apartments and nobody I talked to had ever had their underwear stolen and they usually thought it was humorous. Well, it happened again! I left my laundry for a few minutes and came back to find my underwear missing again. From then on, I started driving to my moms to do laundry and we moved to a house soon after. And to this day, it still creeps me out, but yet I try to rationalize the situation. Like, maybe it had nothing to do with me, Maybe I wasn’t being watched, maybe there are just lots of random perverts who have underwear fetishes ( which I know is true), maybe someone was playing a joke, etc. I still don’t know what to think, but I do know it was frightening. I can only imagine what your poor family has had to endure at the hands of these evil terrorists. please know that we are all standing behind you and rallying with you on your quest for justice for Morgan.
That sounds like stalking to me…and scary. I’m glad you are OK now but these experiences seem like they stay will you forever. The good thing is you are on the watch now for strange people…believe it or not that is a good thing.
In my state they stalk for charity. The murdered are part of a scam they operate to keep from getting caught. Drugs and alcohol use are the norm where I live and people expect others to heal these people as it would take too much of the governments resources to do so.
It’s not normally just one person that does the stalking, but others believe it is someone you know or that you must be involved with some kind of underworld figure. In fact, they do it for bounty rewards, as police informants, and/or the sheer joy of terrorizing others-most likely a combination of all. They break into others homes, take things out-I’m missing some photographs, jewelry,food, and few other non important things. Sometimes they’ll leave things that you know aren’t yours-plastic ware in the cupboard, hair, bones,etc. Their goal is to convince others they are crazy or their house is haunted and you of course need to hire one of their own to protect you.
Last Thanksgiving a friend I was visiting caught one of them sneaking into the woods behind her house. I gladly offered to shoot them if she’d go grab the shotgun. Unfortunately, the pin was broke on it. Later as she was washing windows, she caught another staring at her. A different vehicle than we’d seen go into the woods. She said when she walked around to look at them, they moved their car behind a trailer where she couldn’t see them. I was more worried about the person that had gone into the field as I had seen the vehicle before. Later we found out they had entered their home and left a few items to let them know they had been in their home.
Was the grandmother’s house she went to sleep at that night the same grandmother mentioned previously?
No it was a different grandma – super sweet and I know her very well.
Gotcha. Apologies for asking that question here where you’re collecting accounts from other stalking victims. It just came to me and thinking maybe it might be significant somehow, I wasn’t sure where else to ask.
Honestly it is never a problem to ask the questions on any blog – I don’t look at it like that. I want people to be spontaneous and speak from their hearts so you were just fine in asking that question on this particular blog…no worries 🙂
I am so, so very sorry for such a heart-shattering loss, And I’m so sorry for your family, for Morgan, for her friends and all who knew and loved her, and for the world to have lost such a genuine, kind-hearted, and gifted human being. She seems to have been a true diamond, really. I can only imagine the torment and grief you and your family are having to deal with daily, and on top of that all the bureaucracy and incompetence by the various “officials” involved must make it all the more anguishing…I don’t know if could do what you’ve been having to deal with.
I have been reading your blog every day and wanted to comment earlier but didn’t (until just now) only because my words of condolences just sound so..simple and small in the scope of such a huge, massive loss. Just know that I am one of the many, many people online who believe this tragedy to be a case of fatal stalking – not a damn suicide.
I hope, for the sake of your family and you, that justice for Morgan comes real soon as it’s so long overdue so you all can finally get the chance to properly mourn her death so you can being the healing process.
Thank you for writing this blog – I wish there were more I could do to help other than read!
Sending a big hug over the internet
>>___<<
A
Anna thank you so much for the hug!
http://www.ali-forever.com/forever.php
That is a link to a site about a girl that was killed in my hometown. Leawood, KS. Her parents spent 3 years looking for a killer that brutally murdered their daughter and with no witnesses. They finally caught the guy and he has been convicted of the murder. I am friends with Ali’s brother and I remember how frightening this tragedy was that rocked our “bubble like” society where nothing bad happened. If you ever get a chance to meet or talk with her parents, the Kemp family is an awesome family. They can relate to the depth of dispair of losing a child in such a horrible way. They fought hard to find the killer and they might be a resource for your family as you fight this tough battle.
I am so sorry for your loss. I have been reading your blog for the past few weeks and it breaks my heart and scares me that people do this stuff. I will never understand how some people can do such evil things. I will be praying for your family. I hope you get justice for Morgan.
Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Thank you so much for sharing that with me…I looked at the link and started to cry. Why do these evil people take our wonderful daughters from us, Ali was only 19, and Morgan had just turned 20 in August just a little over 3 months before she was killed.
I hope it doesn’t take us 3 years or 11 years like another story I heard recently about but however long it takes we will keep going until it is solved. Take care!
Dear Morgan, I want to keep this short, as it is painful. I was stalked some years ago. I guess it really started when I was 17. I dated an older man, who ended up being abusive. At the advice of trusted friends and family, I ended it and pressed charges. He spent a small time in jail, followed by community service. Is that ever enough, though? At 19 he caught me walking my dog near a neighborhood park and he raped me. He only served a short 13 months in jail, but it was something. It was enough for me to heal and recover the best I knew how. When he was released he came back with a vengeance. Staling me for 4 months. I received notes on my car both at home and work, notes on my front door, banging, kicking on my doors. It took months for the police to catch him. The night he was apprehended, he was found naked, by my bedroom (I had a door that led to a small sitting porch outside). The police suspected he was going to try to rape me, or something worse. But, due to an aunt who was going through a divorce, staying with me, she saw him from the up stairs window. I’m 28 now. It’s still painful to think about how a horrible decision to date someone at 17 ended up the way it did. I feel like sometimes I still healing. But, I’m healing. We have to fight. We have to make sure that every stalker sees justice. I pray that your stalker is caught. I pray he gets what he deserves. You have loving people that are fighting for you.
I am so so sorry you had to go through all of that – it wasn’t your fault for dating at 17 it was societies fault for allowing this person that was an obvious criminal out in the streets where he could hurt you. Thank you so much for sharing your story so others can learn from it.
Thank you. I am deeply sorry for your loss. Never give up. Keep fighting. I feel like you’re fighting for all of us who have dealt with these stalkers. He will come to justice. He will be caught.
Hi Toni,
I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks now and am riveted, but also as the mother of daughters, I’m heartbroken for you too.
I was stalked by a neighbour for five years- at the time I was in my 30s and he was in his 70s. We had never spoken more than a few words over the fence. To be honest, I don’t know why he suddenly was fixated on me, but he attacked me in the street one day when I was out walking with my youngest in a stroller. I never did find out what was behind that particular attack. After that he would sit outside all day, waiting for me to come out, only to yell sexually explicit things at me. The police came and politely talked to him, but it only escalated things. He would sit outside his house and rev a chainsaw for hours, when we complained he told the bylaw officer he was just running the gas out of it. To be clear he would run the chainsaw five days a week for hours at a time. If I looked out the window there he was looking right back. If I called police things escalated. He knew I was a writer and therefore worked out of my house, and I think he was determined to ruin each day with his noise. He started following me when I would go for walks, and would run his truck along side me while he laughed, or again, said sexually explicit things. The police suggested a restraining order, but said that there wasn’t anything they could do about his yelling stuff at me over the fence, because he wasn’t in my yard, so he wasn’t violating any laws. My daughters couldn’t go out to play without him staring at them over the fence- they were very little at the time and it was scary for them.
After a very long time of this we decided we had to sell our house. I had been determined orginally that I would not let him make us move- but finally I had to admit that my house had become a prison- just to pick my girls up from school I had to have an escort there and back. Shortly after the for sale sign went up, his wife called me one day to say that she was at her wit’s end as he kept yelling in the house about me, wondering why I thought I had the right to move, and that I wouldn’t be going anywhere, he was sure I didn’t have the money to get another house. What he was basing this on I don’t know, he was certainly never privy to our finances. What his wife thought I could do about her crazy husband I don’t know either, but she left him shortly afterwards.
We moved a few months later, and a friend of mine was over helping me get my new house sorted- she went out to her car to get something and there was my old neighbour, driving slowly up the street- I think he must have followed the moving van from our house to the new one.
I think what I remember most from that time was how exhausted I was, I felt ground down by him after five years of threats, horrible sexual remarks, and unending noise and not being able to simply go for a walk. It took a very long time to feel secure again.
Thank you for everything you are doing to make stalking a more prominent issue- it’s a horrible crime and people need to know how to find resources to help when it happens to them. I am so sorry it happened to your beautiful daughter.
Cindy – thanks for sharing your story and I am so sorry that happened! It is true we all were so exhausted and ground down by the stalking and that’s when we made mistakes, mistakes that couldn’t be changed. Take care!
Several years ago I was single and happy, not interested in dating anyone and enjoying getting to know who I was and spending time with friends. I really liked karaoke, and spent several nights at a local bar with a large group of friends, most of whom I’d known since college.
I did not live in the city at the time. I lived about an hour away and often spent nights at a friend’s house when we went to the bar, and drove myself home the next day. At the time I was living with my grandparents and attending college.
At one point at this bar, a friend of a close friend joined our usual group and took a liking to me. We both ended up crashing at opposite ends of our friends’ living room that night, and the next day I awoke to see him watching me. “Good morning sunshine,” he said, which unnerved me, but I said “good morning” and started making my way to get back home.
Very late that night I was awoken by an unknown number texting me questions. I asked who it was and the guy identified himself, then proceeded to ask more questions, none of which I answered. I asked how he got my number, and he said my friend had given it to him. (As it turns out he stole her phone and got it out of her contacts list!)
Despite my repeated demands that he not text me, and my insistence that I was not interested in a relationship with anyone, he continued to call or text me late at night, sometimes blocking his number. I never answered. Finally I changed my number. He eventually moved away. He came back about a year later and started dating my friend, and desperately tried to use the relationship to make me jealous. It just creeped me out and until she finally realized how creepy he actually was and finally left him, I stayed away from the both of them. Luckily I never had to deal with anything worse. My best friend in college had a terrible stalking experience with an ex for over a year, in which he cyber stalked her, broke into her parents’ house, crashed a party she threw and threatened her in front of her friends, and texted her constantly, following her everywhere and asking her things about her day etc. that only she could know. She got a restraining order and he finally left the state, but it was terrifying.
That is so awful and scary…I am so happy you are OK now. I know it always stays with you but you sound strong and able to deal with things as they come your way and I know if anything like that ever starts again you will know what to do. Stay strong and thanks for sharing with everyone so they can learn from your experience. I don’t know where these creeps come from but somehow we all need to get the laws changed to make it harder on them to do this to innocent men and women.
I heard about this blog in a birthing group that I have joined. Before I share my experience, I want you to know that my heart breaks every day as I read further and further to catch up with the blog.I think of you all often, and I pray that you get the justice for Morgan that you so desperately DESERVE! I was 11 years old when I was molested at my grandmother’s house. She was supposed to be babysitting us while my parents were doing a side job. My cousin and her husband lived with my grandmother at the time, and our detective eventually said he believed that my assailants sole reason for marrying my cousin was to gain access to me. We were a very tight knit family, and it was not unlikely for my cousin and/or her husband to do things with my brother and I. We even went on their second date (bowling) with them, if that tells you anything. When we made the police report, he confessed to everything that I told them, and even went as far as to say that he didn’t know how far he would have taken things had my mom not shown up to pick me up. Of course he was arrested for this, and once he was in jail and had an attorney, he recanted his entire confession and said that the detective has forced him into it. Over the next year, there was an investigation and eventually a “trial.” As soon as he was bonded out, he began stalking me. I wasn’t safe at home. He would circle our block over and over, to the point that I was afraid to play outside. The restraining order failed me here because we lived on a main road, and they could not “deny him access to the road.” Granted if I was in my front yard and he were to drive by slowly, he would be no more than 3-20 ft from me, depending on where I was in the yard. When I was at my soccer games, I wasn’t safe. Because he was not yet convicted, my restraining order couldn’t stop him from stalking me at the parks because it was public property. He just had to maintain the 500 ft distance. I quit the team, needless to say. I was sent to numerous psychologists for them to determine if I was being truthful in all aspects of my accusations, and they all unanimously determined that I was. At that point, I was assigned a child advocate, whom I thank God for to this day. She did everything within her power to protect me and my rights, although her efforts were usually futile. When the day of the trial frist came, he even had the audacity to try to sit across the bench in the hallway outside of the courtroom from me. My advocate whisked me away to a saferoom, and we were then buzzed in to the courtroom when it was our turn. At the last moment before I was to take the stand, he signed a plea bargain and was convicted of aggravated child molestation, and aggravated sexual assault of a minor. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison. From my knowledge, he served six months. Talk about a slap on the wrist. After we left the courtroom, we literally withdrew me from school and left for another state the next day. 4 years later he managed to obtain my cell phone number thinking it was my father’s, and screamed into the phone that I ruined his life, and I would pay. We reported it, but of course nothing was done. I am now a mother of 2, with my 3rd blessing on the way. I am hyper aware at all times when it comes to my children. Where they are, who they are with, what adult is around them, etc. If we are at a park and I see an adult that doesn’t appear to be at the playground with a child, I go right on over and question them. You cannot go far enough to be careful these days, and it’s just sad. After 13 years, I am still haunted by what I went through as a child. My innocence was stolen, and I refuse to be anything but as protective of my babies as I can be. Again Toni, my heart aches for you and what your family has been through. I will continue to pray for justice for your daughter and your family. May God guide you and give you the strength to push forward!
I was stalked from my Freshman year of High school through my Sophomore year of college. I knew my stalker. He wasn’t a previous boyfriend, just a guy I went to High School with that I guess enjoyed the power aspect of it. This was in the late 80s and early 90s so there weren’t any real stalking laws in place. The police viewed this as “kids will be kids” but he would terrorize me. They downplayed it all of the time and it felt like I was being victimized twice. By my stalker and by the authorities. This happened in Massachusetts. After many years, it came to light that the Inspector handling my case was actually friends with my stalker’s family. Even ran a Cocaine ring with them. Eventually the Inspector was busted for stealing Cocaine out of the evidence drawer at the police station. And as for my stalker? He went on to kidnap and hold a 5 year old girl for a month in Maine, raping her repeatedly the entire time. Being caught and put in prison was the only thing that stopped him from stalking me. There would be a period of 3 months or so when he would harrass me all of the time. Then a break for 6 months where he would do nothing at all. But I think he did it on purpose to get me to let my guard down so he would be more effective in terrorizing me.
Morgan? I know your pain. I know what you went through. And I’m sorry that the system failed you like they failed me. I’m hoping this blog about you brings awareness to this horrific problem. Stay strong in spirit and guide your Parents to justice for you. Rest in peace sister.
A girl in high school (2002) used to stalk me, harass me. She’d drive by my moms house at all hours of the night. She’d try to make friends with anyone who knew me. She’d prank call me and bully me. Id change my # and she would get it off a listing for my vehicle for sale. She was relentless, it really bothered me intensely. I know now in retrospect that she was a miserable person, still is. She was just hellbent on hurting me, it did hurt me. One day, outside of a store, she said I gave her “a look” and proceeded to hit me in my face in front of some boys- humiliating me. This was in FL. I never really considered it stalking @the time- I didn’t know what to make of it.
I live in Utah now but my stalking started in Arizona. I moved immediately after a man was murdered just a few blocks away and after enduring many nights of break-ins in my home which sits against a mountain in a private gated community. Once a quiet community was now experiencing burglaries. My home was targeted many times but nothing was stolen. The first incident I was changing my clothes in my bedroom and my six year old at the time was asked by a stranger at the front door (who had been tapping on the window) to open the door and let him in. We had just returned from watching a band performance at our park and it was now 9pm. My son was terrified and thankfully did not open the door but ran and told me. Later that night was the first attempt to break in my home. I was approached twice by the same stranger (but I didn’t realize it at first) once at my gym and once while picking up my mail at a local UPS store….I could feel someone breathing on me as I pulled out my mail and when I turned my head he was standing right next to me staring at me with great anger in his eyes. Evil ran through my bones and I immediately left. While driving home i remembered i had seen him once before at my gym and experienced the same sudden encounter. It was extremely uncomfortable to say the least. The last incident in my home I was woken to a man moaning and yelling in my hallway at 3AM. My living room window was broken into but no fingerprints were taken. I should have insisted it be done. I later realized he had been in my home before but had shrugged off the noises. I stayed with friends until I moved out of state. There were several more attempted breakins at my friend’s home during this time and I was chased in a car late at night. I was literally running for my life. I stayed up packing the night before I was to fly out and took a shower at 3AM (I was no longer sleeping by this point and I was leaving at 5AM for the airport anyway). My son woke screaming to someone trying to enter his window. I grabbed the towel off my body to get dressed and heard a man moaning and yelling near a small window above my bathroom that was only accessible by the roof (it was a 2 story house). I had showered in the dark but the hallway light reflected enough light on me. I screamed for my friend’s who were downstairs across the house. My girlfriend’s husband ran outside with a bat to chase him down but it was too late. All we had for evidence was patio furniture and garbage cans moved to provide an easy access to the roof. I was terrorized for four months in AZ before moving, more like fleeing. I had never experienced anything like it before and wish I handled things differently knowing what I know now.
It has been nearly five years now and no one has been caught and the stalking continues even after I moved states and invested 8,000 in a security system, new locks, private investigator, motion detectors, etc. I am a single mother of two operating a fashion company. I am also a public speaker. I am 45 but have been told I look like 35. I lived quietly in UT for almost a year before activity began again. I learned a stalker can follow for years, use technology or work for a utility company to find you. He has broken into my home, vandalized my home, cut phone wires, pounded on my walls, pooped in my son’s vent, pulled out underwear from my drawer, pace the attic floor above my bed moaning, cut up the exposed beams in the basement below my bed, and so much more. Police have never been able to find him, cameras show movement but no positive identity, and we have seen a man dressed in a hoodie standing on the berm behind our backyard taking pictures of us while playing board games. I have no idea if it is the same person as in AZ. The quiet times are wonderful, the night noises are terrifying. On edge for five years is a long time and exhausting while trying to run a company and protect my children. I lived in a 5800sqft home and moved to a 900sqft apartment on the top floor for some time until I felt safe again. I now live in a small home and alter between giving up my privacy and having someone stay with me or staying at a friend’s on nights I do not feel safe. I try to be home before it gets dark and check every closet and under every bed before going to bed. I second guess every noise because I ignore them so many times before. My freedom and peace of mind has been stolen. Instead of planning a trip or playing in my spare time I think of how I long for a good night’s rest, where I left my gun, or where else to install more cameras. My work and son keeps me sane and forces me to live in the present but at night I live a different life. It astounds me how much power a stalker has and how little power law enforcement really has until something more serious happens. A victim’s way of life is completely changed forever. Some neighbors refuse to let their children play with yours in fear of harm (understandable). You feel so isolated and alone and unprotected by the law (there is so little they can do). Your very sanity is questioned. Your finances are drained by investing in preventative measures and missing work. Your child is scared to death and won’t sleep in their room or shower without the door open and you standing in the hallway waiting for them. You don’t dare leave your child alone with a sitter, in fact you don’t leave your child with a sitter at all and so their freedom and yours is taken as they are left to be with you all the time, even while running mundane errands. You shower when others are in your home and never when you are alone and vulnerable. Sometimes that means waiting a couple of days against your desire because your child is in school and you were up late again with noises, tapping, moaning, banging and overslept—missing your window of opportunity to shower. The basic pleasures of life are taken from you. During your spare time you think about ways to catch your stalker and wonder how he is getting in the attic or basement with the locks changed and the security system armed. Then you put on a smile for those who want to pretend none of it is happening because the reality of it is too scary to think of. You panic when in your days of no sleep you realized you left the house without arming it or left your gun, so you make arrangements to leave your meetings early and find a neighbor to walk through your house with you to be sure you’re safe. You go to take a shower and are taken back by the B.O. Stench filling the bathroom and blowing in from the ceiling vent that leads to the attic. You check the attic cameras play back tape and see a man’s hand wave in front of it the night before. Police check the attic and nothing is found. The stalker has won again managing to out smart them all. Wiring and water hose is pulled out of your unfinished basement ceiling the night you heard someone in your home. No fingerprints are taken and no report is written. You are left wondering why a water hose would be pulled out…is it for long term survival? You are told a security system will only give you a few seconds to call for help and to not get comfortable. Every fiber of your being longs for comfort and normalcy. Your adult nieces and son experience the fright, testify to it, and still no law enforcement can do a anything until positive identity is made or an attack occurs. traveling alone on business becomes daunting at best. Your innocense, your world, your life is forever changed as you know it. You hunger for it to be over and fear how it might end. Some days are more peaceful and productive than others and you savor those days. Stalking is evil and robs you of life—spiritual, emotional, financial, and physical. I believe you when you say some serial rapists and murders start with stalking. It is a very sick, calculated person who feeds on fear and believes they are above the law.
God bless you for all that you have endured and all you are doing to raise awareness about stalking. May his strength continue to guide and protect you and your family as you pursue justice for Morgan and resolution for your family and so many others.
Kathy I am so sorry for the things you have been put through, and I also want to thank you for sharing your story with others, so they can see they are not alone. Stalking has to be taken seriously.
One thing I do want to mention to you is the fact that you went over state lines, and the stalking continued – this should now officially be a case that the FBI can get involved in. Please try to go to them with all your facts (in black and white) along with all the state and federal laws that have been broken, and do not go to your local FBI, go to the FBI in your state capital, and if that does work go all the way to DC – someone will listen. Our government does not want this to go on – that is why all the new laws are being enacted.
I started talking to a man on Tinder. We didn’t really hit it off, I was bored with the app anyway, so I deleted it. Without telling this guy I was doing so. He took it upon himself to go to another of my social media accounts to call me a “C–t” and I laughed it off. A couple of days later he showed up to my work. I told him the store I worked in, but not which location. So either he knew, or he was looking for me. Either way, it’s creepy.
Because of this blog, I am on edge, as I should be. I have learned a lot about stalkers from this blog and things I’ve been doing wrong to keep myself safe. Thank you for being so open with this tragedy so others don’t have to go through the same thing. I wish you and your family well. Who you are makes a difference =)
Thank you so much Brittany and I am happy you were alerted and careful about this stranger – please keep safe and always trust your instincts!