Aspen Tree
In the morning Steve and I went out to breakfast at our favorite local’s hangout in Carbondale, we texted Morgan (she was with a friend) to see if she would join us and she did. Every time we went there Morgan would order the exact same breakfast, so it got to the point where we would just order for her, after checking of course.
After breakfast, Steve and I spent some time painting the motion detectors a brown camouflage color, so they did not stand out at night. The motion detectors were the most consistent weapon in our arsenal. The stalker could not cross through an area covered without setting the detector off. The way they were deployed was giving us advance warning to a window banging event. It had not allowed us to actually catch him, but it was certainly the most promising. Early detection is the key, just like cancer, if you think about it.
A friend of Morgan’s texted her around 7:00 pm, “Dude. Now considering Stanford? They offer Romanian.” Earlier that Spring when Morgan was out on location, working and helping her big sister, they stopped at Stanford on the way home. Morgan was quite smitten with the possibility of attending the law school there. Morgan always had ultimate faith in herself, and was positive that if she knew the requirements, she could meet them. Morgan answered her friend, “Yesss!!” And she responded, “Doing some school research. Seeing what I can find. =D.”
Detective Glassmire was coming out for a stakeout, naturally we were kept in the dark about actual arrival and departure times, but he agreed to text me on the way out. There was no way I was waiting until the next day to find out what if anything had happened. At 2:06 am I could not contain myself any longer, and sent a text to him, “Backyard motion detector light going on and off – same time as last night.” Detective Glassmire texts back, “Okay, we did leave at 12:45 am, and we did notice that the backyard motion detector did go on and off twice while we were watching it. Definitely was not us at that time, as we were very far from that light. Otherwise quiet while we were there.” I texted back, “OK better luck next time. Morgan never alerted us to anything on her window tonight.” Detective Glassmire texted back, “Okay, that’s where we focused on, we will be in touch soon, have a good night.” I texted back, “You too.”
This was the night (the only night that I know of) that they did a stake out to try to catch the stalker. Detective Glassmire the next day suggested that maybe we had a faulty motion light and that’s why it would go on and off in the middle of the night. So Steve swapped it for another light that we could also see from our room, but hadn’t been going on and off, now that that light was put where the other light had been it still did the same thing, so it wasn’t defective – what we didn’t know at the time was that this was the area that was being triggered, because this is where the stalker was getting on to our roof!!!
Today it is October 5, 2012 – and I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it will always bear saying again. Months after Morgan was murdered we found evidence that the stalker had been gaining access to our roof from that exact area that would set off that motion light, he would run over the berm, towards the back of our house, and climb up the Aspen tree that was leaning right up against the back of our house. Once up on the roof he had the advantage to be able to see up and down the streets, as well as the advantage to hide where the roof comes together – it created a perfect hiding place for him. He could also lean over the edge of the roof, body against the metal gutter over Morgan’s room, and see in to her room, or dangle something down to tap or bang on her window, ever eluding the Sheriff’s and all others. He was “getting off” in being able to make fools out of the Sheriffs.
Except for one, Rhonda’s little dog Sammie, next door, that used to bark in the middle of the night at his window that faced Morgan’s side of the house. But, unfortunately dogs can’t talk (or at least most of us don’t understand what they are saying), so we never knew that the stalker was on our roof. But the little dog knew, and he tried to tell us…so many times.
Click here to read about the 69th – 73rd days of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1640
If the stalker was climbing onto the roof how come there wasnt a sound made when he was up there?
See Jordan’s reply, and it was surprising to stand and watch the volunteer cross the roof so silently. Outside some noises could be heard but inside the house – nothing! There was a trick to be able to do it and our volunteer figured it out very quickly.
If the stalker was climbing onto the roof of the house shouldnt there be a noise when he is walking on it? I mean usually you can tell if someone is up there. It is really disturbing to hear that he someone had access to your roof…..
Jordan, you are so right, it was very disturbing to find out he or they were up on the roof. Especially after it was too late. It has not been posted yet but a volunteer repeatedly climbed the tree in under 5 seconds and after just a few tries could pick his way across the roof in silence. And he did all this barefoot!!
I was thinking about the roof top and noise. By the Google Earth images, it looks like the houses are very similar. If these homes are made with the same roof tops, windows, etc…and K was living only a few homes down, he would have a great model and plenty of time to practice the best ways of maneuvering his way around his roof top and finding the best angles to peep in windows, prior to approaching the Ingram’s. If the floor plans are similar or the same, even more so.
I peeped at his Myspace (I don’t have Facebook), and I noticed that back in December 3, 2010 he created a playlist (only one song), but he named the playlist “Morgan’s Love”. I know someone previously stated he dated another girl named Morgan, but as we all know, often stalking begins long before a victim takes notice and this would be 8 months prior to the first sign that Morgan noticed, also, it was created exactly 1 year and 1 day prior to her death. Did she know ? and K in December of 2010? Maybe he became infatuated back then. As always, it could be a coincidence and he could have named it for the ex-girlfriend. I don’t know when he was dating her. Here is the link the playlist: http://www.myspace.com/lh270/music/playlists
Morgan knew of ? at that time but not Keenan
When you say “We now know this” is this your theory or do you have actual evidence that he was on the roof? I am confused about your earlier reports that he managed to avoid detection by somehow knowing the exact ‘seam’ where the cameras would not catch him climbing onto the roof. Yet, you also said that you and Steve changed the angle of the cameras. So how did he avoid detection?
The questions you are asking are really good. We do have evidence on he roof, and as far as your other question goes we will be coming out with that answer on an upcoming blog – which is already written.
Morgan’s love was a song for his girlfriend back then. I saw a post on it back then.
I’m curious if you and Morgan had a fight any time close to her death? I’m curious because of all the stress all of you were dealing with, there were bound to be arguing and fighting.
No we did not have a fight – I was stressed because between 4 – 6 Morgan had not returned my text messages which was unusual and I was worried but then at 6 pm she responded to her dad while I was with him and apologized. When she walked in the front door at around 9:00 pm that night I started to lecture her about how worried I was and in typical form for Morgan she just snapped back at me with one nasty word (because she was exhausted and didn’t want to argue about it) and took her puppy into her bedroom. I knocked on her door to talk and she just said go away I’m tired. So I went to bed and told Steve and he went to talk to her about 10 minutes later. When he went to talk to her she was happy, lying in the dark on her bed and had just finished sending a text message to a guy she had just started dating that she would see him in the morning. She told her dad to come in and they had a great talk about all kinds of things and at the end of their talk Steve broke down a little (it had been happening) and he told her, “I wish I could run faster Morgan so I could catch this guy.” And Morgan said, “It’s OK daddy – I love you!”, which is always what she said to him. She was a total daddy’s girl and loved him so much. This is so very hard on Steve because they were talking about taking another oil painting class together, among other things, and how Morgan hadn’t been feeling well and was worried about leaving the following afternoon to go babysit the military kids for the weekend if she was contagious so Steve suggested she wait until morning to make that decision.
I think the last time I actually had a fight with Morgan was about 6 years before she died…we were very close and talked just about anything and we didn’t always agree but we never really fought, we just kind of agreed that we didn’t agree at times. It was a different relationship then I had with our two older children – probably because Morgan was so Morgan.
Just so you are aware, the police report contains statements from you about this argument. It also states that you told detectives that Morgan was angry, called you a B*****, and that this was unusual behavior for Morgan. I’m only telling you this because this blog is getting a lot of criticism for its inconsistencies and you may want to review the reports… Respectfully, J.
Don’t know what to tell you – I have no control over what the police put in their report, I just know what I told the detective that morning and what I told him is exactly what I said to you on my last response – Steve and I have not been inconsistent at all. If you want to talk about inconsistencies let’s talk about the Sheriff Lou Villario going on TV and stating that his officers were out to our house over 50 times and never saw a sign of a stalker…seriously! The felony stalking detective that was assigned to our case as well as some of the Patrol Officers saw lots of evidence, pictures, etc. so for him to say what he said on TV if I were you I would be looking at the Sheriff’s department for inconsistencies. The lead detective on Morgan’s felony stalking case (before she was murdered) told me that they were 100% sure who the stalker was and after Morgan was murdered he told us they never had a suspect – so if I type up a Toni and Steve report detailing this inconsistency are you willing to contact the Sheriff’s department and research it thoroughly?
Respectfully. Toni
Hi Toni,
I actually submitted that last comment just for you – and it was intended more as an ‘FYI’ than criticism. In any case, yes, I see inconsistencies in the police report too. Like many other of your readers, both left me with a lot of questions! I can understand how frustrating this must be for you and I wish you the best in your search for truth.
J.
J – maybe you should instruct Lilygator on how to get copies of the police reports, since you have clearly had no problem getting them. – V
A++
Toni, as a mother of a 16 year old, who I am very close to, spend most of my free time with, and look forward to the day we are more “friends” than the parent/child relationship can really allow for (if you are still doing your parenting job as you should), let me just say, especially when one or both of us are “stressed” and especially during those times of prolonged stress, we may call eachother out on being inconsiderate or sometimes neglectful of one another’s feelings, we even snap at eachother sometimes and say terse things we regret. However, it never lasts, we usually kiss and makeup at the first available opportunity (not always that day if its at the end of the day and we are tired), and it has never meant that we “aren’t getting along” or could even be called a “fight.” You, and everyone who knows you or knew Morgan, also knows the truth about your relationship.
Ours is a complicated relationship, mothers and daughters. But so rewarding and always growing, changing, blooming and entwining our lives and hearts as we begin to recognize a young woman in our baby girl. In no way has any one of these little “spats” ever made me fear for my daughter’s emotional wellbeing, or mine, for that matter. It is through these lessons that they learn to nurture and become mothers, attentive to their own children’s needs one day. It is how they, so often, become like us, strong and capable of immeasurable and enduring love that compares to nothing.
You have never made yourself out to be “the perfect mom” nor Morgan to be the “perfect daughter.” Although, you both tried to always be the best you could be to one another. It is a wonder you weren’t ALL at eachother’s throats, after months of this (which is probably exactly what the stalker would have like to have heard once you started telling your story, ironically). You are a woman of remarkable poise, grace, and patience, exhibited daily in this blog. And it is evident that Morgan shared those traits, inherited by you, her loving, supportive, protective and often silly, funloving and always adoring Mother. Morgan was lucky to have your strength behind her through these dark days, because you and she looked for the moments of sunshine together throughout this ordeal. Nothing that you may have said or done on that night or any other could have changed that. She was strong because of you, and many mothers and daughters would have simply given up long before the choice to continue the fight was ripped away from both of you. But I know, and you know, and HE knows, she would have fought it to the end, and you would have been right beside (or more likely true to our Mama bear instincts) in front of her, fighting for her ability to regain complete control of her life, with your blessings. She may have been “Daddy’s Little Girl” but she was her Mother’s Daughter, and you should be so proud of the gifts she received through the honest and pure devotion and love you had for your baby girl. – Peace and Blessings to you all. – Valerie
Oh Valerie that was so beautiful it made me cry, but only because it feels so good to hear another mother, that knows what it’s like to have that special relationship. I feel like I have it with all 3 of our children, but it’s different with each of them. Morgan was so different than her brother and sister – if she blew up at me for saying something she didn’t like or whatever, and raised her voice the very next morning the very first thing she would do is apologize…and many times I would say, Morgan you don’t need to apologize, you were right I shouldn’t have said….” But the bottom line was that she was upset with herself for not being “kind” and so it was important to her to apologize. I must say I wish I could’ve been more like that – I don’t think I ever apologized to my mother.
Toni, I have been reading your blog and following the posts for a few weeks now, and have even commented a couple of times. The reasons for your blog as far as I can tell are for personal healing, sharing and making others aware of not only what took place right under our noses in our beautiful little valley, but the world wide issue of stalking.
I have noticed in just the past few days some posts are getting a bit cynical, maybe even a bit pushy in the woulda, coulda, shoulda attitude, and still you continue to reply in an honest way.I would like to thank you for bringing forth and sharing your families story, not only have you lived through your loss but to re live it on a daily basis in your blog. You are a driving force Toni, you and Steve will get justice.
Thanks so much for your kind words, writing this blog does help me and I really hope it is helping others. I have received so much positive reassurance for females as well as males that have been or are currently victims of stalking and to me it is nothing short of amazing that there are so many people out there that have had to deal with this. It’s not right, it’s downright evil when someone takes away your way of life, your freedom, you safety and something really does have to be done about it. And I do pray that you are right and we do get justice for Morgan…thanks!
How do you think the stalker evaded the cameras every time? Could he have gained access to the house and looked at camera set up, seeing where the blind spots were? Could he have gotten in the house without being seen on the cameras? Where there ever any files/time missing on the footage that could have indicated something was deleted? Did the cameras record to a computer that was connected to the Internet that someone could end up getting access to? Do you think your stalking suspect/s was savvy enough to do something like that?
Still checking this blog everyday and hoping for justice for Morgan.
I didn’t believe it back then but I do believe it now that the stalker(s) were in our house before and could easily walked in to our M/Bathroom and viewed all 6 screen views and what part of the outside they actually covered. When Steve moved the cameras every once in a while to try to get a different view you have to understand the cameras were hard wired and you could only slightly move them. We only had 6 cameras to cover the whole exterior of the house and it was impossible to get every view, but we also had motion detector lights, and motion detector alarms. The alarms were battery operated so we were able to move them around to different areas outside and they were a big help.
Whoa Everyone is all over the place with this blog. First of all everyone. Him, being on the roof explains why the camera’s never caught him. As far as the motion detector lights are concerned, some of that activity could have been animals that sensed his presence above or seen him and moved in front of the sensors.. Animals seeing and senses are much better than ours in the dark. I too agree it is strange that the camera’s didn’t catch him more often. I understand that there is some footage not yet seen that Toni is aware of.,Hopefully it will be enough to prove a person was around and the authorities will start taking this a lot more seriously than they have to date.What if this was the Police Chief’s daughter or the Major’s daughter wouldn’t they have taken a better look? I’m just sayin….
Donna trust me the detective received almost all the video of the stalker on all different dates and times on the drop box account that Steve set up so he could have the video evidence of the stalker and have it enhanced if necessary but the proper LE labs. So they did have the footage. As far as the back motion light going on and off we figured that out months after Morgan died when we found evidence that the stalker had climbed the Aspen tree at the back of our house to get on the roof. So you are correct that is why the camera didn’t always catch him but the light would go off and by the time we ran out back there was no sign of him. All he had to do was run over the berm, climb the tree to the roof and then he was safe from exposure. So the light would go on when he climbed up the tree and again when he climbed down the tree. And sometimes the light went on because of a bat – that I did catch on camera a few times.
Just curious.Why on Mydeathspace.com, which is where I first read of this situation, does cause of death say ‘overdose’? What were the results of her autopsy? My dear friend died of a cerebral aneurysm and the police said she had overdosed..took us forever to change the death certificate! Hope this isnt what happened to your dear daughter.
Morgan didn’t overdose – her first autopsy said she died of natural causes, we had many professionals consult and tell us no she did not die of natural causes, so then after 7 months they changed it to suicide, which we also knew was incorrect, not only our opinion but again the opinion of many specialists and another very respected forensic pathologist. So now it still stands as a suicide but she had 6 (at least) date rape drugs in her, small bruise on her right forehead, a little blood in her mouth, found with her clothes on in an unnatural sleeping position on the wrong side of the bed, looking like she was staged, plus lots more problems with the death scene. So it could not have been a cerebral aneurysm…when I was 18 one of our good friends died from that as well, it’s tough…I’m sorry for the loss of your friend.
Anyone can sumbit a death on mydeathspace. Who ever did it, physically typed in the cause of death on their own. So, either an innocent reader sumbited it, or someone involved, perhaps trying to get a little more false evidence out there in the www world, to make them not look so guilty. Mydeathspace is a public forum, that anyone can post to.