Morgan loved having her hair curled as a child – we would call her little curly

Between January 6th to the 15th, Steve and I tried to get back into the full swing of work, it was very trying.

On January 13, 2012 the Post Independent Newspaper in Glenwood Springs had the following in the report by the Glenwood Springs Police (not the Garfield County Sheriffs) about their incidents and arrests and this is what the paper had received from the GWSPD about an arrest of Keenan Vanginkel, but we did not read the paper on this day, we were sent this article later.

Then on the 16th Detectives Glassmire and Alstatt came over to our house to tell us about another girl attending CRMS in Carbondale that had a stalker, they asked us if Morgan ever took a foreign language class at Colorado Mountain College.  The M.O. of this stalker was different from Morgan’s stalker, and later on we found out that the girl being stalked recognized the man, and told the Sheriff’s who he was – a deputy went to his house, confronted him and he confessed.  It was a proactive move they made and Steve and I applaud this kind of intervention very much.  This perp wasn’t anything like Morgan’s stalker, a different typology completely, but it sure would have been wonderful if that same outcome could have been Morgan’s.

Then for four days we left for a trip to attend an award celebration for our oldest daughter.  She was still so distraught over losing her baby sister, that she didn’t even want to go, even though she had been nominated for an award.  We urged her to go and all of us knew that Morgan would have really wanted her to go.  Morgan knew how hard her older sister worked first hand, since Morgan got to help her on two of her movies.

So Steve and I went to cheer her on, even though it was an extremely hard thing to do.  I couldn’t stay more than 2 days, so we left early – the crying could no longer be contained.  It was our first trip anywhere after Morgan’s death and it is slowly getting better for us – we were able to function in public for 2 days.

In a wonderful gesture, a dedication was made to Morgan in one of the movies Morgan had worked on, in honor of her memory, and her contributions.  In Hollywood they have their own problems with stalkers, and they are very sensitive to the problem.  Specialists who have consulted on Morgan’s case are also very involved with the task of protecting celebrities from the beasts that stalkers are.  It has been very interesting to learn how catching the stalker is just the beginning.  Following through to a successful and very impact-full prosecution is just as, if not more important for them.

Unfortunately there is not a unified system to prevent stalking.  It has far more of differing methods in just about every area of the country.  And stalkers are very adept at slipping into the cracks when left wide open, all too often victims are left on their own.  Thinking they have protection when in reality they do not.  I look forward to the day when victims are not left to the mercy of their stalkers, as much as they are now.  And it will come, Morgan is not the only one to has suffered the fate she did at the hands of her stalker, unfortunately for us as a country of civilized people Morgan is part of a very large statistic that needs far more attention than it has received up till now.