Morgan had a stranger stalker, Keenan was a person not known to her, rather his identity was deduced over months. He was also very likely a serial stalker as well. This I added after discovering many stalking and peeping tom incidents within a few mile radius dating back for years.
As I research solutions to these types of terrorizing some of it is very straightforward, such as the findings that stalkers are often socially maladjusted, emotionally immature, insecure and jealous by nature. Like perpetrators of domestic violence, who often stalk their partners, they seek to exert power and control over the victim. According to James Harris, his daughter Brooke complained of Keenan being possessive, and she ended their relationship because of it. An objective look at mannerisms is a good tool to ID your stalker.
At the beginning we had few if any tools to deduce who the stalker was and were limited for a while into seeing which cars were home, and which weren’t, of which lights were on in which houses as ours…only tools. If we could have included a read of mannerisms of the suspects, no matter how crude it might have been. That would have been an improvement in identifying him earlier.
Other advice i read is downright frightening to me. Such as the majority of stalkers are not mentally ill; however a minority, usually stranger stalkers, suffer from mental health disorders (such as paranoid schizophrenia or manic depression) and exhibit delusional thought patterns or behaviors. I would think if this little bit of observation were in the material the Deputies and Detectives had about stalkers they would have been better able to deal effectively with Keenan than they did. Actually they had no material on stalkers of stalking so, anything would have been an improvement really.
There is advice suggesting you should approach the stranger stalker (just once), and tell them firmly to stop, then attempt to involve family members to assist. I question both of these thoughts, as I have been told that his father Wade was quick to bring him to the Sheriff’s office to answer questions, but also quick to opine that he had not done anything wrong. I wonder how he could be so sure and I doubt he would have been receptive to talking his son out of his stalking obsession.
His mother, Jennifer Johnson, to this day will not even admit he was pretty much the schoolyard bully back in grade school, when that fact is well known up and down the valley. So I really don’t see how an attempt to involve the parents would have really been very productive. Most likely the opposite.
His parents and friends are pretty intent on protecting him by whatever means they can, and don’t seem ready to admit Keenan could ever do anything wrong. This I am sad to say is something that has played out many times in cases of stalkers – many, many times they have family members, friends, even people that don’t really know them that well make up excuses, alibis and lies for them. Sometimes I would assume because they want to keep them out of trouble, other times possibly because they themselves don’t want to believe something like this could really happen, and then there are always friends that have been warned not to be “snitches”, or else, as in this case.
Which brings up the third piece of advice which I have found to be a very informative, and a useful tool – that is to get the criminal records of the stalker, especially a stranger stalker. As the claims that he has never been in trouble in his life grow ever louder from all of his family, the list of charges, for a twenty-one year old seem very, very, long. And most all of the charges he has been found guilty of portend to a serious problem if connected with a stranger stalker, as they are in Morgan’s case.
In fact after having had a chance to look over criminal records for all the immediate family and friends, I can see why this is suggested in a stranger stalking situation. I don’t know if the Sheriffs are at liberty to run these records and share them with victims, but I believe it would be a big help.
I think it would be safe to say that successful criminals research their victims first, just as hunters research, and stalk their prey before a successful kill. So in the victims interest – why would you not want to arm yourself with research and facts on those that are threatening to do you harm, as stalkers obviously do.
In all of the people claiming to be friends of the families that have contacted me, I found one to be very telling. He claimed to be a good friend of James Harris, and wished to vouch for his integrity. And then in the next sentence he admitted that Brooke was probably not one to be trusted. Very telling indeed when even Jim’s friends know a thing or two about Brooke and her checkered past.
I would like to leave a comment here that you may not be expecting…. reading Morgan’s story has given me my own life back. I have dealing with a bout of depression lately, creating my own prison, locking myself away from life. Reading about this young woman’s zest and love for life has made me realize how ungrateful I have been for my own existence. Please know that while this particular effect may not have been your original intent, Toni, sharing your daughter’s light has a lasting impact that carries beyond her tragic passing. Bless you for sharing her with us.
That is awesome you found your guiding light, I have not been in your situation but we all get to the point were outside problems disrupt ones self, to be greatful for what we have is sometimes hard to see. Good for you 🙂 Toni is awesome, this story she has shared is definanlty an eye opener and empowering.
Oh – that is so very sweet of you to say…thank you very much!
Little Bird – what you just said in your comment is very powerful, and very wonderful for all to read. It took me a long time to see what Morgan had been trying to show me, which was to live every day like it might be your last, let everyone you love know how much you love them, and be grateful for every day you have on this planet, because every day is a gift. Thank you for sharing. Hugs!
I just want to tell you a little about bipolars (manic depressives) here. The reason they have many people backing them is because they are extremely convincing. I know because my own son is bipolar and yes, he’s stalked myself and other people. Authorities do not listen, he has never been arrested for those behaviors, although he has been arrested for others.
I digress. He’s convincing. VERY convincing. He has a huge group of people who have backed him (especially against me) at some point in time ~ who have all learned their lessons the hard way. I cannot tell you how many have come to me later and told me things he ended up doing to them and that they no longer believed the things he said about me. My answer has always been, “I could have told you he was lying, but you wouldn’t have believed me then. Everyone is snowed at first and learns when they’re on the wrong end of his wrath.”
My point here is that Keenan may have a lot of people snowed. I know my son does that well and as long as he doesn’t spend tons of time with someone, he keeps them believing his made up version of life. Am I justifying his actions in any way? No. I’ve had to block my own son from my Facebook because he was using it to see when I left for vacation so he could break into my house . . . good for me, he misunderstood something I posted and had not left when he broke into our garage.
On an entirely different matter, but brought to mind because my son has been a thief his entire life . . . Morgan’s jewelry ~ if she never wore it, it’s entirely possible that he was in your home many times before. He may have taken it all at once, or a piece at a time. My son would have done a piece or two at a time, hoping it wouldn’t be noticed, and keeping a steady stream of income.
In reference to the above paragraph, I think I’d request help from friends and family to go over videos from the very beginning. It’s very possible he’s there, but you expected him at night and never looked at the daytime videos. Having a business, I understand the daunting task of going over that many hours of video . . . which is why I suggested help from friends and family.
Dear Sad Mom,
Oh my goodness…you have such a good suggestion. Yes, the review of the cameras is daunting and we haven’t looked at daytime hours yet, but were intending to, as others have said at times when we were all gone from the house most likely he had been in it. This is a typical thing that happens with stalkers. Thank you so much for your suggestion and I am sorry about your son – I can imagine your situation must be so hard on you. I wish I could offer some help but I have never had that happen. Good luck and again thank you so much for your suggestion about the daytime camera views!