Morgan’s stalking began two years ago yesterday.  Back then it would be five days and four clear incidents of stalking before I would finally call the Sheriff’s and our family would receive the Garfield County Sheriff’s answer to the crime of stalking in progress – this was ignorance on my part as I had no real experience or information about stalking at that time, and really didn’t know what to do.  We were all worried, Morgan was nervous, and frightened, but we kept telling ourselves that this really couldn’t be happening – I now know this is one of the first reactions most stalking victims have.  The true seriousness of the crimes being committed we did not know two years ago.  The operator for the Sheriff’s department, my first contact, would wonder angrily why I had waited so long to call.

While in her mind, that may have been a fair way to treat me and Morgan’s stalking at that moment, it was far less than professional.  Two years later I believe we all would have been better off if I had never even made that call – that is only in our situation with our Sheriff’s department…stalking victims should always document every incident, and involve their local law enforcement agency, unfortunately many of the stalking victims that have contacted me have not had adequate help from law enforcement, and they are frantic to know where to turn.  There are so many wonderful, and heroic law enforcement agents in our country that know what to do, and do an excellent job – now I constantly wonder how to get that same education, and passion passed on to the ones that don’t.   If Steve and I had counted only on ourselves to protect our daughter – to discover the true nature of the threat we faced, and the best way to combat it instead of completely trusting the Sheriff’s department – Morgan might still be alive today.

While that is a sad, sad truth and a personal indictment of the Sheriff’s Department, and their protocol for stalkers, that is for many reasons, what I believe.  It can be fixed, and for the sake of the safety of young women across this county, it must be.  A model for the rest of the country for effective law enforcement could exist here, free of sexual discrimination, upholding not only the laws of the state, but the Constitutional guarantees of the State of Colorado.  And as long as I’m fervently wishing I’ll add in upholding the laws of this Country, along with the U.S. Constitutional guarantees as well.

I appreciate the current Sheriff has very strong beliefs about the Second Amendment, but there is not one Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, there are seven articles and twenty-seven amendments.  I know that many are not his concern, but between the U.S. Constitution, and the Colorado Constitution there are certainly some Amendments that go straight to the heart of Morgan’s stalking and murder and they were completely ignored.

I call this little piece – Morgan’s search for justice, because she is the one who most deserves justice.  Morgan was ignored, treated as if she were a second class citizen.  She did not deserve to have her Constitutional rights completely whipped away.  When Morgan risked her life to get out of her car and positively Identify Keenan as the driver who was following, harassing, and stalking her, there was no response from the Sheriffs.  When Morgan saw Keenan at Thunder River, perfectly timing his arrival to pass right in the middle of the intersection, one time, then two times, the third time, or maybe it was the fourth time, Morgan lost it and out of sheer frustration wanted to take the law into her own hands.  She did not, but the inaction and cascade of excuses flowing from the Sheriff’s Department made her feel only more discriminated against.

Why was she so ignored?  Why did they not care?  I just made a list of 48 individual occasions when Detective Glassmire promised some action that would end her stalking, a piece of evidence, an interview, an action that would bring her one step closer to safety.  All 48 were things that he never, “got around to doing,” or else had some reason it was no longer necessary.  Forty-eight times, makes me wonder what he really did do, I know he told James Harris that Morgan was going to have a formal interview in a few days (just 4 nights before Morgan was killed), did James Harris tell his daughter, or did she overhear? Did Brooke tell Keenan?  I believe that could have happened.

The Gnome that was taken from the porch of the house we moved to, after leaving the house our daughter was murdered in, became a Sheriff’s report, I never saw them move so fast – I was shocked – it was just a little gnome, what was the point of a report, but they insisted.  But the burglary that happened the night Morgan was killed – how is it that never became a report or a case?  Is that really the way to catch the criminals?  If all Keenan got for felony possession with intent to distribute, and theft by receiving was a hand slap – and it’s not the first time – what’s he going to get for gnome stealing?  Really?

But on to something I really want to share, two years, and one day after Morgan first heard those taps on her windows.  I want to raise awareness of a certain typology of stalker, and I want to show how a little knowledge could have gone a long way.

This typology is called a predatory stalker, they have unique characteristics, just like the name, they behave more as predators than stalkers.  And they do so many things that mirror what happened to Morgan that I cried when I read about this particular typology, and wished deeply I had known even a fraction of what I read, before it was too late for Morgan, but I did not know about this two years ago, and the next post will be about this typology, and what I have learned since.  There are many different types of stalkers and that is why education, and training are so important – the different topologies are not to be treated the same way if you are to save the victim, and catch the stalker. This is a critical step for law enforcement to know, and follow when dealing with a stalking case.