Today was a quiet day. Morgan texted me at 6:57 pm and said, “Hey. My phone’s broken again. I am leaving right now so I’ll be a tick late. Sorry.”
This afternoon we ordered thick, lined, velvet curtains for the back of our house, for both back sliding glass doors, so the stalker cannot see into our house from behind. All of our windows have had window treatments on them except for the two big sliding glass doors on the back of the house. We had never before worried about those glass doors, as no one should be behind our house, it’s just our yard, and a grass berm with trees on it. No other houses to look in from, no one would have any reason to walk through our yard to pass by them. But now we feel like those doors create a fishbowl effect – a stalker could see in from the back of our house from this very angle.
This evening Steve went outside, dressed all in black and sat in a bush on the berm behind our house that divided us from the Aspen Equestrian Ranch, where our horse is boarded. He wanted to think like the stalker, and observe our house for hours – he told me that he felt like a peeping tom, like he was violating our neighbors privacy, and from the berm, behind our house in the dark, he was able to see directly into the back of our house, living room, kitchen and all the way down the hall to the front door. But, if I were in our house at night, and someone (like the stalker) was standing on the berm watching, I would never notice him. He was right, I looked out, knowing right where he was out there on the berm, and couldn’t see him. I hope we get the curtains delivered ASAP! I start to get that creepy tingling feeling again that shoots up my spine, and crawls over my scalp – here goes my intuition again…my internal gut feeling that danger is just outside our home.
When Steve came back in, well after midnight, we discussed what he saw while out on the berm, he said between our house and our next door neighbor Rhonda’s house he had observed a little red pinpoint light, at about head height that had moved to the left out of sight. So I went into my office in the front of the house, with the lights off, and tried to peek from behind the curtain to across the street, it was pitch black out, so I couldn’t really see much of anything. At the same time Steve went out the back door of our house to see, if he walks from the back of the house to the front of the house, starting on the left side of our house, if he can flush out the source of the red light. As he did this I did saw a little pin point of a red light, directly across the street (at head height) move to the right, disappear, then reappear further to the right again in front of another house, and then disappear again. It was as though it had seen Steve coming up the side of our house and was backing slowly away, it was so creepy to know this was probably him (the stalker), right there, I was filled with anger at him. I wanted to run outside and run this guy down…but this is just what he wanted. (He was taunting us, and knew he could run faster and not get caught. If we had been able to see him, and tried to chase him, he would have been even more excited). No one in our neighborhood had fences that divided the houses – there was nothing to impede anyones access to come and go between or around any of the houses. The subdivision lacked enough street lights, so it was a dark neighborhood. When Steve came back in the house we discussed the light and looked up night vision glasses/googles on the Internet, and sure enough, this light that we saw could have matched that, or it he could have been aiming laser sight from a gun. Either way we were now hopeful that we are getting closer to figuring this out, we probably needed more people, but the stalker came at different times, 11:00 pm, 2 am, 4 am whatever time he wanted. Would we all stay up all night, for as many days as it took? At least we are learning where our weak points are while trying to protect our daughter, but at this point it seems like we are learning those weak points a little too slowly. There is someone I know that does security in Aspen, and I will call him in the morning to see if he has any suggestions for us. We can’t afford to hire him to do surveillance for us, so anything like that we will have to do ourselves, or ask assistance from family or friends, I would just like to have some great suggestions on how to handle this situation.
Now in the present, August 15, 2012 – this is one of the big things we would like to see changed in the future – we would like to see safe houses across the United States for girls, for anyone that may find themselves in this situation. Most likely they can not afford to just disappear for a while, especially if they have animals/pets, so if we could have something like that set up, then at least in our case, Morgan might have been able to go there with her puppy, and be safe for a while, until her stalker had been identified and arrested. These stalkers will harm or kill their victim’s animals, just to get back at their victims, so these safe houses must accommodate the animals, as well as the victim. This suggestion came to me through another woman who had been a victim years ago, and had to move all her animals, some of them horses, and herself to a safe place immediately one fateful night. Fortunately she was able to do it, and was safe herself, unfortunately her animals were scattered all over Colorado for quite a while until she could get them back with her. She is trying to get involved now in setting up a safe house in this part of Colorado that can accommodate a victim and their animals. She is an amazing example of resilience!
Click here to read about the 15th day of Morgan’s stalking & her 20th birthday 🙁 https://morgansstalking.com/?p=599
This is an amazing story. So the stalking was using night vision glasses or a gun to spy on your family. That must have been incredibly creepy!
Very much so. But, it also made me very angry that there was someone out there in the dark, just out of sight, that was getting away with messing with my family – the mother lion in me did not want this to go any further.
Hello, I am so sorry for your loss but am thankful that you are sharing your story so we can all be more aware. I used to live in your area and know that there is a safe house in Glenwood Springs. I know a lot of the clients there are victims of domestic violence, but knowing people that are very involved in that shelter, I can’t imagine they would turn anyone away. I am not sure about pets. It may be worth checking into though.
I have been reading your blog from day one. August 15th is my daughter’s birthday so I thought I’d take a moment to tell you how very sorry I am for your loss. I can’t imagine myself being able to post as you are just one year after such a great loss. My daughter just began her first year at college. In fact her classes started today. I’ve decided not to tell her about this post because I don’t want to scare her but I will certainly keep it in mind if anything comes up. Her campus security is very active and they have escorts if you are out after dark so I am praying for the best. God bless you and Steve. Rip Morgan.
I live in a big city and a number of years ago a peeping tom was making his mark all over our neighborhood. Since then, I’ve always watched the places I’ve lived in the dark from outside to see where they can see and know my apt-blind-spots. It’s hard to alter things when you rent so I think doing that is really important. Thought I’d share for others reading who haven’t watched their own home.
Thank you for sharing – I think by sharing it will help someone in the long run, even if we never know that it did. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your daughter’s story. I very often feel overly safe in my home, walking in front of windows at night (sometimes in less clothes than I should). You’ve definitely made me want to go out tonight and check the view from all angles. Please know that your blog will help many girls be more aware of their surroundings.
This is a fantastic idea, the safe houses! My Mom was stalked 8 years ago (most likely, he is still trying to find her). This person killed our dog while a friend was keeping it for a long weekend. Mom was in a different state to plan relocating in order to get away from this person. A safe house would’ve been a blessing beyond belief at this time.
There was a reader that suggested that before you moved into the house, could someone have come in and installed cameras in vents, the attic, etc.? Especially if the father of one of the accused had access to all the keys/pin pad numbers. Just a thought. I’m reading through your entire blog, and I am just shocked that the police are not re-opening the case. I get angry.
Have you had any more ‘incidents’ since her death or police reports of other stalkings?
My deepest condolences to your family. As a person living with PTSD and past abuse, I can understand the hypervigilance.
I would suggest starting a petition on change.org to re-open the case. It could get well over 50,000 signatures. It could force the police to look back into it.
In other words, If anyone were being stalked, you folks did ALL THE RIGHT THINGS. You jumped quick, you were decisive and you took matters personally and were forced to take them into your own hands. Alleged years of training go into police work. Yet you outstripped any police work I have witnessed on any stalking case, almost without exception. I do heartily applaud that you did every tiny thing you could search your mind and heart for. Please always believe that. You’re a mama and he’s daddy….. no one could have done more or better. You know that because I read it here. I did all the things you did. I am still being stalked to death. You reacted normally and with speed of intellect and wit against an animal you had no idea what was made of. Any thinking person can see you went the distance…. it’s so f’d up that …. it still didn’t do it. But you did nothing wrong.
As part of the pro bono work I do, I organized free emergency pet foster care program for women needing to remove themselves to safety. Coordinating with women’s shelters, social workers, hospitals, police and sheriff agencies, victim advocate groups, etc., we recognized that pets were often used by abusers to manipulate their victims and that too often victims stayed for their pets. For reasons you stated above and more, while the program was successful, it had shortfalls and needed more. The victims, usually women and often with children, were able to visit their pets, most often at the foster caretaker’s home.
As the fosters got to know the victims and heard their stories, they became even more aware of how important this service was and developed an even greater empathy. Many began opening their homes to the families as well as their pets. With the support of the previously mentioned agencies, the program evolved into something somewhat similar to what’s suggested in the previous post.
Wow this is such exciting news. I knew nothing about this free emergency pet foster care for situations like this. You are an amazing person! I love this information. What is the name of the program? Is it in every state yet? How can we spread the news to stalking victims that need to put that info into their escape plan? I would also like to get involved and help with this program as well. I will email you so we can talk. Blessings to you and all the good you have accomplished!
You are so right.
When I was a teen I had a stalker. I live in Florida and it storms every afternoon here. Several of my friends and I were outside, talking and we were playing with my bunnies who were kept in a huge cage under my stilt house. When the storm rolled in, my friends all went home. After the storm, my friend who lived behind me called and asked me to come over. I walked out the back door, down the steps and there were my bunnies. Beaten to death with my own baseball bat. My house had been broken into and clothes laid out on my bed, rocks thrown at my window and nobody would be there. Phone calls in the middle of the night. All summer long. But the worst was my poor bunnies. He must have been watching us playing with the bunnies that afternoon, waiting for us to leave.
I’m so terribly sorry about your beautiful daughter. But grateful that you’re trying to change things and help the next scared victim. Bless you.
I am so very sorry that you had to experience that when you were younger. Your poor little bunnies! I’m sure you were shocked and horrified by the vicious message that was sent to you by that action, as well as knowing your stalker had been in your house.
Thank you for sharing your story – I know how hard it is to relive things like this, but your experience is an important one to share…injuring or killing their victims pets is something that stalkers sometimes do, and it is important for people to know. When a criminal (and someone that stalks another person is committing a criminal act) can intentionally kill a living animal, in order to send a sick message to their victim, you know they most likely would have no problem killing a human being.
I would also like to thank you for your kind words about our daughter Morgan. I believe what you have shared here in your comment will help raise awareness, just as I am working on doing. Blessings to you too my friend.