If you don’t know what you are up against how can you protect yourself?

Research into stalking behavior has led to classifications of the different types of stalkers.  Typology of Morgan’s stalker – Serial predatory stalker

Do your police know how to stop your stalker?

Our sheriff’s department had no clue about how to stop a stalker and it cost Morgan her life. Don’t let this happen to you! The single biggest piece of information we need to share with all other victims is that we knew far too little about stalking at that time, and what we know now we learned far too late for Morgan. So educate yourself with all the information you can find about stalkers and other stalking situations.  There are many good resources for stalking victims on the Internet as well as books, etc.  Another suggestion, if you are a current victim that is being stalked contact your state’s victims rights specialist and ask for advice and help.

We now know Morgan’s stalker was what is called a predatory stalker. This type of stalker has telling signs that were all there in Morgan’s case.

• They hide their identity – In Morgan’s case he chose the cover of darkness, hiding in bushes, on our roof, it was so erie and frightening at the time to look out into darkness and just know he could be right there watching and waiting.
• They want their victim to know they are right there, tapping on windows is a common trait – in Morgan’s case he was able to tap and bang on her windows without detection for months It was years after her death before we had enough clues to know how he might have been able to do this and it is actually quite simple.
• They stalk for a shorter period of time
• The are the most likely to end in violence
• Researchers believe that during the stalking they fantasize about the all important end, plotting and planning exactly what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.

These were all very large red flags that we knew nothing about at the time. Morgan’s felony stalking detective that was assigned to her case told us he had just gone to a seminar on stalking and suggested we read this book they had given to them in his class.  I purchased the book and read it.  I then started asking questions about the connections and suggestions in the book as it pertained to Morgan’s stalking.  The detective then discounted what the book was saying.

We have been told that Morgan’s stalker, and his accomplice both had extensive juvenile criminal records, and we found out after Morgan’s murder that her stalker also had adult criminal records for many things including breaking and entering as well as criminal trespass (another term for stalking?).  Other parents also came to us after Morgan’s murder to inform us that her stalker was a drug dealer and from a gang where he met his accomplice.  All these things were not known to us at the time of Morgan’s stalking, but they were known to the Garfield County Sheriffs, and my question is…how could they have not known Morgan was in extreme danger, and why did they not share this information with us so we could have made sure she fled her stalker?

Morgan’s stalker was an accomplished trophy hunter from a very young age, very skilled in bow hunting which requires the utmost in abilities of concealment for long periods of time to be successful – perfect training for a stalker. He was a trophy hunter traveling the country in search of larger and more challenging prey to stalk and kill. This is yet another red flag. A retired FBI profiler believes that if there is a pool of suspects, and one is a trophy hunter, then he is your top suspect.

Does your stalker have a long history of stalking?

Serial stalkers bring greatly increased danger to their stalking, there was a long history of stalking in our area, only the sheriffs didn’t call it stalking. They wrote in their reports harassment, trespass, minor things like that, but never stalking.  Perhaps this keeps their crime statistics low and they like it like that. In Morgan’s case early on the patrol deputies told us about 5 separate incidents the summer before in the neighborhood across from us.  The same MO of tapping on the windows and a hooded figure dressed all in black staring up at their windows.  They said on the last incident a trash can was knocked over, the young woman visiting from out of town and alone in the house thought maybe it was a bear or some other kind of wildlife so she opened the door to see what it was and was shocked to see a person all dressed in black with a hood over their head.  Startled she ran back in the house, locked the door and called 911.  The hooded figure took off.  Patrol officers were luckily near by at that time and had a tracking dog with them.  They tracked the offender for over a mile and then lost him – most likely because of the water in the irrigation ditches at that time.

But then the felony stalking detective assigned to Morgan’s case said “I looked in to this and discovered it was really a rash of car stereo thefts not stalking at all.”  At least that is what he told me. I had a hard time believing the other 2 sheriff’s patrol officers individually made up the story about the previous summer so I was suspicious, but other people said I should believe the detective, why wouldn’t I?  But it was a lie. And the the truth began to present itself after Morgan’s murder – this was a serial stalker. I learned the truth, first because of the blog … other victims that had been stalked in the neighborhood across the road from us wrote in, one incident had happened just 2 weeks before Morgan returned back from California and her stalking had started.  They said they reported their incidents to the sheriffs and the sheriffs came out to their homes to investigate.  If these people had not written in to me I would never have known that the detective had been lying, something he did whenever he needed, but for what reason?  Was this all to keep the crime statistics low.  Were they worried if the truth came out the tourist industry would be hit?  Do they just not care about women – are girls and young woman in Garfield County not worth their time?  Crimes against women in the Garfield County Colorado area do exist, but you never hear about them.  What is going on?

You need to be your own advocate.  You need to take every precaution necessary to stay safe…you can not count on law enforcement to do that for you.  I love that Discovery ID says, “Finding The Truth Starts With Suspicion.”  It is so true.

We were all born with intuition for a reason.  Be skeptical about what you hear.  Sometimes people make up nonsensical excuses (lies) for things you know are not right.  Your “gut” will tell you when things don’t make sense and if they don’t make sense they are most likely wrong.

Be your own advocate for not only yourself, but your family as well.  Eyes wide open, see the facts for yourself instead of believing what others would like you to believe.  The facts don’t lie…the truth is the truth no matter how hard people try to hide it.