blamin
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
And with that being said I would like to share with you something a new supporter from Canada wrote. It is beautiful, and to the point – I cried. She hit it the nail right on the head…throughout this whole ordeal of trying to get justice for our precious daughter Morgan there have been many moments that I felt like giving up on humanity – but then I realized there are thousands of supporters that have written in to me over the years, and all of them are sickened by what happened to Morgan, and they all want justice. I then understand this world really is made up of many more people that care than the few evil ones that have no soul…so I keep up the fight, knowing truth will win in the end, and evil will not prevail. The small handful of people, coming on the Internet under many, many “anonymous/fake” accounts are intent on spreading lies and whipping people up in order to create doubt and confusion about Morgan’s case…these people are known by me…I also know they have an agenda. They feel that people are too ignorant to ask questions or do the research to find the truth. They feed off the population that only wants to read salacious headlines, but in reality this type of victim bashing happens more and more these days with the widespread use of the Internet. Yes, it is wrong. Yes, it destroys our humanity if we go down that path, but we all are given a choice in life, and sadly enough we can not choose humanity for people that don’t care.
This beautiful and profound soul wrote:
Dear Toni and Steve Ingram, First and foremost, my deepest sympathy to you both and also to your family. The depths of your loss is palpable in every word you’ve written on your blog. Just to imagine enduring such a tragedy takes my breath away and leaves me with a nearly unbearable ache inside. I have one child, a daughter, who is all too quickly approaching 15. I, like you, would hope to protect her with my dying breath. She is not perfect but she is wonderfully, uniquely ours and Morgan’s story makes me want to hide her away from the evil that exists in this world. I have a confession to make and I’m terribly ashamed. I have long considered true crime and unsolved mysteries, particularly missing persons, as my “hobby.” I started reading true crime novels in my early teens (long before there even was an internet) and since the advent of the IPad, I’ve frequented websites (usually Reddit) reporting crimes and I’ve delved deeper when I’ve needed more details when a story interested me. I have always been cognizant there is more to every story than posted, always hated sites like Websleuths where people purported to “know” the truth based on their (often limited) research and I have never, ever created an account in order to comment anywhere nor contacted someone as I am doing with you now. Still, it’s hard to gloss over the fact I was essentially entertaining myself while forgetting at the heart of every crime or mystery there are countless people suffering an unspeakable loss. I’m so sorry. Last week I was reading an old Reddit post that asked a question that garnered many, many responses. Something like “what is your unpopular opinion on how a crime occurred?” Of course, the answers contained loads of theories about Maura Murray or Jon Benet or even JFK. As I read through hundreds of comments, one line contained the name Morgan Ingram. I had never heard the name before and, out of curiosity, went on to google it. Thankfully, the first page I came to was the first day of Morgan’s stalking post. I read each of the posts as they were intended to be read, day by day and in depth. For two days, I couldn’t stop. I kept praying the ending would be different even though I already knew the outcome. For the record Toni, I applaud your ingenuity in relating the tale exactly as you did – any other format (such as a fact summary) would have been easier for people to glance over and forget. You invited people into the lives of you, Steve and Morgan, humanizing each of you and making them guests in your home and then, you let them feel the building terror and helplessness exactly as each of you felt it when it first happened. It became immediately apparent you had left a piece of yourself on every single page and my heart broke for your loss while inside I cheered for your resolve to find justice for Morgan. I’m fairly certain if I’d been in your shoes, I would have fallen to pieces and my precious girl’s death would have gone unpunished. While you haven’t found your justice yet, I have every confidence you will. After I’d finished reading your blog, I went back to the original google results. I wanted to read about the outrage everyone was surely feeling on Morgan’s behalf. What I found….Wow, just wow. Can I apologize on behalf of humanity? First, I read so many comments that adamantly declared Morgan committed suicide backed up by things that had already been addressed on your blog and were just factually untrue. These were people who very obviously hadn’t bothered to read what you had written and yet single-handedly had the whole thing figured out! They didn’t even bother to counter the evidence, they just pretended it didn’t exist at all. Assuming I was just looking in the wrong place, I changed my search terms and tried again. That’s when I found the deeper dregs of humanity. “Teamkeenan?, “Truthformorgan?” Seriously??? Not only did these strangers have it all solved, they also decided it was their civic duty to harass and slander your family and supporters despite the fact they didn’t even know Morgan in life??? I can’t even fathom the all-consuming obsession required to dedicate that amount of one’s time to something so counter-productive to truth, justice and basic human compassion. And what for? What does any of it have to do with these horribly inhumane and ignorant people who aren’t even personally involved?? Toni, I can only imagine the super-human strength you must need each morning to rise from your bed and resume your fight. The fact that there are such negative forces at work trying to drag you down makes me want to weep for you. I am disgusted and quite frankly baffled these people have inserted themselves as road bumps in your path to justice. While there are many attention seekers trying to exploit Morgan’s tragedy, I have to believe there are many more people like me who wouldn’t dream of commenting publicly without knowing all the facts yet are silently sending you positive thoughts and prayers. Between that and the countless signs from your beautiful daughter, may you continue to fight for that which you know in your heart to be true. Once justice has been served, the evil lies that have been perpetuated online will explode back in the faces of those who have told them. So if I’ve never before commented or sent condolences on any case I’ve ever read, what is different about Morgan? It’s you dear lady. You have put a human face to Morgan and eloquently captured her essence in your tributes to her and by sharing the tributes of others. I have been so unsettled since reading that first blog page and know something inside me has changed because of it. I can’t get it out of my mind and have even found myself mentally reciting the facts of the case as I go about my day and wondering how there are people who still cannot see the truth. I’ve shared Morgan’s story with my husband (who sympathizes with Steve the most as he said Steve did what Daddies do and then some but probably still feels like he could have done more – yet, how can GOOD people think like EVIL people in order to predict the next move??) and my daughter (who is now reading your account for herself) and yet it’s nowhere near enough. I do know for sure you’ve forever cured me of my “hobby.” I can never again read a second-hand account of any crime and believe I know even part of the truth nor can I ever again read such an account without thinking of the depths of the pain and suffering of those loved ones affected. I will simply have to “pull a Morgan” and teach myself to knit 😊 I’m sorry there is nothing I can do to be helpful. None of us have social media and I’m fairly certain petitioning from Canada won’t do one bit of good in Colorado 😞. If you can think of anything else though, I’m here! Beyond that I will keep following your blog and my family will keep sending positive thoughts and energy to your family along with our wish that justice for ❤️Morgan❤️ will soon be served!
Toni, I hadnt even read any of the comments online from others except here on your blog.
People just dont stop for one second to think about how hurtful their comments are.
This commenter is absolutely correct. YOU made Morgan be felt by us readers. YOU made us see her as more than a victim. She was a person and a very loved person.
Alive with dreams, willing to share herself, and at peace in life: until her stalking. I think I commented to you once that I hoped you would be writing a book. You totally captured the essence of Morgan and her stalker. And it may be a good idea to bring more attention to your experience.
Your family did everything right and still…. it went all wrong. I hope one day the truth will be revealed to you. That is a horrible secret for someone to be keeping. It eats at the person from the inside out.
much peace to you and your family.
Teresa – your words are so very beautiful and I “felt” them in my heart as well…thank you so much!
I remember your comment about writing a book, so many others have encouraged this idea as well, and I have already started writing it. My hope is that the book will also help raise awareness in the public’s eye about how easily a person can be targeted, and how insidious a stalker can be…one day you are living your normal life and the next minute your whole life as you know it is gone.
There are also some TV producers that have contacted me hoping to get her story out, and I have decided to do some speaking engagements on the subject of stalking in the near future as well. I agree that bringing more attention to what went horribly wrong in Morgan’s case will not only help to ultimately get her justice, but may also help other victims have a better outcome.
Again, thank you for writing in with your thoughts, and kind words…I am very grateful to you.
YES! I love this idea… Reading your blog has gotten me through the very darkest hours of my own stalking. Imagine the good that can come from sharing your story with every person you can possibly reach, via every outlet available!
Thanks so much Kelly – glad you like the idea. I probably should have thought of this sooner, but it didn’t occur to me and it was actually Steve’s idea. Steve feels like we have to reach as many people as possible if we are going to help things change for the better. Take care!
Justice is just a hair’s breath away Toni… Xo
Thank you Kelly – hugs to you!