I wake up to the smell of coffee, and the glow of Steve’s computer monitor.  Our motion detector lights outside our Master Bedroom went off multiple times last night.  Steve has already made rounds of the neighborhood, and noticed the BBQ and furniture have been shuffled around on our neighbors back patio. They are still out of town, so he wants me to call the sheriffs whenever I have the time. The red fold-up chair has been moved again, and the officers want us to report anything different that we notice going on around our house – this looks suspicious. No one has been at that house for quite a while now, so why should that chair be moving from one spot to another?  I go with Steve so he can show me the chair & BBQ and how they have been moved.

I call dispatch late morning, and a sheriff’s deputy arrives just before lunch. First we walked around the house talking about the stalker. Since this is still not considered felony stalking yet, and only misdemeanor trespassing, we have to explain the situation every time an officer comes to the house, unless they have already been to our house and they know what has been going on.  I tell him that since we put up all the detectors it has been only alarms that have been triggered, and pebbles (we think that is what is making the noise, but we really have no idea) against the windows – it’s very unnerving to us knowing the stalker is right out there, but we can’t see him/her. I tell him that my husband is going crazy trying to figure out a way to trap him, and I ask the deputy if he has any ideas that might help.

The deputy goes out to the berm behind our house (this is the grass and treed berm that divides the houses from the ranch), and is wondering if anyone lives at the ranch next door. I know most everyone there, because our horse is boarded there.  I run through them all again in my mind. They are all horse people, except for the renters in one of the buildings on the ranch.  I don’t think any of them are capable of this – but you never know, I don’t know them. They are all in the least likely group on our suspect list. The deputy was walking up the berm when he stopped, and pointed out a trail well worn into the tall grass. He asked me if we had ever seen this before, and I tell him we search for footprints around the house, but not out on the berm.  We have never see anyone up on the berm – there is no reason to be there.  It’s not a short cut to anywhere, the gardeners never work on it, it’s just wild natural growth, meant to block the view of the ranch.  He sees another trail, and thinks it leads to our neighbor’s house. He walks towards the back of their house, and asks if I know who lives there.  It’s Ken’s house (the house that has the red chair that has moved recently, again).  We have a key to his house in case of emergencies, we always keep an eye on it when no one is there, as is most often the case.

The deputy is checking doors, and finds one that is not locked. I remember him asking if he has my permission to enter the house. The next thing I know his gun was drawn, the door swung open, and he was calling out “Garfield Sheriff’s Department, is there anyone here, I’m coming in!” I was frightened, I have never been in a situation like this, and in my mind I imagine a shoot out, I don’t know if I should drop to the ground or run. He keeps calling out, while inside the house for a long time, and then he comes back out, the house is clear, and he didn’t think anyone was hiding out inside. He wanted me to contact the owner, get the house locked up and keep a closer eye on the berm behind our house. Also, call if anything at all happens, even just our motion detectors going off, especially out back. He thinks the trails worn into the berm are obviously where the stalker is approaching our house from – he was right.  https://morgansstalking.com/?p=744

The sheriff’s patrol officers were all very passionate about wanting to catch this stalker, they were great people, great warriors in my opinion, but the methods they were taught to employ, the protocol they were told to use, never had a chance against this type of stalker.

Standing on our neighbor’s patio, I can see my closet window. Morgan is still sleeping in that closet, because she feels safer there, and I wondered if she really is safe in there. I called Steve and told him we need a gun.  We were joining that group of people that feel they need a loaded gun, one that is ready to go at all times.  At first Steve didn’t want a loaded gun in the house, but I was insistent, and he said we would get one. It has been 23 days now, and I feel danger all around us.

Months later, in one of our moments of desperation, when we were thinking of what to do next, Steve went on the Internet to look at Google Earth.  He saw the satellite maps for our neighborhood that had been updated at the end of summer, September 22, 2011. There, plain as day, were the trails in the berm behind our house. It was sickening to see them. You can still see them today on Google Earth.  If you don’t have Google Earth it is free from the Google site, once you have it, enter – 62 Corral Drive, Carbondale, Colorado, 81623 – and zoom in. We did not realize it at the time, but the trail was going to prove very important in connecting the dots later on.

Click here to read about the 23rd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=737

Morgan, before the stalking started, sitting in our backyard, with the berm in the background, reading a book. Her peace & tranquility should never have been taken from her.