Let me explain…
- My main goal has always been to get justice for Morgan, and help others through her story. There is quite a lot of activity going on that I haven’t talked about as it very sensitive, behind the scenes type of things, mostly being carried out by other people.
- On this Blog I have been trying to show everything that happened, on a daily basis last year during Morgan’s stalking, in hopes to take the reader into the actual feeling of what was going on…good or bad. To do this I go through a daily log that I kept for the Sheriff’s Department, as well as for myself last year, then Morgan’s emails, telephone calls, and text messages, also mine and my husbands, I look through binders of notes and scraps of paper, and boxes of evidence in order to produce this Blog.
- The way I am doing this is taking a couple of hours in the early morning of every one of my days before I go to work, so it would be impossible for me to produce the whole story all at once, one day is manageable at this time…sorrry.
- Most of the comments I receive are from lovely, sweet and caring people who are applauding me for what I am doing as they had no idea that this sort of thing was happening in our pristine little valley, or the real toll of stalking throughout the world (many people are coming on at least once a week from over 50 countries!).
- This is a start, we will raise awareness, we will make it much harder for these types of criminals to do their thing, and we will all pull together, and help empower each other – of that I am sure!
This story has truly touched my heart. I had a stalker when I was about 8 years old. The fear is exhausting. It was terribly taxing for my entire family. I was born in Glenwood Springs and grew up about an hour away from there.
I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. I just wanted to let you know I’m praying for you and your family and I admire your courage to share your story.
Nicole – I am so sorry you and your family had to go through that. It is something I never heard about in all my years in this valley and now that we are going public with this I have heard from so many woman and girls that have gone through it. I know how horrible it is for the victims. Your life is forever changed…you can rise up and empower yourself, but you are always hyper vigilant and never 100 % trusting anymore…which these days is probably smart.
Thank you so much for your prayers. This has not been easy – so many days I just want to give up and cry myself to sleep, but people like you give me the strength to keep going forward…we will make changes, and save others. I believe this with all my heart.
Did the stalking stop after her death? I am so sorry for your loss, this story breaks my heart, as a mother of 3, I pray we never have to deal with anything like this. Morgan was a beautiful girl!! RIP
I have just started reading this blog, and I have to say, seeing the events day to day has put a more “real” feeling on it… I think it’s a great approach to show how everyday details can all add up.. I applaud your courage for taking a look back and sharing with the world how everything unfolded. You are touching more lives than you know.
Hayley thank you so much for saying that – it really helps as writing about this, and answering comments is so very hard emotionally…it’s like reliving it over and over again, but I know Steve and I are strong, and if this helps get justice for Morgan, and changes things in the future so as to save even just one girl, it will be worth it to us, and now that we have had two women write in with success stories after readying the blog and asking questions I feel better about it already!
I truly appreciate the way you share your story. The feeling of apprehension on a daily basis is conveyed well. And it must be very therapeutic for you to do this in your own way.
My heart breaks thinking about anything like this happening to us or our girls. Your strength and determination to make a difference is amazing. It has definitely made me think of the way we do things at home. Thank you!
I also appreciate the way you are sharing this story and my heart goes out to you and your family. I also had a stalker and although it has been over 10 years and he was imprisoned (for a different crime), it has made me also hyper-vigilant and ever afraid of it happening again. I still think about it regularly and live with the feeling that he could show up again anytime!
Many positive thoughts and blessings to you!
Don’t change the way that you are presenting this story, you are doing a good job. I look forward to reading the rest of your story. God bless you and your family.
Denny
Denny – thank you for saying that…not everyone that has been reading my blog agrees with you. I am getting tons of pressure to give everyone more, or I am being told that people will think that I am not believable.
Of course I get a little upset about that, because I know everything I am writing in here is the truth, and if people need to wait another 2 months for everything to come out, and they can’t wait that long, I guess all I can say is oh well. I did this blog in order to get people to see who Morgan was, to understand how dangerous stalking is, to try to make changes in victims laws, and LE protocols so this doesn’t have to keep happening to innocent victims, and to get the State or Federal law enforcement agencies to investigate Morgan’s murder – not for any other reason. So I greatly appreciate your support. Much love to you!
Please don’t change a thing! What you are doing takes such strength and courage and determination. It also takes an amazing ability to make yourself vulnerable to reliving the pain that I’m sure has never left you. Do it your way and in your own time. Praying for you and your family and for justice to be done. May the peace of Christ be with you all.
Thank you for sharing your story in any way you can. I have three teenage daughters, a young son, and a new baby and the idea of this happening to one of them has me in tears as I read your story. I hope the person responsible is caught.
I had someone follow me home at 2 am, a few years ago. We live on at the end of a cul de sac, and I was not positive until they did not turn off to the road before our cul de sac. At that point I was not sure what to do. I called the police and they walked me through every part I did wrong. It has been years and I *still* pay attention to any vehicle that follows me for what seems like a significant period of time.
If anyone is curious, you are to call 911, explain the situation, and start driving to where they tell you to drive, or the nearest police station.
I think telling it day by day really shares the process of what happened better. To highlight the progression of events and the building terror and fear that you felt. Being stalked makes each day feel like an eternity. And you say to yourself “If I can just get through this day/night, it will be fine”. Only to find that you have to battle the next day, then the next, then the next. I also think you should do this the way that makes you feel better. The healing process has got to be done on your terms. Hopefully you find comfort from this.
Thanks Melissa – and I know this sounds weird but going through my notes and things and typing the blog reminds me of things that I obviously didn’t want to remember, so even though that’s emotionally upsetting, it is also good as far as knowing who was involved, what was done wrong, who dropped the ball, and how things can change going forward for other victims.
I am thinking you should write this as a book when you get done with the blog. Pull the blog down and have it published as a book with an agent and a major publishing house. You will reach more people, get publicity for Morgan’s case, which in turn will lead to publicity for the cause and stalking victims past, present and future – and at the same time, force the police to investigate. This format is perfect for a book. Just my thoughts. God bless you all!!
I am still reading this blog…( saw the story on Dr. Phil today)….. this might sound stupid BUT…. did you collect any of the rocks/ pebbles that hit the window at night? thanks.
Teresa – not a stupid question, it is a good question. We now know the stalker was on our roof, but we do not know yet what he was using to hit the windows with, but he was bending over the roof and hitting the windows with something he had with him, so no pebble or rocks, although we live in the Rocky Mountains and we had pebbles, rocks and frozen dirt clogs all around our house.
Your strength is amazing!! You will be in my prayers!!! Morgan was beautiful!! I can’t even imagine the horror she went through. Or the horror you went through. Thank you for sharing her story.
Steph – thank you so very much. It’s been hard but when I think back on what Morgan had to endure I get angry and I know what we are going through without her isn’t even close to the pain she went through.
Hi Toni, I haven’t checked in with you for a while, but I have always agreed with the way you have presented Morgan’s story on the blog. Stalking — as I learned first-hand — is so convoluted and so emotionally and mentally taxing that to delve deep and tell the whole story in one day would be impossible. I — 16 months out and safe from mine — still recall little things that in the grand scheme of 5 years now were clues, signs, etc. but you never pieced it together when dealing with the emotional drainage of torture. It doesn’t make the situation fake; it makes it real and makes us human for blocking pain until we’re ready to process it. 🙂
Jill you are so very right – I was crying my eyes out last night going through all the emails, next messages, and notes that I kept that went back and forth with the detective and I just wanted to scream! When you look at them all together you can’t understand why you didn’t go ballistic at the time, even though I know that at the time (just like other stalking victims have mentioned) we were all trying to minimize, put a good spin on it thinking he would be caught any day now, but in reality I think your psyche is trying to keep you from falling apart at the time…I’m out of my fog now and have processed most of it and it’s time to push forward and get justice for Morgan and change the way Law Enforcement deals with stalking victims – it’s not that hard, change the way they do things, believe the victims, catch the predator before any more damage is done…not too much to ask.
It shouldn’t be too much to ask at all. I had a meltdown last weekend NOT because of the stalker — I’ve come to grips with him, I’ve accepted it as something that happened, etc. My meltdown came after seeing information about the stalker’s boss — the one that continues to employ him, continues to be blinded to the “true” side of him that I know to be true; the boss that still sees the fictitious life he leads and puts up as a front/cover at work to make everyone thinks he’s a saint. While on one hand, I know that everyone tied to a predator in any way is toxic, I also know that his company is as dumb to what he is as I once was. On that hand, I feel sorry for his boss, but moreover, I feel sorry for the fact that because the creep got away with what happened to me, he’ll be wiser the next time and it will be even harder to catch him, likely. That’s the sad reality. The more they learn to cover; the harder it is for even law enforcement to catch them, especially with law enforcement having little power now.
Jill you are right – we need TRANSPARENCY! We need people to pay for their crimes, and this is the world not a boy’s club – this is the real world…real men stand up for what is right. People that cover up and protect when they know it’s wrong are just plain old COWARDS! Not only are they cowards they know deep down inside what they are doing is wrong and it will stay with them until the day they die…and after.