Morgan just being Morgan up until the very end…

Morgan one piggy taleMorgan took this silly picture of herself while Skyping her friend just days before her murder.  Morgan could always find happiness in even the silliest things, but that was Morgan.

Please don’t ever forget who Morgan was.  Never forget that she was loved by many and she was very important…every soul is important and no one has the right to stalk, terrorize and viciously take another person’s life.

How can we as a society condone the murder of a victim of stalking because local law enforcement has chosen to lie and cover it up?  If a law enforcement agency does not have the education to understand what they are up against when dealing with a stalker then they should get help.  There are many agencies that offer to help with expertise needed and at no charge to the police or sheriffs so why wouldn’t they reach out for help?  Do they not want to help victims?

In a small rural area, the Roaring Fork Valley, between Aspen, CO and Glenwood Springs, CO there is a distance of about 30 miles…not that large.  And in that area there are 9 different law enforcement agencies – all of which do not share case information with each other.  A criminal could ostensively commit a crime in one jurisdiction, then drive 15 minutes away and be in another county, commit the same crime, and neither law enforcement agency would have any clue that the same person did both crimes, because information is not shared…sounds like a great place for a criminal  to feel safe and the victims to be very frightened.  In the year 2015 with all the technology at our fingertips this is something that could change, and should change…a shared database on crimes that could be connected by local and state law enforcement agencies so that the officers have the tools at their fingertips to reduce crimes by the use of information then they can start removing the offenders from our streets.  Just a thought, but why not?  I am sure if it came down to it the taxpayers would approve a tax to help produce this type of state wide database so criminals could be taken off the streets and our children would be safer don’t you agree?

 

Who Polices the Police?

whowillprotectfrompolice copyAnother Colorado case that has been treated the same way as our daughter Morgan’s case.  The police and sheriffs departments in Colorado need accountability and right now that does not exist.  If law enforcement is allowed to repress and cover up the facts in a capital crime this is a problem for the whole state of Colorado.  There needs to be accountability.  There needs to be transparency and checks and balances, which at this time Colorado does not have.  Who in Colorado is responsible to make sure corruption does not go unchecked in Colorado?

This article is talking about the Kelsie Schelling case in Pueblo, CO.  http://southerncoloradoindependent.com/who-polices-police/

The article states that police officers say that the “higher ups” including Chief Velez and two of three top commanders including MacLaughlan, who publicly misreported facts about the Kelsie Schelling case, and Troy Davenport are causing so much trouble that its humiliating for those just trying to do their jobs.  This is what I have been trying to convey to people about Morgan’s case as well – when things like this happen within a department the good officers suffer because of the deeds of the bad officers.  The public loses faith in law enforcement, then there is less communication between the public and law enforcement, the trust is eroded and the job of law enforcement becomes all that much harder and dangerous for the good officers.  Public trust is imperative so Colorado needs to care about what is going on in these small rural counties and cities!

Quote from the article, “The machine is broken which accommodates corruption,” said a local citizen to Paulson. “It’s not even about the people in the department although some are causing more trouble than others. The machine needs to be corrected with more checks and balances.”

Let us all be aware of what is happening and let us all be a part of the solution to correct and mend the broken parts of the system.

Creating An Effective Stalking Protocol

Creating An Effective Stalking Protocol researched and written by the National Center  for Victims of Crime in 2002.  During the project, the National Center, with the assistance of a diverse advisory board, developed a model protocol to help police agencies throughout the United States address stalking more effectively. Advisory board members included experts from law enforcement, victim services, and prosecution services.

Individual stalking incidents looked at in isolation often appear innocuous. But once identified as part of a pattern of behavior of unwanted contact imposed on the victim by the perpetrator, it’s another story. Whether they are linked to domestic violence or involve perpetrators who are acquaintances or strangers, stalking incidents become threatening and sinister, even in the absence of any overt threats to harm the victim. In a significant number of cases, stalking is in fact, a precursor to lethal violence.

The fear induced by stalking, the drastic way it disrupts victims’ lives, and the real dangers faced by many victims all demand effective intervention by law enforcement. Yet, stalking is exceptionally difficult to police–difficult to investigate, prosecute, and prevent–and the majority of police departments in the United States lack clearly defined policies to deal with it.

Traditional “reactive” policing is ill-suited to the challenges because it means waiting for something to happen and then responding. Where there is an ever-present risk that stalking will cross over into physical violence and victim safety and prevention are the priorities, such an approach inevitably falls short. Stalking by its nature calls for early intervention, preventive action, and proactive problem-solving. These are the hallmarks of community policing.  https://www.victimsofcrime.org/docs/src/creating-an-effective-stalking-protocol.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Wouldn’t this be a great start if all law enforcement agencies could have a National protocol that was taught to all their officers?

 

More Exciting News…A Book!

MorganreadingbookA while ago I had the honor of being interviewed by the author of many non fiction crime novels.  She was a wonderful person to talk to and was herself a victim of stalking at one time in her life.  She had read this blog and decided to contact me with a lot of really good questions.  Once the questions were answered she was able to really understand Morgan’s story.  I wish more people asked those type of questions.  Sometimes I think a reader may be a bit confused by what they have read and if they would only ask me the question then their confustion would end.

After my interview she wrote a chapter in her new book about Morgan’s stalking and murder.  The book has recently been released and I will be posting the information here soon for anyone that is interested in buying her book.  The printed book can be ordered from any bookshop and the ebooks can be bought directly through Amazon, Apple, Kobo etc.  Here is a description of the book given by her publisher:

From secretive online followers to jealous ex-lovers and obsessed admirers through to random strangers and crazed criminals, this unnerving book will provide an insight into the minds of stalkers, and reveal how their sinister actions affect their victims.

Victims and stalkers tell their stories – both in person and through court records, with a special section on royal stalkers and celebrity stalkers through the ages. More than one hundred real life case studies from around the world highlight the sometimes deadly, but always distressing, consequences.

I am so excited about her book.  I really believe this book will be another avenue in which the awareness of the seriousness of stalking will be raised.  Let’s all keep trying to raise awareness, keep vigilant, watch out for others, and keep safe.

The author wrote to me and said:

“I think your experience really helps to highlight the horror of the experience for all involved.”

Questions & Answers About Our Cameras

A reader just wrote in to me and I would like to share her comment and my answer with all of you.

Stephanie wrote: I have so many questions after watching this episode… It’s all I can think about… The night she died wouldnt all the home surveillance camera have caught him on tape somewhere ? Something just doesnt add up.. In the last 2 hours I have read everything I could find about this case… I am truly sorry for your loss.

Answer: Stephanie we had 6 home cameras and yes, they did catch things. The problem is none were pointed at the front door or back door – they were always mounted on the house pointing away from the house in order to catch a person coming towards the house.   If they were pointed at the doors it would only have caught the back of them and whenever that happened the sheriffs said they couldn’t make an id. A person could have cut across the lawn and stepped over our short fence in one of the uncovered spots (the cameras could not cover every spot) and then moved along the side of the house in order to get to one of our doors undetected. It was not a good system especially for stalkers that are always there, always watching, and already have been arrested for breaking and entering as Morgan’s stalker had been. Morgan’s stalker repeatedly pushed the numbers on our front door code lock trying to get in after we installed the new front door lock. This was after our front door lock broke unexpectedly after the first couple of weeks of her stalking (coincidence?  I don’t think so). We believe he was in our house many times when we were gone before her murder and yes, that is something that happens in stalking cases, and no there is usually no sign of forced entry. The night Morgan was murdered she had had a wonderful and happy day. Her friend had slept over the night before to protect her, she had gone to the shop with her dad to help pack up, she was happy to see her brother when he showed up and gave him a big kiss, she called me on the phone to say, “You rock!” because I had just made some phone calls and found a connection to a witness for the detective. She came home, showered, talked to me about ordering her puppy a new name tag, went in her room played her music while singing and curling her hair, put on make-up, and told me she was going out to meet a friend. She did meet a friend to take him job hunting, she had helped him get off drugs and now she wanted him to get a job so he wouldn’t have to go back to Denver and be exposed to his same friends that did those drugs. She then tried to sleep over his Aunt’s house (because she was scared to sleep at home without a friend with her) but was told that wasn’t a good night, his Aunt had just come home from work with a migraine. Then she left to come home, stopped at another friend’s house and asked if he could sleep over, but he said no – so she came home alone at 9:04 pm. She was scared. The only other night that week she slept home alone she had to leave for the safety of one of her friend’s grandma’s house in the middle of the night because of her stalker, and yes this was reported to the sheriffs.  They showed up 45 minutes later and yes, it was the same evening our next door neighbors were robbed. People think just because Steve and I were home she felt safe…wrong, not at that time, not after 4 months of terrorization. She had asked Steve for a knife the night before her murder, he bought her one, it was in the bed next to her body when we found her. Our house was a one story large house, our room on the very back and Morgan’s room on the very front, that’s why she had a panic button. She refused to sleep in our closet after the first month, her back hurt too much, she had the knife, pepper spray and her panic button, but stalkers still manage to get into celebrities homes, homes that have armed guards, alarm systems, dogs, all kinds of security and yet people wonder how it could be possible that Morgan’s stalker got into her room. Every single piece of physical evidence, including Morgan’s body, the morning of her murder points to foul play, it points to someone being in her room and yet people desperately want to hold on to the belief that the sheriffs and coroner are correct. In reality the toxicology results and physical evidence contradicts what the coroner said.  They don’t want to see there was a their cover up of a capital crime. It is our job now to help people understand that this does happen. It’s hard to comprehend, it was for us, people want to know if it was because the stalker was a confidential informant, or did he have some ties to the sheriff’s department, was it because the sheriffs department doesn’t want any violent crimes on it’s national statistics because of the tourist industry, is it because of the illegal practices of the coroner’s department that needed to be kept secret, and on and on….there could be multiple reasons, but for us those reasons don’t mean anything, we just know they lied and wrote down false statements, they destroyed evidence, they dug in their heals and refused to let any other law enforcement agency in to review the case.  

If we don’t do our job exposing the truth then how can things ever change? How will there ever be accountability? Morgan loved life – that was the last thing she posted on her Facebook page 2 days before her murder. She loved life so much she would go outside to stand out in the rain smiling. She would stop her car to watch an eagle fly in the sky. She would walk down to the river and sit with her feet in the water. She had to tell me every single day how beautiful “she was” meaning Mount Sopris – the ever changing and beautiful mountain she saw everywhere she went.  She was a photographer and constantly took pictures…seeing her pictures now you can view life through Morgan’s eyes and it is a beautiful life that she saw. Morgan fought her assailant with everything she had, but lost. Her body reflected that fight. It angers me that a small group of women on the Internet started a smear campaign from the very start and have continued on for almost 4 years. Women that know nothing about the case except what they have read from the sheriff and coroner, redacted for their readers and added their own vicious lies into. They care nothing for the truth as I believe there is an ulterior motive behind what they have been doing. Their job is to never allow Morgan’s case to get investigated and who do you think gains from their efforts? We know a lot more about who these few people are and why they are doing this and who they are doing this for. The DOJ knows these people exist and why they do what they do, but engaging them is not to our best interest. We need all our energy and time spent on getting Morgan’s case investigated. No matter how many road blocks the “others” put up we will go around them – I promise you.

Stephanie also wrote: Did you ever at any point ever lay your eyes on him? What about the young adults that she seemed to be having trouble with were they ever questioned?

Answer: Yes, I saw him, our neighbor saw him, and Morgan saw him multiple times and reported it – the sheriffs knew…even put his picture and the picture of his car on a poster for the other officers to see. Morgan wasn’t having trouble with any other young adults, she went to college and to visit friends on an almost daily schedule up until her murder. These were others she did not know, assumedly Brooke’s friends. And there were never any young adults standing together staring at our house I guess that was just part of their dramatization.  After Morgan’s murder 2 of her friends said that Brooke and her friends were jealous of Morgan and hated her and they had heard Brooke say, “that bitch is going to get it.” All Morgan did was not go near Brooke, but Brooke obviously took that as a reason to want to hurt Morgan. Brooke has problems and has been arrested for being violent, Morgan knew that and wanted nothing to do with her.