There are many reasons criminals get away with crimes and one reason is the lack of shared information between law enforcement agencies. This is an eye opener for most people – it was for me. Did you know that the following 8 law enforcement districts are all within a 15 minute to an hour drive from each other, and some are just across the street from one another? With this jurisdictional overlap I have been told that a criminal can get arrested in one jurisdiction (let’s suppose it is the City of Carbondale), but just one block over the jurisdictional line (let’s say in the County of Garfield where Morgan was murdered – our house was in Carbondale BUT it was not within the city limits, so it was patrolled by the sheriffs not the police) the records of those crimes are not shared with the other law enforcement agency. So it is feasible that a woman that is being stalked, or has been raped, and is only within a 5 minute drive away (or less) from the same crime that has happened to another woman, the information and MO on that crime is not shared, so the other law enforcement agency would have no idea they are dealing with a serial offender. I don’t know what you think, but for me this revelation was outrageous considering the technological age we now live in! This makes it extremely easy for a criminal to believe he has a good chance of never being caught…and he would be right.So people always ask me, “What could be changed in order to stop these types of serial crimes?” And this is one of my suggestions…a database of crimes committed that the different jurisdictions can access I believe is imperative in order to identify and stop serial offenders.
Here is the list of police & sheriffs departments that are included in the list of agencies that are all very close to one another and overlap, but do not share this type of crime information with each other. These are all in the valley that Morgan lived in and grew up in – a valley that we thought was so safe. It is not the fault of law enforcement that they do not have this “tool” in order to share information. It is up to the voters to insist on an allocation of funds to make this kind of a database and app available to these officers.
Aspen Police Department
Pitkin County Sheriff Department
Snowmass Village Police Department
Basalt Police Department
Eagle County Sheriff Department
Carbondale Police Department
Garfield County Sheriff Department
Glenwood Springs Police Department
Morgan was murdered on 12/2/2011. Just weeks after Morgan’s murder the main “suspect” in her stalking was arrested on a warrant. The Glenwood Springs police issued a warrant for him on 12/19/11 and then it was “suppressed from public access” (why?), but then on 12/27/11 they “unsealed” it and he was arrested. It was written up in the Post Independent newspaper, then I received a phone call to inform me about the article. I immediately called the lead detective in charge of Morgan’s felony stalking case and he said he was not aware of the arrest, but would look into it. He knew things were stolen from Morgan’s room the night of her murder, and I thought there was a possibility that something from her room may have been included in the jewelry that was sold to this cash for gold business. But every time I asked the detective about it he said the police had not met with him yet to give him the details. Finally I went Steve & I went in to the cash for gold shop and showed them the suspect’s picture and asked about the sale. The person in the shop recognized the picture and said the “suspect” was a regular customer, she said the police had confiscated jewelry from the last sale he made and they could not show us records because they did not keep records. We then returned home and told all of this to detective Glassmire. We later found out that detective Glassmire then went to the cash for gold store only to show them our pictures to confirm that we had really been there asking questions and then he wrote in his report that he was going to site the store for not keeping records, and then later mentioned he would have the Glenwood police site them instead. What was that all about?
So in summation it was a different case, in a different jurisdiction (even though it’s was just a 20 minute drive from our house). There had been a warrant for the sale of stolen jewelry, and when they pulled him over they found drugs, and a scale, etc. in his vehicle, so they arrested him on felony distribution. I think his friend later confessed to stealing the jewelry and giving it to him so that one particular charge was dropped and the other charges were plead down. So yes, those police officers in that jurisdiction knew nothing of Morgan’s jewelry being stolen, and when I went in to look at the police report the police records officer could not find it, so she sent me to the DA’s office. I was then told in the DA’s office that they could not find it either, but suggested that maybe an investigator had it on his desk and would need to call me back. Now at this point it had been over 3 months since the arrest and they told me it “should” be in the computer, but was not. I was told by the police that it should have been public record at that time. After filling out a bunch of paperwork an investigator from the DA’s office called me back to talk to me, and he was not very happy with me. He firmly (he actually sounded angry) told me if I wanted any information I should call the lead sheriff’s detective on our daughter’s case and not them – and again what was that all about? So this is why it is crucial for the laws to change and for multiple jurisdictions to share information about crimes.
It was so hard for me to comprehend why we were continually getting the run-around back then, but I have learned a lot over the past 4 years. I will continue to share the information that I have learned in the hopes that someday things can and will change for the better. Take care and always remember each and every one of us can make big changes in this world. Don’t just believe what you are told – get the facts, and do the research. That is my suggestion.
Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons (FOHVAMP) is a truly amazing organization – one that has continually helped us in our quest for justice for our daughter Morgan. They are a nonprofit out of Colorado. I know every dollar they receive is put to good use helping many, many families trying to find justice for their loved ones, just as we have been trying these past 4 years. Steve & I, as well as others we know have just made donations to them. Please consider going online to their website’s donation page 