Morgan we missed you so much on Halloween…but we felt you with us as we handed out candy to all those adorable little kids. This picture reminded us of how much fun you had on your last Halloween in 2011 with all your friends.
I carved my first pumpkin Friday night for you Morgan. I thought I did a decent job. It was supposed to look like a kitty, but your sister said it looks more like Simba the lion cub…:)
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” – Jane Howard
And we have one, many actually… and you are all part of it! When our family needed that extra strength and hope, so many wonderful people offered to help us in our quest for justice for Morgan. Some of you have called yourselves, “Team Morgan,” and in my own mind I have always thought of you as earth angels! I have been so grateful for every single offer of help and support. We have been so fortunate to have assistance in so many differing areas of expertise. Exposing the truth would never have come this far without all of it. And now as Morgan’s case takes another step forward I invite everyone to join in.
I am extremely happy to announce that Northern Colorado Crime Stoppers, along with help from Families of Homicide and Missing Persons (FOHVAMP) is now circulating a reward poster for any information leading to the arrest of the person(s) involved in the unsolved homicide of our 20 year old daughter Morgan Ingram on December 2, 2011.
If every single one of you could please share this post with anyone, and everyone you know, I would greatly appreciate it.
I know there are people that know what happened to Morgan, and those people also know who is responsible. We want those people to come forward to help solve this crime. This is their chance to do the right thing, and to no longer hide in the shadows. Sometimes people think that what they know will not make a difference, but rest assured every single small piece of information will help to tell the whole story. Finding the piece that will finally tip the scale for Morgan is something I will never stop fighting for. I have heard many stories of the threats made against, “snitches,” so far, and if you feel unable or fearful to speak your truth, then please know I have been assured you can remain absolutely anonymous. Personally I feel that if you are forced to swallow the truth and keep it inside, then it eats at you. It’s nature’s law. I would like people to know that when you let the truth out the feeling you get is awesome and liberating!
I myself have wanted to desperately get out all the details, facts, and evidence that we have gathered over the past years, but I have had to hold back (from this blog) on a lot of information in the hopes that it can be used in a criminal case someday. At times I admit I have let my anger get the best of me. I could say, “What parent wouldn’t be angry?” but instead I would like to say because of Steve I have been blessed – he has held me back and shown me that sharing all the brutal ugliness we have uncovered is just not always helpful, and not always necessary, not yet anyway. Things happen for a reason and they happen when they are suppose to happen…not just when I want them to happen. What I have learned over the years is that justice is not going to come through anger or ego, only through facts, so I do the best I can to keep mine in check. Facts come out at the correct time, not when I want them to, but when they should be released.
I can never stress enough, both to myself and to everyone whom I have contact with that my efforts are not only about the loss of our precious daughter, but about all the wrongs being perpetrated on other innocent victims every day, and what needs to change to prevent this from happening again. Unfortunately, and horribly there are so many stories of many other people who are suffering, or have suffered great personal loss themselves. What happened to Morgan is not an isolated case, while I pray the cover-up that has followed is an isolated case. For the good of all, this has to stop somewhere.
The simple yet overwhelming truth is that for Morgan to have justice someday, unpleasant truths will eventually have to have to come out, and visit the light of day. It should not be much of a stretch to see that this will be unpleasant for some, and for others it is something that they will want to avoid at all costs. To those I say that for Morgan to have been victimized, then murdered, only to be victimized again, was horrific for her, and all those who knew and loved her so much.
The knowledge that pursuing justice for Morgan will lead to a very needed change in the way victims and co-victims are treated in the future is extremely important to me, and I know it would have been so important to Morgan as well. I know that this fight for justice is not only being waged by Morgan’s family and friends, but also by complete strangers that want to help make changes for the better in this world – I will probably never be able to explain it except to say there are forces at work that have been making the impossible possible in this fight.
So please I am asking you all now to share this blog, and this poster in any way you can. This is a very powerful way you can help find justice for Morgan.
You can even print the poster and hang it anywhere you think it may be seen by people that may know something. Especially in Newcastle, Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Basalt, and Aspen, CO. Coffee shops, sports shops, churches, grocery stores, colleges, anywhere that they will allow you to post this. Thank you all so very much – with much love from the bottom of my heart!
Please help – Justice for Morgan!
***Criminals do “trip up” – they can’t help themselves…just found out that on 3/16/2014 Keenan was arrested again, it was in the local newspaper listed under recent crimes, posted by the Glenwood Springs Police (not the sheriffs). His criminal record keeps growing, but for some reason he seems to be “protected” and nothing ever really happens to him – this is a question I continually ask myself.
Today is the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims – I would like everyone to know that Morgan will be represented during this presentation. My sincere thanks to FOHVAMP and COVA for including her, even though Steve and I can not be present.
|
Morgan with Tessi as a puppy – granted she was a big puppy, but she was very young at the time this picture was taken. Morgan loved children and animals – they always made her smile.
Morgan was a gentle and sweet soul, existing as one with the earth. Loved by all, and who’s bright light attracted everyone, and everything – including both light and darkness, people that were good, and people that were evil.
I really miss listening to her play her keyboard and sing. One of the song that she used to sing almost every day was Hallelujah. You may think it is just a coincidence, or a sign, or a whisper from an angel, but whatever you may believe in my heart every time I walk into a room and this song is playing or just goes on I “feel” like Morgan is reminding me that she is right there with me. I “feel” a warm surge go through my back and all the sadness and longing I have to see her again becomes less because I “feel” like she is right there with me. So on that note I would like to share with you the song below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMNRXQuvl64
The most beautiful song, originally written and sung by none other than Buddhist, and Ladies’ Man, Leonard Cohen. This song has different meanings to a lot of people but it is a beautiful song and one that makes me feel happy inside.
“And even though it all went wrong, I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song, with nothing on my tongue but ‘Hallelujah’.”
It’s, as I say, a desire to affirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way but with enthusiasm, with emotion…It’s a rather joyous song. I wanted to write something in the tradition of the hallelujah choruses but from a different point of view…It’s the notion that there is no perfection—that this is a broken world and we live with broken hearts and broken lives but still that is no alibi for anything.
On the contrary, you have to stand up and say hallelujah under those circumstances.
~ Leonard Cohen
And most famously, by Rufus Wainwright, a version that made it into Shrek, the blockbuster children’s fave movie.
I heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do ya?
Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahWell your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to her kitchen chair
And she broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, HallelujahMaybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who out drew ya
It’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not someone whos seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
There is beauty everywhere you look in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. Nature is all around, but nature is not the cause of the danger. The danger is caused by the lack of communication between victims and law enforcement. Danger because things are not shared with the community. Danger because of the lack of proper stalking protocol, danger to innocent people because stalking is not being taken seriously. I would think after what happened to our 20 year old daughter Morgan, that the Garfield County Sheriff would rethink his policies and protocol, but it doesn’t seem like that has happened. Nothing has changed, we are no longer living there, but I am still being contacted by people that do live there, are currently being stalked, and their cases are being treated the same way as Morgan’s case was treated.
Your elected officials need to know that you’re expecting them to protect, and defend your families and homes, they are supposed to work for you. They need to know that their job is more than having their officers hand out tickets and fines. When there is serious crime they need to have officers on their force that have been trained to deal with these situations, situations like kidnapping, rape, sexual assaults against children, stalking, and murder. And yes, these things do happen in Garfield County, but people usually just don’t get to hear about them. These are serious situations that happen there, and if there isn’t enough trained officers then they need to bring in another agency to assist, but DO NOT ignore serious crime, DO NOT sweep it under the rug and pretend it is not happening, DO NOT tell the victims and co-victims that there is not enough evidence – have trained law enforcement agents that know how to do an interview, know how to look for evidence, DO NOT just collect salaries to protect and serve and then just do the very least possible, leaving the citizens of your town or county to fend for themselves…there is a reason this is no longer the wild west, there is a reason we have law enforcement – law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect.
Morgan’s felony stalking detective came over for about an hour, once a week, most weeks, and would discuss tactics going forward that he wanted to implement in order to catch her stalker and make an arrest, but then those tactics were never employed – why? Over and over again he would tell us he could not get approval for any additional hours, so instead of bringing in the dogs to track the stalker in the middle of the night as discussed, instead of doing a stake-out for more than an hour and a half on only one night in 4 months, instead of having batteries in their cameras that actually worked, instead of finding out where their suspect really lived and going there to interview him, instead of putting the suspect under surveillance (and I could go on and on, but won’t), why are they able to afford to put an officer less than a 1/2 mile from our house for 6 hours straight to catch speeders, but could not allocate time for a felony stalking that ultimately ended in a death…someone please tell me how this is even remotely sane, or logical? Stalking protocol in places like Garfield County need to change, and they need to change now for everyone’s sake!
Right at this very moment there is a victim of stalking in the Roaring Fork Valley (yes, right where Morgan was stalked and killed). She is scared for her life, and the life of her child. Her stalker has done this before, he has stalked and kidnapped a former girlfriend, he did jail time for that, and has now been bonded out on this current stalking charge. These are repeat offenders. They do not stop – the most they do is move on to another target. At least this victim has a protection order, and if he is caught he should go back to jail. But the key here is the word “caught” in order to be “caught” there needs to be something in place that will work, and currently there is nothing.
We need law enforcement to have early and effective risk identification, assessment and management to keep victims safe, and hold perpetrators accountable. Take stalking seriously, speak with the victims, help implement protection orders, and inform the victims of their rights.
Change can, and will be made, and it will come about through the efforts of everyday people who love their families, want them to live a safe life, these are the people that will make this a better world, they will be the ones to change everything…everyday people like you and I.
Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed, that’s all who ever have – Margaret Mead
