Morgan’s brother honors Morgan in his own way…

Our whole family has been devastated by the loss of Morgan…I don’t think I will ever have words strong enough to convey that feeling.  I wanted to share a moment in Morgan’s brother’s life that recently happened.

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Morgan’s brother made up his mind to get his first tattoo in order to honor his sister’s memory…He decided the quote Morgan wrote on some ribbon, and held in front of herself in some pictures she took, would be the perfect thing to always remind him, not only of her, but of one of the many strong beliefs they both shared.  Fate – The Illusion that you’ll get the things you want without earning them.  

They both believed in hard work, and dedication in order to achieve their goals.  Ryan said he is planning on going back in to have Morgan’s initials put under this tattoo.  It has been a year and a half since Morgan’s stalking started, and our once normal lives turned into the unthinkable – trying to protect our youngest daughter from a predatory stalker, and then 4 months later, in the midst of her felony stalking case, the shock and disbelief of finding her dead in her bed.

This unthinkable tragedy has been devastating to our entire family, but it has also taught us all to hold each other a little longer, always remember to end each conversation with, “I love you”, like Morgan always did, never take each other for granted, appreciate every second of our lives, believe in love being greater than hate, remember to lean on each other for strength, and remember that Morgan is still always with us – her light still shining bright.

Our family is strong, and will keep pushing forward in order to get justice for Morgan, and to give a voice to others that can not speak for themselves. Stalking is a pervasive and serious threat, and so many victims worry (and in some cases rightly so, as I have heard so many times from other stalking victims) that their complaints won’t be taken seriously.  David Beatty, the former director of public policy for the National Victim Center in Washington, DC said, “in almost every stalking case that turns violent the warning signs were already there.”

Let’s all remember to talk stalking seriously – open your minds, and hearts to victims of stalking, and help whenever you can.  Believe people when they are in distress, and tell you about what is happening to them.  Keep your eyes and ears open for anything strange or out-of-place when it comes to your children, or other people’s children – you might just be the difference in saving some other family from going through the heartbreak that our family has had to experience.  Good people in this world can make the greatest difference in bringing about the change that is desperately needed.  Thank you all for helping our family this past year and a half – when our strength starts to dwindle your support holds us up, and gets us going again…and for that I am forever grateful!

Please join me tonight…on a special radio show about stalking

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Good morning everyone – please join me tonight (8:00 pm Pacific, 9:00 pm Mountain, 10:00 pm Central & 11:00 pm EST) as I have the honor of being a guest on the following blog radio show.  I will be talking about our daughter Morgan’s stalking & murder, as well as things we can all do to raise awareness about stalking in order to see the change in this world that needs to be seen.  Stalking needs to be taken seriously, and the producers of this show also believe this is an important message for people to hear.  Thanks – I hope you can listen in – Toni

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/captivating-chats/2013/08/07/our-special-guest-toni–morgans-stalking

Raising Awareness On Stalking

  • Please join the ladies as they discuss the topic of stalking.  We have heard of celebrities being stalked, but are we aware this happens to everyday folks? 

It is an issue that is lurking underground, just as real stalkers do. We do not see it in our everyday lives.  It is very present whether we are aware of it, or not.  

We want to raise awareness and the issue of stalking.  The ladies welcome in Toni Ingram, she will be sharing her daughter’s story.

See you then,

Catherine and Patricia

 

A Sufi quote, and giving thanks for being blessed with an amazing daughter

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The quote below I found one day, and it touched my heart.  My heart grieves every moment of every day for Morgan, and yet my heart rejoices every moment of every day when I think how lucky we all were to have Morgan in our family for 20 years.
Morgan was an amazing person, she had a kind caring soul, she would put herself “out there” to help others in need.  She had an amazing interest in Philosophy and Religion, never-ceasing to amaze me with her ability to “teach” herself, and constantly learn new things.  She had a huge appetite for understanding why things are the way they are.
After she turned 18 she was so excited to vote for the first time – she read everything she could about what was going to be on the ballot, and then made up her own mind about how she would vote, never following a party line, just voting from her own belief system.  Isn’t that exactly what this Country was created out of?  I guess what I am trying to say is that I am so very proud to be Morgan’s mother, I always have been, and always will be.
I feel like Morgan may not be on this earth in flesh and blood any longer, but she is absolutely still here in spirit, and because of her, things are going to change for the better – not just for one person, but for many…and Steve and I will make sure this happens!  We will move forward with resolute focus, truth, trust and passion.

 “When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has left. “ 

-Sufi Epigram

The Predator Within…assess & stop the stalker before it’s too late!

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A Predatory Stalker is more focused, and is considered to stalk in such a way that is far more preparatory to a sexual assault than love notes on the window, flowers or unwanted messages.  Both are equally unnerving to the victim, and it is always paramount to identify what kind of stalker you are dealing with as soon as possible.

Morgan’s stalker was extremely cautious at the beginning, first leaving only scuffs and very faint footprints in the ground up against the house in front of her windows, employing his voyeurism.  After many weeks of stalking, and increased brazenness, cast-able footprints were possible after painstaking preparation of the soils around the house by Steve.  Steve’s exits from the house to give chase were also carefully planned to send the stalker retreating through the best areas to get a good print.  At times our tactics paid off with great impressions.  If only they had been treated like real evidence by the Garfield Sheriff’s Department, but they were not, they were never casted or photographed, so that evidence was forever destroyed.

The Predatory Stalker stalks his victim as part of a plan to attack her, usually sexually.  The initial contact is aimed at gathering information about the potential victim.

Completely true, Steve always felt, and commented that Morgan’s stalker felt and acted as if he was sizing us up, testing the defenses.  This feeling put Steve into what he thought was a counter course of action that involved trying to constantly change the locations of cameras, motion alarms, motion lights, as well as add to, or even take away something to always present a different array in an attempt to trip the stalker up.  To give an idea of how closely we really were watched one time Steve re-painted two motion detectors a camouflage color then carefully went out after dark to place them in entirely new, and very concealed locations.  Hours later they were both lying face down on the ground.  The stalker had obviously been watching the entire time and managed to neutralize them before they were turned back on.

The Predatory Stalker will often extend the stalking far beyond what is needed to complete the acquisition of information, and is sustained by the gratification derived from the voyeuristic elements, from the rehearsal, from fantasies of the planned attack, and from the sense of power over the victim.

Once again, this is spot on, in Morgan’s Stalking the prints and scuffs right from the beginning were obviously indicative of a person with their face right up against her bathroom glass.  And as the stalking continued he seemed to fall into a pattern of repetition, which I would completely see as the post acquisition of information stage, and right in line with what is described in the fantasy stage.

The Predatory Stalker is surreptitious so as not to alarm the victim, although some predatory stalkers take pleasure in raising the victim’s anxiety by actions that let the target know he or she is being watched without revealing the identify or whereabouts of the stalker.  Examples of such actions are entering the victim’s home, and moving articles around, tapping on windows at night (which Morgan’s stalker constantly did at night), and calling out while hidden.

Morgan’s Stalker was completely surreptitious, as to not alarm his victim, unless he was tapping on her windows at night to raise her anxiety, and let her know she is being watched.  He never called out while hidden.  And we absolutely can’t help but think he was in the house on many occasions.  Broken locks, jammed doors, missing jump drives, missing PJ’s and jewelry – far too many things to explain away as coincidence.

Predatory stalkers should almost always be managed within a sex-offender protocol, with the main focus being on the management of the paraphilia that is the driving force behind the stalking behavior.

Morgan’s Stalker was undoubtedly a sexual pervert, fulfilling the requirements of the law for Invasion of Privacy for Sexual Gratification with his actions.  The previous incidents dating back years in the neighborhood filled this definition of sexual perversion.

Morgan was not given a rape kit, and her autopsy was over in less than two hours, with her body sent back to the funeral home far short of the time required for strangulation bruising to develop, so the true assessment of possible strangulation, or rape will most likely never be known.

Predatory stalkers often have poor self-esteem and are sexually deviant.  They may display poor social skills, especially in romantic relationships.  Many have lower than normal intelligence, and when picking a victim it could be someone he knows or a complete stranger.

They will generally stalk for a shorter period of time than other types of stalkers as they want information to commit the crime, sufficient fantasy to lead up to the crime, and then the crime itself, a predator, one of the most dangerous stalkers, they are more likely to have prior criminal convictions, most often sexual, than other types of stalkers.  And they have a high potential to commit sexual assault or worse.  Escape after the crime is part of the planning.

Morgan’s stalking went on for four months before her murder, a relatively short time frame for stalkers.  Her stalker had a long criminal history, hitting on all of the hot button warning signs of a violent repeat stalker.  He has most likely stalked before Morgan, and he most likely will, or has already again.

Predatory Stalkers and sex offenders as a group share an impressive capacity to rationalize, minimize and excuse their behavior, no matter how outrageous it may be.  Leading double lives, leaving their family and friends stunned, and disbelieving when they are finally caught.  As we have heard many rumors of Keenan bragging about killing Morgan, we have not completely confirmed those rumors as of yet, but Keenan has never been shy about talking about what happened to Morgan, it is just never him that actually did it according to him, he says he wasn’t one of the “ones” that did that to her, and this we have confirmed that he has said to some people.  Richard Ramirez, dubbed the night stalker, a serial killer, rapist, and burglar, is considered a classic example of a predatory stalker.  While the man named Midwestern, “Mall Rapist,” James Perry was actually married with two children while at the same time a brutally efficient predatory stalker.  For a predatory stalker to lead a double life is more common than an impossibility.

All the above is the critical reason law enforcement needs to assess the stalking situation right in the beginning, so they know what they are up against, and act swiftly in order to protect, and save the victim.  If additional training is required then make sure all officers get it – do not let stalking victims be left to fear for their lives with no protection from law enforcement.

Raise your awareness level – for more Information I suggest you read these:

Psychology Today
The Human Equation  Serial Killers, self-reliance and everything in between                       by Jon E. Johnson, Psy D. The Predatory Stalker  A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing                   published on December 11, 2012 b Jon E. Johnson Psy D. in The Human Equation 
 
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment   The management of stalkers

 

Morgan’s Search for Justice – what I wish we had known, and why law enforcement needs to attain, and utilize that knowledge

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Morgan’s stalking began two years ago yesterday.  Back then it would be five days and four clear incidents of stalking before I would finally call the Sheriff’s and our family would receive the Garfield County Sheriff’s answer to the crime of stalking in progress – this was ignorance on my part as I had no real experience or information about stalking at that time, and really didn’t know what to do.  We were all worried, Morgan was nervous, and frightened, but we kept telling ourselves that this really couldn’t be happening – I now know this is one of the first reactions most stalking victims have.  The true seriousness of the crimes being committed we did not know two years ago.  The operator for the Sheriff’s department, my first contact, would wonder angrily why I had waited so long to call.

While in her mind, that may have been a fair way to treat me and Morgan’s stalking at that moment, it was far less than professional.  Two years later I believe we all would have been better off if I had never even made that call – that is only in our situation with our Sheriff’s department…stalking victims should always document every incident, and involve their local law enforcement agency, unfortunately many of the stalking victims that have contacted me have not had adequate help from law enforcement, and they are frantic to know where to turn.  There are so many wonderful, and heroic law enforcement agents in our country that know what to do, and do an excellent job – now I constantly wonder how to get that same education, and passion passed on to the ones that don’t.   If Steve and I had counted only on ourselves to protect our daughter – to discover the true nature of the threat we faced, and the best way to combat it instead of completely trusting the Sheriff’s department – Morgan might still be alive today.

While that is a sad, sad truth and a personal indictment of the Sheriff’s Department, and their protocol for stalkers, that is for many reasons, what I believe.  It can be fixed, and for the sake of the safety of young women across this county, it must be.  A model for the rest of the country for effective law enforcement could exist here, free of sexual discrimination, upholding not only the laws of the state, but the Constitutional guarantees of the State of Colorado.  And as long as I’m fervently wishing I’ll add in upholding the laws of this Country, along with the U.S. Constitutional guarantees as well.

I appreciate the current Sheriff has very strong beliefs about the Second Amendment, but there is not one Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, there are seven articles and twenty-seven amendments.  I know that many are not his concern, but between the U.S. Constitution, and the Colorado Constitution there are certainly some Amendments that go straight to the heart of Morgan’s stalking and murder and they were completely ignored.

I call this little piece – Morgan’s search for justice, because she is the one who most deserves justice.  Morgan was ignored, treated as if she were a second class citizen.  She did not deserve to have her Constitutional rights completely whipped away.  When Morgan risked her life to get out of her car and positively Identify Keenan as the driver who was following, harassing, and stalking her, there was no response from the Sheriffs.  When Morgan saw Keenan at Thunder River, perfectly timing his arrival to pass right in the middle of the intersection, one time, then two times, the third time, or maybe it was the fourth time, Morgan lost it and out of sheer frustration wanted to take the law into her own hands.  She did not, but the inaction and cascade of excuses flowing from the Sheriff’s Department made her feel only more discriminated against.

Why was she so ignored?  Why did they not care?  I just made a list of 48 individual occasions when Detective Glassmire promised some action that would end her stalking, a piece of evidence, an interview, an action that would bring her one step closer to safety.  All 48 were things that he never, “got around to doing,” or else had some reason it was no longer necessary.  Forty-eight times, makes me wonder what he really did do, I know he told James Harris that Morgan was going to have a formal interview in a few days (just 4 nights before Morgan was killed), did James Harris tell his daughter, or did she overhear? Did Brooke tell Keenan?  I believe that could have happened.

The Gnome that was taken from the porch of the house we moved to, after leaving the house our daughter was murdered in, became a Sheriff’s report, I never saw them move so fast – I was shocked – it was just a little gnome, what was the point of a report, but they insisted.  But the burglary that happened the night Morgan was killed – how is it that never became a report or a case?  Is that really the way to catch the criminals?  If all Keenan got for felony possession with intent to distribute, and theft by receiving was a hand slap – and it’s not the first time – what’s he going to get for gnome stealing?  Really?

But on to something I really want to share, two years, and one day after Morgan first heard those taps on her windows.  I want to raise awareness of a certain typology of stalker, and I want to show how a little knowledge could have gone a long way.

This typology is called a predatory stalker, they have unique characteristics, just like the name, they behave more as predators than stalkers.  And they do so many things that mirror what happened to Morgan that I cried when I read about this particular typology, and wished deeply I had known even a fraction of what I read, before it was too late for Morgan, but I did not know about this two years ago, and the next post will be about this typology, and what I have learned since.  There are many different types of stalkers and that is why education, and training are so important – the different topologies are not to be treated the same way if you are to save the victim, and catch the stalker. This is a critical step for law enforcement to know, and follow when dealing with a stalking case.