Tag Archives: Stalker

Monday September 12, 2011 – Day 42 of Morgan’s stalking – Our Daughter Is So Stressed!

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In the afternoon I take a break from work and go in the kitchen.  So many afternoons like this Morgan and I would talk about anything.  But it is quiet, I hear her in her room, singing to her pets.  I went and knocked on her door, Morgan yells out, “Come in momacita!” and I do.  Morgan is hard at work, hand sewing thick burgundy flannel sheets to fit over her really high windows.  She tells me that what she already put over her upper windows was too thin, and this will block out all the light.

We talk – Morgan has given the stalker some thought, and she tells me she is worried the stalker can see into her room from up high.  She doesn’t want even a silhouette of her to escape her room.  I asked why she thought he could see through her top windows, they are really high up.  Through her upper windows, with the drapes she had already put up, the most you could make out would be a shadow on the ceiling, if that.  It was not like our rear windows where the stalker could stand up on the berm and see things inside the house.

Morgan lying outside

Morgan lying outside,
smiling for another picture!

Morgan paused and looked at me.  I think he could be on Rhonda’s roof next door.  “Why? I asked, “Have you seen him?” Morgan shook her head,  “No, if I had don’t you think I would have told you”.  “Of course” I answered back. I walked behind Morgan and touched her shoulders, I didn’t want her to see how upset I was, and I didn’t think that it was possible for her stalker to be up on the next door neighbor’s roof.  I told Morgan her shoulders were so tense they were like rocks, and I didn’t believe anyone was up on our neighbor’s roof.  Sammy, our neighbor’s dog was always barking around the time our motion lights, outside Morgan’s room, would go off, he was very protective and alert, but it seemed a little crazy to think this stalker had gotten onto our neighbor’s roof.

Little did I know at the time she was right, and I was not – this stalker had been on our roof, and probably our neighbor’s roof as well.  Nothing happened tonight – it was quiet.

Tessi is trying to get rest too

Tessi is trying to get some sleep too !

Today September 9, 2012, as I write this, I remember yesterday’s blog and recalled that my entire night was upset because Tessi barked, once.  What I should really have said was that my entire night was upended because my daughter had a stalker, AND THEN, our dog barked, once.  On the day last year that Morgan was making her extra thick window coverings, she was fighting back, Morgan was courageous, but it was also taking its toll.  I’m sure I’ve said it before, so I’m not going to even check before telling you that stalking takes such a big toll on your life.  Every little thing you say, and do has to then be put through the stalker processor.  You stalker becomes a consideration – in a quick trip to the store, the wattage of your lights, how cranked open the windows can be, how drawn completely closed is the new required position for all window coverings – and even if you have to make them yourself, thicker window coverings for your clearstory windows, which just might allow you to sleep a little more soundly.

A stalker, for reasons I may never understand, wants to invade your life, own it as much as possible, which is why they do all the things they do.  As I write this blog  I have heard, over and over, stories from other victims about how frightening it became as their stalking escalated:

  • The stalker broke into the house, they could just tell he had been there.
  • The stalker stole things, from the yard, the car, the bedroom.
  • The stalker broke up the apartment, smashing pictures on the floor.
  • The stalker, went crazy, and destroyed an entire room.
  • The stalker killed her pet, she can’t afford an autopsy, but she just knows that he did.

In Morgan’s case investigators (not local law) are explaining to me that it is not a matter of if her stalker could have been in her room, it is more a question of how many times. Evidently a stalker will usually attempt to not tip off anyone the first time he enters your home.  And really, if we were never able catch her stalker out in the yard over four months, why on earth did we believe that he could never be in the house!!!  Please understand, I am not saying this to freak anyone out.  My goal is for all of you to be safe, and to realize that bad things can happen.  What we had been advised of, and actually thought was impossible, was not only completely possible, it was far worse, and was in fact, happening.

Click here to read about the 43rd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1148

I’ve attached a link to a video of a volunteer helping Steve with another little experiment that went like this.  Our concerns about the possibility of someone on the roof were completely dismissed by the sheriffs.  There was no ladder, no way for the stalker to get up, they thought.  Now granted this was long after Morgan had been murdered, but Steve stopped by our old house.  He pointed his trusty iPhone on the tree that was up against the back of our house, which had become our prime focus, because the motion light there would always go off there for unexplained reasons.  Steve tells our volunteer no practice runs, just one try, if you get spooked for any reason stop, and I’ll get you down, and if you should make it up onto the roof stop there.  End of experiment.

So to put an end to one question that keeps popping up – is it possible for someone to get up on our roof with no ladder, jet packs, or other aids – watch this video below, hosted on Vimeo.    (it is possible within seconds – and it was quite an eye opener for us! 🙁

tree.climb from Morgan’s Stalking on Vimeo.

I swear never to be silent…

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I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.  Elie Wiesel

Morgan speaking at her school – she believed in speaking out for the right of others as well

September 1, 2011 the 31st day of Morgan’s stalking – she’s not safe during the day either

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Steve left early and was up in Aspen – he needed me to make a deposit for our son, that he had forgotten to take care of.  I argued that I was working, and Morgan hadn’t left the house yet for school, so I couldn’t do it.  Steve said, “You will only be gone for 20 minutes at the most, so please go.”  I left the house at 9:00 am, this is the first time I have left Morgan alone at home since the stalking began.  It was only a 5 minute drive to the bank in Carbondale, while Morgan was getting dressed for her dance class.  Steve thought I would only be gone 20 minutes max.  I told Morgan I would be right back, the dogs were loose, and even though my intuition was screaming at me – NO!  I didn’t listen. 

As I turned out of the subdivision onto County Road 100, it didn’t make sense to be worried, it wasn’t dark out, it was morning, sunny, light, and bright with a few white clouds.  It was quiet and I saw no one out, as I headed for the bank.  Morgan later said she heard me leave, and lock the front door.  A few minutes later Morgan heard the key pad being used on the front door, her puppy started growling, for the first time in her life, sitting and staring up at the front door.  Morgan thought I had forgotten something, and was coming right back in, but then realized it was only a few beeps, not four, and the door lock didn’t disengage.  No one entered, so she was immediately frightened – she knew it wasn’t me.  This was not the first time Morgan or I heard numbers being pushed on the front door keypad lock, but all the other times had been at night. 

Morgan went into her closet, quietly closed the door, and called me on my cell phone…I rushed back as fast as I could.  I immediately called the sheriff’s dispatch number in a panic, and Patrol Officer C. J. came over to the house.  He questioned Morgan, then went outside, looked at the key code lock on the door, did not take fingerprints, and looked at a new footprint in the dirt outside of the bathroom window.  It looked like, from the prints that someone had run alongside one of the pine trees, up on his toes.  I expressed to the officer that we are so frightened that Morgan’s stalker keeps attempting to get into our house.  The officer replied, “No he is probably just trying to terrorize you, just like when he taps or bangs on the windows.”  We now know this was very uneducated opinion in a stalking case…this was very lethal to suppose the stalker was not trying to get in. 

Elliott, our neighbor with two young daughters of his own, saw the sheriff’s car and came over to find out what is going on again.  I told Elliott that I had told Morgan about Brooke’s boyfriend living 3 houses down from us, and how upset Morgan was.  I asked how it was that we had never seen him around.  Elliott said from what he had heard Keenan worked the night shift at City Market in El Jebel.  Another alarm went off in my head, I always sent Morgan there to pick up a few things for dinner.  He could have been her checkout clerk at City Market, and if he had, what if he asked to look at her driver’s license? Our physical address was right there on her driver’s license.

Morgan sent a text to her teacher this morning saying, “I might be a little late, I had an incident this morning and the sheriff needs to ask questions.  Shouldn’t be too late.  Sorry!” Morgan felt awful about how this stalker was not only messing with her life, but how it was affecting everyone around her. 

A Year Later, some more advice.  Do not ever show your drivers license to anyone unless you absolutely have too, if they have to verify your age don’t be afraid to insist on only showing it to a manager – do not have your address written on your checks.  Reduce any way that a complete stranger can find out where you live! You have no idea how thorough of a background check was done on this person before he was hired, or if one was done at all!

When Morgan came home from school the first thing I told her was that Elliott said Keenan worked at City Market in El Jebel.  I asked Morgan if she remembered ever seeing him there, she said, sh…., he was my checker once.  I was buying nail stuff, and he asked to see my license, I don’t like this at all. 

Of course, if Keenan looked at her driver’s license he would have see her address printed on it, and would have known at that time that she lived on Corral Drive, just like his friend Brooke.  I was wondering if he was really her boyfriend or just renting a room from Brooke’s dad.  Elliott had told me that he had moved in to that house at the end of July 2011, while we were on vacation, and the stalking started right after we returned on August 2, 2011.

Jarred (our grandson) came over later that afternoon, looks at new footprints, and thinks they looked like an Etnie type shoe bottom also.  So this is twice with the same shoe.  I called my cousin later for advice and he says “this is horse s…”  he tells me I have to insist that the deputies take a cast of the footprints and fingerprint the front door.  My cousin was in politics for many years in Aspen, and Pitkin County, and he is Morgan’s Godfather – he can’t understand why Garfield County Sheriffs are treating this stalking like it’s not a big thing.

At 6:04 pm Steve sends Morgan a text message, “Hi, we are going to El Horizonte for dinner.  Would you like to join us??”  Morgan replies to Steve, “I’m good.  Thanks though!”  Morgan goes to a play at her school tonight, with a friend from school.  She must have told them what was going on because they sent her a text message that said, “Hi Morgan.  Tom will be at Thunder River Market at 8:30 and will wait for u.”

 

Now this is another perfect example of why I think some law enforcement protocols need to be changed…it will be weeks before we have a detective assigned to this case.  Up until then it is as if it is not really a case.  Essentially they wait two months to see if it goes away first?  And during that time this really isn’t even a case, evidence goes uncollected, except the evidence that we, ourselves, have given to the officers.  A different person comes every time, and Steve or I have to explain the whole growing morass over, and over again.  Nothing that is being discovered is being followed up on, and it cuts both ways, we don’t want to accuse anyone before we are certain of their involvement.  Back then we had only progressed to likely, and not likely.  Likely deserved an interview, a chance to tell their side, but that never happened.  Is this a budgetary issue?  Do they feel most stalkers quit before two months?  Because the stories of stalking that are being shared with me now, always seem to affect people for years in many cases.  After Morgan’s stalking started, Steve would constantly come home with another story from someone he had run into and spoken with during his work day – they told him about how they too had been stalked.  At one point he looked at me and said that at least 75% of the women he met had a stalking story, and worse, he could see how badly it still affected them, even if it had been many years in the past.  He was very mindful of how this would affect Morgan in the future.  He did not want her to end up emotionally scarred for life.

Click here to read about the 32nd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=930

Wednesday, August 31, 2011 – the 30th day of Morgan’s stalking

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It is beyond my comprehension that this is now the 30th day of the stalking and I have no idea what to do! It is a sick feeling and yet we are all still trying to go about our daily lives, trying so hard not to let this darkness in, but it is becoming frightening and all consuming.

We all wake up in the morning, and go about our business.  I start work in my home office, Steve leaves for his shop, Morgan takes off for school.  At 12:45 pm Morgan sent me a text, “Graph paper, shampoo, and conditioner (that Moroccan oil one if possible, the long term relationship red herbal essence if not.)  Bobby pins, and a pair of black tights if they have them.  Thanks!  You’re the best :).”  She wanted me to pick her up some stuff at the store after work today.  Everything seemed like life was normal today – at least we wanted it to be, even if only for one day.  I think your mind tricks you into believing the worse is over (on a daily basis), so you can emotionally survive to face another day…anyway that is what I have come to believe.

Later in the afternoon, after work I am standing out in the street talking to a new neighbor that just moved in down on Equestrian Way.  She had stopped her car to introduce herself.  As I was talking to her, a silver car with blackout windows (I later find out it was Keenan’s car) drives into the cul-de-sac, and parks in Brooke Harris’ driveway.  When the person gets out of his car my grandson Jarred notices the guy is wearing shorts, with purple shoes on his feet – he runs over to look at his shoes, with the excuse that he would like to know if he’d like to have his lawn mowed.  Jarred notices that this guy is wearing purple “Etnies”, (Jarred’s mother is out front on our lawn, looking in the direction her son just ran, and notices the shoes too).  I remember at the time I was so excited that we now know someone that lives right here on our block has the same type of shoe as the shoe prints under Morgan’s windows, so I think to myself, this should be easy for a sheriff to go over to that house, ask to see the shoes, and compare them to the shoe prints – but I guess that only happens on TV.  I told the sheriff’s about this, but they said as soon as this case has a detective assigned to the case (felony stalking) they can do those sort of things, but for the moment the patrol officers are not allowed.  Later that night the silver car is gone, and the next day a little lime green Ford Fiesta is now parked in its spot, with paper plates.  (if any of the readers of this blog happen to have a picture of this person wearing purple Etnies, please let me know – you can contact me through the tip line on this website.  You will see it at the bottom of the home page on the site)

At 7:47 pm I sent Morgan a text, “Can we pick you up in about 10 minutes?  We are in Carbondale, and too tired to drive home & back again.  Thanks.”  I didn’t hear right back from her so I sent another text, “M???”  Morgan responded back at 8:28 pm, “I’m so sorry.  I left my phone upstairs.”  I texted back, “Call me please”  Morgan responded, “K. Now I’m ready. :)”  I sent her another text, “Where should we pick you up?  We will be there in 10 – 15 minutes.”  Morgan texted back, “I’ll just walk to Calder’s”  I responded, “By yourself?  I can pick you up where you are right now.”  (I guess you can all tell I am afraid to have her walk down the street with her puppy at night by herself – I keep imagining this stalker following her, and seeing her alone…who knows what might happen, Morgan texts back, “It’s all good.  I’m already going.”  I said, “OK”  We drive home.  Later when we arrive home I have a talk with Morgan.  I let her know how I feel about he being alone, while this stalker is still out there.  Morgan tells me she is really making an effort to always have someone walk with her when she is in town, but this was just one of those times that it didn’t work out and it was just one block away.  I told he it could only take one time if someone is watching you so please keep trying your best to stay in a group and always pay attention to your intuition.

In the backyard, the master bedroom motion light goes on, and then the master bedroom side motion light goes on – no noise heard.  Morgan is still sleeping in the closet.

It has now been a whole month of this terrorization going on and I Steve and I are arguing more and more about what direction to go in with this. When your in the middle of something that you have never been exposed to before, and there is not much direction from authorities on the subject, you kind of make it up as you go.  We now know this is not a good way to do that – there were authorities on the subject out there, but we hadn’t found them yet and our local authorities didn’t have the correct information or protocol.

Today (a year later) we know that significant incidents, containing lots of evidence, have been posted in the last few blogs, but at the time last summer we missed very important things that were going on right in front of our face.  Later on today after work I will post another blog, and try to connect all the dots.  Now a year later, and after all the things we have learned it is much easier to see…I guess that’s what they mean about hindsight.

Click here to read about the 31st day of Morgan’s stalking. She is no longer safe during the day either! https://morgansstalking.com/?p=913

August 30, 2011, the 29th day of Morgan’s stalking – The neighborhood begins to find out the truth

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Not sure if we slept more than an hour last night and Steve and I are feeling the effects as we get ready for the day.  I want to share the picture from the wee hours of the morning with everyone I can, but the officers have repeatedly told us to not do or say anything.  When I asked why, the answer was variations of: this guy probably lives nearby, and we don’t want to tip our hat just yet.  I don’t want to go against the deputies wishes, but it is so against the way I do things I’m not sure how much longer I can keep it up.  Besides, at this point everyone sees or has heard about the varying numbers of patrol vehicles at out house all hours of the day and night, they know something is up.  Before this stalking, one patrol vehicle on Corral Drive would have been at least a weeks worth of neighborhood gossip.

Morgan gets a text from her teacher this morning, “There will be class tomorrow…just so u know. :)”  I am so unnerved by the web camera pictures I am pacing the hall watching Morgan’s door and the yards, I expect him (the stalker) again at any second.  As soon as Morgan is up I tell her what happened, and show her the picture of the stalker.  She is quite visibly upset.  I ask her if she wants her father to drive her to school, and she actually thinks about it before saying no, she’ll be fine.

A sheriff’s deputy shows up unannounced, he’s heard all about last night’s activity, and just wants to have a look around in the daylight.  This is the first time I don’t have to tell the whole story from the beginning, he already knows, and I am thankful for that.  We walked around and I recount last night for him, pointing out the locations where the camera was, where it started in the rear yard, the trails over the berm, on and on.  I tell him that Steve and I believe there are only three people that would match the body in the photo, Steve insisted on discounting the head completely as it was so distorted, all we had from the head was hair color – light, I did not agree, but we were going with the three for the moment, so I point out where they live and what their names are.

The deputy is standing out in street, staring at the houses and nodding.  He really wants Morgan to think about anyone who could be the stalker, anyone at all.  He says he is going now and I thank him, look up and see Elliott, our neighbor across the street, approaching, more like marching, he looks angry and won’t even look me in the eye. I’m thinking wonderful, like this is all my fault?  He demands to know what is going on from the deputy, he sees the sheriff’s trucks constantly, he has two young daughters and he deserves to know.  I could not agree more, and I wait for the deputy to explain how they would like it kept quiet for the moment, but he tells Elliott we have a stalking situation going on here, and they are trying to apprehend the stalker in the act.  I feel relief, now I can tell everyone.  Elliott wants to know what we know about it, and what he should be on the lookout for.  The deputy tells him we have very little to go on, but they are working on it.  I’m thinking of the pictures from last night, the shoeprints, which were perfectly clear, the trails on the berm, the description of him on our porch, and I’m wondering what do they want, for him to leave his drivers license pinned to the door?  This is so upsetting.

Elliott wonders if I can call him later, he’s very upset that he has been kept in the dark, wonders how we are so sure this guy is not after his daughters too.  I welcome the chance to explain it all to Elliott, but I also have to get back to work, and I excuse myself and leave them to talk.

Now a year later I feel like there was no lack of advice at the time, or at least opinions, as to what we should do, from the sheriffs.  Most of the advice from other people, not law enforcement, was very good and well meaning, but some was what I would call aggressive, many people said if they were me they would shoot him – then I would answer shoot who?  It is pitch darkness when we run outside to try to catch this stalker.  We can’t just shoot off a gun into the darkness.  Now I take it much better, but at the time it would cause such anger, I felt like I was in a fight with the whole world.  Our family lived the dangers of a stalker first hand, and we really thought we were doing the best we could.  What we did was also not good enough, what the sheriffs did was not good enough, and what the coroner did . . . – well that horrifying story is coming up soon.  We can never bring Morgan back, but we can rise above this, we can ALL admit our mistakes, we can ALL improve.  We should ALL be able to look at a group of girls at the school bus stop and think, they are safe here.  We ALL have a way to go for that to be true, and I guarantee denial will not get us there.  Last night, when the viewers reading Morgan’s story went over 6,000 for the day, Steve told me, it may be hard to see, but I am really making a difference.  I really hope that is true, but until I have justice for my sweet baby, I don’t think I can agree with that.

Later that day I go next door to talk to our neighbor Rhonda, I show her a grainy print out of the pictures, and that was enough to get her very upset, and extremely creeped out.  She offered to have the sheriff’s patrol officers set up their surveillance of Morgan’s windows from her dining room window any time they wanted – at least they would be warm, while laying low watching for the stalker.  I immediately passed on this suggestion to the deputy who had just left.

I then went over to Elliott’s house to show him the picture from the web cam.  I went in Elliott’s house.  When he looked at the photo he became excited.  He points at the picture and says, Toni this body type is very unique, and I can only think of 3 people in this whole neighborhood that it could be.  He named off his next door neighbor Peter, Brooke’s dad, James Harris (he leases a house just 3 houses down from us), and Brooke’s boyfriend, Keenan.  I have never seen or heard of this Keenan before, and I tell Elliott that I did not know anyone other than Brooke was living in the house with her dad.  Elliott tells me that Keenan had just moved in to Brooke’s dad’s house at the end of July.  This would be just before the stalking started!  I point out in the photo the long sleeve shirt the stalker is wearing and tell him I think it is unique and not something a younger person would wear.  Elliott disagrees and immediately runs upstairs in his house and grabs a shirt to show me.  It looks like the exact same shirt in the photo – Elliott tells me he has the same shirt in black and it is a very popular shirt, many people have them that like to do things in the outdoors so of course younger people wear them.  We make plans to stay in contact about what is going on, and he offers that Morgan can come over anytime she’s home alone or feels any danger, in fact he wants her to call him and he will come over and escort her to his house.  I told him I do not ever plan on leaving her alone at home, but thank you so much for the offer.

Morgan came home from school with a group of friends she wants to show the pictures too.  They all, one by one, are “freaked out”.  I desperately wish the picture had a clearer face on it.  After her friends leave I tell Morgan that the deputy that came over this morning (while she was at school) wanted to know anyone she could think of who might do this, and what Elliott had told me later. Morgan turned white as a ghost when she heard about Brooke’s boyfriend.  She said Brooke’s boyfriend Keenan drives a big truck, and she hadn’t seen that in our neighborhood, so she had no clue he was living with Brooke.  She also said back in February she had walked into her friend’s house and seen him there with Brooke, and she had gotten a creepy feeling from him, so she just turned around and left without speaking a word.  After that she had asked her friends who he was, and how does Brooke know him, they all said he’s not a good guy (and then went on to describe how bad he was), they warned her not to have anything to do with him, and she never did, so now she is very upset that he is in our neighborhood, living just three houses down from us.

Morgan takes the deputies’ card from me and says, “I didn’t know anyone before, but now I do!” Then she sends the following email to the deputy:

Morgan's email to Deputy J

Morgan sent this email to a deputy in response to his question earlier about possible people she might know that would be capable of doing this to her.

That evening, Morgan goes to see her friends and sends me a text when she is leaving to come home at 7:32 pm, “On my way”  I sent back, “Ok, I’ll be waiting.”

Then nothing is heard tonight – it was quiet.  Morgan goes back to sleeping in the closet, which is upsetting to me because I know her back hurts, but I understand her fear.  I feel its safer for her this way too.

Click here to read about the 30th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=899 – CAN YOU BELIEVE IT WILL BE 30 DAYS TOMORROW AND IT IS JUST GETTING WORSE? WE ARE BESIDE OURSELVES AND DON’T KNOW WHERE TO TURN!