Tag Archives: morgan’s story

November 18, 2011 – Day 109 of Morgan’s Stalking – Who Was Morgan?

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Morgan gets up and makes a juice drink to bring on her way to her ballet class.  She stretches while she’s standing in the kitchen, and says good morning to us.  The bar top is treated like a ballet bar and she is concentrating on her posture and movement, as Steve and I pour coffee.

Morgan would sometimes lecture us about drinking coffee, and sometimes not say anything.  What it was this particular morning I can’t be sure.  Health was very important to her and she was always sharing something she had learned with us.  It was that time when your children are soaking up knowledge faster than you are, and you have to adjust to receiving good information with grace.

I don’t really know if it was that as parents we had already been through this twice before Morgan, with our older two children, but Morgan was not only different, she was easier.  Steve and I would always talk about her advice to us, and how we should really listen to her.

Later that day Morgan was talking to her friend between classes.  Her friend Nicole asks her, ”Is the yarn you’re using for the mitts pastel or bright colors?” Morgan tells her, “Pastel.”  Her friend Nicole answers, “Okay! Thanks!”  Morgan sends her back a heart, “<3” and Nicole asks Morgan, “Who is your favorite Disney princess?” Morgan answers, “ Ariel? Yes! Mermaid!”  Nicole ends with, “ Okay! Good to know!”

She came home from classes and rested in her room.  She did that often.  She would sit in front of her mirror and sing while she fussed with her hair.  Most days she would come out and sing while playing her keyboard.  She didn’t have a wide repertoire, just a few favorites that she worked on perfecting.

Morgan had a few favorite series she liked to watch on TV, and over the years had collected every season she could and would watch them over and over.  Buffy was a favorite, then the Gilmore Girls, and Smallville.  Between the three she was endlessly entertained.

Washing her clothes was an ongoing task.  Morgan would wash, dry and fold and then sometimes her cat would knock them over, and the task would be repeated – never seeming to bother her.

At 6:20 pm, Steve texted her, “We’re taking Joni (her little niece) to the diner, would love to have you join us.”  And a minute later she answered me that she might not make it.  That she was kinda caught up with friends.  Steve texted her again at 6:52 pm that we were finishing, and did she want anything?  Morgan said no, and we brought Joni home.

At 9:00 pm we told Morgan that we were home.  She had made arrangements to sleep at Calder’s house, which would mean the couch, and I told her OK sweet dreams.

Her life was simple and we always knew what to expect.  Steve and I could count on her to do what was needed.  Her room wasn’t the neatest, but it was never all that bad.  She was the last child living in the house with us and we enjoyed having her.

Her stalker(s) had taken so much from her.  It was not fair, and we balanced justice for Morgan with the rights of all.  We saw suspicious things and reported them as we were asked.  But I can honestly say we never faced anyone down, or accused, of blamed.  The deputies had their theories, and we would more likely ask them if they were really sure, we did not want to accuse hastily, or rush to judgment.  We wanted the truth.

I never demanded answers from anyone, but we should have.  In two weeks time Morgan will be dead.  When your daughter is twenty, and healthy it does not even enter into the realm of possibility.  Morgan was worried about taking care of Steve, and I as we grew old.  She joked about what it was going to be like for her.  What the responsibility would be for her.  Not in a pained way, but in a happy way.  The same way that Morgan took most everything that was thrown her way.  I would always tell her to knock it off – no one was going to need to take care of us…ever!  The stalker she could have done without – that, she would not be shy in professing.

Today is November 1, 2012 – it was a busy day for me.  Steve and I met with a great investigator for three hours.  Everyone brings a new perspective to this case.  New advice, a new approach, another idea we had never thought of.

Morgan has left us with so many memories that we are learning to cherish with open arms, far more than we ever thought would be possible a year ago.  Steve and I look forward to the day that the things we have learned through Morgan will be more helpful and sharing, with more solutions for others than the solving of Morgan’s case that we visit so often now.  I know that Morgan would not care so much that we work to solve this mystery any more than we have.  But for the time being Steve and I agree that it is what we must do, and so we shall.  There are those that will not welcome our attempts to solve it.  They will want to stop it, or they will not even want to hear that it is really not us forwarding the solutions, but others far better than Steve or I will ever be will solve this crime.

So it begs to be said that two weeks before the end, a day is coming when most all the evidence that these brilliant minds have put forth, as their best opinion of what really happened to Morgan, is out for all to see.  How different it is from what we thought a year ago, and more importantly why would anyone else really have an issue with the truth about what happened to Morgan being known – because I can only think of one reason – can you?

Click here to read about the 110th & 111th days of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2124

November 17, 2011 – Day 108 of Morgan’s Stalking – What really happened out there?

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 Morgan has rocks against her windows again.  It is early in the morning, she is not sure when, but does not want to wake up.  She wants to sleep.  Last night she thinks she drank something bad, and she felt funny at first.  Tired and very uncertain, both at the same time.  She did not like it at all and could not wait to leave where she was.  She found help leaving and getting to somewhere that she felt safe.  She had memories, but did not share them at first.  She found solace in a couch and a friend to watch over her while she recovered. Read again on the previous post – the suspect, Keenan did not work that evening.

Not knowing what had happened or who did it, she was very optimistic to be guessing at recovery times.  Morgan was so used to bouncing back from anything that she thought this would be no different.  She called last night to tell me what had happened and that she was going to be fine.  She just wanted to sleep it off and then come home.  She promised to call if anything changed.  I trusted the person that was with her very much.  I knew he would keep a close eye on Morgan and call me in an instant if anything did really seem amiss.  For the moment she was just out of it.

A little while later I had a change of heart and had her friend bring her home so I could watch over her too.  To think that her stalker or his accomplices could have slipped something into her water was not out of the realm of possibility, and I decided not to take a chance.  Morgan always had her own water bottle with her, but didn’t always watch it when she was with those she thought were friends.

In the morning Morgan did not look well. She was aware enough to know that 2 or 3 rocks had hit her windows in the early am – Morgan didn’t know the exact time because she didn’t want to wake us up – she said we would call the sheriff’s and then she would be up all night again.

I didn’t tell her that her father and I had had essentially the same talk a couple of nights before.  I told her it was important that we report every incident and that some day it will be very important.

Morgan looked at me and said, simply, “Important to who?”  We had reported so much to the sheriffs over the past months and they never changed their protocol – they were never going to change and in turn they would never catch her stalker.

I told her in the afternoon when our time slots were with Monica to get our haircuts and I asked her is she wanted to go first or after me?  She wanted to be there the whole time, because she thought I needed fashion help, and so we went together.  Studio 2 in Carbondale is quiet and relaxing.  Monica talked with us, and then when Morgan stepped into the side room for some tea  – Monica came almost running and bent over to whisper to me – Morgan looks like the life is getting sucked out of her by this f*****!

Monica knew about Morgan’s stalker and was a better judge than I, as she saw Morgan far less frequently than I.  I didn’t know how to answer and I looked at Morgan in a new light when she returned.  Se did look undisputedly like all of the pressure was wearing on her.  She certainly was not herself.  I took a picture as we left and she was so happy, so glad that we had spent the afternoon together.  She was talking  about becoming a yoga instructor to supplement her income while going to college (her classes were to start in January).   She explained how she was going to make Steve and I go to her classes.  How good it was going to be for us…

Today is October 31, 2012 – Halloween is in full swing.  Someone passes out candy and we sit in front of an inviting fire.  Friends we haven’t seen in so many months are stopping by to say hi.  I will easily admit that I tear up when I look at the picture I took of Morgan on our beauty salon day.  It was too much for her.  Being stalked is too much for anyone.  She was such a brave girl, and Steve always say now that it is not fair she had to be such a brave girl.  And he is right!  It is not fair that those who had jobs did not do them, not at all.  A stalker came to our house at night at least five times a week. The sheriffs knew who it was – knew where he worked, but could not manage to follow him or stake out a time and a place in order to have fast intervention.  They knew the stalking was escalating – what did they think the outcome would be?   Much easier now to say he never existed.  I already did a blog on that once before, don’t think I should have to again.

There is a thought that has been with me today – caught in the act.  Our stalker was never really caught in the act.  Never positively caught in the act by the sheriff’s deputies.  Does that mean my daughter Morgan or Steve & I never had a stalker?  Hardly.  Let’s talk serial killers for a moment.

The Green River Killer had 39 to 78 murders to his credit.  Served in the armed forces, was married once.  As a young child, Ridgway was tested with an I.Q. of 82.  Ever caught in the act?  No, it was DNA that caught him.

Our local murderer, Ted Bundy, did 30 murders in four years.  Ever caught in the act?  No, it was evidence found in his car that finally convicted him.

Richard Ramiriez, the night stalker, I was in LA at that time and people were really scared.  “A living nightmare, a boogey man who invaded bedrooms and tore innocent people from their dreams.”  Cases too numerous to count.  But was he ever caught in the act?  No, it was a description of his car as he fled the scene that aided in his capture.

I could go on all night with this.  Rarely are they caught in the act.  Yet Morgan, described his car with him in it – but the car was never stopped.  A neighbor described evidence in his car – but it was never searched for that evidence.  Was his DNA found in her room – no, maybe because they never looked.  Of course under the crime scene lights they saw “suspicious spots on Morgan’s chest – never seen or checked by the pathologist.  The first responders saw defensive wounds on her right hand, top and bottom – never seen or checked by the pathologist.  And all the while Steve & I thought they were doing their job – we trusted them.

A professional nail artist pointed out massive damage to her nails, never seen or checked by the pathologist.  DNA collected from Morgan’s body recovered from a room where it was obvious to all except the Garfield County sheriffs that a struggle had taken place – No, ZERO.

Secondary testing to verify the very lethal DATE RAPE COCKTAIL found in her stomach – Nope, ZERO.  Collection of “granular substance” identified in her stomach after ten months and credited with the verification of the finding of suicide – No, ZERO.  Testing of the mystery substance – No, ZERO.

Budget for the contracted forensic pathologist to do a first class job – over a half million a year.

I think they were not looking for evidence, and I would like to know why.

Click here to read about the 109th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2117

Morgan’s first ferret she named Angel – and he was, he suffered through the Carbon Monoxide right in bed with Morgan

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Monday, November 14th – Day 105 of Morgan’s Stalking – He’s hiding in the tall grass – and why are the sheriff’s batteries always dead?

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Morgan’s favorite lunch – peanut butter, honey and bananas

Morgan has been feeling sick, and she ignores a text from her friend in Savannah, just past midnight at ~ 12:44 am, “When is your Dad’s bday?” What a way to start November 14 – it is now Steve’s birthday!

We have a lot of activity in the morning from the stalker, and for some reason Steve is up, and ready.  Like he knew it was coming.  For the first time in a week he has the thermal imaging scope out, and is dressed all in black, when I see him go out the back door at  4:48 am, right after Morgan alerts us to rocks on her window.

I ask him if I should call the sheriffs, as he goes out he says no.  He has a black aluminum baseball bat in his free hand, and I hope he finds something worthy of a swing.  Steve was quite a home run hitter in his younger days.

I try to watch him from the back windows, and I have lost all sight of him, as I go around the house trying to pick out where he is.  Normally the outside motion detectors would be announcing his actions around the house, but this time there is nothing they are picking up on. Whatever he has decided to do this morning, he is under cover.

He calls me at 5:45 am, it is still pitch black outside, and I ask him what is up.  He has picked up two trails in the grass, and has located an area on the berm where he can clearly see the heat signature of where a body that was lying in the tall grass.  He has been watching deer as they come through, and is very familiar with how they present on the thermal imaging and he is convinced this was a person.  He is still close by so he whispers to me. Call the deputies and tell them I have heat signatures across the yard. Tell them to come in from the north side, our side of the street.

This is a different Steve, he has never had me direct the officers before.  My chest is racing I think he must see something to have said that.  One of the officers on the way calls and he has a thermal imaging scope also. Probably much better than ours and he will circle back in from the end of the street.  I tell him Steve is on the berm and has located two spots where a body was hiding.  The deputy is excited and shortly after our phone call I hear a truck race by the front of our house.

This seems too good to be true, we are working together and putting technology to work in order to catch the stalker.  Steve calls me and says he see their flashlights coming, he wonders why they always use their flashlights, you can see them so easily.  My Steve and Officer Steve P. from the sheriff’s department meet up out on the berm between our neighbor Rhonda’s house and ours.  I can see them standing there and talking, pointing at the ground.

They split up and Steve comes straight for the back door.  I unlock it and let him in, this is pathetic, were his first words.  He is very angry. Something was moving down at his end and he could not see it.  Because his batteries were dead.  Of course he can’t take batteries from us because, what, we might catch the guy?  He won’t take my thermal scope, because that is against policy.  Steve says he told him, maybe we should rent the Unicorn hot air balloon for the day, but he didn’t understand, or wanted to choose to ignore him.  He was coming right at them Steve tells me, right at them.  I thought they had night vision, could have spotted him easily.  This is a nightmare times two!

Morgan is wandering down the hall and wondering what is up.  She tells Steve, it’s just rocks against my window daddy, it’s OK I can take it.  He offers to make her French toast, and she perks up quite a bit.  “But it is your birthday.”  Morgan tells him.  “Yes, it is and I want to make you breakfast.”  Which he does, for us all.

Detective P. and Detective M. knock at the front door apologizing about the dead scope, and promising that they will have it working next time.  I was extremely disappointed, but I don’t tell him the same thing happened to the detectives last time they were here, and then I say good bye.

We have a wonderful breakfast and Morgan goes about getting ready for school.  Steve tells me this is just not fair.  Morgan is giving this all she has, more than anyone ever should, and it has just become one screw up after the next.  He tells me we have to hold them more accountable.  To actually have live batteries is not that big of a request he feels.  I know they think this stalker is harmless, but you never know Steve tells me.  First the car was keyed before the stalking started, with the word BITCH on it (down to the metal and the Carbondale police officer (not the Garfield County Sheriffs) said that it is usually a sign of someone with deep seated problems or on drugs), with lots of anger and who knows what they do next.  I don’t like this at all.

I agree with Steve, they don’t seem to be very serious at all, just going through the motions, and it is having a big affect on Morgan’s life.

Steve leaves for a project he is working on in Aspen, and Morgan comes back out at 10:27 am to announce a text she just received from her instructor, “No class today.  Had to pick up daughter from school.  Homework due Wed.  Classical vs Neoclassical.”  Then she answers her friend in Savannah who was wondering about Steve’s birthday.  At 10:48 am, she tells him, “Today. HaHa.”

Morgan is worried about her Dad, he seemed extra stressed this morning, and I tell her it is wearing on us all and he wants it over.  Morgan assures me that she is fine.  She feels safe as long as she is in the house.  That actually for her the worst part is driving up the street, once she is in the front door she feels like everything is OK.

Today is October 28, 2012 – Another weekend has been spent with lists, timelines and more evidence – more then I ever thought we would have about Morgan’s death.  The order to bring it all out, and through which communication medium, was a big decision today.  Last year after our meetings in Los Angeles we had a very ambitious plan that has now been scaled back.  Raising awareness is still our biggest goal, and our most successful to date.  Justice for Morgan is still very problematic.  We know what happened to her, that she never really stood a chance in her last 24 hrs of life, but presenting what we know and preserving the possibility of eventual prosecution is not at all so easy, as I would have thought.  I miss my little girl so much and I want to do what is right, so waiting for a few more decisions this week will be something I can do.  Steve and I have had so many offers for help that we are humbled by the love and understanding that Morgan’s story was able to spread in the world.  We pray for the strength to do justice to what she had already accomplished in her lifetime.

The chatter on our tipline about stalkers being cornered, and stopped by the lessons we learned and that are being shared with us is very satisfying.  Morgan’s stalker was a very talented individual, in a sick sort of way, and reading about what happened to Morgan has actually helped many other individuals.  It has been more than satisfying for Steve and I, that methods we employed that were useless for us, have been very successful for others.  And have so changed the perceptions of how to correctly confront your stalker for so many others.  It is not the end I had hoped for when Morgan was still alive, but now I gladly take it, in the memory of Morgan and for all of those it is helping. But this doesn’t mean we are giving up – NEVER!  And I am still very confident that a law enforcement agency will step up to the plate and take over this investigation.  Thank you all for so many signatures to our petition to the Governor of Colorado – we will continue to take signatures (only 300 left to go) and then we will be presenting it to him.

Click here to read about the 106th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2071

November 8 – 11, 2011 Days 99 – 102 of Morgan’s Stalking – A few quiet days before the storm…

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Morgan on a cold night

Steve is dropped by some illness, and I take him to see his doctor.  I’m not feeling so well either, and I am afraid I will go down also, but I know we can’t both afford to be sick.  Morgan seems perky, she has always had this great way of bouncing back from anything and she is happily coming, and going on her own schedule.

Two of the four days she texts me in the morning, because Wylah is up before 6:00 am, so I get up a little early to take her puppy out, the little yard is cold, but quiet now.  I always take the opportunity to venture outside the fenced part of the yard to look for anything that resembles a stalker.  It’s starting to look as if that one morning was the only time the stalker will make a visit to Wylah’s morning potty stop to terrorize Morgan.

Morgan had the following post on her computer on November 10, 2011 – she was strong and ALWAYS had a great attitude about life, even in the midst of this horrendous stalking…that is just who Morgan was.

I was writing just single words in my dayrunner during this time. Words like afraid, and chicken, and scared.  Not to describe Morgan, but rather to describe him, the stalker.  Because I was reflecting a lot over these quiet few days, even more so, because Steve was laid up with a horrible chest infection. He was on antibiotics, and bed rest, and that left me with more time to just think – much more than I usually have.

And I thought about Morgan’s stalker, how he had acted and behaved.  His real M.O.  He would do anything to avoid being caught, taking great pains to hide how he was managing to make the loud cracking noise against Morgan’s windows at night.  Taunting the sheriff’s, as he had done at the beginning, didn’t even seem to concern him any longer.  I guess the brutal truth is that if you choose to show up fifteen minutes after the crime, your deterrence effect is greatly reduced.

We had installed another wildlife camera (of our own) by Morgan’s window and it was meant just to answer the question of what was causing the noise against her windows.  So far we had caught streaks coming through the air at the time of the noises.  No person, not even an arm, just a streak through the air, and Steve was convinced now that it was not a projectile, but these streaks were attached to something as he could see the streaks, “retract, or withdraw” after every impact noise.

Steve was now guessing it was like the cracking of a whip from some distance.  Just another theory until we could catch him in the act, and that, sad to say was proving to be next to impossible so far.  We were searching for an answer with all the we had,  we had not found it yet, and what we really had going for us is that we would never give up.

On 11/11/11

Morgan sends her teacher a text that she has to miss her jazz dance class today because she has a doctor’s appt., but will see her teacher right afterwards.  Morgan posted a picture today on her FB.  She is getting ready to go out at ~8:00 pm, she doesn’t hear anything, but later camera shows motion detector goes on at this time.  She leaves to drive to Carbondale, I saw a small dark car, with blackout windows speed down the street after Morgan, so I yell for Steve.  Steve jumps in his truck to follow the car – I immediately call dispatch, dispatch says it’s one of theirs going off a “tip” so I thank them and call Steve’s cell phone…I then realize he left it behind and it is ringing in the kitchen. I later find out that Steve raced until he caught up with the car following Morgan and then got waved down at the Carbondale Mini Storage by a sheriff who tells him it’s okay, it’s one of ours.  The car continues to follow Morgan – Sheriffs staged a follow of Morgan as she drives out of the subdivision – why?  We call and tell Detective Glassmire about this incident and replies, “I have no idea what or who that was!”  There was no follow-up.  No answers – end of story.  Why did he lie? What was the “tip” they were going off of?

Today is October 25, 2012 – And little rays of sunshine have begun to peak out in Morgan’s case.  Steve always reminds our other children that stress is not caused by too many problems, it is caused by a lack of solutions.

Today is no different than a little less than a year ago was.  We had a horrific situation unfolding, and just to emphasize the point, I received a comment today from a woman who was stalked right here in Garfield County about 25 years ago, when she was the same age as Morgan, she was also 20 years old.  She recounts a story, not too unlike what happened to Morgan, but gladly, and thankfully she was not killed by her stalker.  The real point I would like to make is that nothing has changed.  Twenty-five years later and it is the same story.  I have met with and spoken with so many people who agree that this situation must change.  The United States Department of Justice developed a protocol for stalking over ten years ago.  It has proven successful, very successful, but there is a catch – you have to implement it.  But guess what? The main player here, the person or even people who’s job it is to make that change don’t seem to be interested in change.  Our District Attorney Martin Beeson and our Sheriff Lou Vallario don’t want anything to change…don’t they have children, wives, or sisters that they care about?  Or is the big blue wall and their egos more important to them?  I know only too well about that big blue wall – I grew up in Los Angeles before that big blue wall came tumbling down – so I know exactly what that looks like.

So what exactly is that telling us?  Is it that two or three murders a year are somehow acceptable, as long as you don’t call them murders?  That if a few of Garfield County’s residents meet with a grizzly end then that is OK?  Because I don’t think so, and a think a simple truth has emerged, a solution to the problem.

The solution is a realization that the answer does not lie within Garfield County.  Garfield County is comprised of a lot of great people with a problem that was evidently here twenty five years ago, and still exists here today.  I wonder what has been here for those twenty five years that has allowed this to exist?  If there was one thing, the solution might just be that simple.  I’m not sure, but I can assure you that tomorrow when I pull out Morgan’s boxes of evidence, I am going to look at them in a whole new way.  I am going to look for a new solution in there.  A solution to how my daughter Morgan, could be stalked for four months, and then murdered, because I believe 100% without a doubt in my mind she was murdered.  And sorry, but I have to say it again.  I believe this 100% not because I woke up one morning and decided it all on my own.  Quite the opposite.  First there was a doctor who saw Morgan less than two days before she died, and talked to me over the phone, and wanted to be sure they were looking into her stalker, because Morgan was in perfect health, just tired and stressed – about her stalker.  Then came another specialist, and another. Then Morgan was found to have died of natural causes.  I wasn’t questioning it, no it was everyone else that Steve, and I spoke with about this that were questioning how Morgan could have died of natural causes, the stalker had to have played some part in her death – if not being completely responsible for what happened to Morgan.  Steve and I were still in shock and were really just going through the motions, some days strong, other days not so strong.  Always helping each other to move forward.

Then I know you have all heard this before, but we traveled to Los Angeles, and asked the person we thought most qualified to answer what happened to Morgan, what her opinion was after reviewing all the records, and it was her opinion, she was 100% sure that it was not natural causes.  This was a homicide!

I truely, truely hope that none of you ever have to go through anything like this, I really do.  But after that meeting in Los Angeles there were more opinions, and every one of them were in agreement.  Morgan had met with foul play.  And we will prove that that is what happened, one step at a time.

And then I’m going to find a solution for how, as citizens of this country, Steve and I are left to prove the entire crime ourselves, so that the next set of parents, who find themselves in our situation won’t have to, because it is a nightmare no person should ever have to live through.  People have been lying, and Garfield County really doesn’t seem to care as long as they never have to have a murder on the books in their County.

Click here to read about the 103rd day of Morgan’s stalking. I can’t believe it has already been over 100 days and her stalking still remains out there to harass, intimidate, frighten and control Morgan, Steve & myself 🙁 https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2022