Tag Archives: Stalking

No sign of forcible entry…does that mean a crime couldn’t have been committed?

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Two nights before Morgan’s murder, there was a burglary next door to our house, (with a report by the Garfield County Sheriffs, and an investigation done) – with no sign of forced entry.  I would not have even known about it except for the fact that 45 minutes after the sheriffs had left our neighbor’s house, we called to report another stalking incident, and they told us it would take them awhile to return, as they had just arrived in Rifle, after being in our neighborhood because of a report of a robbery, and now they had to drive all the way back to our house.  The next morning we reviewed our cameras – the cameras had recorded the sheriffs, with their flashlights, looking all around on the ground outside our neighbors house, and then leaving.  Then our cameras caught one officer, that came back to our neighborhood after we called, looking on the ground outside Morgan’s bedroom window – then shining it up towards their wildlife camera (the one the sheriffs had mounted right in-between her 2 bedroom windows) and then he pointed his flashlight, momentarily, onto the roof…he then left.  Again, there was no police report about this stalking incident or patrol officer investigating it – why?

The house that had been robbed that night was the same house where the back door was found unlocked months earlier during Morgan’s stalking – our next door neighbor’s house. At that time the sheriff deputy, investigating yet another stalking incident at our house, decided to call out a warning, and then enter the next door neighbor’s house with his gun drawn. No one was in the house when he entered.  Our neighbor’s house was never left unlocked, so how was it now unlocked? How was someone getting in without any sign of forced entry?  Other empty houses in our cul-de-sac had doors locked, then unlocked during Morgan’s stalking – this was frustrating to the officers…no one knew who was doing this. This is true – this did happen, and this SHOULD be obvious to anyone that there was someone living in our neighborhood that could get into people’s homes without any sign of forced entry.

There were many attempted break-ins into our home during Morgan’s stalking and yes, I do believe her stalker(s) did eventually gain access into our home before her murder.  Even with all the security that celebrities have, their stalkers have gained access (without any signs of forced entry) into their yards, roofs, and homes.

If you do a search over the Internet for murder cases that have had no evidence of forced entry, you will find many cases.  There are also many, many cases of home thefts, with no sign of forced entry.  So ask yourself this…if a victim of an active felony stalking case (Morgan) is found dead, under suspicious circumstances, so an autopsy is ordered, BUT the sheriffs say they did not see any evidence of forced entry, even after many attempts that had been made to unlock our key-coded front door – does that mean it is impossible that Morgan was murdered?  No!  What a crock…

Here is another horrific murder that happened years ago in Colorado.  It is still unsolved.  There was no forcible entry into their home either, as well as a few other cases that law enforcement believe are connected to this same case.  They believe it was a possible serial murderer.  http://www.9news.com/news/crime/colorado-cold-cases-the-bennett-family-murders/400296946

Here is another story…Ex-boyfriend hiding in the attic stalking his victim in her South Carolina home. She “felt” someone was there, but her children thought she was delusional. She wasn’t – her intuition was notifying her loud and clear. Her stalker had been living in her attic for approximately 2 weeks. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/woman-finds-ex-boyfriend-li…

And another story…stalker hiding under the bed…A 32-year-old valet became obsessed and started stalking his victim. At some point, she left her keys unattended, and he swiped them and made copies. He then returned the keys without her noticing. So much for no sign of breaking and entering! Anyway, here is one news report about the arrest http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/…/12/01/AR2005120101592.html

Another stalker hiding in the attic in Modesto, CA. His victim had a restraining order against him, but that did not stop him. http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/…/sheriff-man-arrested-afte…/

So frightening – intruders living in someone’s home without being detected. Stalking victims are always afraid when they leave their homes, they fear that when they return their stalker may be there – and they have every right to worry. Here is a story from 2013 about J. Lo’s (Jennifer Lopez’s) stalker acting like a house guest. Ms. Lopez even had security guards at her home during the time her stalker slept on the coach in her pool house, did yard work and even posted on Facebook with pictures. Beyond frightening…if this can happen to a stalking victim that has security guards then people have to understand why stalking is extremely serious and this is why victims of stalking become hyper-vigilant. http://abcnews.go.com/…/alleged-stalker-john-dubis-found-li…

There were many ways someone could have gotten into our home, even with the 6 cameras we had outside – there were many holes in the coverage, and that happens.  We did not have any cameras pointing at our doors, because at that time we were trying to get a picture of someone approaching the house to get a clear picture of their face for a conviction.  If the cameras had been pointed at our doors then we would have had a picture of their backs entering our home – and in retrospect that would have been great, although it would not have saved Morgan.

The night of Morgan’s murder we did not have a picture of someone entering our home, but we do have a video of the person running from Morgan’s side of the house and ducking behind our neighbor’s truck.  I wish with all my heart we had just had an alarm system installed in our home at that time…most likely that would have saved her that night, but with stalkers you never know where or when they will strike so you always have to be one step ahead and hyper-vigilant.  It is not a sustainable way to live – that is why the law reads:

No suspect…really?

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Morgan’s case was my first experience reading a police report, and let me tell you what jumped out at me, first it was how little the reports compared to what was really happening at the time (where were all the missing reports?), and then, how many times Keenan is named as a “suspect” in the police reports, as well as in the supplemental reports, in JUST our daughter Morgan’s felony stalking case, he is mentioned over 270 times in sixty skimpy pages.  If you take out the pages with everything Morgan or I sent them, as well as Keenan’s hours from City Market, that’s how many pages are in their reports – only 60 pages. Never mind those reports actually report on about one-in-five of the incidents they came to investigate.  So my question is, how do those reports so thoroughly miss what was happening?

Here is just one page out of the police reports, which are public record – and yes, Steve & I are listed as victims of the stalking as well.

So how in the world can anyone ever act like there was no stalking, and no suspect?  We requested, but did not receive the police reports until the new District Attorney intervened, on our behalf, and facilitated that for us in 2013.

We have been told the police reports have been put on some websites over the Internet (we ourselves have not shared them yet – we only have this website www.morgansstalking, this blog on the website, our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/morgansstalking, and our Twitter site https://twitter.com/morgansstalking), but if people are sharing these reports, don’t they read them?

Keenan Vanginkel was listed as a suspect in Morgan’s stalking case (with her case number) on August 25, 2011 – Just over three weeks into her stalking, on the NICS (national instant criminal background check system) AKA his “Global Jacket,” the sheriffs had reported him to all law enforcement,  At that time Morgan did not even know Keenan was living in our neighborhood, Morgan did not know him, only saw him once before that, and had heard only bad things about him.  We were not told at that time that he was a suspect. But without our knowledge, he was obviously already a suspect.

In emails from Det. Glassmire, I have his statement that he designed, and distributed “flyers” to all GarCo sheriff patrol officers, as well as Carbondale police officers, with Keenan’s picture, a picture of Keenan’s car, and information about the ongoing felony stalking case, involving Morgan as the victim.  This was so they could keep an eye out for the suspect, and know if something was reported, that it was her case.  Would you do this if you were a felony stalking detective that didn’t have a suspect?  I have retained many emails, text messages, and voice messages from the detective. I even have emails where we ask, and were answered, about Morgan’s request to get a protection order against Keenan!

In the police reports: Brooke and her father James Harris, only days before Morgan was murdered, were interviewed by Det. Glassmire and “warned” that the following week the detective would be collecting Keenan’s hours, as well as doing an on-camera interview with Morgan.

Might criminals worry about the sheriffs getting closer to making a possible arrest?

The morning we found Morgan’s body, Brooke’s father, James Harris, called his client (a Pitkin County sheriff’s wife) to cancel his appointment with her.  He left a voice message on her machine admitting that the police knew his daughter’s boyfriend was his neighbor’s stalker… just quoting what was put in the police report.  

It is also noted in the police reports that the detective even collected all Keenan’s work records to compare to the incident reports, unfortunately he didn’t pick them up until after Morgan was dead. Why would he obtain only Keenan’s work records if Keenan wasn’t a suspect?

Det. Glassmire’s email 3.12.2011 – conversation talks about TACTICS for his next interview with KEENAN. AND comparing STOLEN JEWELRY KEENAN HAD PAWNED at a Cash for Gold Store with JEWELRY ROBBED FROM MORGAN the night she was killed.

In the police report supplement #18: On March 25, 2012, over 3 months AFTER Morgan is murdered, Det. Glassmire again interviews Keenan, and tells Keenan that he is still a viable “suspect.”

So you tell me – do you really believe there was no suspect?

 

 

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So many times crimes begin with stalking.  Many times you read about a case of burglary, rape, kidnapping among many other types of crimes, but what you usually don’t read about in the news is that many of these cases involved the victim being stalked, and surveilled, before the crime happened.

This article talks about a woman that listened to her “intuition” or “gut feeling” and did a smart thing in this case – possibly saving herself from becoming a victim.  She shared her story on Facebook in order to raise awareness, and warn other women to be on the lookout.  I believe this is just another type of stalking story – whether the predator watches and stalks someone for 30 minutes, or 30 years, it is still a precursor to a dangerous situation. For someone to have wrapped a shirt around this woman’s wiper blade, it is much more likely that someone “knew” a single woman would be getting in this car…they knew her routine, and were lying in wait.

http://www.9news.com/mb/news/womans-facebook-warning-about-shirt-wrapped-around-windshield-wiper-goes-viral/411917785

 

Today We Honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In King’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” he promoted non-violent civil disobedience and urgency in the Civil Rights advancement.  His words are still true today when it comes to ANY injustice.  I like to print his quote at the end of my emails to remind people of the importance to really care about our fellow human beings.

There has been an injustice done to our daughter Morgan.  Morgan was a victim of a felony stalking for 4 months, she was found dead under “suspicious circumstances” (the sheriff’s words – not mine), and her body was taken away for an autopsy.  That same morning her lead felony stalking detective told us her stalker had nothing to do with her death.  He could not have known that at the time so why did he say it?  The coroner’s office took her body away for an autopsy.  While waiting for the results of her autopsy I truly believed the sheriffs were investigating her suspicious death.  I asked what will happen if the autopsy shows she was murdered.  I was told that if that happened another detective would be assigned to the case.  So in the meantime unbeknownst to me there was no investigation into her suspicious death – why?

Then 18 days later the forensic pathologist stated Morgan died a “natural death” – I asked how could that be?  Morgan was an extremely healthy 20 year old…a healthy 20 year old with a predatory stalker that was escalating his presence.  So then at that time the sheriffs said there would be NO investigation into her “suspicious” death BECAUSE the Coroner had decided she died a “natural death.”

For the next 6 – 7 months forensic experts, along with Morgan’s doctors, tried to explain to the forensic pathologist that Morgan did not die a “natural” death.  After reviewing her medical records, the postmortem report, all toxicology results, etc. they said Morgan died from foul play and suggested her case should be investigated.  At that point the forensic pathologist threatened me that he did not want the opinions of any other experts and if he wanted to he could change her “manner of death” to suicide.  Then 8 months after Morgan’s death the forensic pathologist for Garfield County along with the coroner did just that…they changed her manner of death to “suicide.”

Getting angry is fine who wouldn’t be outraged, but how do we really make changes to a system that is broken?

Cases, like Morgan’s, that are swept under the rug are caught in a kind of trap, a trap created because of the cracks in our legal system.  Solving murder cases, when a coroner says the victim died from a natural death, accidental death, or suicide isn’t easy.  In order to obtain justice you have to be your own investigator.  You need to be methodical and spend as much time as you would on a 40 hour per week job.  Unfortunately in some cases like ours the family is the only one left that can put all the evidence together in order to obtain justice…and if justice is not found all that means is that someone has gotten away with murder, and that will always be an injustice, not only to the victims, and the victim’s family, but it is an injustice to all.

Thank you for following Morgan’s story through this blog.  I believe through knowledge and awareness of things that others are experiencing in this world people gain their strength.  I promise you our family has not given up, and never will.  It has been 3 long unimaginable years since Morgan’s suspicious death, and we have continued to gather and document all evidence in order to have her case investigated.  Morgan deserves justice – all victims of violent crime deserve justice.  Some people may not want her case opened…they do not want to visit the skeletons they have hidden in their closets, but soon the truth will come out and justice will be served.

I believe perseverance, as well as sheer tenacity will prevail, they will bring about positive results not only in Morgan’s case, but on so many other levels as well.  Wish us luck – 2015 should be an amazing year to right some wrongs and bring justice to many people!