We recently had an interview with Travanti Jaramillo @GFTPOD – we appreciate his interest in the case, and allowing us a voice. Please click on the link below, and listen to the complete interview – I know it’s long, but we would appreciate any comments.
Thank you so much Travanti.
http://gofromthere.podbean.com/2013/06/21/144-steve-toni-ingram-morgans-stalking/
Starting out with a stranger stalker, also called an unknown stalker, this is a stalker with no relationship history, it is one of the most dangerous – the kind of Stalker Morgan had. It was a chance meeting at some very unfortunate moment in Morgan’s life. He could have just seen her from a distance once, but that is not what we believe happened.
Just like the pool of suspects that Morgan, Steve and I started looking at during the stalking, I started with a list of possibilities of where he met her, suspected chance meetings where Keenan could have seen Morgan, tried to, or imagined he tried to talk to her, as that is all it takes to start a deadly spiral to the end such as this story is.
My possibilities go like this:
There may well have been other incidental meetings, but they were never recalled and hence never explored while Morgan was still alive. A common component from a psychological point of view is the stalker manifesting anger, and hostility towards the victim, this often stems from perceived rejection of the stalker by the victim, it could also be actual rejection, but I do not believe this to be the case as Keenan never made an approach toward Morgan that she could remember. She did not remember him ever actually speaking to her except for the things he had to say at the grocery store. An important part of rejection, even perceived rejection would be a conversation, real or imagined.
If the victim of a stranger stalker can identify the meetings with strangers that could be a stalker, it is the beginning of a list of suspects. The unique characteristics of the stalking is another source of suspects. In Morgan’s stalking the arrival of her stalker within minutes of her arrival home was a very big component. Every neighbor was made a suspect at the beginning so as not to miss anyone, and many fell off very quickly. The unexpected wildlife camera images whittled the suspect list down to four, which was real progress.
The success of the wildlife cam was due to two things. It was brand new, hung just before darkness one afternoon, so the element of surprise. And the stalker was distracted. Of course he is trying to look as nonchalant as he can in the picture, but there was some amount of focus on the departing Sheriff’s Deputies. The trigger time for that camera was rated at five seconds, only in practice as much as eight seconds could elapse before an image was taken. Going by the time imprinted on the images the actual interval was between a little more than one minute, up to a little less than three. When taking a picture the camera lit up with a red glow first and then the picture was taken.
There were three deputies there crisscrossing the yard. Was this stalker on the roof, just watching them, then dropping down as they went for their trucks? Better than all three missing as he hid in plain sight. Recreating the incident as if he were on the roof, it takes 12 seconds to come down off the roof and walk casually to the front of Steve’s truck. 5 – 8 seconds for the camera to click his picture. Within thirty to forty seconds after they walked down the drive, he was at the hood of Steve’s truck. The attempts to knock the camera down came right after that. He knows he has been recorded on camera. In the following days, his hair goes from blonde to black and during interviews he admits that he may have come in the driveway because he saw something of interest. More attention has to be paid to the details, the #1 suspect never gets a free pass to be in the driveway (and this was not at the end of our driveway it was close to the front door where our cars were parked) watching the Sheriffs Deputies leave. And keep track of his hair color. See the wildlife cam images here
I believe after the incident he went back up on the roof. From there he can see the surrounding streets and highways for miles in all directions. He can see the Sheriffs drive away and be certain not one deputy, “hung around,” as they sometimes did from a block or two away to see if a lone figure wanders to another house in the subdivision.
He was one step ahead of the Deputies at all times. Why did they not bring in the dogs? That night they had a picture of him, knew exactly where he was standing so the dogs could get his scent, then put their nose to the ground and track back to a house where he went, or a tree he had used to scale back up on the roof. Either way he was one step closer to being caught if they had employed the dogs. Instead they drove away, angered at how he was, “thumbing his nose at them.” Mark Wynn’s (an expert on matters of stalkers, and stalking) this is an assessment that indicates a dangerous stalker, one to be taken very seriously. The Deputies got angry the stalker was cavalier to their presence and left, Morgan was killed three months later. Somewhere priorities, and pride got a little too jumbled in our daughter’s case. Pay careful attention to the attitude of you protectors and always ask yourself – are they doing all they can? Do they really care? Or am I getting lip service, and not much more?
But in the wee hours of the morning that day we had a blurred image, we knew his height, could guess at weight, if male or female, his build, and more. A list of suspects shrank to four. All because something unexpected had happened! How many times had he done that exact thing before? Only this one night there was a camera.
Do unexpected things, change-up what you are doing constantly, and never talk about it in your home. While he was standing at Morgan’s windows, or a few feet back, to watch her, it is fantasy to think he did not hear all of the conversations in the house – which usually included our future plans to catch him.
The unknown and unexpected, are your tools to use as you wish. Running out the door with a bat is not the weapon you think it is – I know we tried. I would suggest this only if you have trip lines at strategic locations. They did not work for us, but they may for you. Every stalker is different, possessing different skills, and physical abilities.
Another tool is a random event along with your deterrence already in place. When we had security video covering the drive he was crouched behind the car Morgan and I shared. One might ask why, Steve did immediately. Not one Deputy, and not one Detective said, “I wonder what he was doing back there?” Pay attention to lapses such as that. Knowing the capabilities of your defenders is not a slight it’s in your best interest.
So while he was crouched behind the car, doing whatever he was doing back there, a neighbor suddenly starts driving up the street. If he sits behind the car he will be exposed, so he stands and runs for the trees of the front yard. That part works, the neighbor had no idea all this happened as he came up the street. But the stalker was again on a clip of video, because something unexpected happened. The cameras he knew were there, that a car would come up the street right at the same time he did not.
Do not allow ridiculous answers to slide by, ever. Morgan’s stalker told the detectives he might have been in our driveway. I believe Brooke did too. Now what, do they just get a free pass? The #1 suspect should never be allowed in the driveway for any reason. Stalkers go up your driveway to stalk the victims in the house, no other reason.
And really? Is it possible that you were ever in your neighbor down the streets driveway, crouched behind his car, dressed in clothes to conceal yourself, in pitch blackness, and it’s possible you don’t remember? The girlfriend too? That they were let off with answers like that, “I might have.” Is just poor investigation.
Morgan’s stalker, in a conversation on facebook, says:
November 6, 2011, 9:26am, Keenan James Vanginkel says:
“Idk why you are giving me so much trouble cuz I have done nothing wrong. For everything u are accusing me of I will have a story for and multiple people to prove that I wasn’t there. But if u don’t stop right now I will press charges against you.”
Notice – “everything u are accusing me of I WILL have a story for and multiple people to prove that I wasn’t there.”
So he knows there is a stalking, no questions about that. And he WILL have an alibi for everything, his own story and multiple others. Isn’t that all too convenient for him? At least he admits there is a stalking, James Harris claimed he didn’t even know, AFTER the Deputies talked to him about the stalking, the Detectives questioned his daughter about the stalking. He talked to the Detectives about the stalking, about how he heard Morgan’s parents were overreacting. My daughter is dead – and I think he knows more than he is saying, don’t you? I obviously did not react enough!
Set up your defenses so there are always two different things to contend with for the stalker. One thing at a time is easy, but look at Morgan’s stalker, video surveillance, easy to hide behind car, but a neighbor coming home from work, and he’s caught on film again.
There was a surprise snowstorm, and footprints all the way from Brooke’s house and to the corner where they climbed the tree were revealed. Steve photographed it all (while walking and observing the prints with the Deputy) and drew a map for the Deputy. That our map given to the Deputy was never entered it into evidence is an incentive for you to check the evidence often. Perhaps weekly with your Detective, so you know it’s all in there instead of, gee wonder what happened to that one?
Two tools – the unknown and the unexpected. Keeping your stalker off guard can be counted on to anger him, but then you will also get shots at him. The night Morgan’s stalker was caught on the wildlife camera Steve took it down to check the chip, in yet another unexpected act. Actually I asked Steve after the Deputies left, even though he was tired, and it was so late, just to see how it works – I was sure it would have picked up the Deputies leaving the house. He had work the next day, he was exhausted, but he did it.
Morgan’s stalker came by the house seven more times that night to set off our alarms on the rear of the house after the Deputies left to otherwise make his presence known as if to say ha ha didn’t catch me. A simple display of anger and/or “I can’t be caught.” For all the times the Sheriffs promised the dogs, if they were ever going to do it that would have been the night. But they did not. You have to count on yourself, and wouldn’t it be even better if we all counted on each other – to help out?
One of the last series of pictures that Morgan took of herself was this picture. This is Morgan holding some ribbon on which she wrote, “Fate, the illusion that you get the things you want without working for them”
Morgan truly believed that a person needed to work hard for things that really mattered in their lives – she didn’t think you could just sit back and believe that you deserved them so fate would give them to you some day. Morgan always worked very hard for everything in her life, and now Steve and I are doing the same thing in our quest to find justice for Morgan. We can not just sit back and believe that someday it will happen – it has taken a lot of hard work – gut wrenching tears, and tons of support from others all around the world, but we can now see light at the end of this horrible dark tunnel, and we know that our perseverance in the end will also help others that have given up all hope in their situation. We know Morgan wouldn’t have given up…ever…so we never will either.
And now my question of the day is, “Why would you ever want to help a stalker?” Doesn’t it seem that if you knew someone close to you was stalking someone, and terrorizing them there would be a moment of “instant distance,” at the very least between you and that person, and you would want to say something to them, or try to put a stop to it? Or is it just me? To just ignore, or pretend it’s not happening I could not understand at all. But that is exactly what happened.
Given enough time to expose themselves, it became painfully obvious that our neighbors helped the stalker. To what extent, everyone tended to minimize. Other than the fact that Keenan lived 3 houses up the street, and shared a house with them, not much else was known. And at first it was the farthest thing from our minds, the Deputies too, and then when Morgan’s case became “felony stalking” and the Detectives came on board, they thought the same. It seemed to all that it was too big a stretch that two adults, with children of their own, would have the slightest clue, and actually be trying to help the stalker – it was just too strange to believe for any of us at the time.
That was a period of time when we were all confident that when the neighbors reached the conclusion that Keenan, was not only “possibly” the stalker, but most likely was the stalker, all others would take it seriously, and aid in the swift end of this nightmare.
This continued right up until the incident when a group of Deputies descended on the house James Harris was leasing, and tried to question Keenan about the stalking. There were obvious signs he was there, and Brooke admitted he was, she just would not wake him up. The Deputy noted there was a freshly crushed beer can in the driveway. And the Deputy at the door heard a, “commotion,” inside the house as he talked with Brooke. Since the only living thing inside the house at that time was supposed to be Keenan, the Deputy made a comment about the noise, but was once again denied entry to talk with Keenan.
Further damaging the belief Brooke would have a willingness to help, the next morning Elliott (the neighbor across the street) said he had heard from Christine, Brooke’s mother that the Deputies were at her house the night before because they were supposedly told Morgan had gone missing, and the Deputies had come to ask her about it. Once I had told Elliott what really happened, and that Morgan had not gone missing, in fact she wasn’t even home while this was going on, that I was the one that got the rock thrown at the window I was standing in front of, that was actually enough for him, he leaped right to the conclusion that they all knew what Keenan was doing, Brooke, and both her parents, and he later told me he called Brooke’s mom back after speaking with me to tell her she better wake up, and do the right thing.
We should have all listened to Elliott, sharing any information with them only served to put Morgan in greater danger. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Once Elliott made up his mind there was no turning him back, except he was still a suspect to the Detectives, so it was complicated.
After the refusal to cooperate at her door, and the lies quickly circulating Corral Drive, Brooke was a suspect too, the Detectives would wonder aloud, off and on, about Brooke’s true involvement in it all, but her parents, being adults with children were off the list.
Except Christine had this behavior of coming up with stories about the stalking at well placed intervals. All of them explaining away how Keenan was not the stalker. After enough of these stories originating with Christine the Detectives went and talked to her, to clear it all up, and it only got far more convoluted. That was the incident when Detective Glassmire talked to Christine, the mother, who claimed to get all her information from Brooke, her daughter. Brooke told the same story in reverse, and Detective Glassmire chuckled and thought they could at least get their lies straight. Morgan is now dead, and I don’t think looking back he would chuckle any longer. Now if he had to do it over again he would probably keep interviewing Brooke and her mother to get to the “bottom” of who was actually creating the lies to cover for Keenan and why.
In reality we were all under-reacting to the true threat to Morgan, but at the time we thought we were moving toward an arrest.
The absolute worst part of all this was that days before Morgan was murdered Detective Glassmire was talking with James Harris about the case. This conversation was only because James wanted to be present as his daughter Brooke was being questioned.
James wanted Detective Glassmire to know that he had “heard” that Morgan’s parents were basically overreacting. James was then told, “Detective Alstatt is going to formally interview Morgan on Tuesday December 6, 2011.”
My understanding of this interview was that it was very important in order for an arrest to be made. The Detective had to talked to Morgan, Steve and myself usually once a week during this case, but a formal interview was now in order. Morgan was going to be able to tell, in her own words about the Thunder River eyewitness incidents, other eyewitness incidents, and give her statement about the fear, and deep impact this was all having on her.
Morgan didn’t live long enough to have this interview, and tell on video about every time she had seen Keenan in a stalking situation, and everything else that had been going on to terrorize, and turn her life upside down.
The interview with Brooke, with James Harris present, was on November 27th, four days before Morgan’s murder began, and five days before her body was found. But we did not know the full impact of all this for months, because I was waiting for Detective Glassmire to question a witness that James Harris had left a telephone message for on the morning we had crime scene tape wrapped around our house – the morning we found Morgan’s body. A voice message that was recorded on a client’s message machine, in which he said the police knew Keenan was the stalker. Not the suspect, not allegedly the stalker, not believed he could be – James said the police knew Keenan was the stalker. So of course James also knew that fact very well.
And another pertinent fact came up many months later. I found out that James explained his actions to his client the following week as only wishing to protect his daughter. After all this is added up I come to the conclusion that Elliott was right when he said the Harris’ all knew about the stalking.
And once again the totality of events spanning a week, from three days before Morgan’s death to four days after infuriate me, just some of the highlights:
There will be no official interview of our daughter Morgan Ingram, she will never have the chance to recount the face-to-face meetings with her stalker on camera, or anything else about her stalker, or stalking. All of her jewelry of value that went missing that Dec 2, 2013 will never be found, nor will the PJ’s she wore to go to sleep that night. Two dark figures will be caught on video surveillance, and the neighbors that saw odd behavior in her bedroom lights will never be questioned by the Sheriff’s Detective.
As if there was ever a doubt it will now be up to her parents (Steve and I), and our supporters, to get justice for Morgan, while Garfield County will throw up every roadblock they can.
What does it mean when the suspects don’t like what the victims of a crime have to say? Really? Because there are two choices for victims, go away and keep quiet, or tell what you really know, and see just where the proverbial chips fall.
Now of course the “alleged“ stalkers of Morgan, and the “alleged” killer of Morgan would like nothing more than for us to go away and keep quiet. They have not yet been charged with any crime, and they want to get back to their life. And does getting back to their life mean a new target, a new victim? Or is there a cooling off period, as the FBI believes a serial killer will have between kills? I believe it is some of both.
Morgan’s stalking was so much more than just stalking, when I type the words now, I can’t help but feel that “stalking” completely minimizes the crime(s). Not only was there stalking, a stranger stalker, bent on remaining unseen at all costs, most times he presented himself in the yard and he was wearing a mask that completely covered his face. Height and weight are hard to disguise, and he was all too constant with that part of the description. But then he was unique at times, in that once behind the wheel of his car he must have thought he was invisible, or that his windshield was a one way glass. And Morgan ID’d him every time, but one.
In addition to stalking then he should also be considered a peeping tom, standing at a bathroom window, and then knocking after some period of just watching. Some believe that the knocking was meant to startle, because he needed to see that expression of startle and fear too, in order to fulfill his fantasy, as if his existence is in some other realm. In Colorado it is called “Invasion of Privacy for Sexual Gratification” and that he did, right along with his stalking.
And of course he was eavesdropping, and anyone, “assisting,” him at any time did the same. How could they not have? If you are inches from a partially open window and watching, you will hear the talking, it’s hard to miss. Of all the Colorado Revised Statutes I have read and reread recently, trying to understand it as best I can, this is the simplest, most straight forward statute. They eavesdropped – all of them.
There was harassment too, and the Sheriffs favorite, trespassing. I mean he’s standing at her bathroom window, leaving footprints in the soil we’ve been instructed to keep watered, “for better prints,” he’s looking in the window at her, and when Morgan senses this and goes to close the window he bangs on it. I’m not a criminal law scholar, but does that sound like trespassing to you? And one last comment on the Sheriff’s, when you show up a half hour later, and he’s not standing right in those footprints at the window, as if he is magically glued to the ground…are you really surprised? Did you really think, all those times, that if you circle the house with a flashlight you are going to find him?
Steve and I were reacting, assessing, trying to make the world stop spinning after Morgan was killed. First a mystery, then natural causes, then sitting with the very first person not from Garfield County, not just medically brilliant in her own right, but instant access to all the medical brilliance she needs, just in case. And for her there is no doubt – Morgan’s death is anything but natural causes, it is a homicide!!! Try sitting through a meeting like that three months after your daughter’s death, and not being shocked to the core of your existence.
As if we needed it, agreement from those in the medical profession came as fast and furious as we wanted, or could handle. Then as we shared this with Garfield County, it then had to be a certain type of doctor, because the rest of them can’t testify we were told, when this is such a lie, doctors testify on death all the time, especially on appeal, when it really matters the most. I have read from court case after court case where the doctors testify, cardiologists about heart conditions, psychologists about behavior, oncologists about the behavior of cancers, neurologists about anomalies of the brain.
And right there, front and center, you’ve all seen it in a movie, or TV show, or even real life, the court reporter taking down every single word, and I have read those words, from doctors, which is why I say it was such a lie what we were told by Garfield County. But the forensic pathologist that did Morgan’s autopsy wanted a specific medical professional that was also from the state of Colorado to boot. As if there is different medical knowledge taught in other states, as if it’s not all the same. Did he want to exclude the uber experts from the world-renowned, top flight universities?
In the end it didn’t matter, because we have some really excellent forensic pathologists right here in Colorado. In a fortuitous turn of fate, his request was answered. And it was not just a difference of opinion between two doctors that quickly followed. It was a number that simply can not be that high, and ignored. It was about supposed genetic testing we had to pay 10’s of thousands of dollars for, or else – that on second opinion was not needed at all! It was about a medical condition that she was absolutely, never diagnosed with, that had found its way on to her Postmortem Examination Report as a cause of death, when it absolutely, positively can not be, and there was no forensic evidence that it was. It was about a study that was currently being conducted at the Mayo Clinic, another top flight research facility, and medical center that has helped to redefine medical diagnoses and care, also getting right to the bottom of things, and how Morgan’s tissue samples could be sent there for analysis at no cost, there would be answers, ones that you can take to court, but the forensic pathologist that did Morgan’s original autopsy did not send any samples to them.
Unfortunately, none of this ever happened! Because the contracted Forensic Pathologist the Garfield County hires would never get on the phone with the very person he insisted that we get, or else he would not talk to them. Confused? Believe me, so were we, and when it’s all about the murder of your youngest daughter, to call it mere confusion is also completely minimizing the feelings Steve and I were literally flooded with.
A search for the truth being conducted? In a suspicious, and unattended death? Hardly! I would call it Prima Fascia evidence of the complete opposite!
Right about this time, in the world that Steve and I were trying to desperately make sense out of, a real expert on National and International Terrorism had a talk with me. He had insights into what we were going through, and even compared some aspects to the fight against terrorism, that he has dedicated his life to. And of all the things that came out of that conversation, he ended it with a simple idea for me – start a blog.
Go away, and keep quiet would have been an option if her death had truly been, natural causes, but as the veritable “can of worms” handed to us by Garfield County opened further and further, it was not an option. By now the threats to revisit her death, if we did not give up, had started. And when every other doctor is shaking their head at Morgan’s death being natural causes, and the forensic pathologist is threatening you, there is no such thing as middle ground, so along with every other thing connected with her stalking, and death that was happening at the time, the option to go away was simply off the table – completely.
For two adults that are not even sure what a blog is, and having had a daughter that would always tell us that everything is done through social media nowadays, we just had to figure out what a blog was. It took us a long time, and how exactly it came to be, “launched,” on Father’s Day I don’t remember, but it was. As for terms, launched was really generous.
Right there, so clearly, and ever-present in my memory at the time was a poem Morgan had written about me of all people. I shared it with you all back in April and here is the link – A poem from Morgan. I love to talk so expressing myself in this blog was good for me, our family was so deeply wounded by everything that had, and was happening, and I was also just beginning to find out about the true extent, and reach of the true terror that stalking is. And I wanted the truth.
Now I wonder if my friend, the expert on terrorism, knew this all along, but chose not to tell me. The more I told the truth about Morgan’s stalking, and Morgan’s murder, the less the “alleged” staker(s) and the less the “alleged” murderer liked it. Even their parents joined in with the not liking it, at all. They threatened, they lied too, and some day we will perhaps sit in a room, and among all the others there will be that court reporter, taking down every single word along with sounds made by the person on the witness stand that are not even words at all, but sometimes the muffled shrieks tell far more than mere words. Maybe the “alleged” accomplice will have weeks to tell her side of the story, as has recently happened. And at the end there will be a judgment – one can only wish… My Nana talked to me about judgment day, I remember it well, I take it very seriously. And thank you Nana – I love you.
SO THERE – I have written an entire blog, almost, and not named one name, except for Nana, and poor Steve, but he always gets named. And seriously, has it changed anything? Has one single fact of Morgan’s stalking, and Morgan’s murder changed? Has it suddenly changed the fact that the Sheriff’s Detectives were finally 100% certain of the identity of her stalker, just days before she was killed?
Nothing in the facts has changed, not one single bit, because the truth never changes. There is still the incident when Morgan got out of her car, against all warnings, to see him face to face, just so she could be 100% certain for the Sheriff’s Department, who would accept nothing less. There are still all the incidents where Morgan saw him, face to face, and knew his name – first, last, and middle – and told the Sheriffs. There is still the altercation in the subdivision, witnessed and reported. There is still a crack, top to bottom, in the gutter, centered directly above where Morgan’s bedroom window was. There are still the figures caught on wildlife cams images, and on video. There is the person I myself saw on the porch, and at another time running across the driveway, and heard pressing of the buttons on our electronic front door lock. There is still the person who chose to terrorize Morgan as she let her puppy out to go potty in the early morning darkness, and if he was wearing a mask, and dressed all in black, was he really just trespassing? There is still the person who stood at her bathroom windows, watching Morgan bathe, and was he really still just trespassing? There are, without doubt, the twenty pieces of evidence present at her death scene, none of it collected, which is very unfortunate, only eclipsed by the fact that they existed, right there for all to see. And finally there is the forensic testing of Morgan’s samples, which, interpreted by an expert who does nothing but testify about what drugs do to a person and how they react after that person is dead, the story is all there. It is a brutal, and very cruel story of how Morgan was killed, and that will never change… and Steve and I can never bring her back – that too, will never change.
Morgan I’m quite certain would want to help others, in her life it was quite a passion of hers, so tightly woven into her planning of her future. So, still picking up the pieces and looking forward – it is just before 8:00 am in the morning in Colorado, and 117 people so far have entered some term about stalkers, and stalking into a search engine that has pulled up Morgan’s Stalking for them. And so much more than writing a blog this morning, I wish I could somehow end their stalking, along with all the fear and terror that goes with it, forever, but that is not something I can do… it is something we are all going to have to do together.
Stalking victims need to accept the help that comes, and to also to find help where they need it most, and to never ever forget this –
You did nothing to deserve being stalked!!! It is your stalker that is breaking the law, and they are the ones that need to be stopped.