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Tag Archives: Protecting Victims
The difference of a few words – #felony stalking then #murder
Morgan in simpler times. The happiness of not being a victim of crime
So many things happen in this world and you never know, never even hear about it. The bliss of not knowing makes you question that some things could even happen, and then one day, finding yourself right in the middle, takes all of that questioning completely away.
Victim’s Rights are such an event in life. Right now the states each have laws, similar but all a little different, just like in stalking, an extra sentence here, a few words there, and the teeth of the law can grow considerably. Naturally the victims being harassed by the suspect or the accused want to see a minimum of loopholes in any Victims Rights law because they know exactly where the suspect or accused goes when the moment of truth comes – straight for the nearest loophole.
But with Victims Rights there is a glaring loophole problem that can’t really be fixed without federal intervention, and it goes like this. First you are the victim of a crime, and then the suspect or the accused talks about you, spreads rumors & lies, orchestrates a little damage to your car, trashes innocent people (including victims and their supporters), and gets others to join in and help with all of this.
It’s a simple idea and effective because trashed people who have died by any reason are far less dangerous to the criminal – this is why I believe they try to dehumanize their prey. The suspects had no concern for anyone’s rights during the crime, and they are certainly not going to find any compassion after the crime. Getting away with it becomes their only concern.
This is where it gets technical, and a few words make all the difference. States have limited options to cross state lines to protect victims. So if you are a suspect or the accused where better to have the person leading the smear campaign against you, the victim, and your dearly departed, another victim, than by someone living in another state.
There are a lot of things Steve and I should not have to do. Starting with living through the death of our daughter, but we did. Morgan, and the light she shined in her 20 years on earth, should never have to be defended against a Forensic Pathologist threatening to change her manner of death unless I, her mother backed off, from the truth of all things! What kind of Forensic Pathologist does that? All this while Steve and I press for criminal charges against the perpetrator(s) of all the crimes.
The Sheriff’s detectives knew who this predator was, most everyone in the neighborhood knew who it was, and now I find out others that are trying to protect him, know just who he was. I guess that should not come as much of a surprise, criminals protecting criminals and all.
This is where the Federal Amendment to the Constitution promises to end all that because the different state limitation is removed, completely. That person “hiding out” or based in another state, and hard at work trashing the dearly departed is now smack dab in the cross hairs too, right on day one, some of them just don’t know it yet.
It has been nothing less than a learning experience for Steve and I. One day our family was not the victim of a stalking, the next day we were. One day we were not a family of a murdered child, and horrifically the next day we were the parents of a daughter who they said had died of natural causes, which made us even more worried, because what if she had something that we did not know about and there was a chance now that our grandchildren were in danger? Then her doctors joined in to tell us is was all wrong, She did not die of natural causes, and she was in fact a homicide. That was even more shocking. When she was changed to suicide, we were deeply hurt, we couldn’t believe that after 8 months of being told they could not change her to a suicide, because there was no evidence of a suicide, they actually did just that. So many doctors and specialists say it is not true, she definitely was not a suicide (there is scientific proof, but that weighs little here in Garfield County), but still, it hurts very deeply.
Now we have our Victim’s Rights, and Morgan’s Victim’s Rights under assault. It is such a massive issue in this country, a Constitutional Amendment weaves its way through the federal legislature. Think about it, there have been only 27 amendments to the Constitution since the forming of this country. That the next one should have to deal with Victims Rights and criminals, the accused, trying to defile the innocent victims as some cheap defense ploy is really huge for victims. Ever hear about the dark days of rape when the victim was blamed for her own rape by her dress or words, so utterly disgusting! So to have to amend the Constitution to correct it is a very big deal, and a testament to the gravity of the situation that exists right now for victims of crime.
In the end it is on one hand just another fight for Steve and I, but after all of the fights we have been forced to go through in the stalking and murder of our daughter, and the complete disrespect she has been treated with we should not have to fight against the family, and friends of the murderer making up any fact that paints Morgan as someone she was not. Facts that seek to ignore she was stalked and murdered.. what kind of human could adopt such an agenda as her doctor questioned loudly when we told him of just some of the tactics being used against Morgan.
The only possible benefit for Steve and I is that in all this chaos being created, if you look closely, to their reactions, and their changing positions, and the soft spots they howl over, a few facts seem to slip out, things we would not have known to more fully investigate otherwise. In Morgan’s case so many facts that need further investigation by others have been slipped out this way, and some have already proven to be very fruitful. So I continue to be patient, and continually think, “Is this a good thing or a bad thing” and honestly only time will tell, but so far I have a feeling that the people who are trying to create all this chaos, around this case, might actually be doing us a favor in the long run.
Just what is your danger level ?
What does it take to defend yourself?
Wouldn’t it be nice to know what it would take to defend your child in a suituation of danger? It’s an answer many would like to know. as it is very telling in how more and more now, I’m asked the same question – just how often are victims of stranger stalkers such as Morgan had – murdered by their stalker? And I’ve never had a good answer for them. And once again not to frighten everyone, but to raise awareness appropriately, it would be good to have a valid number based on research. And to know what is an appropriate response to the dangers you suddenly face.
In our own situation, which is a small sample to be sure, Morgan was stalked by a stranger stalker and she was murdered, which I say because I don’t believe that on December 2, 2011, after four months of stalking, and right in the middle of everything set in motion that last week such as, formal interviews scheduled, Keenan’s work schedule for the last six months scheduled to be collected, Morgan going to be out-of-town for three days, the detective believing the stalking would escalate, deputies now suddenly coming by our house hourly during the wee hours of the morning and searching up on the roof, and a host of other facts. I just don’t believe someone else suddenly decided that was the right night to murder Morgan. I believe it was her stalker, I’m just uncertain as to how much involvement his accomplice(s) had in her murder.
The government has few numbers that directly correlate, but they do have numbers that are very disturbing. The first that jumps out at me is that:
“54% of female intimate partner homicide victims reported the stalking to the police before their stalkers killed them.”
I read that to mean if you have a stalker that used to be an intimate partner – after you report him to the police, 54% of the time you will be killed. Do you think the 54% of women killed in this statistic were ever told just how dire their danger level was? By the police they were reporting it to? Because if they were not, I believe that should be almost criminal all by itself.
What if the very first time you were to call 911 or dispatch you were told this fact? Frightening? Yes. But informed and aware? That too. Does anyone think that being ignorant of the danger and then murdered in that bliss is preferable to being frightened yet safer, because you were aware of the true dangers? The informed and aware becomes a very key component to safety, a very important part. Steve and I were not, absolutely not, ever apprised of any of the real dangers by the Sheriff’s department. We were doing more that they had ever seen someone do, yet it was not enough to save Morgan, was it?
Make no mistake, the fight against stalking could easily be called a war. When it’s drugs they use the term war. You know the, “war on drugs.” They have tanks here in Garfield, and task forces, and informants, and who knows what else. But for stalkers, it would appear there is nothing beyond flashlights. No clear-cut plan for attack, no booklet, no warnings about how to stop it. That part is left completely up to us, unless you count the wildlife cams supplied by the Sheriffs with dead batteries.
What we need at the very least is a plan – that includes assistance from our local law enforcement. And a really coordinated effort that is absolutely absent right now.
That brings me to the second statistic I saw over and over again:
“76% of Femicide victims had been stalked by the person who killed them.”
Femicide was a word that I didn’t know, and the definitions vary, “the killing of women,” is in most definitions, but then they begin to vary widely. One definition even includes, “with impunity,” which I found to be particularly upsetting.
I do try to be positive, and not the harbinger of disaster, but it’s so easy to think that only some parts of the world suffer Femicide, and we in America certainly do not. Well I could easily make the statement that Morgan was a victim of Femicide, and it would be true. I could also add the upsetting “with impunity” statement contained in some definitions and I would also be correct. That is a very sad state of affairs for women in this state.
The rest of the statistic spells out – “stalked by the person who killed them.”
So 76% of women murdered as part of any retaliation, or part of a group such as stalking victims had been stalked by the person who killed them. And as Steve is quick to point out that the 76% is probably only cases that were solved. In Morgan’s case she would not have been killed by her stalker because there was never a case, never charges filed, and never a trial . . . yet.
I hate how this works out after having been there and pulling answers from locked jaws for over a year. First the Sheriff’s botch the investigation, not my opinion, that’s what I am told it was, no law against incompetence and all that. Then they come to our house and, basically, no actually, it seems that they do their best to destroy the crime scene of our daughter’s murder. And remember we don’t know if it is actually a crime scene or not and will not for weeks. So the day Morgan was found would have been really premature to destroy the crime scene. Nobody really knew if she was murdered or not on that day. Not Law Enforcement, not the Forensic Pathologist, and certainly not us, but since it was what they called “suspicious circumstances” it should have been treated as a homicide until proven otherwise.
Then they, the Coroner and Sheriff of Garfield, one by one, close all investigations down. Never saw a stalker, suggesting maybe there was not one? Morgan’s dead, no one to stalk anymore, stalking happened, but now no need to follow-up on any leads. And at the end of all these excuses sits the next young woman who will now be all on her own, just as Morgan was all on her own, with only help from her parents. And if it was not enough for Morgan, I doubt if the help from the next young woman’s parents is going to be enough either. More of an unfortunate prelude to the next unreported case of Femicide in Garfield County than anything else.
I know it sounds serious when I put it that way but it is serious, very serious – our daughter is dead. I just dashed off an eight page letter full of questions that need desperately to be answered and have not as of yet. Steve proofed it for me and said, “this is going on truth for Morgan,” and it will, I’ll reference it back to this very post.
And I have decided something, statistics are only a necessary evil, short enough to convey the situation in sound bite fashion, but so utterly shocking in the underlying information they summarize.
I want a meaningful set of statistics, one that tells the true story of a stalker, all of the different ones somehow. One who is also a peeping tom, who is also a trophy hunter, who was also the acknowledged class bully from kindergarten on, who was sheltered and protected by no less than three people on our quiet street in the middle of Colorado as he stalked our daughter.
I want the statistic that says this combination, if not stopped, is lethal and explosive. And I want that for the next young woman, so she knows what she is up against and how to react to save her life so she doesn’t have to end up as Morgan did. And unless you are one of those that agrees with the Garfield County notion that nothing happened here, I hope you do the same with your child. Really, even if you do agree with Garfield County, err on the safe side and take it very seriously if anything remotely similar were to ever happen to your child.
I feel that it is much easier to back off from reacting to nothing that to suffer the consequence of not enough reaction to something…be it your little child, or your 20-year-old daughter, you want the best, and they deserve the best – from every single person involved.
The Path Less Traveled
Hard to remember a time she wasn’t smiling!
In reality this is even more of a seldom traveled path. On one fork of the trail is that which you know, solid concrete facts and feelings, the comfort that comes from the familiar and knowing where it is going, and what will be at the end. The other fork is unknown, ever evolving, constantly changing, shocking realizations and the wish for it to come to an end, which, as I am reminded every day, will happen not on my timetable, but rather on its own. That fork is where I find my life going now – between my job, which I love, and the time I carve out for my family, which I love even more – is this mythical path meant to gain closure for an event in life that should never have even happened.
Such is Morgan’s stalking. We know she had a stalker, more than one – no doubt. He was on our porch, in our driveway, left footprints in the planters surrounding the house, he was up on the roof, leaning out and bending steel gutters until one side was torn in two. He left well traveled trails, worn into the berm 75 feet behind our house, a constant reminder of his presence, even when he was right there, ready to terrorize, and also showing just how often he was actually there. Seldom seen, but all too often there – waiting for Morgan, waiting for his next chance.
He was not afraid at all, security cameras caught him leaning against Steve’s truck to watch the deputies drive away after yet another fruitless attempt to catch him. Another deputy, weeks earlier, had demonstrated for me very graphically, that standing in the deep scuff marks he left in the ground outside Morgan’s window, how his face would have been right up against the glass. His nose just a whisper away as he stared at a defenseless nineteen year old girl at that time. My back still quivers at the thought.
That was real – far too real.
Along the path less traveled are the actions of the Sheriff. What do they mean? If all that was happening to Morgan, and our family, on an almost daily basis and it would be called only misdemeanor trespassing for the first 58 days, doesn’t that mean they don’t take it seriously? Didn’t their actions scream that they were just waiting for him to give up, and move on – with no meaningful intervention from the Sheriff’s department? As perhaps this very same tormentor had done to so many other neighbors over the past four years. Because it certainly seemed like this was the same person that had been spotted peering and tapping on a window of one neighbor, then also spotted in the fenced yard of another, seen staring into a woman’s master bedroom as she changed to go to sleep, and on and on. Only this time he did not stop, not after a few days, and not after winter came. One of our Sheriff’s Deputies in the beginning of Morgan’s stalking suggested that he was a “seasonal stalker” and last time he stopped as soon as it became cold or the snow started to fall. It was as if he knew him personally, a seasonal criminal who will stop soon as it gets cold. Where does that coexist with meaningful intervention?
A woman tormented by a man of the same description only two weeks before Morgan’s stalking began insisted that the Sheriffs follow-up on her incident, but they did not. Doesn’t this show they do not care. Never mind it is not a high priority – doesn’t it appear to be a no priority at all?
It also was not reported by the Sheriffs. A journalist researching Morgan’s stalking and seeking records was first told by the Sheriff’s department that he needed the exact day and address or he could not get any records. When I got permission to pass that information along and did, he was then told there was no record, ever. No record of an incident that was reported (Sheriff’s Deputies were at her house) with peeping tom, harassment, and trespassing written all over it. What does that say about the Sheriff’s department? About their stand on violence against women? Because all of these victims before Morgan were women too.
Invasion of privacy for sexual gratification, harassment, eavesdropping, and felony stalking which comes after it’s happened more that once, and it causes you to suffer serious emotional distress. Serious crimes if you are the victim, the recipient of all this very horrific, uninvited, completely unwanted terror. Morgan had all of these crimes committed against her during her stalking. I’m feeling they were also committed against our family as well, and as I read and re-read through the official reports, I have yet to find any of it documented. Not once! I was told to document everything, and you can bet that I did. But then why do the police reports document nothing? Do they not consider it a crime?
If the paperwork AKA the reports are what convicts the criminal in the end, then what does it mean when there are no reports? A very helpful FBI Special Agent told me that he could not get involved in Morgan’s investigation, but I had to realize that there was no law against incompetence. Does that mean he thought the Sheriff’s department was incompetent? What about when the Honorable DA said that the Sheriff’s Department had so thoroughly botched the investigation that she did not know if there could ever be a prosecution? What exactly were they doing when the first two independent assessments of their actions as law enforcement professionals are so completely dismal?
When your attempt at intervention is not producing results, and the crime is continuing, escalating, shouldn’t someone step up and say, “this is not working, we have to do better.” If you care about stopping crime, and protecting victims do you blindly do the same thing day in and day out with no tangible results, and somehow call it a job well done?
Steve and I constantly told each other, “this is not working, we have to do better!”
We bought wildlife cameras, motion detectors, installed more and more motion lights, surveillance video cameras, Steve sat out on the berm behind our house, dressed all in black, for hours at a time. And none of it was enough for more than a glimpse of him. The reality, when he lives three houses up the street, is that he can watch and wait and assess, then attack when the “coast is clear.” He could sit up on our roof in a spot perfectly made to conceal a criminal, such as we had. Or he could stand and see Sheriffs trucks approaching from far away. Any thought the Sheriffs ever had concerning any element of surprise working for them was nothing more than a fleeting dream.
Then Morgan, the victim in every sense of the word, of all the continuing crimes, that did nothing but escalate – is murdered, horrifically murdered in her own bedroom, the murder scene complete with so many obvious signs of an intruder being present. More promises of the how they had collected everything they needed. There was talk of new detectives, just for her death – once again, all the promises of all the things that would never happen. Was it because she was a woman? I have to wonder aloud. And we kept trusting the Sheriffs – we still believed they were telling us the truth.
While we are constantly reminded by those who have lent their help – Steve and I are not trained investigators, nor are we accomplished hunters, not a legal team, not doctors and not forensic pathologists. We do understand as it is explained to us, and believe me – understanding what has been, and is being explained to us is not pleasant.
Unfortunately, all the times we returned to Garfield County with new knowledge to share from a fact-finding trip, we would hear that everything explained to us meant nothing here in Garfield County. Their mind was made up, no more Morgan, no more stalking. How can a real Sheriff’s Department ever say that? Then there was the Coroner, claiming her death is in no way connected to her stalking, it’s natural causes, from a blood disease she never had, and the condition of her lungs indicated strangulation before anything benign.
We wanted natural causes changed because we were told over and over by the best experts we are able to seek out that this is anything but natural causes. Who wouldn’t? Those pursuits resulted in threats that her death would be revisited, perhaps changed. What forensic pathologist does that? In this country is that even legal? But the threats registered with us. We documented them with the Sheriffs and with the Coroner, who was responsible for contracting this forensic pathologist.
I talked extensively with another forensic pathologist that was gracious enough to take time from his busy schedule to intervene and explain the mistakes to our Coroner, he also assured me the manner of death could never be changed to a suicide for many more reasons that I won’t go into right now. Does this mean he thought the original forensic pathologist would never stoop so low? Or be absolutely so cavalier with the facts? Talking about the original forensic pathologist that was a doctor, not an M.D., but some sort of doctor. It was crippling to me when Morgan was changed to a suicide, such an unbelievable insult for a young woman like Morgan. The way the system works in Colorado means our legal avenues to have this horrific wrong righted will take many, many years. Does this sound like justice to you? When we were threatened, reported the threats, and a man contracted by the County Coroner then followed through on his threats, with never any concern for the truth – shocking! Absolutely shocking! Has he been placed in a position that he is completely above the law? The path Steve and I will travel to right just the wrongs we are aware of now is the less traveled choice. Morgan was such a bright light in our lives and such a loving daughter I don’t believe any parent put in our position would want to do any less than we shall. That is our job, to tell the story, and how we believe it could have ended very differently.
I don’t want anyone in this world to ever have to sit where I sit and to ever have to look back on what I am seeing, and being forced to relive everyday. It is simply impossible to react correctly as such crimes are coming at you, rapid fire, all happening in real-time, completely disrupting your life in an unyielding march to an end that hasn’t quite happened yet, so you have only your hopes, but no real idea what the ending will be, then as swiftly as it began it is over, and it ends up to be so horrifying that it is hard to believe, to process, to pick up the pieces and move again. That was our reality – now how do we change it? That is our future path – not just Steve, and I, and all of my loving family, but all of us who inhabit this world…
From Morgan to her Dad on a Father’s Day long ago…Happy Father’s Day to all the other Dad’s out there!
