Tag Archives: Morgans Blog

November 23, 2011 – Day 114 of Morgan’s Stalking – The day before Thanksgiving

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Wylah crashed out!

Morgan arrives home from Denver by noon.  I have a short day of work, so Morgan and I go shopping to get all the ingredients for her favorite cake for Thanksgiving, she loves to make Paula Dean’s Pumpkin Gooey cake.  We got home with all the ingredients and Morgan puts on her little pink apron and goes to work on making the cake.

I spoke with Detective Alstatt over the phone today and then after making her cake, Morgan and her friend decided to lie on the living room couch and watch movies until 2:00 am – they feel asleep on the couch, and about 2:10 am (after the lights had been turned off in the living room) all of a sudden Morgan heard continual scraping and tapping on the living room window – her friend was asleep on the couch so he didn’t hear (Morgan had not fallen asleep yet), she sent me a text and I came running out of the bedroom to see what was happening.  I heard a tap on the living room window…I ran to the window to look out to see if I could tell what was happening.  After not seeing anything I whispered to Morgan to just go to sleep on the other end of the couch, as was her friend, and if she heard anything else to let me know.

I went to bed and hoped for the best. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and we have reservations (usually I cooked) to go to the Maroon Creek Club in Aspen for Thanksgiving dinner, so I just prayed that we could all get some sleep and have a nice Thanksgiving.

Click here to read about the 115th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2239

November 22, 2011 – Day 113 of Morgan’s Stalking…

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It was so wonderful today to wake up and know it had been quiet last night.

Today is Tuesday and Morgan leaves for 24 hours with her friend, and their family to go to Denver.  Steve and I talked about flocking windows – I thought his idea was a little crazy, but since the stores now have Christmas decorations and things on display, Steve sees the cans of white window flocking, and comes up with this idea.  He tells me if he flocks Morgan’s window on the outside, then when something hits the windows it will leave not only a mark, but if we check the mark we will be able to see where the object is coming from, and what direction it is bouncing off the window from.  I don’t know why, but I thought it was a desperate and crazy idea when he mentioned it.  He really believes it will work and tells me that he is going to buy some cans of window flocking on his way home tonight.

Our next door neighbor (they were 2nd homeowners, and usually never there) called to ask Steve if he could let some people into their house.  I guess they had friends that were just passing through and wanted to stay there overnight.  Steve had the key to their house in case they needed him to check on anything for them.  Since we had all gotten a good nights sleep last night I was able to get a lot of work done today.  I had Thursday (Thanksgiving) through Sunday off from work so I wanted to get caught up on my work and today, and tomorrow were the last days to do just that.

Tonight was quiet also, and Steve and I were able to sleep well… the fact that Morgan was out of town helped so much, It was like a weight being lifted from my shoulders feeling Morgan was safe and not being terrorized.

Steve felt the difference too, he was finding more and more positives in the idea of just moving.  And he felt it would be good for me as well.  We were going to talk to Morgan about it when she came home tomorrow from her little trip.

Click here to read about the 114th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2144

November 19 & 20 – Days 110 and 111 of Morgan’s Stalking – Half A Weekend Is Better Than No Weekend At All

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Morgan spends a quiet Saturday.  She is tired and sleeps so much during the day.

We have some  positive signs from Detective Glassmire.  He is going to interview Keenan.  He is trying to arrange it so that it takes place at the sheriff’s department, and that is why it is taking so long.  There are problems with going to his house (he doesn’t explain why), and he believes he has it all arranged.

Steve and I have come to a standstill.  We are waiting to see what develops in the next week or so before we launch into a new program.  In the beginning I was always hopeful of things happening in a day or two, but that always became days, and now it has slid down to weeks.

That it has dragged on for so long is no surprise to me.  Glassmire recommended a book about stalking that has examples of stalkings that took place over many years.  That is not acceptable to me, and at the rate individual investigations or interviews are  being constantly dragged out I can see why that happens.  To have a stalker for two years who is being actively pursued is one thing.  But to have a stalker for years, because once a month someone has an hour to spend on your case is a completely different matter.

Lately Detective Glassmire and Detective Alstatt have been more openly discussing what we might do if we catch him and still remain within the law.  It is obvious to us, as far as Steve is concerned, that this is an end they would love to see.  We corner him, perhaps rough him up a little in the capture, but not too much, or we will be the ones in trouble.  And they will take it from there.

Steve points out the miles he has logged chasing in the direction he believes the stalker has gone – running as fast as he can go.  While he has never seen an attempt by the sheriff’s department that involved anything, but a fast walk.  Having been through what we have been so far in this stalking, Steve knows all too well that they are never going to see anything, and they are certainly never going to catch anyone with the protocol they are implementing.

We have decided to talk with the detective about the use of tracking dogs when he comes tomorrow.  So many times it has been promised to us as a great tool.  In fact it was almost successful in catching the stalker with the same MO across the road in Blue Creek the summer before.  After all the talk of bringing out the dogs we are going to make that happen as a priority in the very near future.

I have seen trained tracking dogs and they can be quite amazing, especially in a situation like this, where he is close by, and just a step too fast for us – I feel like we have waited long enough.  The time is now.

Winter has stubbornly refused to unfurl blankets of snow that would also spell an end to the stalker, because then he could easily be tracked.  Unless he can figure a way to drop in from the sky, and take off the same way – if only we had snow we could track him.

Steve has made some tweaks to the cameras and feels he has better coverage around the house.  We went to sleep and waited. and the night is mercifully quiet.  After Morgan had spent most of the day recuperating and looking so much better, it would have been so upsetting to see her just be terrorized over the night and take it all back.

Sunday Rob and Megan come over much earlier than normal.  There are developments.  His father has brought Keenan to the station for an interview – he can’t have  the detectives showing up at his place of employment anymore.  It is bad for his job.  Keenan’s dad, Wade Vanginkel, also works at City Market with Keenan, along with some other relatives.  Wade wants to be sure there is no problem for his son.  So far they have only told him he is a person of interest.  Detective Rob has gotten him to agree to turn over a copy of his work hours from City Market.  He feels that with my timeline of stalking incidents, once they are overlaid it will be powerful evidence.

His partner does not agree, as she knows how things really work in grocery stores, and feels anyone on the night shift can come and go as they please – on or off the record.

That disagreement does not last long as Detective Glassmire instantly turns to what he calls a real problem that we have now.

It seems that someone has been threatening Keenan.  We quickly learn that the facebook argument between Morgan’s friend and Keenan got a little out of control.  Keenan’s father wants to take out a restraining order against Morgan’s friend.  I tell them they have to be joking.  We were talked out of taking a restraining order out by Detective Glassmire in the beginning, and now if their number one suspect takes out a retraining order it isn’t a problem?  This is crazy!

I have seen the text of the argument and I know it was under a name I do not recognize.  I think I know who did it, but I am not really sure.  I know that it took place over three days and Keenan’s side of the conversation clearly shows he is in constant contact with someone in the neighborhood.

Steve has agreed to keep it from happening again before the matter is concluded.  I had actually thought the exchange was pretty even, as far as chest pounding went.  At the time I thought they should have followed up on the conversations more closely.  I had thought before that conversation, that on a social media site it really didn’t hold much weight in court.  But if they did as much as I was being led to believe I guess it would count.  Then I felt all of the statements, and conversations should get far more scrutiny.

Detective Glassmire agreed he would look into it and reminded us that we should not let this happen again, we agreed to take care of it.

Today is November 2, 2012 – Keenan had implicated someone else of a crime in his interview, but we did not learn that until much later.  It was a simple matter that Keenan was all too happy to share a little  information about.  But as the wheels of justice turn at their maddeningly slow speed  it will still be a while longer before that bit of information gets to take its place next to all the other little pieces of information that were collected over the year.

Click here to read about the 112th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2132

November 15, 2011 – Day 106 of Morgan’s Stalking – Why is it always just up to you?

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After the deputies leave in the morning I go back to work. Morgan has classes and will be getting up shortly to leave for her college classes. Steve takes off for his project in Aspen. He has many art projects going, but has found he can’t do them all with all of the stress surrounding what is happening. There is a complex project that keeps his mind busy, and he devotes himself to it – he calls it his “ship in a bottle” and while I don’t agree I can empathize with his need to just do one thing right now. Anything more would be far too much.

After Steve leaves I hear of the latest rumor in the neighborhood. After so many years of no rumors, we now seem to have a new one every week – all based on the stalker. The latest greatest is that Christina Harris (Brooke’s mom) is telling everyone that the sheriffs know who the stalker is, and he is one of Morgan’s ex-boyfriends. What?  This is news to me and obviously not true…so why is she telling neighbors this lie?

The rumor about Morgan having gone missing, a while back, upset me the most. Because there were implications that something would or was going to happen to Morgan, subtly veiled in that rumor. The fear that had driven some of the lies in the neighborhood were predicated on people “disappearing” and precautions were taken to protect against this. Steve and I had no first hand knowledge, only what the sheriffs relayed to us and the stories that had been shared with us.  True or not, they were quite frightening.

This rumor however was laughable. The basic problem with rumors and all kinds of lies is there has to be some behind-the-scenes knowledge, or there is the overwhelming risk that you will be all too quickly exposed as a liar. This was one of those.  Morgan had only two ex-boyfriends. One presently lived along the east coast, and had for quite some time. The other lived in Australia, and had for quite some time. Stalkers by nature of their crime have to live in the relative proximity.  A day or two travel away for each incident did not make for the ideal stalking situation, and the Garfield County detectives had long ago ruled those two out as possible culprits.

Morgan is fairly serious in her relationships and they tend to last for years, instead of just days or months. I do not really know if it is the influence of Steve and I, who have been happily married for 35 years, or it is just that it’s the way she has always been. But Morgan takes relationships seriously

I am tired of the nonstop rumors, and the lies that have become the new neighborhood gossip.  Tomorrow I want to find out from the detectives how their “talk” with Keenan has gone, and I want an answer to these persistent rumors. They are, without doubt, always pointing to the innocence of Keenan.  But it is not just that fact, it is the innocence of everyone associated with him.  Morgan deserves an answer to a few simple questions, and I intend to get them.

Morgan leaves to go for a drive with friends and takes her puppy Wylah.  I walk into her room after she leaves and I imagine what it is like for Morgan.  Banging on her windows at any hour, detectors going off to signal trouble.  Knowing someone is out their watching you.  I look at her “panic button” firmly attached to her end table, and it hurts so much that this is her life.  I want it to be over. I want her to have a normal life again. Her motion light goes off as I am standing there.  I call for Steve and I tell him we have to end this. That I am reaching my limit.

Steve agrees and says we have to change this, whatever it takes.  He wants me to call the detectives and have them over tomorrow night.  He will tell tell them that enough is enough.

Today is October 29, 2012 – I am fielding calls from every angle possible. I am also sharing some of our evidence, as I have never done so before. Steve says why hold back, let everyone know just what is going on here.  I field an answer from the Internet that is shocking, because it contains information that no one should know, except someone that was involved in Morgan’s murder.  Who do I call?  The sheriff has gone on TV and said he will never open this investigation again.  Skipping over the small fact that there never was an investigation into her suspicious death in the first place, I truly wonder what a person does in a situation like this.

And then Steve says he thinks he has an answer.  And I am thinking, I was so hoping you would say something like that.  Now I go to see what this answer is – Morgan’s friends, Morgan’s true friends are all coming together to help and even if this has to go all the way to the White House –  it won’t stop….we will get justice for Morgan….we will save other girls!

Click here to read about the 107th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2083

November 13, 2011 – Day 104 of Morgan’s stalking – Why haven’t they caught the stalker?

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Tessi babysitting Wylah so Morgan can get some sleep

Morgan calls me at 8:00 am and thanks me for taking Wylah, out and letting her sleep.  She wants to sleep more if that is alright and I tell her certainly – go back to sleep.  She needs the rest.

Our detectives are trying to come by earlier today so we can try to make some calls again.  They are called pretext calls, which basically means Morgan gets on a phone that has been attached to something in Detective Glassmire’s briefcase and she picks up the phone after he has dialed the number and tries to engage the people in a directed conversation.  It all sounds good and looks impressive, but unfortunately nobody on the other end has cooperated by answering yet.

Keenan had his cell phone disconnected, and they have been unable to find his new number yet, so a lot of this is shooting in the dark anyway.  The calls today are started earlier in hopes we will catch someone at a different time.  It starts out with promising signs, but is headed for discouraging results before long.

Steve tries to help and goes into my office to sign up for a service on the Internet that supposedly has all the answers for $20 and there are all kinds of special deals for increased access and information, which Steve accepts and we soon have names and addresses and all kinds of information to go with the numbers.

Again, this looks very promising at first.  Even Detective Glassmire and Detective Alstatt are surprised by all the information that can be had on anyone.  Only none of this information is working any better.  Steve signs in again and tries a search on us using a number that we have had for six years, and is supposed to be private.  The information comes spitting out and it is all wrong, we are not even anywhere on it.  And it is our number.

We conclude the attempts of the calls, and Detective Glassmire announces he is going to stop by Keenan’s house on the way back to Rifle for a conversation – I did not know he knew where Keenan now lived.  I am very hopeful of this development, and after the detectives check their cameras we say goodbye.

Morgan goes out with her puppy to take pictures, and Steve is trying unsuccessfully to get a refund from the Internet information site.

A friend calls me with information, even though we avoid talking about it now, a lot of people are trying to help us end this situation.  My friend has scouted on the Internet and has some links I have to see.  It is a picture of a young Keenan, decked out in complete camouflage with a deer he has successfully bow hunted lying dead alongside him.  I call Steve over to see and he tells me he knows a few bow hunters, it is not an easy sport at all – requires great discipline and patience.  There was also a link to a boast that he can go undetected by anyone that my friend is reading to me and I relay to Steve, he wants me to make sure that Detective Glassmire sees it.

At 5:58 pm I text Morgan, “Dad’s B-Day is tomorrow. Let’s talk when you get home.”  She calls me back, and tells me about a project she is making for him.  I am sworn to secrecy, and promise to let her make the cake as well – she loves to bake.

Detective Glassmire gives me an update later that Keenan was not at home, so he will try again soon.  I found out this past May of 2012, that Detective Glassmire never had a real address for the “suspect,” Keenan, so I don’t know why he told me he went there and Keenan was not home…what was that all about?  We have signs of momentum in positive ways and I thought after the last few embarrassing events they were trying extra hard, which was very appreciated.

After an uneventful evening the cameras in the rear yard picked something up at 4:51 am (this would now be on the 14th – the “suspect” Keenan Vanginkel was not working at all on the 14th!).  Morgan heard what she called shots or bangs on her upper window and her motion detector lights were going on and off all at about the same time. Steve was up and instead of going out sat at the monitor and switched from camera to camera seeing nothing.  He now wishes he had all motorized cameras with pan and angle instead of just a few.  He had gotten an ad about a camera that followed motion all on its own and now he was going to check into it some more.  We just kept thinking – how are we going to stop this!

Click here to read about the 105th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=2041