Tag Archives: justice for morgan

Stranger Stalker – What does that mean?

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Mogwaithruhole

Morgan’s stalker has over, and over again been called a stranger stalker.  I know all too well how he did his best to conceal his identity but not his presence, especially at our home.  When stalking on the streets he had a different approach, but at the house, to let Morgan know he was right there was almost a particular turn-on for him.  The Deputies who first saw the wildlife camera photo of him, leaning against Steve’s truck, and watching them drive away, spooked and angered them.  The said they had never seen anything like it.

Stranger stalkers are thought to have a greater affect on their victims because the stalker is unknown to them, hence the stalking takes on a much more frightening feeling.  Because the stalker is unknown to the victim, the victim has no idea who to be on the lookout for, who to be careful of or around, and who to speak to, and who to avoid.  Although the level of danger connected with stranger stalkers may not in actuality be higher, the stress level most certainly is without doubt.  Most experts will tell you that stranger stalking can be one of the most terrifying of all stalking situations, as even the experts themselves don’t know how to deal with it.

In a twist that is especially telling in Morgan’s case a stranger stalker very often suffers from erotomania; a mental disorder that causes the stalker to believe another person is in love with him or her.  Due to this disorder, a stranger stalker may fantasize either that they have had an intimate relationship with their victim, or that their victim truly loves them and wants to have an intimate relationship with them.  “Erotomania is directed at both men and women, but more men act on the delusion,” according to an expert on the subject.

This helps explain why Morgan’s stalker was almost exclusively at one of the windows of a bathroom she was using.  From the beginning until it ended with her death there was always an undeniable voyeur, or peeping tom aspect in Keenan’s approaches to her.

Occasionally, victims of stranger stalking may eventually find out who their stalkers are.  Morgan had no idea for a month or so, and then after finding out from a neighbor that Keenan had moved into the neighborhood the pieces started falling together.  In fact it was the neighbors that we were not supposed to tell anything about the stalking to (that is what the Sheriff’s said in the beginning, because they felt the stalker was in our neighborhood, and didn’t want to tip him off) that were the most helpful with clues about things they had seen, not the Sheriffs.  The Detectives were very careful, and took their time to arrive at the decision that Keenan was the prime suspect, which is good thing I think.

The large number of other stalking incidents in the area over many years all matching his description with a very similar MO had me calling him a serial stalker.  Just recently I have found out that this is not that uncommon at all.

Experts feel that over half of the stalkers in America have been involved in prior stalking incidents.  Even psychiatrists cannot accurately predict when the stalking behavior will end or happen the next time, but they know that about two-thirds of those showing obsessive stalking behavior have had prior episodes.  Law enforcement largely agrees with this theory, as research into the case files for Detectives shows that if a complete background investigation is made into a stalkers past, there are often other cases of prior stalkings.

Morgan’s stalker was a stranger stalker, and most likely a serial stalker as well.  That there were people in the neighborhood willing to cover for him undoubtedly made the task more difficult for the Sheriffs.  It seems that everyone who was interviewed or questioned, for example with Brooke or Christina Harris, the Sheriffs noted that they detected deception in their answers.  A really frustrating part for me is to see a complete lack of follow up on that deception.

As I search for answers for others I know that this is something that has to be more effectively addressed in the future.  There are very few reasons for deception in a person’s answers to a Sheriff or Detective asking about a particular individual who is the prime suspect in a stalking.  Following up on that deception thoroughly has to be part of the investigation, otherwise it does not seem that there really is much of an investigation going on – don’t you think?

Checks and Balances…

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dontletthebastards

Starting at the top, the highest law in the land, the American constitutional system includes a notion known as the Separation of Powers.  Three Branches of government – each one having powers to rein in the other, keeping everything in balance.  In the stalking case and death of Morgan Ingram what did it take in Garfield County for her right to due process to be stripped away, and her tormentors – the stalker(s), the peeping tom(s), the intruders, and the jewelry thieves to all go free – sadly for us all, not very much at all.

A meeting was held behind closed doors, which should always be a tip-off that some right is about to be stripped from someone.  Steve and I knew about this meeting only because we knew the legal team that had set it up.  They had high hopes that this meeting would bring the start of justice for Morgan.

It would have been nice if Steve and I had been made aware of the meeting through the promise of the Colorado Constitution to treat Victims with fairness, respect and dignity.  But we were not, the premise sounds good, but in Garfield County the notion is to be avoided at all costs, even by the representative of Victims Rights.  Trust me I stood and endured her wrath, at an earlier time, as I tried to introduce a medical fact into the investigation.

As we were not present at the meeting to decide the fate for our daughter and the criminals who attacked her, I do not know exactly what was said.  I was given a synopsis of how it ended though.

As the County Coroner has never spoken with us or granted a meeting I seriously doubt he was even there.  Perhaps one of the Deputy Coroners whom I am told are not real Deputy Coroners due to the way they choose to conduct official state business, including following Colorado Revised Statutes for Deputy Coroners, was at the meeting, but I do not know one way or the other.  I do know that they know how to ignore conflict of interest laws and unabashedly promote the Mortuary they all work for.  Checks and Balances?  For the President, Congress, The Senate, and the Supreme Court – definitely.  For Coroners in Garfield County – not so much.

I am told the FBI was represented, and I do not know if someone was there to protect Morgan’s or our interests.  The contracted Forensic Pathologist was there, in person or over the telephone, I am not sure, but his voice to give weighty evidence was there.  The contracted Forensic Pathologist has this way of completely disregarding the opinions of others in the medical field, no matter what their credentials.  I know this from past events.

A team of doctors, not one doctor, but a team of doctors at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA in Los Angeles saw Morgan to evaluate a situation.  At the conclusion of their evaluation they were satisfied with their findings.  After Morgan’s death one of the doctors on this team shared the findings with the contracted Forensic Pathologist Garfield County had hired for Morgan’s autopsy.  This doctor told the pathologist that Morgan did not suffer from Porphyria, which of course created a problem because the pathologist had already listed Porphyria as her cause of death, perhaps he should have asked someone who knew first.

The pathologist had told Steve and I on the phone once that he did not have much experience with Porphyria, and he would welcome input from a large respected University Hospital out on the coast.  Out of concern at the time we did ask him if he had seen something during the autopsy or perhaps ran a test on Morgan that led him to conclude Porphyria was Morgan’s cause of death, and he told us he had not and did not.

Evidently this welcoming of input from a source such as staff from the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA in Los Angeles was only good until they gave him input which was in conflict with his findings, and it caused a real problem for a case he had already given his professional, “with a great deal of medical certainty ???”, opinion on.  The pathologist none – the – less had a simple solution for his apparent snafu.  It was not, change the mistake he had made, if that is what you thought.  He instead took the position that he suddenly knew more about Porphyria than they did.  Most everyone else in the world for that matter.  Now really, if you were told by your doctor you possibly could have Porphyria – would you:

  1. Schedule an appointment with your local Forensic Pathologist, and see if he could see you between autopsies?  OR…
  2. Schedule appointments with a team of doctors at UCLA MEDICAL CENTER, including specialists in this kind of thing to determine what was really wrong with you and what to do about it?

It just boggles my mind is that I can write this, and it is absolutely the truth.  But this is not the absolute gem that the contracted forensic pathologist said at the closed-door meeting that really crossed the line, really defies credulity.

The issue was raised by someone at this closed-door meeting that the “Ingram’s” seemed to believe there could be more to Morgan’s death than just simple natural causes, and it could actually be a homicide instead.  That such a question could actually be asked is once again beyond me, when Morgan was in the midst of a horrific felony stalking, at her house, out on the streets, she had lived in fear everywhere for four months and then was found dead, days before she was to be officially interviewed about her stalker.  But the contracted forensic pathologist had a whole different opinion about Morgan’s death, and he handled it in quite a surprising way for a professional in a room of professionals.

The contracted forensic pathologist is reported to have simply written the whole matter off to, “Bad Blood”, between him and the Medical Examiner who had given the second opinion.  Was he accusing him of lying or misrepresenting facts due to a personal disagreement?  Beyond shocking! Yet in that room of Law Enforcement, on that day, it was enough.  Never mind that among the many opinions the Medical Examiner gave in his second opinion was the fact that he did not see how the contracted forensic pathologist could overlook a blood level of amitriptyline of 7,909, in fact calling it insignificant in determining the cause of death.  This statement had gotten the Ingram’s all riled up and that was the problem.  This blame of “Bad Blood” from the Forensic Pathologist is all it took to have the past DA and the Sheriff to decide Morgan’s case did not rise to the need for justice.  Checks and Balances – Stalker, Murderer, Thief, Intruder, Peeping Tom VS “bad blood” – all even in Garfield County.

I have said it many times now, but I will say it again.  It is the professional opinions of doctors, forensic experts, investigative specialists that I base my opinion as to what happened to Morgan on.  I am only restating what I am told, not voicing my own, nor Steve’s opinions, and certainly not stooping to blame “Bad Blood”.  We are not doctors, forensic experts, or investigative specialists.

Is that really all it took to end Morgan’s right to due process?  Bad Blood?  Are professionals not able to talk and work out glaring differences?  If the lab that tested Morgan’s blood regularly tests blood samples from all over the county every day and says 7,909 is the highest level they have ever seen – how does it get swept away due to bad blood?  A level of 7,909 being the highest they remember is a fact, that could very justifiably get the parents of a daughter they had been told died from natural causes all whipped up!

Are we all honestly so busy bickering here in Colorado that nobody can get justice?  Or does this “bad blood” defense only work in closed-door meetings in Garfield County?

That brings me back to a basic premise that binds the county – Checks and Balances.  The United States has them, but Garfield County finds it easier to conduct business without them, no worries if justice gets lost in the process.

Morgan only wanted to help people, and she did.  She also did not want to go, not at the age she was taken, and certainly not in the way she has been taken from us – of this I am absolutely certain.

“Equal justice under law is not merely a caption on the facade of the Supreme Court building, it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society.  It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists…it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.”  – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, Jr

Equal justice should stand for all – victims included, and why am I not seeing this day after day, email after email, call after call from other victims?  We are all citizens, and should be able to receive equal justice, but we are far from it in this case, and things need to be rectified!

Working in one degree of separation…

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MorganarmsupA play was written by John Guare, based on a theory by Frigyes Karinthy that there are six degrees of separation, an idea that everyone is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.  Strange as it sounds at first, on average, it really holds up, so that a chain of “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

In other words you meet someone, and they know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, and six people later, viola, that person knows you!  And why is this important you ask?  Well once you get this idea there is another one to ponder.

We live in a small, very contained valley, so small that Steve has a theory that we live with one degree of separation.  Maybe he’s right, and at times it sure seems like everyone you meet knows at least one friend of yours.   And this cuts so many ways in Morgan’s Stalking.

For example:

  1. James Harris confesses to a client (the same morning we find Morgan’s body) that he knows who the stalker is, and that person he confessed to turns out to be friends with a very good friend of mine.  But then the detectives never investigate, never question this witness.
  2. The detectives interview Keenan’s boss at work (since Keenan was the prime suspect), Keenan gets a glowing review, hard working clean nosed young man, our detectives get the idea at that time that maybe he is not the stalker, and they are wrong about him.  Except the detective does not know that the manager is Keenan’s Uncle, by marriage.  Nor does he know that at least three other relatives of Keenan work at the same store.  The truth was being hidden to confuse this poor detective?  Certainly possible.  As we all know it was just weeks later that Keenan was arrested on a warrant for theft by receiving, I am told Keenan is the one who walked into the cash for gold store, and fenced the goods, and I believe it.  During the stop his car was taken to the station, and a stash of drugs prepackaged for sale were found inside – so much for the clean nosed young man, wouldn’t you say?
  3. James Harris claims to have not known there was a stalker when questioned on the Dr. Phil show, and said he wishes we would have told him so he could have taken appropriate measures. This was on a TV show where he came with the intention of defending himself with the truth, one might assume.  And over the past weekend another connection just jumped out.  During Morgan’s stalking the President of the HOA (not James) wanted to do something to stop this situation, and decided one of our next door neighbors had let his yard get quite overgrown (a good place for the stalker to hide) and his plan was to organize a work party of board members to trim it all down.  Hopefully give the stalker fewer places to hide, as the stalker was doing so successfully up till then.  Don’t we all remember the stalker wandering out and leaning on Steve’s truck to watch the Sheriffs drive away?  Guess who was a part of that work party to reduce hiding places for the stalker?  You guessed it, James Harris spent a good part of his weekend trimming, and raking and cleaning our neighbor’s yard, because of the stalker we had in our neighborhood – but I guess he must have forgotten all about that.  Then, just months later James claims, with a straight face, and actually feigning surprise, that he knew nothing about a stalker.  This just gets deeper and deeper, doesn’t it?  This latest memory lapse that he had is in addition to all his conversations with the Detectives and the Deputies that came to his house, or that he approached in the street during the 4 months of stalking to ask about the stalker, and James also chooses to completely forget he was interviewed, as well as his daughter Brooke, a face-to-face interview he was at! – a fact he must have forgotten all about as well.  Part of this amazing changing memory was posted on April 4, 2013 – “Definition of Accuse.” Click on it if you want to read it again.
  4. In the months following Morgan’s death many individuals independently came up to me and shared something they had heard Brooke Harris say before Morgan died that troubled them.  At different times, and worded slightly different, they all reported hearing her say either, “That bitch is going to get it someday”, or just, “That bitch is going to get it.”.  Of course when confronted on stage in TV land she denied ever saying that, and not stopping there she claimed to be a friend of Morgan’s and why would she ever say that?  She exclaimed.  Just a last tidbit on this, when Keenan was asked if he knew about the “keying” of Morgan’s car, the word ‘Bitch’ scraped into the driver’s door, right down to the metal, Keenan said he did not know about it, but told the detective he either thought “Brooke could have done it,” or “that’s her style, so it is very possible that she did it.”  I wasn’t there during his interview with the Detective so I am not sure of the exact wording, but basically that is what I was told that he said to the Detective.
  5. Everyone wanted me to talk to the ranch next door, and I mean everyone, one by one, they told me about things at the ranch.  So thanks I guess to the one degree of separation theory he’s a few more disclosures.  The ranch had most, but probably not all, of the seven drugs found in Morgan’s system, and responsible for her death.  Keenan’s sister worked her community service at the ranch.  Brooke’s mother worked at the ranch.  Brooke visited the ranch for reasons unknown to me.  Keenan was at the ranch at times.  Elliott’s two daughters took riding lessons at the ranch, under the watchful eye of Elliott.  At this point all that needs to happen is for James to stop by to pick up one of his daughters or drop something off for his ex and do you realize that every player from the neighborhood in this mystery was at the ranch in the room where the drugs are stored at one time or another?  And yes, this connection has also never been investigated by the Sheriff’s department.
  6. Oh, and as to the seven drugs – as I have not mentioned that in a while, because that part of the investigation is pretty much closed from where I sit.  Let me, however, say this; Morgan’s labs confirm the existence of seven drugs of importance, some of these seven drugs can be a synthesis of others, but they can also exist, and can be administered independently, that is a very important detail.  As it has been explained to me, EVERY one of those seven drugs has to be analyzed, and evaluated both independently, and then together to approach the true story of what happen to Morgan that night.  Focusing on one or two, and dismissing the rest is a sure path to introducing erroneous conclusions.  So you can rest assured that the conclusion arrived at by the contracted pathologist is indeed erroneous, of that I have been assured.

Quite fascinating, these varying degrees of separation, especially when you attempt to harness them in order to solve a crime.  When the truth never changes, and you have a statute of limitations of forever when it comes to murder, only your tenacity to stay the course becomes the limiting factor in a search for justice.  For whom the bell tolls, or the clock ticks in this case, we shall see in the end.  Human nature is hard to overcome for most, impossible for others.

In Morgan’s memory Steve and I want to help others, it is the most satisfying task for us now.  Research has led us to believe that there are laws to prevent such tragedies as Morgan and our family suffered, they have already been written, and are part of our State law.  Now we just need to find out what happened to that memo.  I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile look for these laws to be posted in their entirety at the State of Colorado to help stalking victims understand the laws at their disposal to protect them…we were not given any of this information during Morgan’s stalking, and I dearly wish we had been given it.  It breaks my heart to continually hear from victims that are not being protected due to lack of enforcement of laws that are already in place to protect them.  When I travel to Denver I want to be sure to address this very question with as many people in office as I can.

Victims of Stalking need your Compassion – it means a lot!!!

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Far – far too often in a country where stalking is usually a felony, and victims suffer untold physical, and emotional injustice, I read some variation of a stalking story that is disturbingly like the following I just received today:

“Almost everyone I have told about my Stalker / Harasser in hopes of some advise or help, seems to not believe me…& they end up turning against me instead of helping me…I just don’t understand what has happened to this world?  Because that just doesn’t make any sense to me…so now I not only have the Stalker Harassing me & doing his best to keep me in fear, but I now have others doing it as well. Great!!! :'(“

She told her friends and coworkers, she did the right thing.  A basic first step in protecting yourself is to try to tell all others around you so there are more eyes and ears and bodies watching out for you, but in her case this didn’t help.  And while I ask why, I am also reminded of a slogan – raising awareness.  And this means raising all kinds of awareness.  If you have never been stalked as the majority have not, then it is hard to know what it is like.  If you are being stalked it is hard to know the right things to do to stop it, really stop it.  And as you involve others they will most likely need to learn what stalking really is.  Of course as the Law Enforcement becomes involved, while one incident usually does not make for a stalking case, they need to become involved ASAP and you need to have the particulars as to  just when your stalking becomes rises to the level that Law Enforcement becomes involved explained to you by Law Enforcement.

A big part of raising awareness is another slogan – “Take Stalking Seriously”

For example legislative declarations usually precede actual law, and here an excerpt from the Colorado legislative declaration on stalking

(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(a) Stalking is a serious problem in this state and nationwide;
(b) Although stalking often involves persons who have had an intimate
relationship with one another, it can also involve persons who have little or no past relationship;
(c) A stalker will often maintain strong, unshakable, and irrational emotional feelings for his or her victim and may likewise believe that the victim either returns these feelings of affection or will do so if the stalker is persistent enough. Further, the stalker often maintains this belief, despite a trivial or nonexistent basis for it and despite rejection, lack of reciprocation, efforts to restrict or avoid the stalker, and other facts that conflict with this belief.
(d) A stalker may also develop jealousy and animosity for persons who are in relationships with the victim, including family members, employers and coworkers, and friends, perceiving them as obstacles or as threats to the stalker’s own “relationship” with the victim;
(e) Because stalking involves highly inappropriate intensity, persistence, and possessiveness, it entails great unpredictability and creates great stress and fear for the victim;
(f) Stalking involves severe intrusions on the victim’s personal privacy and autonomy, with an immediate and long-lasting impact on quality of life as well as risks to security and safety of the victim and persons close to the victim, even in the absence of express threats of physical harm.

(2) The general assembly hereby recognizes the seriousness posed by
stalking and adopts the provisions of this part 6 with the goal of encouraging and authorizing effective intervention before stalking can escalate into behavior that has even more serious consequences.

The Colorado Legislature knows stalking is very real,  it is serious, it is dangerous, and it does happen to normal people, not just celebrities.  There is a growing awareness and it is largely under-reported, and ineffectively responded to by Law Enforcement.  This is why it is so important to educate yourself and then talk about it to raise awareness!

When dealing with Law Enforcement in almost all States you have victims rights to aid you, in the event that law enforcement is just ignoring you – please look up your particular States laws.

In the State of Colorado Victims Rights Act it states:

The general assembly hereby finds and declares that the full and voluntary cooperation of victims of and witnesses to crimes with state and local law enforcement agencies as to such crimes is imperative for the general effectiveness and well-being of the criminal justice system of this state. It is the intent of this part 3, therefore, to assure that all victims of and witnesses to crimes are honored and protected by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judges in a manner no less vigorous than the protection afforded criminal defendants.

Now if the State of Colorado (and I assume most states in our Country) wants to assure that all victims of, and witnesses to crimes are honored and protected by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judges then why does this not always happen with victims of stalking?  Why are people in our areas  like not believing and watching out for the victims?  I truly believe it is one of those things that people tell themselves that crime could never to happen to them, they are protected/isolated so if they turn a blind eye to it and pretend it’s not happening (the God forbid this ever happen to me theory), this person is just over reacting, this mentality helps them just go along with their everyday lives and PRETEND that everything in the world is how it should be – but THEY ARE SO WRONG!

One day we were a happy family, looking towards the future with our youngest daughter, talking about all the normal things in life (like should she stay in a dorm at CU Boulder for her last 2 years or an apartment with a roommate), and the next day we were wondering what was going on, starting to get that frightened feeling that we had to protect our daughter from some unknown evil. Then later that month our home became a dark fortress in an effort to keep out the evil that had invaded our family, and then the following month we were investing money (that should have been for Morgan’s last two years of college) purchasing things to try to catch her stalker so she would not have to continue her life in fear.  Some stalkers actually follow their victims from place to place, from state to state and Morgan did not want to always be looking over her shoulder, she did not want to live in fear.  But as we all know now after only 4 short months Morgan’s stalking ended in her murder.  I know this is not what always happens, but it DOES HAPPEN far more often than anyone would like to admit.  As parents we failed miserably to do the right things at the right times.  Not a sympathy call – just the real truth.  The Garfield Sheriff’s office failed miserably at protecting one of its citizens.  Once again just the sad truth.  And the Coroners office is up to its neck in inexcusable behavior that completely stripped Morgan of her rights to due process.

If that’s what the professionals did for Morgan then you need to learn patience with friends and coworkers, bosses and even parents.  They all need to come around and the best endings to stalking situations has come when friends and family are all helping and working together to end the stalking.

It is an honor in life to be able to help others – it is not something that should be on the bottom of anyone’s list.  Please share this one thought with everyone in your life that you come in contact with along your life’s journey…if we all help one another, evil will have a really hard time completing it’s journey.  Thank you all so very much!

And to the stalking victim that wrote in (the first paragraph of this blog) all I can say at this point is that I am so sorry that this is happening to you and I will make every effort for the rest of my life to try to educate people to not react like that to a victim…you deserve people to believe you, and try to help you for the simple reason, that is what they would want if they found themselves in your situation.

Steve and I were very uneducated about stalking when Morgan’s stalking began.  We received little or no help from the Sheriffs department. And the Coroner will still not even meet with us.

We all have to believe the outcome of Morgan’s stalking could have been turned for the better, instead of the tragedy it  became.  WE all have to believe that raising awareness and taking stalking seriously are much more that just catch phrases, they are part of the solution.

One of Morgan’s favorite movies – Where the Wild Things Are

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Morgan loved this movie so much she did an artistic design of letters cut-out and placed  across one of her bedroom walls that spelled out “Where the Wild Things Are” and each letter of that title was made to look like some kind of adorable animal.

Click on or copy the link below, and put it into your Internet URL and you will see the trailer to the movie…it is a movie full of HOPE!

http://youtu.be/01-PqqifyjA