Should victims of stalking in Colorado be in fear for their lives?

I will continue to post on this blog about things Morgan like to cook, things she loved to do, and activities that she enjoyed…all in an effort to continue to keep her alive in the minds and hearts of everyone she touched before a stalker took everything from Morgan.  I will not allow her memory to be stolen from us like her physical body was.

The last days of Morgan's bedroom windows with the blinds open...she loved light but didn't want someone peeking in at her.

The last days of Morgan’s bedroom windows with the blinds open…she loved light but didn’t want someone peeking in at her.

That being said, on this blog I would like to say something again about her stalking/murder, and subsequent misrepresentation of the facts of her case by not only law enforcement, but people out on the Internet, people that have no idea about the truth in this case.  What I would like them all to know is:

If the truth doesn’t come out in Morgan’s case then a predatory stalker/murderer (who in my opinion is a sexual sadist) will still be out there on the loose, and will most likely do this again.  We have pictures of the suspect at our house, Morgan identified him many times during the stalking, and the sheriffs knew exactly who the suspect was, and no the suspect was never “cleared”, in fact the following week after Morgan’s murder the “suspect’s” work hours were being collected to be compared to my timeline of the stalking events, Morgan was going to be giving her “official on tape” interview, and the felony stalking detective assured me that he was getting close to making an arrest.  Morgan was frightened, stressed, and exhausted from the stalking, and ultimately lost her life due to her stalker. I know the state of Colorado does not want this to happen to it’s citizens, but if they can not stop a law enforcement agency from lying about, and destroying evidence in a case so there can never be a case, then how can there ever be justice?  What does this say to other victims of stalking in Colorado – that they should be in fear for their lives?  Because so many who have reached out to me for help tell exactly that story – they fear for their lives.  A Garfield County Sheriffs Detective said, “There is no more Morgan, there is no more stalker,”, on the day she died.  Isn’t this sending a message to stalkers that if they kill their victim they won’t get arrested?  In the past Steve and I trusted law enforcement, but now we are far more skeptical.  And as for Garfield County, I have seen them at their worst, and it is not a pretty picture.  Many others have shared their personal experiences as well, and believe me it is not anything any “law abiding” department would be proud of.  And we truly hope when we are finally done with achieving the justice our daughter Morgan deserves, that all those involved in covering up this case will be held accountable.

 

Morgan’s recipe for Noodles with a Walnut Pesto Sauce

inthekitchen
Noodles with Walnut Pesto Sauce
1 cup parsley, chopped and packed into a cup
1 Tbsp. dried oregano leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. white pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. water, boiling
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped or whole pine nuts
8 oz. thin spaghetti, angel hair pasta, or noodles cooked according to package directions
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except spaghetti.  Beat with a fork to combine thoroughly.  Place well-drained hot spaghetti in a large bowl.  Pour sauce over spaghetti and toss lightly to coat.  Serve with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.  Makes 4 servings.
Note: Pesto will keep in the refrigerator for several days. Cover with a thin layer of olive oil and store in a covered jar.  Let it warm to room temperature before using.  It may also be frozen.
***This is also a great dinner option to take with you camping or packing on horseback into the backcountry – take the prepared pesto with you in a sealed container, cook the spaghetti on your camp stove, drain and add the pesto…it makes an easy and great meal while roughing it.

 

Morgan’s Lithuanian Potato Kugel Recipe

Potato Kugel
4 medium potatoes (about 2 lbs.)
1 large yellow onion
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil or 3 pieces chopped bacon
Garnish with sour cream
A kugel is a pudding-like dish, best eaten hot or warm.  Peel the potatoes and grate them as quickly as possible.  Peel and grate the onion.  Beat the eggs lightly.  Stir together the potatoes, onion, eggs, salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, pour the oil, into a shallow, medium sized casserole, add the potato mixture and bake it for 1 hour.  If using chopped bacon instead of oil on the bottom of the casserole, put the bacon into the casserole and bake 15 minutes before adding that potato mixture, then bake for 1 additional hour.  The kugel should be puffed up and browned.  Serve hot with sour cream.  Serves 6 – 8.

Morgan loved this recipe – it is one of the Lithuanian recipes that she enjoyed just as much as she enjoyed learning to speak Lithuanian.  Morgan’s father Steve is 1/2 Lithuanian and Morgan was practicing her Lithuanian in order to travel there someday – it was on her bucket list.  Whenever I called her on her phone she had it set to show up on the screen that  “motina” was calling.  Motina is Lithuanian for mother.

imissyou

Tonight I feel Morgan very close – the full moon, one of the super moons, maybe with it’s gravitational pull…I don’t know if that is it, all I know is that she is very, very close.  And I know how much I miss her laughter, her smile, her flat hand against the middle of my back, gently placed there whenever I was upset.  Her hand seemed to put an invisible warm sense of calm throughout my body.  That same warm “blast” of energy I can still feel when I break down and cry…wondering why did this sweet, kind daughter has been taken from this world.  I know Morgan is sending her love, she wants me to stay strong, and she wants me to continue to raise awareness, and push for justice and truth, not only for her, but for all others that have not been able to find justice.  I won’t let her down.

I enjoy sharing these recipes to keep the happy memories of Morgan alive – I hope you will enjoy them as well.  Love and hugs to all.

Access to your debit card #PIN can be as simple as a cellphone snap away

When you read the following link about thermal technology – it’s scary!  


This is how it pertains to Morgan’s stalking and murder case…we had a heavy duty keypad lock that we installed during Morgan’s stalking on our front door.  We thought it was extremely safe and we wouldn’t have to worry about a key being copied or anything…well we were very wrong about the extremely safe part.

After Morgan’s murder one of our friends noticed our keypad and explained to us that the keypads that do not have a shield over them are very unsafe.  He said someone could be hiding behind something with binoculars during the day or at night they could be using a night scope to see what numbers were being pushed.  I felt sick when he told us because Morgan’s stalker had pushed the numbers many times in the middle of the night as well as the one morning when Morgan was left alone for 1/2 hour…it was frightening but the sheriff’s said it was most likely just to raise our fear and the stalker wasn’t really trying to get in the house.  What a lot of bologna that was!

numeric_keypadI know now the stalker got into our house and when you research stalkers it is a common thing that they do.  We did not know this at the time unfortunately.  Our keypad also had numbers that lit up at night and were not made of metal.  I asked the sheriffs on a couple of occasions if they could try to fingerprint the keypad but they would not.  Now to read this article and have another possibility of how the stalker could have known the key code is very upsetting.  The little red light that we saw off and on in the darkness that we thought might be a infrared scope or an infrared camera could have been an infrared scanner.  I know of two easy was Morgan’s particular stalker could have gotten his hands on one.  This makes me sick to know we had no clue so that is why I would like to share this with all of you.  The more knowledge and awareness people have the better they can make the right decisions.

Luckily, keypads that are metal are safe from thermal signatures, but rubber and plastic pads are vunerable, so Rober offers a simple tip for the cautious: All you need to do is lay your fingers against other numbers on the keypad as you type your pin code and the thermal signature will be rendered meaningless.

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/atm-pin-theft-infrared-camera/?fbdd

Getting Away With #Murder in Colorado – maybe not for long

FOHVAMPCREST  I would like everyone to know that there is hope out there. For example FOHVAMP, a non profit out of Denver, CO has made a huge difference in the fight for justice for many families over the years http://unresolvedhomicides.org/

Getting Away With Murder in Colorado

Colorado has a backlog of 1,600 unsolved murders dating back to 1970. The killers of these victims have never been prosecuted for these murders. They walk among us. They live in our neighborhoods. These murderers, who have escaped justice, pose a serious threat to the safety of every Colorado citizen.

Murder is a crime against the state. FOHVAMP maintains that when a case cannot be solved by local law enforcement in a reasonable period of time, the state has an obligation to step in.

For the past five years FOHVAMP has advocated a state-level cold case team to help investigate these unsolved homicides. The state bureaucracy has been unresponsive. In 2007, the legislature created a cold case team at Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with only enough funding for a single analyst to collect data from law enforcement agencies.

FOHVAMP and the CBI make periodic comparisons to insure the accuracy of that data.

Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons Executive Director Rob Wells, President Mark Reichert, Vice President Tina Terry, and board member Diane Riechert recently spoke at The National Press Club in Washington D.C. to express the need for a National Cold Case Database. To their knowledge, FOHVAMP’s Colorado Cold Case Database is the first cold case database in the nation to have been compiled. Since 1970, in Colorado, there have been approximately 1,600 unsolved murders, which is 38% of all of Colorado’s murders during this time period. The number is lower than the national average, which the FBI estimates to be 42%.  And still 1,600 unsolved murders in Colorado is 1,600 too many.

The FOHVAMP members visiting Washington met with Florida Victim’s Advocate Ryan Backmann, of Compassionate Families, Inc. Ryan’s father was murdered in a robbery. His father’s murder is unsolved. Ryan is in the process of putting together a Florida Cold Case Database. With only one-third of the Florida jurisdictions reporting, there are 4,400 unsolved murders. Jacksonville alone has 1,400, nearly the amount for the entire state of Colorado.

FOHVAMP will keep you posted on the progress of The National Cold Case Database through their website and on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/FOHVAMP.

Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons, Inc. (FOHVAMP) is a nonprofit organization working in Colorado to find, support and empower families suffering from a loved one’s unresolved murder or long-time suspicious disappearance. They provide peer support, assistance with victim compensation, referrals and coordination with other organizations for services and assistance. They serve as a liaison with law enforcement agencies, provide criminal justice support and advocacy. They work with Universities on special studies, many of which have been published. They seek out victim’s families (co-victims) to assist. Every October, they host an Annual Meeting with guest speakers to bring together victim’s families and law enforcement.

This year‘s Annual Meeting is going to be held at the Brittany Hill Event Center in Thornton, Colorado on October 4th, 2014. Please go to their website to register for this event.  The price to attend is only $45 per person.  I would suggest getting your tickets now before they sell out.  The purpose of this meeting is to bring co-victims into a neutral area where they will be able to brush up on their knowledge of the current techniques being used in the investigation process as well as meeting with their detectives on a neutral platform. Their hope is that the Annual Meeting will be able to educate their co-victims and promote the proper tools and coping mechanisms to assist them in their daily lives, as well as with the progress in their cases. Often, it is only at this meeting that the co-victims have the opportunity to touch base with their Detectives annually. Through the Colorado Cold Case Task Force, FOHVAMP is trying to assist in making it a mandate that all coroners in the state need to attend a base line training and certification on how to successfully deal with a cold case as well as the basics of their role in that position. The hope is that this would need to be completed within one year of the coroner taking office.

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION TIME! 
Here’s FOHVAMP’s registration form for the Saturday October 4 annual conference at the Brittany Hill events center, Thornton, CO.
More info to follow, but speakers will include Silvia Pettem, Jerry Brown, Paul Meshanko, Kathy Sasak, and Ron Sloan
 — at Brittany Hill.
FOHVAMPANNUALMTG8.29.2014

If you know anyone that has had an unresolved homicide in their family or have a missing loved one please refer them to FOHVAMP – they will listen, and they do help…please take my word on this, I know because they have helped us with Morgan’s homicide.

If you can help connect them with a family of a victim of an unresolved homicide or long-time missing person that has a Colorado connection, please call Rob Wells at 202-497-4580, Kelly Fernandez-Kroyer at 720-937-8905, or send an email to[email protected].

These families need to know about FOHVAMP. They can help them.  They need and want your help. Their priority is to encourage law enforcement to effectively address old, unsolved murders.

Thanks so much!