Connecting the dots…

When the wildlife camera caught the stalker in our driveway, leaning up against Steve’s truck, thumbing his nose at the three Garfield Sheriffs Deputies who had just spent hours trying to find him and who “were certain they had scared him off” there was a major problem we did not understand at the time.  Morgan’s stalker unfortunately had no fear of, or respect for, law enforcement.  This put the danger he represented right at the top of the list of stalkers capable of extreme violence.

Much later the events covered in the last few blogs become extremely important and if the real significance of these events had been correctly addressed at this early stage in her stalking, I believe Morgan would still be alive and with us today.

It is quite amazing how some of the guests that have come to this blog have figured out things in one day that have taken us a year.  So let me share more details about the last few blogs, which were not known to us at the time.  This would fall under the category of things that we feel need to be corrected to really protect stalking victims.

First – remember the wildlife cam that was assaulted following the photo it took of the stalker?

  1. Look at the Deputies leaving in the first two pictures, NONE of the three Deputies – that are highly trained in observation – react to the subtle red glow that the camera makes as it is taking a nighttime picture.  Only the stalker fully realizes and reacts to the fact that a wildlife cam has just snapped his picture.  Is it because he is an avid hunter, and very accustomed to wildlife cameras?
  1. One of the graphic experts doing his magic, while viewing the image that was captured of the stalker, had a way to enhance the photo very specifically focusing on the reflections captured in the window glass of the LR3 parked in the driveway, right next to Steve’s truck.  This expert was able to add more details to our files. He found in the reflection of the glass that the stalker is clearly wearing a “utility belt” that is strapped onto his waist.
  1. Steve tried to recreate an attempt to leap up and knock the camera down, from the rear bumper of his truck.  Now Steve was 55 years old at the time, and would be the first to admit he might have lost a half step, but he is 6 feet tall, and from where the truck was parked that night he was not able to even come close to the camera.  He estimated he was at least four feet short of hitting the camera on his best attempt.
  1. As no branches were found in the yard or anywhere around the house the next day, we then assumed it was something the stalker carried with him, perhaps in this utility belt on his waist.  A one piece or telescoping rod of some sort, like an old school telescoping pointer or TV antenna maybe???
  1. If that “utility belt” was to contain a telescoping rod, or as was demonstrated for me today, a “tent support rod” that snapped together into something 8’ long, the stalker could not only have used it to try to knock the camera off, but for a more sinister reason…just keep reading.

Second – remember the tapping, and banging on Morgan’s window.  Months after her murder we visited a very talented medium – that is also a very good friend, and loved Morgan dearly.  She told us many amazing things about Morgan and what had happened to Morgan with details, and accuracy she could not possibly have know prior to our visit.  We had never mentioned to her about any of this.  But for this purpose, the one thing that is important is that she said to look on the roof, that we would find evidence on the roof of the house – she was very emphatic.  We tried in vain to have the detective go up on the roof, but that never happened, so Steve finally went up on the roof himself to check this out.   Among other things he found was this section of roof gutter that was directly over Morgan’s window – this is the section that is depicted in the photo.

Steve has worked with metal his entire life, and is certain the crack seen in this metal gutter is a stress fracture caused by bending out and then bending back, many, many, times.  Steve also walked the entire neighborhood, checking out every gutter on the entire block and found no other gutter with ANY similar crack in 15 other homes, plus a club house.  Only this section of gutter, directly over Morgan’s window had a crack from being bent.  This made me ill!  As you can see from the photo our windows went all the way to the ceiling, and someone lying on our roof, and using the gutter to help support himself, could have easily leaned over to terrorize Morgan by tapping, banging and looking through her upper window.

Stress crack in the gutter over Morgan's window

Where the stalker could have laid on the roof and knocked on Morgan’s window

 

With the extendable tool that he could have been using it would have been easy to tap or bang on Morgan’s windows from the safety of this position on the roof.  The detectives conducted a stake out one night, and saw our motion detector light, by our master bedroom, go off and on many times.  Back then he suggested that our motion detector light was defective, and should be checked in to.  Later when all of these facts came to light he said that makes perfect sense now – the motion light was going on because the stalker could have been using the Aspen tree that was up against the back of our house as a ladder to get on the roof.  Also the stalker would not have been caught on the video surveillance cameras that were put on the house shortly after this incident happened.  Beside the gutter Steve also saw a perfect place for the stalker to have hid at the top of the roof – from there you can see what’s happening down below, but remain completely concealed from others on the ground that are trying to find you.

After Morgan’s murder, I could not stand to live in our house.  I kept looking at the front door, and expecting Morgan to walk in at any time, and it was killing me.  Steve and I moved out of that house and that neighborhood forever, about six weeks after her murder.