Tag Archives: carbondale stalking

Penny Tapping…is this what was making the sound on our windows?

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pennyIt has been almost 3 years now since Morgan’s death, and after so many scenarios about what was being used by Morgan’s stalker(s) to make the tapping sound on our windows…the sound that would startle and create fear, I have now received a message from one of our followers that would explain the noise perfectly, especially if it had been a quarter instead of a penny.  It is still so amazing to me that when so many people, from so many walks of life, with different life experiences, get involved, they can provide such diverse information, which will lend a whole new visual to a situation.  This is why putting out all this information is so important to me – I know it will help others that may be dealing with a similar situation.

The follower wrote:  “I was following your blog quite intensely at the beginning, but I need to catch up. I have had something on my mind and I wanted to tell you. When I was reading about the tapping on Morgan’s window and found out he was on the roof, I was telling my husband about it and he told me about “Penny Tapping”  Have you heard about it?  Maybe that is what he was doing?”

I was stunned when I read this.  I looked it up on the Internet, and sure enough there was lots of information about “penny tapping.”  We know the stalker was up on our roof, our windows went all the way up to the roof just under the eaves, so it would have been easy for Morgan’s stalker to lie on his stomach on the roof, dangle fishing line over the edge and swing the penny, or quarter, or whatever he used to smack the window, and at the same time our cameras would never have picked up an image on the ground!  This was such an amazing thing to read about – I had no idea, and neither did anyone else…except maybe the stalker(s).

The roof had been his perfect hiding spot after the sheriffs had found his footprints under the windows up against our house.  From up on the roof he could see for miles around, and would have been able to see the sheriffs driving up to our house, whereas they would not have been able to detect him.

So today, almost 3 years later I am still shocked at the information that I have received from so many wonderful readers of this blog.  Information that would never even have occurred to me.  This is why I believe that stories should be shared.  I believe that local crimes, along with any pertinent information about those crimes will help to keep others safe.  Raising awareness of crimes is important, and they should be posted in the local media.  Local law enforcement has an opportunity to have more eyes, and ears on the ground in order to help catch a perpetrator if they only would share information about current ongoing crimes.  If families are aware of a situation happening in their neighborhood, or town then they will be better equipped to protect their families.  And that is all any of us want!

 

 

October 15, 2011 – Day 75 of Morgan’s Stalking – More Eyes Watching

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pumplin carving 2011

We went to the pumpkin patch early, all of us, along with our two grandchildren.  Morgan loved the picture taking opportunity, and for Morgan to spend time with her little niece, Joni, was special for Morgan, they were getting closer all the time.  Her nephew Odin was still a little too young, but Morgan thought Odin was going to be just like her when he grew up – even his little feet were like hers and they had the same color hair…she adored him.

Back at home I we had plans to meet Detective Glassmire after twelve, and we zeroed in on after 3:00 pm.  When he came to the house at 3:30 with more interesting news.  He had spoken with Brooke about the rumors we were hearing in the neighborhood concerning Morgan and the stalker, and what things she had spoken to others about.  He said that Brooke told him that she gets all of her information from her mom.  Then he went and talked with Brooke’s mom, asking her the same question.  Brooke’s mom in turn said the exact opposite – that she gets all of her information from Brooke – so who’s zooming who?

I expressed to the detective that obviously one of them, if not both were not being truthful, and I was curious as to what he was going to do next.  He said he had decided to let it go for now and revisit it later – why?  He was concerned that Brooke was under eighteen, and he needed to have her father right there to question her, and it had to be done just so.  I didn’t really understand, but I dropped it as well.

Then we discussed the conversation I had had with Elliott and all of the ways that it could be taken.  I thought it would be very positive for Detective Glassmire to question Elliott, particularly about the “they” part of the conversation, as in “they were freaked out,” it had a feeling of guilt to me, and the detective agreed.  But then he did not want to tip off Keenan, or the Harris’ about exactly what we are thinking, better to keep them in the dark.  I told him I really thought Keenan already knew that they were watching him, and that they were trying to talk to him.  And now that he had moved out it might become more difficult.

They had never actually been able to talk with him while he was living in Brooke’s dad’s house with Brooke, and I asked Detective Glassmire if they knew where he had moved to.  The detective said they didn’t, but that they would start checking into it.

That night we all went to a birthday party for a friend of mine.  Steve and myself, with Morgan and Danny.  It was great fun to be out of the house, and at first Morgan had been concerned about how late we were going to stay, as she thought it might be not her cup of tea – Morgan usually did not go birthday parties for my friends with us.  But Danny said he would like to go and after a while she was having a great time, and kept saying how she didn’t think she was going to like a “Grown up party,” (I guess she meant with older people), but was finding fascinating people, and having some really intense conversations.

Steve and I talked about how much she had grown, and watched her mingle.  When we were getting tired, and looking to go, it was Morgan who wanted to stay, we had to promise to bring her with us to the next party before she would leave.  Morgan loved intellectual conversations, and she said this was the first time in a long time she felt she was really satisfying that.

At 8:32 pm, while we were gone, the video surveillance recorded the rear light going on twice.  We reviewed the cameras and did not see anyone.

We now had an extra set of eyes in the neighborhood.  A couple was staying next door for a few days, and their hours were completely different from ours.  They liked to sleep more during the day, and then stay up all night.  They could not patrol much, but they were trying to keep a look out for anything that happened outside or around our house all night.  They had Steve’s cell number, and would call him if they spotted anything outside.  It just figures that they were here to possibly spot something from next door when one of the suspects had just moved out.

Click here to read about the 76th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1684

(Police reports later show the “suspect” was not working on 10.15.2011)

October 1, 2011 – Day 61 of Morgan’s stalking

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In the morning we try to sleep in, but Morgan’s motion alarm goes off at 7:18 am. It is still dark out, and I get out of bed to give Steve a break. I go out and drive the neighborhood. At about 7:30 am I drive by Keenan’s house, and his car is there. The light in the front room is out. I circle the rest of the block, Steve had a list of the “normal” state of houses, cars, porch lights, and everything is as his list says to expect it.

Morgan was going to leave at 3:00 pm for her babysitting job in Aspen. She is picking up a coworker on the way, and they will go in together. Before she leaves she tells me about an incident the day before. It was around 7:30 and she was on the back deck watching her puppy play in the grass. Then she heard a noise around the side yard, like a rustling noise, on Ken’s side of the house (this is also right where the Aspen tree is located that we find out that the stalker has been climbing – but we didn’t find that out until after Morgan was already dead.) She said she stepped over the fence and went to see what it was. She stood, and waited and watched and never saw anything.  It was daylight out and she felt she was safe to be there.

First I told her to never do that again. Just to go in the house and let us know. Then I went to tell Steve to tell her the same thing, he had this way of communicating with Morgan when I couldn’t. And then I reviewed the video cameras. There was nothing, and she left to go to work. This was making me so nervous – all it would take is just a few minutes and someone could grab her…

Morgan came home at about 11 pm and I met her in the drive as usual. She came in and went straight to her room. Rhonda’s dog started barking at 11:05 and she called to tell us about the barking, and the motion lights above Morgan’s windows being on. She was such a great neighbor, always on the look out, and always calling when she saw something out of the ordinary.

We were pretty much again getting to the point where part of us wanted to ignore everything, and part of us wanted to never stop with the hot pursuit. This time we were all so tired and worn out and we tried ignore and went to sleep.

(Police reports later show the “suspect” was not working this evening.  On 10.1.2011 he worked from 1:00 am – 6:00 am & then from 6:32 am – 9:34 am… so he was free this evening to continue his torment)

Today it is September 29, 2012 – And there is a lesson we learned but did not know back then. When Rhonda’s dog would bark I believe now it was for the absolute best reason. He was small and short , and if we had bothered to get down to his perspective we would have seen he was looking across at our house, and seeing up on the roof. But we did not. And Rhonda somehow knew when his barking was different, and more meaningful – which we also did not fully appreciate at the time.

It is not uncommon for stalking cases to go on for months and even years. Have “quiet times” and “active times”. We were told to document everything as best we could. I kept a stalking timeline that morphed into different versions. We also had a DVR which had six cameras worth of data from our yard for the last 20 days at all times – then it would “write” over itself. I kept a dayrunner for our “normal things” and we have been able to download all the texts from all of our phones from that time. It is an enormous amount of data. More than we could ever fully go through. I can recreate days, but I can’t recreate Morgan, and that part is specifically what Steve and I hope to do in the future. Turn all that data into the ‘Ah ha’ that stops a bad situation from turning worse. Because if you are in a bad stalking situation the chances of it turning worse are real, and that needs to be stopped.

Click here to read about the 62nd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1518