Tag Archives: Colorado

Of course Morgan really had a stalker…what purpose is served to pretend that there was not?

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Morgan reaching for hope

Morgan, reaching out

I must admit I am incredulous as I write this, but there is a question that I have been told I can’t ignore, actually four questions to be exact.  So now I will take the time to answer those four in order.  Starting with number one, “is there really a stalker?”, and is this system that we call justice going to wake up, and be there for Morgan, because the way it is going for Morgan right now, it is woefully upside down.

Was there a stalker? Really? Yes, there REALLY was a stalker (this was a felony stalking case, detectives assigned to it and everything), and did the stalker/stalkers murder Morgan?  Yes, and I have strong, very strong feelings and information about that, but I also think an investigation into many things that were in fact never investigated needs to happen.   Sorry, I’m getting ahead of my self,  First – yes, there really was a stalker.  And the following points might be a little out of order, because that takes a lot longer to go through all my notes:

  • At first the stalker taps on the window, Morgan thought it was trees or bushes, until we walked out to cut them back, and saw there were no bushes or trees near her window.  And no we hadn’t called anyone yet.
  • Taps and knocks continue, I call Garfield Sheriff’s department and I will never forget, I was admonished for waiting so long to report this.  Well, I had now reported it and they came, and yes they saw “scuffs” deeply cut into the ground in front of Morgan’s windows.  The deputy said it was obvious to him that someone had stood here, right up against the glass, for a long time.  The Deputy had suggestions, water the ground thoroughly and rake it smooth, maybe we’ll get lucky and get some prints in the dirt.  So you better believe we did that.
  • A bang on the bathroom window, and the prints we were hoping for are left.  Only now nobody cares about the prints left in the dirt, nice clear prints.  I ask in shock, “only the detectives can do that” I’m told, silly me I thought detectives were coming by later to do that.  But no, no one ever comes by to do anything with the prints.  Keep watering and raking they tell us, and we do.  We did take pictures ourselves.  Oh, and once a Deputy was practically pleading with his supervisor over the phone to be allowed to take a casting, after a while he was trying to get permission to take a picture, that too was a no go.  I guess now that I’ve seen how it works if you want to be able to claim you never saw any sign of a stalker you certainly can’t collect any evidence of a stalker.  I told the Deputy that day to not let it get him down, I’ll have Steve take pictures when he gets home.  A retired Special Agent told us that if we had cast them ourselves a Deputy would have been required to watch and oversee our efforts.  We didn’t know that back then, but want others to know in case this happens to you.  When we had a detective assigned he wasn’t quite sure what the deal was with prints.
  • I saw the stalker on the front porch, positively, twice, once turning to run and once keying in two digits of our front door code.
  • I saw him running between our cars in the driveway in broad daylight.  Now picture, if you can, a male, wearing a loose hoodie with the hood over his head and completely covering the side of his face. Spinning, head down, hands hidden, and then running, two, three strides and he’s ducking off to the side, and I can’t even tell you what kind of pants he was wearing.  Do you think you could “positively” identify him?  I wasn’t sure, Steve thought it was worth a line up to see. The Sheriffs didn’t agree.
  • We have him on video, he was hiding out behind my car and another car drove up the street, he either had to run or risk being spotted behind my car, so he ran. The video just isn’t good enough to positively identify him either.
  • We have him on video again, coming up across the back yard to the aspen tree that doubles as a ladder for him to make the “impossible” climb to the roof, yeah right, Steve is much older and has no problem climbing it.  Once again the picture that was taken in the middle of the night is not clear enough to identify him.
  • Morgan went out with her puppy in the early morning, still dark, she became aware of a male standing just on the other side of our 3’ high fence, all dressed in black.  She was badly shaken, and we never heard her scream.  Steve said he wished she had screamed loud, he wished she had started, and never stopped.
  • The stalker followed her, at least twice, first time we were completely unprepared, and it was up to Morgan to outrun him, race off in the opposite direction.  The second time we were only slightly more prepared, and we were waiting in the street as she drove up.  Only he did not follow her to the house, just to the subdivision.  Then came the plan to call 911, and have her keep driving, which I was never wild about as nothing had really worked before, so I was never very upset that we actually did not have a chance to try that.
  • There was an officer staking out the yard for the stalker, right outside our bedroom, for a half an hour.  We have him beautifully on video, and suggested if they were going to do a stake out again, first don’t wear the uniform jacket with the reflective “SHERIFF” written across the back, oh and don’t text constantly, completely lights up your face, chest and shoulders you know.
  • There is a gutter cracked in half directly over Morgan’s window that Steve assures me did not crack itself.
  • Then there are the trails worn into the berm, none out there this year, went by and looked.  They were never there in the past before the stalking.  Now there is no one  to stalk, no stalker, no stalker trails, funny how that works.
  • Of course there is the famous wildlife cam photo that I have been told someone is claiming is the most pathetic Photoshop job they have ever seen.  I know it isn’t.  I know we handed a copy to the Deputies fresh out of the camera that same night.  Wonder who she was protecting? Meaning the person that posted that it was photoshopped.
  • Then in a weird, weird sequence Steve was giving chase around the house one night and when reviewing the video cameras later, stopped, said some colorful things, and told me,  “I thought I was chasing him!”  “He was following behind me the whole time.”  He could tell by the way the motion detector lights were going off behind him and then back on.

So there were more instances/proof of a stalking, that I have been asked not to release yet.   And then for reasons I can only guess at, certain people conducted alibi appearances at our house.  Not to be too mysterious, but coming up soon in this blog is a, what can you say moment, when someone walks around our house one night practically waving their arms in front of each camera, we look, and can instantly can tell it is not the stalker, even the deputies can instantly tell its not the stalker.  And to top that off the following morning, before the snow melted there were footprints to show exactly  where they “marched” around our house, and then those footprints actually led right to Brook’s dad’s house – imagine that!   “Just a big game to them,” one of the Garfield County Deputies said after seeing the video. Maybe somehow to them, but not when our 20 year old daughter ends up murdered, no way, no how.

There was a stalker, an individual that was suspected by Law Enforcement, there was at least one other person who was a party to this and was, to our knowledge, never even questioned.  Morgan was a victim, Steve and I were victims as well.  We have read Colorado Victims Rights, and I assure you that that memo did not make it to the Garfield Sheriff’s Department.  But make no mistake there is only one thing that burns as the most important thing to me now…the protocol Steve and I had was – not good enough – likewise the Sheriff’s protocol was – not good enough –  so to watch our Sheriff stand on camera, and not promise us that he will improve, when he chose to say they were at our house at least 50 times and never saw a sign of a stalker, that was heart wrenchingly disappointing.  If you’ve seen the wildlife cam photos just tell our Sheriff to tell his Deputies to look behind them – then maybe they’ll see the stalker.  Very disappointing for the safety of other young women in this county, because I have to warn you that if they do the same for you, that they did for Morgan, that is a crime in and of itself.

Lay of the Land – We should have known where the stalker could be hiding!

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I’m going to confess that with the sudden infusion of so many amazing minds pouring over every detail, Steve and I talked and thought that piecing together Morgan’s last 24 hours would be very important.  That is my hope with the posts about Amitriptyline and no forced entry.  This is officially the third in the series.

So this first image from Google earth, and filled with my notes, was originally something I  sent to the Sheriff’s office.  After countless visits to the house, and coming up empty I wanted them to have another angle to pursue on the next stalking case they would possibly encounter and the frustration they found themselves in.  As you saw from the video, getting onto our roof without a ladder is not difficult, and couple that with this overhead shot where you can see how the roof is formed into a perfect little hiding spot for our stalker, you can almost picture him lying there…I know I can.  Steve and I had absolutely no idea this little spot existed until it was too late for Morgan.  Also, imagine that from this spot, if a person were to stand up and do a 360 degree turn, you would easily spot anything happening from our house out to miles away – Highway 82, County Road 100, or even the ranch next door. This vantage point had a commanding view of all around us.

62 Corral roof shot

The spots on our roof we should have known about!!

Just so there is no question, the spot labeled (A) was where he would have hid, Spot (B) is directly over Morgan’s window, and the place where the stress cracked gutter was, and Spot (C) is where the volunteer climbed the tree in the earlier video.  Actually many people have climbed the tree since this discovery, even Steve.  And all he could do after he did so was shake his head in disgust.  We promise we are not beating ourselves up.  Take it all as sage advice, it is meant to help.

If my math is correct there are sixteen houses total on Corral Drive, and if you were to assume that during the stalking, ten of them were actually occupied full time, that would be a good assumption.

Summarizing what is becoming my little series, we have a layout of the neighborhood with a few select spots on our house.  A few ways entry would have been gained without so much as a splinter out of place, and a brief primer on the huge dose of Amitriptyline and date rape drug cocktail Morgan could have been killed with many times over.  Next up will be a bit of a surprise/shock for those of you living here in Garfield County, just promise you won’t blame the messenger.

September 11, 2011 – day 41 of Morgan’s stalking

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Morgan loved yogurt and stuck by her favorites

Morgan loved yogurt and stuck by her favorites

I am woken at 1:45 by our dog Tessi.  She has started to bark at the front door.  She barks occasionally, but snores loudly far more often.  I feel that if Tessi is barking it is something.  She has not woken Steve up yet so I leave him to his dreams, and go to the front door.  Tessi is upset about something outside, and we peer out through the little beveled glass rectangles together for the longest time.

If I am standing here watching we are all safe.  I quietly look in on Morgan, and she is sleeping soundly.  I return to the door, and sit on the floor with Tessi, and look out into the darkness.  Nothing is moving, and one porch light is on across the street.  Of course our yard is lit up like a used car lot.

I finally say goodnight to our newf and go back to bed.  Almost on cue the motion detector light right outside our bedroom goes on.  It stays on for a minute and then goes off.  I tell myself that when it goes off again I will wake Steve, but it never does.

I write to myself the next morning a question.  How will we know when this is really over?  Just one sentence, because I know it has to be over at some point in time, and we will have to go back to normal.  So I’m wondering how we will know that has happened.  Last night I was up for an hour or two because Tessi barked.  A year ago I would have just told her to be quiet.

That afternoon Steve tells me, with no warning, that he has been thinking about the idea of putting trip strings, tied between the trees in our yard, and has found a black nylon “ballistic” cord sold nearby that should be invisible at night.  He has found a store where he can pick up four spools.  Steve is wondering if we can actually do this as we can’t leave it up, and will have to string it after dark, and remove it before sunrise.  We decide we will figure that part out later, and set off to pick up the cord.

At 8:50 pm I text Morgan, “On your way home yet?” icon of a red car “It’s almost 10.” Morgan answers, “Yeah. I’ll leave right now.” A happy face blowing a kiss  I answer, “Great, I’ll watch for you.”

We have just added an array of little icons to our phones to add to texts, and Morgan uses them in every message, so I am trying to add a few here, and there also.  And in case you did not notice I really did text Morgan just before nine, and told her it was almost ten.  She did not notice until the next morning.  We are all so tired, even after four days of quiet, which has me wondering what was different now.

Click here to read about the 42nd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1096

September 7-10, 2011 – the 37th, 38th, 39th, and 40th days of Morgan’s Stalking

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On the 7th – Morgan went to school in the morning.  And later that night at 10:23 pm, I sent her a text message, “On your way home?”  Morgan sent one back, “On my way.  So sorry.”  I immediately texted back, “Ok, I’m watching for you.” This evening it was quiet – soooo happy!

The next three days are also quiet, I saw a note that I wrote in my day runner, wondering how long this would last, have we spooked him?  What are we doing differently?  Was the stalker test with Steve and Jarred, out in the yard, something he saw?  Was he away on a trip? Had he moved?  Was he in jail?  So many thoughts ran through my head.

Now today on September 5, 2012 – This morning I woke up extra early in order to have a  quiet moment by myself.  So much has happened, and so much is happening, that if I started writing about it now I would not stop for two days.  The 2nd opinion by the much respected Forensic Pathologist and Medical Examiner, Dr. Michael Dobersen, is coming today, I already know what it says, but I can’t wait to hold it in my hands, and then share it with all of you.

As I sit here today, and reflect back on last year, there is one fact that I believe is undeniable – the days we did nothing were the most dangerous – because those were the days our guard was down.  It is so easy to do, you want to do it.  Believe me; you want nothing more than to think it is all over.  But that has to be the furthest thing from your mind.  When you have a stalker you do not have a “normal” life anymore, accepting that fact was never easy for us.

I really believe now, more that ever, that getting the truth out about what happened to Morgan is making a difference, the awareness level is creeping up. If this could happen to our youngest daughter, at 20 years old, living in our own home, it could happen to anyone, and we all have to be hyper-vigilant, not paranoid, just hyper-vigilant.

For the next 3 days it is quiet until the early morning hours of September 11th – I will keep blogging for the next 3 days, with some other things I would like you to know about Morgan.  Thank you all for reading…more is coming.

Click here to read about the 41st day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=1086

 

Monday, August 29, 2011, the 28th day of Morgan’s stalking. First picture of the stalker!

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Morgan is starting a new semester, just picking up those last few credits, and taking two dance classes per day at Colorado Mountain College. After spending the night at a friend’s house she arrived home at 6:30 am, had breakfast and dressed for her first day back at college. The last few days were quiet, no stalker, she was bubbly and happy, not a mention of the stalker, plans for the future filled the air.

After Morgan and Steve left it was quiet and calm as I worked. Steve had filled the bird feeder and they were singing outside my office window, I loved it and couldn’t help but smile.

Late afternoon Steve and I were in the yard discussing where to put the camera, we only had one, and I felt we had to make it count, I wanted it outside Morgan’s windows. Steve felt nothing was happening on her windows, and the trail over the berm needed a night of surveillance. Our discussion deteriorated, and then we were arguing with all of our bottled up frustration. With no agreement in sight I held the ladder, and we hung it over the front door. There was a spot on the trim where it didn’t stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. I said this would be a good test, and tomorrow we’ll put it somewhere that it will do some good. We didn’t talk for hours, Morgan was in her room singing, and we went to bed. Morgan felt like now with school starting she was determined to sleep in her own room and not be afraid of this stalker anymore.

At ~ 11:00 pm it started, he didn’t elude the new placement of the motion detectors, four total, and each receiver was lined up on my dresser with a post- it stuck on that had the location written on it. Steve announced he’s over on Rhonda’s side (where Morgan’s bedroom was in our house), and was pulling on clothes, grabbing his things, and heading for the front door. I stayed in the room this time so I could watch the receivers, and know where he was. I was going to call Steve with updates until I saw his cell phone lying on the nightstand. We had to get better at this.

In what was becoming a horrible disheartening sequence of events the motion detector in the front went off, that was Steve, then lights went on along the side yard, then the motion detector on the back corner, Steve, moving around the house. I waited for another set of alarms. One that would belong to the stalker, but it didn’t happen. I went out the back door and sent Steve to the front while I tracked him down in the back. We both came up empty, then argued about how we can’t both leave the house, Morgan is alone then, even if we lock up on the way out, it is just not safe.

This all repeats itself over and over, I lose track of how many times. I call dispatch and as night turns to morning (it is now after midnight on 8/30/2011), we are standing in the house at a quarter to 1 am with three deputies who have come up just as empty as we have in this desperate fight to catch him. They are going now, and hope they have scared him off, hope it’s going to be a quiet evening for us now. I’m wondering about the catching him or making him just go away. I’m so tired that scared away sounded good. But, I know that is not the solution.

We go back to bed and just as I’m drifting off to sleep I startle. The wildlife cam! I shake Steve, the camera, the test, we have to look at the images, we should at least have the Deputies leaving caught on camera – otherwise it is worthless. Steve gets dressed again and goes out to get it down. The motion detector tells me he is in the drive.

It’s our first time using this camera, and it takes a while to get the card out and into a computer. It has taken 12 pictures, little thumbnails on the screen, most are nothing, until we get to the last four. And . . . here, date and time stamped, are those four – depending on your browser you should be able to click on the picture for a larger version.

The first Deputy to leave –

First Deputy leaving after searching for stalker

First Deputy leaving after searching for stalker

Then the next two Deputies –

Last two Deputies leaving after searching for stalker

Last two Deputies leaving after searching for stalker

Then we see the stalker, leaning against Steve’s truck, and watching the Deputies leave. An authority on stalkers refers to behavior like this as “thumbing their nose at law enforcement”, and believes this is at the top of the list of danger signs, but at the time we did not know that, and we were not told this bit of information. As for the picture, the upper left corner would be the street, so you would turn left at the end of the drive to leave our block. And quite a few experts in disseminating images have had a look at this, and a remarkable amount of information has been uncovered, but we welcome any observations. Either leave a comment or, if you prefer, the tip line on Morgan’s website for more privacy.

Stalker watching the Sheriffs Deputies leaving

Stalker watching the Sheriffs Deputies leaving

Next is the desperate attempt to knock down the wildlife cam that just took his picture, it is spinning to face down the street toward the end where the sheriffs trucks were depart ing from. If, as we believe the two streaks in the upper right are lights on the Deputies truck, the stalker was that close!

Stalker trying to knock camera down, it's mounted over 12 feet high on the house

Stalker trying to knock camera down, it’s mounted over 12 feet high on the house

The stalker never expected a camera and in what was a rare event was caught off guard. The cameras that can take low light photos glow red as they are taking a night picture. Animals, supposedly, are unable to see this red glow, this animal obviously did noticed it, as you can see him. as we believe, spinning his face back to the camera, to be caught as a blur. He obviously knows just what is happening, as just after this image is captured, the next is him trying to destroy the black box mounted 12 feet high over the front porch. While his attempts to knock it down fail, he does succeed in breaking it. I called dispatch and the Sheriff’s call me back, they can’t believe he was right there the whole time and popped up as soon as they were leaving. Two of the Patrol Officers are coming back right now. The officers are visibly upset and look at the first three photos again, and again, they want copies which we give them on a jump drive. Then they checked everywhere outside again. This time he really has left for the night.

Steve and I look at the photos ourselves for a longest time after the Deputies have left. Mercifully Morgan has slept through it all, he was focused on our closet and he doesn’t know she is back in her room. We just have to stop him somehow, and maybe we can’t positively ID him from this photo – but, as Steve points out, our list of suspects, which had been growing, just got very short.

Click here to read about the 29th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=859