V for Vendetta – the movie…interesting sign – #tyranny must be stopped

This was one of Morgan’s favorite movies – she memorized the following, and used to love to repeat it to anyone who would like to listen, and then finish with a giggle.  This morning I drove by the Post Office, and this picture was spray painted on the sign…I wanted to share it with all of you (don’t really know why), it reminded me of the movie she enjoyed so much, and the speech in the movie that she loved to repeat.  I guess sometimes in this world you have to do really hard things to accomplish change.  I for one do not agree with any kind of violence, I believe people can make changes in this world with their words a lot more effectively, but I do know from everything we have been through, and everything we continue to go through, changing things in this world for the better becomes a great sacrifice and it is extremely hard, but we will NEVER give up.

Image from V for Vendetta  on the Yield Sign at the Post Office

Image from V for Vendetta on the Yield Sign at the Post Office

 

 

V for Vendetta

Evey: Who are you?
V. : Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey: Well I can see that.
V. : Of course you can, I’m not questioning your powers of observation, I’m merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
Evey: Oh, right.
V. : But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace soubriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voila! In view humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the “vox populi” now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin, van guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
Verily this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.
Evey: Are you like a crazy person?
V. : I’m quite sure they will say so.

V for Vendetta is a 2005 action thriller film directed by James McTeigue, and written by The Wachowski Brothers, based on the 1982 comic book of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Set in London in a near-future dystopian society, Hugo Weavingportrays V — a bold, charismatic freedom fighter, attempting to ignite a revolution against the brutal fascist regime led by Adam Sutler (John Hurt) that has subjugated his country. Natalie Portman plays Evey, a working-class girl caught up in V’s mission, and Stephen Rea portrays the detective leading a desperate quest to stop V.

The film was originally scheduled for release by Warner Bros. on Friday, 4 November 2005 (a day before the 400th Guy Fawkes Night), but was delayed; it opened on 17 March 2006, to positive reviews. 

The film has been seen by many political groups as an allegory of oppression by government; libertarians and anarchists have used it to promote their beliefs. Activists belonging to the group Anonymous use the same Guy Fawkes mask popularized by the film when they appear in public at numerous high-profile events, emulating one of its key scenes. These masks have been seen at Occupy movement events. Lloyd is quoted saying: “The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny – and I’m happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way.”

If Morgan were here today her toes would be in the river again…

Morgan took this picture of her toes in the river

Morgan took this picture of her toes in the river

Is there sense in it all?

Just what is going on

Just a Jumble? Or does it all come together?

You just never know.  Everyone tells you, and you hear it in so many ways your entire life – you just never really know.  Is it all just a jumble, or can it really be unraveled to make perfect sense?  Time will tell, because the truth never changes.

I think about the things that have happened, good and bad, and sometimes I see them in a new light.  For instance there was a night that Fall of 2011 when the Deputies, led by Patrol Officer Grzegorz, decided enough was enough, and they headed to Keenan’s house for a little chat with the suspect in Morgan’s staking.  Nothing wrong with a Sheriff’s Deputy coming by to ask a question or two – if you haven’t done anything wrong, is there?

In fact, as I ponder the choices, if your concern is for the safety of the neighborhood you lived in, you neighbors, and upholding the law then you would be very helpful, accommodating, welcome him in, and tell him whatever he needs to know I would think.  Aid in the investigation, right?

Deputy Grzegorz is very observant, he also moves very quickly, and noticed things on his way to the door.  His reports show just how serious he is.  After a short wait Brooke Harris answered the door.  Her father James was gone, and she was home with just the person Deputy Grzegorz wanted to speak with, Keenan Vanginkel.  But Brooke told him Keenan was asleep!  Could not be woken up?

Then comes the part that makes me go, huh?  Deputy Grzegorz reports hearing a commotion behind Brooke in the house, and he asks her about it.  Brooke does not let him in or go herself to see what the commotion is.  They had no pets, and only Brooke and Keenan were at home so what was the commotion in the house?  And not inviting the Deputy in would mean?  And the alcoholic beverage found when only two minors are present would mean?  Well I’m just thinking now, what was the problem with letting the Deputy in the house?  I have heard lots of explanations, but none of them make any sense to me.

And there was the time when Brooke was out with her friends, and we asked them, her friends, not Brooke, if they had heard about the stalking, and what they thought about it.  Brooke immediately claimed to not know anything, but her friends corrected her and reminded her about what she was just saying about the stalking.  Then she cut them off and ordered, not asked, ordered them to just shut up.  What was the problem there?  And why did she want them to just shut up.  What was she afraid of?

After all there was an ongoing investigation into the felony stalking case, Detectives were assigned, they had a suspect, she actually was his girlfriend.  In the interest of solving the crime Brooke could have asked her friends to help out the Sheriffs department in their felony stalking investigation, and tell them everything they know.  But that didn’t happen.  No one said anything about the stalking, except to say that they knew there was one.

So today I wonder, if you knew there was a stalking, and you were not Morgan, or you were not Steve or I, how did you know?  She had claimed that her boyfriend was exonerated from the stalking.

Finally there was a hearing, Steve and I were there.  The judge was there with his aide.  Jonathan Shamis, a lawyer from Alpine Legal Services was representing Brooke, her mother Christina and father James, they said they were frightened of us, but we stood five feet apart.  Jonathan Shamis wanted the judge to lift the temporary restraining order they had asked for so they could appear on a television show with us.  Quite odd because they didn’t seem frightened, actually I would call their demeanor as more like combative, if I were asked to pick a term.

The shocking part was when they said they needed their attorney Jonathan Shamis to go with them, to be right there off camera to protect them from criminal implications.  I turned to our counselor and asked him if Steve and I needed him to come, and protect us too, but he explained we had no criminal exposure so there was no need for him to come.

Then we get to Los Angeles and find out that Keenan’s lawyer won’t even let him come, because it’s far too risky.  Obviously his lawyer didn’t tell us.  She told the producers of the show, they knew.  So even if his lawyer is ten feet away to jump in it’s still too dangerous.  But Steve and I didn’t even need a lawyer at all!  What does that tell you?

If I’m trying to unravel the jumble, I am at the point where you ask – is this what happens when the Sheriff’s department has so thoroughly botched the crime scene, and then the suspects need lawyers to talk because of criminal implications, and actually the #1 suspect can’t even talk at all, and an officer of the court can insult the victims, on national television?  But did the #1 suspect forget that he had an ongoing six month private facebook conversation?  Must have, doubt his lawyer would have approved of that.

Just what kind of crime scene is this?

 

Morgan and a painting over her bed, blurred

Morgan and a painting over her bed, blurred

There was nothing about that morning on December 2, 2011 that was like any morning in my life.  Today is different.   I had so many questions struggling, and swirling between thought, and emotion that finding a lucid place to start was a problem.  Now I’m far more fixated on the answers that have never been very forthcoming, if they have come at all.  They are for the most part simple answers, but even a simple yes or no has developed a degree of impossibility.  And one small group of questions that must have answers, but do not, is what about the items that disappeared from her room on the night she was killed.  Each is uniquely different, each with its own story and importance.

I’ve written about her PJ’s that were never to be found…ever, and if you missed that post it’s here – what happened to her PJ’s .  Her valuable jewelry that disappeared also has been touched on in this post – Morgan’s  missing jewelry , but that full story is right around the corner as the search of cash for gold stores is wrapped up.  There were other items that turned out to be missing as well, but this blog is going to specifically talk about a small card that also went missing the night Morgan was killed.

It was a driver’ license, obviously Morgan’s license, she would misplace it along with her purse every so often, but she was always very quick to find it when that happened.  It was one of her habits that she would not drive if she knew she did not have it, so to leave it missing was not an option for her.  Her license was always in her wallet, which was always in her purse.  She also kept her previous license right behind her current one.  The previous one was in her wallet after her death, as always, but the current one was not.

This little fact, that Morgan’s license that she always kept in her wallet was gone, and was never to be seen again after the night she was killed is so important to a proper investigation.  Her wallet was right in her room, in her purse, just minus her current driver’s license. We assumed the investigator’s took it, but much later found out they did not.  And we know Morgan did not take it, so that leaves only someone else.  Another of the many pieces of evidence pointing to an intruder.  This fact that we finally discovered gives me the “creeps”.

It is considered a common attribute of serial killers, and other criminals, to be “trophy collectors”.  Just as trophies are meant as rewards for an accomplishment in the real world, off in the sick and twisted hemispheres of some criminals, a trophy from their victim is thought to mean the same thing to them.  And a driver’s license is a very often collected “trophy” to be kept after a victim has been violated, and stripped of all that ever mattered in this world…their life.

A Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, Dr. James A. Fox, co-authored a book in 1985 titled “Mass Murder: America’s Growing Menace.”  Talking about mass murders, he says that, “In all of their lives, they’ve never distinguished themselves, they’re ordinary at school, ordinary at their jobs, ordinary with their friends, but at murder, they’re extraordinary.”

The FBI considers a murderer to be a serial killer after 3 murders, with a cooling off period between each.  Profiling and categorizing serial killers is a voluminous subject with the FBI as they tend to be the only agency with the manpower, and expertise to uncover and prosecute the true depth, and breadth of criminals that have been arrested, and found to have killed again, and then again…. largely discovered by accident.

Not every killer is a serial killer, but why would a proper crime scene investigation of a young woman who was found dead under suspicious circumstances not determine if common “trophies” had been taken?  Starting with Morgan’s license for instance, even her PJ’s, the last clothes she had been seen wearing would be a natural to check out, undergarments are another choice, and as Morgan was redressed, we know only the undergarments she was wearing after she was found to be dead, not what she was wearing when she went to sleep the night before.  Those could have been taken as well, but we do not know.

In today’s world there is always the possibility of DNA on any of these items, and it would make sense for a criminal not wanting to get caught to take them with him rather than chance leaving some identifiable trace evidence linking him to the crime.  But a search was never even made for any of them.

Despite the fact that Morgan’s death was considered to be under “suspicious circumstances” the morning she was found, and despite the fact that investigators were told that when Steve had said goodnight to her the previous evening she was dressed in PJ’s.  There was no effort to locate the last item of clothing she had been seen in, and subsequently her PJ’s that were missing went from a red flag to a nothing.  See how easy it is to thoroughly botch a crime scene?  Same as with her Driver’s license, a simple check of her wallet, and an obvious red flag jumps out, but instead it was a nothing.

Besides the evidentiary value that her license holds, Morgan was an organ donor.  A status deemed safe, because she had never tested positive for any disease that would preclude her from being one.  Morgan had the concern, and foresight to check with her doctor before declaring herself as an organ donor.

Her organ donor status was never checked following her death.  When she was “officially”, found to have died of natural causes.  It was yet another slap in the face for Morgan, and her last wishes were denied by the Coroner’s office of Garfield County, and the contracted forensic pathologist the Coroner leaves to run his office.  When in reality we now know that Morgan’s blood contained a massive dose of Amitriptyline, which could have easily rendered her organs as unsuitable for donation, but no one knew it at that time.  I do know that since it was her wish they should have made an attempt to honor it, or at least discuss with us the reasons why they were not going to honor her wish.  Then again maybe in this one instance it was a good thing that someone “dropped the ball”.  With a dose so many times over the lethal amount for her body weight, to ever term it “insignificant”, as the contracted pathologist tried, should have red flags waving everywhere,  perhaps transplanting her organs would have killed the recipients too.

Wouldn’t that have been a twisted way to find out how massive a dose of Amitriptyline our daughter had been given?  I am so very relieved that nothing like this came to pass.  Justice will come for Morgan.  It will take time, and be very tedious.  That much is abundantly obvious to us, but we will never give up our quest for justice and we will never give up our efforts to raise awareness and promote change.

 

A mission against #stalking – I feel like the first thing to do is to take it seriously, because as far as I can see not everyone really did in Morgan’s case

moonbox

Mogwai guarding a box of his mom’s evidence

At a time when sheer frustration surrounded everything that was related to Morgan’s stalking, and death, I made a decision.  As soon as my waves of shock had passed, it dawned on me that I needed to do something about this in Morgan’s name.  I needed to tell Morgan’s story, with as many details as I could, so others could become aware of this multi-layered problem that was confronting Steve and I in trying to have her stalker still pursued, and her death investigated (because it never really was at all!).  It also quickly evolved into raising awareness of stalking, not only here in Garfield County, Colorado, but all around the world.

In response to the story of Morgan’s Stalking so many other victims over the last year have asked for advice, or told me about their own story, and unfortunately the same things ring true – law enforcement in their city or county did not, and will not take the danger seriously, and the victims are left to fend for themselves, scared for their lives!  This has to change.  Stalking is wrought with dangers, and needs to be dealt with effectively and swiftly, because it so easily blows out of control, even escalating to murder.

I could not allow this to happen to another girl, another family, and I wondered, what are the right answers to this multi-pronged dilemma?  Morgan had been stalked, and terrorized for four months, and then we found her dead in her bed, nothing about the crime scene looked normal, she looked like she had been posed, so many things were not right, but we were in shock, and were not asked any pertinent questions that we should have been asked in a murder investigation!  And here was a felony stalking victim, our daughter, dead.  And we had this horrible feeling that her death was being treated as if it had nothing to do with her stalking.  We tried to ignore this feeling, because the situation we had ended up in had us questioning everything.

A year and a half later it is far more apparent that Morgan’s sudden death, under suspicious circumstances, had been treated as if it had no relation to her stalking at all.  Does this make any sense at all?  The morning they took Morgan’s body away and informed us there would be an autopsy, we were told it was because she died under “suspicious circumstances, and they were treating everything as if it were a crime scene”, and I believed them at that time, I trusted them.  But as the smoke still cleared I can see that was really not the case at all.

In the weeks that passed after her death  we waited for the pathologist’s examination report and nothing was investigated except to look at pictures on her phone, read her texts, and read what she was writing on her computer.  They were investigating Morgan – not how she died.  Then the pathologist classified Morgan’s manner of death as natural causes, and the “brakes” were hit even harder.  For the next eight months that passed the Sheriff’s department had no reason to investigate natural causes, and as for her stalking case it seemed as if they did not need to do any more investigating, with no stalking victim left alive, there was no more stalking, leads dry up quickly and all too soon there was nothing to investigate – right?

Nothing “felt right” about Morgan’s death, and we had questions for many of reasons, apart from one of the main reasons – he wrote that her “natural death” was caused by a disease she never had, we also felt a strong need to know exactly what killed her, if this truly was a natural death, and if it could affect someone else in the family, young or old.  When Morgan’s long time Doctor at UCLA, a person we have great respect for, shocked us with her opinion that nothing was wrong with Morgan that would cause her sudden death, and then declare this was a homicide!  We were floored.

We naturally began to research this very seriously, and it was not long before we were told by a highly respected Forensic Pathologist that the level of one drug in her blood was not “insignificant” as the pathologist was claiming, but it was the cause of Morgan’s death.  And she did not even take this drug!

I kept asking more questions of more experts because the finding of Morgan’s death as natural was not only wrong there was absolutely no investigation going on except our own.  Which was raising questions for which there were no answers, and the pathologist did not like me questioning him, his findings, or asking him to talk to some of the experts that were assisting us, doctor to doctor, about his findings.  He then threatened me (I am a victim of the felony stalking as well as Morgan, so he was threatening a victim at the time) that he might have to take another look at her manner of death, as the blood levels were quite high, and the only reason he did not call it an accidental overdose, or suicide was that there were absolutely no pills or pill fragments in her stomach.

This concerned me deeply, except I was being told by others that I should not be worried, because there were no grounds that the pathologist could find for suicide, and he really should have put down “Undetermined” or “Homicide” and an investigation should have been opened.

An investigation – really?  Like law enforcement actually reviewing our camera footage the night of the murder, they took it, and booked it into evidence, but it was not reviewed – I guarantee you that, because later when we reviewed it we saw images from those cameras that same night.  Or like an investigation that takes evidence from the crime scene, like sheets, and pillows, and tests the substance found on her chest, and writes up a report.  And when told about items missing from her room the information becomes a report?  No, that never happened either.  I began to tell our felony stalking detective about the missing items within a few days of the crime, after the crime scene tape came off her bedroom door, and we were allowed back into her room – but no report was made.

Then seven months after her death, the pathologist had her gastric fluid tested without telling us.  The pathologist knew if anymore tests were to be run the other doctors assisting us would like to weigh in on what kind of tests could be added.  But this request was ignored, which is a problem because there were not a lot of samples left to test, and this particular test exhausted what was left.  To use up those samples without allowing other doctors to request certain tests to be done at the same time was not only wrong, but egregious.

Those test results, of which the pathologist based his claim of suicide, instead actually proves that she could not have committed suicide – that piece of knowledge that I now have can never change.  Not one soul in Garfield County government cared that the pathologist had threatened me – I know because of all the certified, return receipt letters that Steve, and I wrote to them that were not only ignored, they were never answered.

So what does a family in this situation do?  It looks, and feels to me like one of those stories about the “big blue wall”, right here in Garfield County.  Their approach to the problem is obviously to not answer us or do anything, in the hope that we just go away, and drop it.  Would you?  Honestly if this were your daughter would you just drop it and go away?  Emotionally it would probably be much easier.  What about the stalker/murderer?  Do you think he will just stop, and never do it again, and never hurt another girl?  He terrorized Morgan emotionally and psychologically for four months.  There have also been many revelations of similar instances going back many years.  So I don’t believe he will stop – they very rarely do, and I for one, in my heart, could never live with just walking away and not pursuing this.  It hurts, it makes me sick to my stomach at times, it makes Steve, and I both want to scream sometimes, but thanks to the huge support group we have we continue to pull each other up, and continue on with this quest.

My hope is that people all around the world listen, and believe other stalking victims, they need to be heard, and desperately want to be taken seriously.  If more people understand, and decide to take a stance to help as much as they can, we will be on the way to having fewer victims in the future.  When I hear about so many similar crimes being committed I can’t help but think that maybe there are not so many criminals, I think just one can do so very many crimes, if they are never caught, or never prosecuted.  So please, individually and collectively, let’s get even just one criminal off the street, and see how many lives can be spared in doing just that one act.