4 Years Ago This Wednesday…Our Daughter Was Murdered

Morgan with FlowersThis Wednesday December 2, 2015 it will have been 4 years since our daughter was taken from us by a coward. A gutless coward, one that had to attack a defenseless young woman in her sleep.  Too cowardly to do their evil acts in broad daylight.  I wonder if they see their own ugliness when they look into the mirror?

Morgan still has not yet received justice, in fact her murder is not even a case yet.  And when I say “yet” I mean yet, because there is more than enough evidence that shows she was murdered, so the only question I now have now is, “When will her case become a case?”

This past 4 years has taught me that no matter how painful it is to wait…I will wait.  I will wait as long as it takes for the truth to come out and for Morgan to finally receive justice, because it is the right thing.  Morgan deserves justice, our family deserves resolution, Morgan’s friends deserve to hear that she received justice, and other victims, like Morgan, deserve to feel that justice is truly possible.  This is a big task, but I know there is a person out there, a person in law enforcement that is brave enough, smart enough, and caring enough to make this a reality.  My heart knows it will happen.  I still believe in the strength of goodness winning against evil.

Please join us on Wednesday in loving remembrance of Morgan, along with positive thoughts and prayers that an investigation will soon be opened, and justice will be received.  Thank you all so very much for all your support these past 4 years.

 

Inadvertent Accomplices to the Intimidators…

Morgan own photoMorgan is watching and listening – of that you can be sure.  She knows who is doing what.  She is a very loving soul, but she ALWAYS stood up for what was right when she saw injustice in this world, and I am pretty sure she is disappointed with some people she believed were “good” people, as they have been too frightened to come forward with the truth about her stalking and murder.
Up until now no matter how many experts tried to help us the powers that be in Garfield County, CO made sure our daughter’s case could never be a case.  They made sure of that with their first intentional determination of natural causes, and then 8 months later changing her to a suicide…both these manners of death were able to derail any investigation into Morgan’s murder.  Neither of them were correct, and with the evidence we know exists they would have had to know it the very morning of her murder.
And when other people came in to look at Morgan’s case the Garfield County sheriffs officially closed down her stalking case, 5 months after her murder, claiming all of a sudden that there was never a suspect ,despite naming him exclusively over and over in their own reports.  It has almost been four long years now, but regardless of the years, as co-victims, so many people and organizations gave us hope and that hope kept us moving forward in our fight for justice.
There has continually been a concerted effort by “others”, we believe to be family and friends of the prime suspect(s) to spread lies about our daughter’s case in order to “muddy the waters,” and harass anyone volunteering to help so no one will want to get involved, and yet thousands of people have gotten involved and have encouraged us to keep fighting.
My husband and I were attacked after we started to push forward with getting an investigation into our daughters suspicious death open.  The attacks were not only over the Internet as well as threatening phone calls, but became physical damage as well.  Morgan’s puppy was poisoned, items were stolen, and finally in the middle of the night our alarms would go off when someone tried breaking in.  So 2 years after our daughter’s murder we had to flee Colorado and enter the Victims Address Confidentiality Program in another state in order to stay safe.  My heart is still in Colorado.  I want to return someday, but I know until change is made our family will not be able to return.
At that time we could not go to the Garfield County sheriffs as not only did they fail to protect our daughter, but they also covered up her murder.  We were being told by people that we held in high esteem that we were no longer safe in Colorado. Not only from the perpetrator and his family, but we were not safe from the sheriffs themselves – this was a very scary thing to believe.  We never knew until this happened to us about all the wonderful agencies that are available in our country i.e. AEQUITAS, and AISOCC, plus others we have reached out to, can only come in to help through local law enforcement, and in our daughter’s case Sheriff Lou Vallario was not about to let any agency in – not even the CBI.  So please do not think for one moment in time that local law enforcement just doesn’t have the resources to do a proper investigation – they do…there are so many organizations out there that will assist law enforcement for free and these organizations have some of the best investigators, forensic pathologists and scientists as well as equipment.  It is all available to law enforcement – FREE!  But they are only allowed to come in if law enforcement asks them to…they can not come in to assist at anyone else’s request.
AEQUITAS puts into words things I have not been able to fully articulate to others.  Things like:
  • Typically the perpetrator harasses and attacks the victims and victim’s family.
  • Often the offender’s family members and friends attack (they say don’t snitch to others, snitches get stitches, snitches will be publicly beat up in the streets to set an example).  I believe they want to scare people into allowing evil to exist
  • When members of the criminal justice system do not respond appropriately to intimidation and fail to correct systemic deficiencies that enable opportunities to intimidate they become inadvertent accomplices to the intimidators.
  • The victim, victim’s or witness’ immediate family, including spouses, children and pets become targets.
One day our daughter Morgan will get justice, and her stalker/murderer will be arrested, as will all those who choose to cover up her stalking and murder, of that I am sure, and in the meantime having people that understand what we have been up against has been invaluable.  Thank you all so much – Steve & I are very grateful for all your support!

The BIG Question is….

Morgan was stalked and murdered and then her murder was covered up. Is this possible, and why, why would they do this?  Continually since then the Garfield County Sheriff refused to investigate, actually lies and says there was an investigation, no need for anyone to worry.

colorado counties

County Map of Colorado

The Garfield County Sheriff screams and stamps his feet and refuses to allow any other law enforcement agency to assist or conduct their own investigation. Why? Because he can, and this is what can happen when there is no oversight. In Colorado there is no oversight of a sheriff. There are 64 counties (see attached map), each with its own sheriff, most are great, but can there be a bad one?  Of course it’s possible, and the oversight to protect citizens from that one bad apple, the one rogue sheriff – none. Not one single person looking out for the state or it’s citizens…not one.

What happens when there is no oversight? Well as an example; we tried to put out a reward posted, just a $1,000.00 dollar reward, really it’s just a  place for honest people to call in confidence and anonymously if they want in order to share any tips about Morgan’s stalking or murder – something they might know or have heard. Sounds reasonable enough, doesn’t it.  After all, we did it because people called me to say they had called the sheriff’s office to report something having to do with Morgan’s case but they were told there was no case and they were hung up on. They expected seriousness, they expected concern, they expected the sheriff’s to make a record of the tip, but instead the sheriffs had their prepared response and refused to listen to any tips. Morgan was a part of the community, many knew and loved her, she was a student, friend, relative and a neighbor, Morgan was stalked and killed, there is real concern and worry about something like this happening in their peaceful valley. They were shocked because the deputy, or detective on the phone – the only law in the county – said “Morgan’s case is closed,” then they just hung up the phone. What if the person calling had heard a confession and wanted the sheriff – the only law in the county – to know?  Seems like the sheriffs don’t want to know any possible clues about Morgan’s case, doesn’t it? You can bet those hangups are not in Morgan’s “sheriff’s reports,” just as most everything else that happened is not in those reports either.

I mean the last person who should care if the parents want a reward poster for tips on their daughter’s stalking and murder should be the sheriff, he should want crime in his county solved shouldn’t he?  Well surprise! The sheriff became irate and even threatening when Morgan’s reward poster was put up by Crime Stoppers…he said the poster had to come down!  It had to be changed, it made him look bad!  So the BIG question is not how Morgan died, we know she was murdered, the experts who have looked over the physical evidence confirm it, no the BIG question is this…why is Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario trying to cover up Morgan’s murder and why would he not want any tips that might help solve it? Morgan was stalked, and she was killed and if you don’t want tips and you don’t want anyone else to have tips either, well doesn’t that sound like you want a coverup? Because I think it could not be more obvious.

I know Colorado is a home rule state, which I’m told means local government has the right to keep the state out of their affairs, but when it comes to a capital crime that is being covered up, where are the checks and balances?  There needs to be a mechanism that will allow for an oversight committee, with citizens and others not involved in law enforcement, but representing the people, who get to review the facts and point a finger and say, “hey, something is very wrong here.” They need to be able to have the opportunity to conclude  that someone else should have a look. This goes beyond the BIG question and exposes the BIG problem – the reason Morgan’s case has never been a case.

So you ask the sheriff about Morgan’s case and what happens? They tell you they stand behind the findings of the coroner, it was a suicide. What they don’t tell you is that the coroner’s office received all it’s information from the sheriffs. It’s not like a TV show where the coroner is out there solving the whole case by himself, questioning, investigating, peering into a microscope, no it’s the complete opposite. Every scrap of information comes from the sheriff, in fact the deputy coroner told us he can’t even change anything unless the detective approves it. The coroner is charged with determining cause and manner of death, but they get everything from the sheriff and they can’t change anything unless he says it is OK first. Forget lack of oversight – we have the recipe for a cover up right there. No one else can look, no one can change anything, even the guy elected to do it. Then after the decision no one can come in and ask anything, and the parents can’t offer a reward for information. Anyone think that will get the crime solved? Because I don’t.

In the standards adopted by the state of Colorado to investigate the coroners are encouraged to do a separate investigation, actually it says they must do a separate investigation apart from law enforcement. But they did not do a separate investigation, they relied completely on the sheriff, so when Sheriff Lou Vallario says he is completely satisfied with the conclusion of the coroner I wonder if his fingers were crossed, because there could not be a more self serving statement.

Of course then it gets a little technical because first they wrote that Morgan died from natural causes, and then her doctors told us – not true, other doctors told us – not true, and another medical examiner told us, not true and then proceeded to tell us what really killed her. Up until then nobody knew what had killed Morgan – except the killer. And the sheriff stood behind the findings of the coroner – but the coroner was completely wrong, as he would admit when he changed his findings after eight months to yet another incorrect finding. So what justice was served exactly by the sheriff standing behind the findings of the coroner? Because from where I sit the killer is the only one being served by all this – he is getting away with murder.

Then the coroner changed all his findings from pills that were not there, he had actually said “no trace at all” and then 8 months later he says they are now there, the blood levels that were “insignificant” are now lethal from eighteen 25 mg pills, an amount that is not even enough to kill her, but is now the method he states that she used to commit suicide. But what about the five date rape drugs in her stomach, you can’t just overlook those, can you? They did.  And for safety sake they destroyed all the remaining evidence so nobody can ever retest it in the future. And then there is the sheriff again stating how he stands completely behind the coroner and his findings. But which findings?  Because the second set of findings completely contradicts the first set, oh but there is no oversight so it does not really matter which findings I suppose.

So here we have a stalking and a murder with no investigation and people wonder how that can be…we also used to wonder.  But now along with all the horror there is the knowledge that yes it can happen and yes it has happened.

This knowledge has actually become a great tool in helping other victims. There is a period in which, as a parent, you do not want to believe this could happen. The sudden violent death of a child always comes with indescribable pain and shock.  Parents all have their own timetable when it comes to dealing with it.  And it is always different for each and every one forced through it, but for some there seems to come a time when you can no longer sit back and do nothing.  You do not want to allow a murderer to remain free – you want justice for your child. I understand now how co-victims do not have the luxury of time when this happens so I try to help them to push for answers in their cases – hopefully before it becomes too late for them to do anything about it.

The warning signs were all there for us. Morgan’s stalker’s hours were about to be collected, Morgan was scheduled to give her victim’s statement, the sheriff’s patrols were being increased, we were starting to pack to move, and an end to the stalking was in sight. It all sounded so good and we wanted so desperately to believe it was all going to be over.  Now I know too well it is the most dangerous time you will ever face for so many reasons.

First the stalker has learned all about you, has probably been inside your house more than once, knows how you react to his advances, and has crafted a plan that takes all of this into account. Morgan’s killer had a plan how to get in, and what he was going to do after he got in. The more I can help stalking victims realize there could be a plan with their name on it the better, because it just might save their life.

And as for the big question the best way to avoid a coverup is to avoid the crime and how painful it was to learn that law enforcement not only did not have the answers, they were fully prepared to pretend as if it never even happened. I now know first hand of seven other stalkings in the same area as Morgan’s, that happened before her stalking (one only 2 weeks before her stalking started) where the sheriffs were involved and not one of those cases has a report, not one page, as if they all never happened.  So if they never write up the reports does that mean it never happened?  Let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.  Thanks.

Remember: Stalkers do break into victim’s homes to obtain information about them

It is true – just one more fact that you need in your arsenal of facts about stalkers.  Do not let down your guard and think your home is safe from your stalker.  They do get in and most of the time there is absolutely no sign of forced entry.  Like in the movies you would need to “stage” a little piece of paper stuck in the door or window to know if that door or window had been opened while you were gone.  And there are things you can do to protect your home from a break in…it doesn’t make sure it won’t happen, but it will make it harder for them to get in.

Remember: Stalkers do break into victim’s homes to obtain information about them or to surprise them when they get home.  A good book to read is Protecting your life, home and property: A cop shows you how by author Robert L. Snow  book protecting snow

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ad4AAAAACAAJ&dq=protecting+your+life,+home,+and+property&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAGoVChMI9sbL5_WXyAIVlVqICh3Htw4s

She will not fail…because she will not give up!

askbelievereceive-nightlight-200x200The following was an email I received through this website just the other day.  As I was reading it I started to cry as it touched my very soul.  When I hear this it gives me the strength and fortitude to keep on fighting for justice for Morgan…the truth is ever present and I have to believe there are people in positions of authority in Colorado that want to allow that truth to be heard.  Change will come.

Hi Mr. and Mrs. Ingram, 

I first learned of your case from the episode of Suspicion on the ID Channel a couple weeks ago. Since then I have read your blog from start to finish. I don’t normally follow up on shows I see on the ID Channel, but I couldn’t get this out of my mind. I have never felt so angry or heartbroken for people I have never met. My heart absolutely aches for your family, and for Morgan herself. I wish I could help in some capacity–not sure what I could do from here, but if you think of anything, please let me know!  I just wanted to reach out to you and tell you that I am so sorry for what happened to your family, and that I truly believe that you WILL get justice. You are both so brave and so much more even-keeled than I would be in that situation. I admire your strength and fortitude so much! 

Morgan sounds like a tremendous person, and through your writing, I almost feel like I knew her. We have a lot in common, from taste in music to writing to a deep love for animals, but more importantly,  Morgan seems like the type of person we should all aspire to be– So giving and loving and joyful. Coincidentally, my best friend’s name is also Morgan, and she is my “soul mate,” and I chuckled to read that your Morgan also used that term with her friends. 

Also like Morgan, I was stalked when I was 20. Thankfully it was short-lived. While it did last, it was frightening, and the fear never leaves you, as I’m sure you know. 

Additionally, I have PTSD and severe depression from childhood trauma and while I am currently in therapy, it’s hard, and many days I am sorry to say I rue the day I was born… I only mention this because I thought you might like to know that now, after I have read your blog and all about how much Morgan loved life and took such joy in even the smallest things, I now realize how incredibly LUCKY I am just to be here, and Morgan has inspired me to try harder to enjoy the little things and appreciate every moment, and be grateful for it all, even the difficult things. So I thank you for sharing your story, because it has helped me see things so differently. I will try to live each day now with gratitude and simple joy like Morgan did. That’s my goal. So even though she is sadly no longer here, I hope you can take some comfort in knowing she is still helping people.

I also noticed that you post quotes quite often, and being very into quotes myself, I thought I would share some with you that seemed pertinent; I hope you like them and feel free to use them in your blog or whatever! I hope you get justice sooner rather than later, but however long it takes, I know that good will overcome evil. My husband and I are praying for you all, and I have shared your blog with my family and friends! If there is anything else I can do, I would love to help in some way. 

Here are the quotes and why they reminded me of your journey: 

“God is within her; she will not fail.” Psalm 46:5 (This one reminded me of your quest for justice for Morgan and your crusade to help all victims)

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” -Ernest Hemingway (You’ve certainly done that, in a profound way.)

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” -Gloria Steinem (The outrage you and your supporters feel is fuel to the cause!)

The last one I don’t have a source for, but it reminds me of the one you cited from the Aspen newspaper (“If you don’t want it printed, don’t let it happen” I think it was), and I think it applies so well to the perpetrators:

“You own everything that has happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should’ve behaved better.” 

God bless you and your whole family.