Category Archives: Stalking

Stalking behaviors, Morgan’s Stalker and his actions.

Saturday, September 3, 2011 – The 33rd day of Morgan’s stalking & the sheriff department’s plan to catch the stalker

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In the morning, I sent our neighbor Elliott a text, “Last night was great – nothing happened.  I hope tonight is quiet as well.  The officers are still patrolling a few different times at night.”  Elliott sent me back a text with all his contact information and reminded me if anything happens, and Morgan gets scared she can always call him, or come over to their house, where he had showed me where they hide the front door key.  I don’t know why, but I was getting that really strange gut feeling that this somehow sounded wrong.  Seems silly I know – he was just trying to be helpful and kind. But my mother lion instinct had me questioning everyone and everything.
 
Morgan went off to visit friends and Steve and I raked and watered every patch of dirt around the house to catch any shoeprints.  On one hand, no one cared about the prints, so why bother?  On the other hand, Steve was fixated on determining how this stalker was coming and going so easily right under our noses.  We had to face the fact that the stalker was really good at hiding, and concealing himself.
 
Steve spent the afternoon following the few trails on the berm out back.  He found a well worn trail behind Brooke’s house and he thought it was significant.  He also thought it could be someone’s trail to Highway 82, which was right behind Brookes‘s dad’s house.  It bothered me that Steve was always looking for an innocent explanation.  The sheriff deputies were much quicker than us to fixate on a person.  They were not interested in our suspect list.  They just wanted to know who we thought it was.  A couple of suspicious actions, and they had their man.  For Morgan neither way was working, the sheriffs were never close to catching him, and we were never close to catching him – there has to be something better.
 
Approximately 10:00 pm Morgan called to confirm she was going to spend the night at a friend’s house.  I was in my office, in the very front of the house, it overlooks the driveway. The window was open a few inches for fresh air, as it was very hot while I was in my office, and the paddle fan was spreading the cool air coming from the window, throughout the room. The instant I told Morgan I would see her in the morning (I had her on speaker phone), and to sleep tight, a large rock or something struck my window.  It was unexpected, and really loud!  I jumped, expecting shattered glass, which did not happen, and called out for Steve.  Our dog Tessi had been lying on the floor right next to where I was standing and when the “BANG” hit the window she didn’t bark but she JUMPED too!
 
I ran out front, pepper spray in hand, in my robe, ready for a confrontation.  I wanted to call out into the darkness and challenge him, dare him to show his face.  Steve was by my side, and as I started to explain he wanted to go inside first.  He wanted me to call dispatch, and then go to a quiet room with the windows closed, and at least try not to have this stalker hear everything we were saying. 
 
A few minutes later one of the deputy called back , and Steve talked to him.  They said they were going to try to bring a tracking dog, and wanted us to stay inside until they got there so as not to contaminate the scene with our scent.
 
I think that after spending most of the day in the yard our scent is everywhere already, but I am happy they are at last giving the dog a chance.  It seemed like forever, and I kept hearing noises outside, hard to explain, but they were like taunting noises. The motion detector alarms kept going off, and I knew he was right out there. It was driving me crazy.  Steve and I were soon fighting about running outside to chase him down, or waiting for the dog.
 
Finally I just absolutely could not take it any longer.  Having a rock smash into the window as I sat at my desk, allowed me feel first hand what this was like for Morgan, it was horrible, and I wanted this guy now.  I told Steve I was going out to catch him, and if he didn’t want to, he could just wait inside.  Steve tried to talk me out of it, and when he saw there was no chance of that happening, he said he would go outside, do one sweep around the house, and then stand up on the berm – but only if I agreed to stay inside and manned the phones. I said OK and he was gone.  It didn’t take long to discover I had made a huge mistake.
 
The sheriff’s deputies were not bringing a dog, that was only an excuse to keep us inside.  Deputies had parked far away and were closing on the house from all angles – this was a really good protocol to catch the stalker.  Poor Steve saw someone trying to hide on the side yard, and thinking he finally had the B… he charged, pepper spray in his hand.  Big mistake! He came perilously close to almost actually pepper spraying a deputy right in the face…Steve was shaking.  I watched the driveway out my office window as Steve and the deputy shook their heads and talked, then another joined in, then another.  Soon there were four of them with Steve, and I could see at least two more out in the street. 
 
They were suddenly on the move and Steve had unfortunately stopped them, then he ran back to the house and stuck his head in the door, “We just blew that plan, you stay in the house, they are going to interview Keenan.”      
 
The group was marching quickly down the street, and my cell phone was ringing. It was Rhonda next door, she was out in her yard, and she said, “there are cops everywhere!”
She wondered if I knew what the H… was going on?  I explained, and she wanted me to join her in the front, but I told her I told that I promised Steve I  would stay inside, it wasn’t easy, but I did.
 
From the end of her driveway she could see Brooke ‘s house.  We stayed on the phone and she gave me constant updates, she could see Steve out in the street.  The sheriffs were banging on the Brooke’s front door.  Nobody was answering.  Deputies were circling the house, there were flashlights everywhere, this whole thing was creeping her out.  I felt so bad for Rhonda, she was caught in the middle of this stalking, and was always the last to know.
 
The deputies persisted on knocking on Brooke‘s door.  I called Steve to see what he knew.  They wanted to talk with Keenan, but nobody was answering. He had seen movement in the front room, but didn’t know who, or how many there were inside.  I told him to come home, I was scared he would get in their way, he agreed.  I truly believe these officers were amazing – they really wanted to catch the stalker, and in my opinion this was the closest they ever came to doing just that.
 
After Steve left, someone did finally answer the door, it was Brooke, Rhonda heard her out on the porch talking to the deputies and called me.  We found out a little later that she refused to let them in without a warrant.  She had said that Keenan was home, sleeping and she could not wake him up.  The deputies indicated they did not believe her. Nor do we, but there was nothing more they could do.
 
One by one they left and within five minutes of the last deputy leaving there were rocks on our back window.  All I could think of was, “Thank God Morgan wasn’t home for any of this.”  Steve was running out the back door, and I called dispatch. They were going to patrol off and on all night, but they would not come to the door so we would not see them, but they said please stay out of the yard.  I called Steve in, and we stood in the kitchen. Then I called Rhonda, and filled her in on what had happened.  She said they were talking to Brooke for a long time.  Keenan’s car was there, but she never saw him.  I told her Brooke said he was sleeping, and she couldn’t wake him.  Rhonda said, “Yeah, right!”  I agreed, we wanted to not jump and accuse the wrong person, but it was certainly getting hard.  As far as Steve could tell the two other people on top of our suspect list were not even home.  Even Elliott was gone.  A motion detector alarm beeped punctuating the futility we were feeling right now. Steve said, “If this is how he gets his rocks off, then he is having a wonderful evening.” I nodded and again I was so glad Morgan was not home for this.
 
 

Click here to read about the 34th & 35th days of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=978

The Gratitude Cross – Another Caring Soul

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In July I showed up in Glenwood Springs to serve on jury duty.  What seemed to be a drag, turned out to be a wonderful experience for me, because of the people I met.  I never got picked to be on the jury, but all those days that I sat on the hard benches in the courthouse waiting for my turn to be questioned, I was able to meet some wonderful people.  One of those people was Susie Hoeppli.

I was having a hard time with the pain in my heart, over the loss of Morgan…it was such a deep, searing pain, and Susie picked up on it immediately.  She told me about the Gratitude Cross that her father had designed before his death – she had not launched the website yet, but was going to be shortly.  She gave me a rubber bracelet that said, ASK, BELIEVE, and RECEIVE.  I put it on and wore it the rest of the week.  Every time I started to feel low I would pull on the bracelet, and pray for help from others in our fight for justice for Morgan, and all others, then in my heart I started to believe it would happen, and sure enough it did.  Now all of you that are reading this are really going to make things happen, because of your huge hearts, minds, and caring souls.

Then on my birthday Susie gave me a silver Gratitude Cross to wear – I love it so much!  I know some of you think it may be silly that a piece of jewelry could bring you comfort, but for me it does.  Not only is it beautiful, but it lies right over your heart chakra, and during the day when I start to feel the hurt inside of me I just put my hand over it as it lies over my heart chakra, and I get such a warm feeling of love coming through.

If you know anyone that is going through a hard time, and might need something like this to get them through, please check out the Gratitude Cross website at www.gratitudecross.com

Friday, September 2, 2011 – the 32nd day of & Morgan’s stalking continues…

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Yesterday, our neighbor Elliott sent me a text at 12:21 pm about a new roommate on the corner named Eric.  He said Eric is not the brother.  I asked him if that is the person that owns a black SUV parked in the driveway, with the back window busted out of it?  Elliot said, “Don’t know.  Just remembered he said his name was Eric and that he’s the new roommate.  Also, the older brother moved out.  I add Eric to the suspect list even though I have not seen him yet.  We just keep adding or subtracting to our list of suspects in order to hone in on one.

On Sept. 2nd Elliott sends me another text, “How’s it going?  The kid on the end of block, his plate is _________, Florida.”  Elliott was trying to help us figure out who the stalker was, he had some great ideas and we appreciated having his point of view added to the mix.

Steve sends a text to Morgan at 4:26 pm, “Did they get it?”  Morgan replies, “Not yet.  I left.”  Steve says, “K.”  At 4:47 pm Steve sends Morgan another text, “We are going to Jazz Aspen.  Will you be OK??”  He said this because Morgan knows she can not go home until we do, and it will be late when we get home, so he wants to make sure she is somewhere that she can hang out that long.  Today I don’t even remember who was playing, my mind was on Morgan the whole time.

At 10:20 pm Steve sends Morgan another text, “Just leaving the concert could not make it all the way to the end.  How is everything?”  Morgan writes back, “Hahaha aw.  I’m just at coops.”  Coops was her friend Cooper and he only lived about 10 minutes away from our house.

Morgan slept in my closet again, the master bedroom backyard motion lights kept going on and off again.  Steve ran out twice, and both times saw nothing, and then we just lay in bed watching it go off a few times through the upper windows.  This guy or girl was definitely getting excited about fooling with us with the motion lights.  Must have been fun watching us run out to try to catch them and not be able to see them.  Steve says he’s thinking that maybe if he just ignores it, the guy will stop.  I think he’s just really tired, but I say let’s give it a try, nothing else is working.

We’ve have now ordered two big time wildlife cameras that can broadcast to our phones or the computer, they have not come yet, and after our success with the first one I can’t wait to get more up.

This same week – a year later. One of my Blog readers asked if anyone had ever combed the berm for evidence with a metal detector, as it had not been done, he offered to go by and do it for Morgan.  You never know what might be found.  I went by to check it first and to my surprise, it was mowed down to the dirt.  The six and a half years we lived in the Aspen Equestrian Estates it was just covered with long wild grass, wildflowers, and trees – it was beautiful and had never been mowed. Today it has been mowed, really short, and all signs of the trails are gone, as well as all the wildflowers.  When was this done?  Was it done after my blog came out about the berm?  Call me crazy, but to me this seems very suspicious…who decided that all the vegetation on that berm should be mowed or cut down?  Of course the trees are still there, but all signs of the trails that the stalker created are all gone now.  Is this all just a coincidence that after all these years that they did this?  We were in that house, and had to evacuate some years back when that fire spread across from the Carbondale Mini storage all the way to Catherine’s store, and jumped the river to Ranch of the Roaring Fork subdivision.  Our subdivision had fire damage done to it.  The berm was never mowed down as a fire precaution after that – so is that going to be the excuse for mowing it down now…years after the fire?  That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  I would really like to know who decided to have this done.

Click here to read about the 33rd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=951

Below is a comment from a reader, but Steve felt that I should post it….this gives us even more conviction to keep pushing for change.

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I have to say that finally someone is shedding light on the fact that Garfield County has and continues to fail miserably at protecting the citizens who live here. Yes, I live here. I personally know two families that had their children molested and they reported it. There was never an investigation of the individual accused, in fact, in one case the perp. started harassing the victims because they reported “her”, the molester. These were young children, who stood up for them? The D.A. is interested in a cut and dry, clean win in court, such as the easy prosecution of illegal immigrants who are caught drunk driving. This poor family that I know made endless calls to the D.A.’s office when they first discovered their child was being molested and they were being ignored, guess what, the D.A.’s office NEVER returned any of their calls. Thank God they have since found support, and have strength and love within themselves to move on.
What has happened to Morgan is ABSOLUTELY terrible and the person that stalked her needs to be found out and prosecuted. End of story. Someone who knows what they are doing needs to be assigned to this investigation, and do what they were hired to do, protect the public.
Toni, your love for your daughter shines so bright. We are standing with you. Be good to yourself. What happened to Morgan is not o.k. The way it was handled is not o.k. , it breaks my heart that you and your husband had to repeatedly tell each new officer that came to your house the whole story all over again, there should have been a report and they all should have been notified. I am praying for closure for your family.

What Happened to Morgan’s Rights?

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Remember a post I did quite a while ago, that I hoped the men who wear the hats do their jobs?  I’m sure you all wondered what in the world I was talking about…well here it goes.  I was talking about certified, return receipt letters that had gone out to the Garfield County Coroner’s office, with cc’s to the Garfield County Commissioners, the District Attorney’s office, as well as the County Attorney’s office.  After months of trying to speak with our Coroner Trey Holt, and never so much as a call back, I wasn’t too surprised that he didn’t answer my letters, but I honestly thought at least someone in the County would pick up the phone and ask what is going on here.  That didn’t happen either.

So after months, and months of trying to get the Forensic Pathologist Dr. Kurtzman (he did Morgan’s autopsy that was done the afternoon after she was found on the morning of December 2, 2011) to redo Morgan’s death certificate (the original one said that she died from natural causes, and we knew, based upon doctors, and professors at UCLA Medical Center, as well as San Franciso’s Children’s Hospital, her local doctors, as well as the foremost Medical Examiner in Colorado, that this was not the case.  Steve and I consulted with many, many specialists as well as a very well respected Pathologist/Coroner Dr. Michael Dobersen, who had just wrapped up the Aurora theatre shootings, in order to find out the truth behind Morgan’s death.  A healthy 20 year old, with no chronic illness, that had been horribly scared, and stressed by a felony stalker for 4 months straight, does not just up and die, and then Garfield County only releases in their records that a 20 year old female dies an unattended death – what is that supposed to mean?   How is the general public and others in this valley supposed to know what happened?  I am sorry Steve and I didn’t jump into this fight sooner, but we were so shocked and debilitated from losing Morgan that it took a lot to get our power centers back – but we now have them back.  There is no doubt that Morgan died under suspicious circumstances, that is why the autopsy was ordered, due to inadequate investigation at the death scene and everything that followed, this was treated as though some girl that was just enjoying her normal life, and just passed away in her sleep…baloney!  Morgan’s stalker was there that night, and we can prove it.  We are her parents.  We lived in the same house.  We put up 24 hr. video surveillance around the house, and we should have been questioned by the Coroner’s office, and we never were!   Morgan was planning on meeting a friend in the morning for breakfast – it was her last text she ever sent.  And she was planning on going to Frisco, CO to babysit the children of our Military over the weekend, while their parents were at their retreat.  Morgan loved kids.  Morgan had her puppy, and kitty in her room with her…they were her babies, would you commit suicide with your babies lying right next to you? Morgan wouldn’t.  And if the stalker drove her to suicide or an accidental overdose (which didn’t happen) that should have prompted an investigation, but no that never happened.  Under the law, her stalker would still be guilty of murder.  Morgan was happy, and loved life, but she was also stressed, and exhausted from the constant strain of her stalker.  One of the detectives spoke with Morgan at length, on my suggestion, 2 weeks before she died to make sure she was handling the stress OK, and the detective assured me Morgan was fine – she said Morgan used her two point ballet classes per day as a release, and was actually able to talk out her feelings with her ballet teacher Miss K., as well as her friends in ballet 5 days per week, while cooling down from their extreme workout.  The detective said it was the same way she relives stress by being a runner.  Then two days before Morgan was murdered we were in Grand Junction, and on a request from me, Morgan’s doctor took all her vitals and asked Morgan how she was holding up – Morgan told her she was just stressed, and tired from lack of sleep, but also very positive, and hopeful that the stalker would be caught soon, and things would be back to normal…I had said that to her after talking to the detective just the day before, and he had indicated that he was getting the suspects hours next Tuesday, and would overlay them with my timeline.

Now before I tell you the following I would like you to know in the CRS Victims Rights of Colorado it says:

Article II, Section 16a – Rights of Crime Victims

Any person who is a victim of a criminal act, or such person’s designee, legal guardian, or surviving immediate family members if such person is deceased, shall have the right to be heard when relevant, informed, and present at all critical stages of the criminal justice process. All terminology, including the term “critical stages”, shall be defined by the General Assembly.

This did not happen.  Every time I spoke on the phone to Dr. Kurtzman about Morgan’s autopsy (because you see if he puts down natural causes, which he did, then there is absolutely no murder investigation launched – what kind of law enforcement work is this when nothing is investigated, no one asked Steve or I any pertinent questions, possible witnesses were never interviewed, cameras were never reviewed, and I could go on and on.  I would say, “How can a healthy 20 year old that is being horrifically stalked end up dead of natural causes if she had nothing wrong with her?”  He would then give me back a subtle threat, “Only because I did not find any pills, fragments of pills in her stomach, I could not classify her as a suicide or accidental overdose.” Morgan’s tox screen had come back with no alcohol, no illegal drugs, nothing on her labs except a really high level of Amitriptyline.

Steve and I knew she did not take Amitriptyline, we were never asked what prescription drugs, if any Morgan was taking – does this make any sense to you?  His flippant answer was, “the parents are always the last to know.” So after that we went to the pharmacy and had them print out all her medication records, all the way back for two years, and low and behold, no Amitriptyline in the last 1 1/2 years of her life.  We spoke with her doctors and they all concurred that Morgan did not want to take any pills.

  • They need to make it illegal to sell these drugs online.   Every date rapist in the world has easy access to this stuff.   At least make them have to find it on the streets the old fashioned way.

Today we had a reporter contact us that had heard about this website, and blog – and wanted to write an article so the community could know about what happened – he had not heard anything about a stalker or a death due to a stalker in this valley.  He contacted the Coroner’s office, and asked for Morgan’s postmortem examination report – he was told that they had revised it.  He was faxed the report at 12:12 pm this afternoon at the same time as Steve and I.  We have never received a call that they were reclassifying anything until today.  Could it be because they knew we had gone to Dr. Dobersen for a 2nd opinion, and now they had to try and cover their mistakes?  Why didn’t they call or write or email us?  This is NOT VICTIMS RIGHTS!  Morgan’s rights to due process were, and are still being completely trampled.  The suspects rights took precedence over Morgan’s rights, if he didn’t want to be questioned, and he wanted to lie, he was free to do so, it didn’t matter the Detective told us to our faces that there is nothing he could do about it.  This is starting to sound to me like what rape victims years ago (and maybe still sometimes today) have had to go though…get raped by the rapist and then raped all over again by the justice system.

Colorado Victims Rights Laws

§ 24-4.1-302 – Definitions

As used in this part 3, and for no other purpose, including the expansion of the rights of any defendant: (1) “Crime” means any of the following offenses as defined by the statutes of the state of Colorado, whether committed by an adult or a juvenile: (cc.1) Stalking, in violation of section 18-9-111(4), C.R.S.;

(6) “Victim’s immediate family” means the spouse, any child by birth or adoption, any stepchild, the parent, the stepparent, a sibling, a legal guardian, significant other, or a lawful representative of the victim. – So Steve and I are also considered victims, and are sure not being treated as such

The last thing I would like to say is this.  If I make a mistake or my kids made mistakes I always believe in confessing to your mistake, apologizing (if you mean it) and never doing it again.  We are all human, not one of us has never made a mistake.  Why couldn’t the Sheriff’s, after realizing the protocol they were using to protect Morgan wasn’t working for 4 months admit it and change up – try something that works?  Really – the stalker came to our house many times a week, we knew where he was going to be (around our house) the only thing we didn’t know is when he would be there. So was a plan that never managed to apprehend him very good…I don’t think so.  According to the National Center for Victims of Violent Crimes: Stalking and Murder go hand in hand.  Stalking is serious, pervasive,and lethal.  Why couldn’t the Forensic Pathologist, after saying he was willing to change Morgan’s PER to reflect that she was murdered, if he was shown sufficient evidence, never opened an investigation – why were her parents the ones that were supposed to investigate?  She had a stalker and died under suspicious circumstances – is that not enough to open an investigation?  Why wouldn’t the Coroner speak with us – we are Morgan’s parents, we deserved at least that.  Is this a pattern of abuse by Garfield County?  I don’t think this only happening to our family.  We need to take back our valley, and make it the beautiful safe place it used to be.  Community involvement, along with law enforcement, and victims rights should be our main objective.