Tag Archives: Carbondale

Thursday, August 25, 2011 – the 24th day of Morgan’s stalking

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We slept in little spurts last night, rocks on windows, detectors, alarms, I’m wondering how he does it, what keeps this stalker up all night – is it drugs? Surely he has a job and he has to function during the day. I gave up on sleep at around 4:30 am, Steve was already up, reading on his phone at the breakfast table in the dark. For some reason I sat on the end of the couch and thought about places we could get away to, even just for a long weekend, to not have to deal with this and finally get some actual uninterrupted sleep.

All our years in Colorado we were blessed with friends visiting us here, never had I wanted to go away like I did now.  I worried about Morgan.  My  intuition is screaming at me, and I feel like someone is out there, I never sit at the end of the couch and drink coffee. It’s as if just maybe if I sit still enough, and open up to all the sounds and movements in the dark then something will come to me, so that is what I do…I sit as still as possible.  The front porch light is on, and all three cars are in the driveway.

All of a sudden there was sudden motion, and I froze, my eyes locked on the front door.  Our front door has beveled glass in it (as you can see in the picture above), the porch light completely illuminates the porch, and a person was out there.  I focused my eyes and stared. What I saw was 100% clear, there was no doubt it was a person wearing a hoodie that just ran up to our front door.  They had run up along the garage door, past the laundry room window, and up onto our porch. It looked like he glanced through the beveled glass window and saw me, and in that instant he quickly turned and moved across the porch, never looking back in the window, his side to me now, and running off the porch, through the planter knocking a motion detector out of the aspen tree, setting off the alarm.  I quietly and urgently called out to Steve, “He’s here, I just saw him!”  It’s been 24 days of stalking now and we have never actually seen anyone until this moment.  If it were not for the footprints he had left around the house, we would have been seriously questioning our sanity.  Now I have a visual image that would be locked into my mind forever.

Steve is standing over me, asking where I saw him.  I pointed to the front door, telling him he was on the porch wearing a hoodie, and he ran to the left.  As Steve was running for the front door he was asking me if I thought the stalker knows that I saw him.  I said I wasn’t sure, then quickly corrected myself, and said that I thought he did see me – that’s why he turned so quickly, and ran off through the planter.  Steve was out the door and I was following, he tells me to go back though the house, to the back doors, and watch the rear yard as he locks and closes the front door behind me. I can see it all today like it just happened 5 minutes ago.  For the longest time I stood at the back sliding glass door, and stared at the backyard, it was still very dark outside and I could just make out the trail over the berm.  I’m wondering if the tall grass was moving because of a breeze, or because the stalker just ran by, brushing it with his legs.  Steve passes twice, out on the grass, and stops both times to look at me, holding his hands up as though he is asking, “Well do you see anything?”  I shrug and hold my hands out, mouthing the word nothing, and shaking my head no.

When Steve gave up searching the yards he took off driving around the neighborhood, again recording every little detail about our neighbors, I looked in the front yard, hoping to find something that maybe he had dropped, any clue that would lead us to him.  Steve drove up and seemed very edgy, he wanted me inside, I thought he had seen something on his rounds.  He had grabbed a legal pad and when we sat at the table he was asking questions rapid fire.  Could I tell if it was a male of female? How tall? Skinny or husky? He said, “You saw the stalker, we are getting closer.”  I cannot answer as fast as he wants, and we were quickly reduced to screaming at each other about the need to stay calm. The stress was unbearable.  Steve holds up one hand and says “Stop!”  He takes a very obvious deep breath and blows it out slowly, his way of restoring order.  He tells me that everything in the entire neighborhood was normal except there was a light on in the front room at Brooke Harris’ house.  He doesn’t know if it’s an office, bedroom or a dining room, so it could mean something, or it could mean nothing. I then told Steve to just follow me to the couch and sit down where I was sitting and I explained to him exactly where I was looking and exactly what I saw.

I go through it again, and again, concluding it was definitely a male, about 5 foot 11 inches (slightly shorter then Steve), definitely wearing a hoodie, hard to be sure about body build through the hoodie, it could have been loose. Steve stands on the front porch exactly where I saw the stalker, there is a column on the porch that was directly behind the stalker when he was standing up at the front door so that makes it easier to estimate height as I look at Steve standing in the same place as the stalker stood.  I was so frustrated, I wanted to scream. I had just seen him for the first time, had a good look, and it seemed like he had slipped right through our fingers and we were left with nothing.  Steve disagrees, he thought all of this was adding up, we just had to be as accurate as we could be about what happened, diligent, and we would get him. He also shares an eerie feeling he has, that this is like an alien movie where the unknown thing is, “testing the defenses.” The stalker is just standing across the yard tossing pebbles at the windows, and testing our defenses, he thinks that’s what is going on.

Out comes the suspect list again, we go over it at least once a day, this time Steve wants to do something different, and circle all the names it could have been and hopefully that will considerably shorten it.

I call the sheriff’s dispatch and meet with them later. The deputy also draws a few conclusions from the experience.

Later that day we are all trying to feel normal, and not under attack.  Steve was in Glenwood Springs and wanted to do something for Morgan, he knew she liked to baby herself with a good skin scrub so at 4:12 pm Steve sends Morgan a text, “Going to Walmart do you need an exfoliant that they might have??”  Morgan texts back, “Yeah!  If they have St. Ives Apricot that’d be preferable, but if not any exfoliant would work.  And if they have dog toothpaste?”  Steve answers her, “K.”  Morgan answers again, “Thank you!!”  At 6:46 pm Steve sends Morgan another text, “Morgan, got your stuff, sheriff’s deputy wants to show you a line up of possible suspects.”  Morgan texts back, “well I’ve never seen him…”  Steve sends her another text, “Mom thinks she saw him this morning, and he wants to talk to you too.  They did not have toothpaste so I got dental chew bones.” (For her puppy).  Morgan texted back, “Ooo thanks!!  Tomorrow they want to talk to us or?”  At 6:54 pm Steve texted her back and said, “Tonight if he can.  He said you might see someone you recognize for some other reason??”  Morgan wrote back, “Gah.  When does he want?”  Steve wrote back, “He is going to call when he is on his way here & we will call you & you can be here in 10 minutes, so that seems like it should work..”  Morgan answered, “Sweet.”  At 8:54 pm Steve sent another text to Morgan, “He is not coming over to talk till 7:00 pm tomorrow evening, but they will patrol this eve.”  Morgan answered, “Alrighty.  Thank you!”  Steve answered, “K.”

Then later on I sent Morgan a text, “Are you heading home yet?  Just really tired…”  Morgan said, “I’m waiting for someone and then I am.  I am so tired.”  I texted her back, “Poor baby – well just text me when you leave OK?”  Morgan said, “I will :)”  I texted back, “Thanks”  Then at 9:13 pm I sent Morgan a text, “Dad’s asleep & I am fading fast, coming home???”  Morgan said, “Yes, I’m so sorry.  I’m getting close to leaving.”  Then I sent her a text that said, “OK I’m hoping – my eyes are blurry.  How’s Wylah?”  Morgan said, “Asleep”  Then I texted her, “Oh she (Wylah is her puppy) needs your bed.  Can’t stay awake much longer – PLEASE come home”  Morgan said, “I am”  I said, “Now?”  Morgan said, “Yeah”  I said, “OK, I’ll be looking for you.”  I was so extremely tired, but I needed to meet her in the driveway, holding pepper spray – we can’t be too safe.

Now looking back on last summer it is so amazing to me that Morgan was so good about coming home early, instead of staying out late like most 20 year olds.  She knew none of us were getting very much sleep because of the stalker, and she was trying her best to have a life, but didn’t want to make it any harder on us.  Morgan knew my mother lion instincts were functioning at full tilt and she didn’t want it to get any worse.  Unfortunately since Morgan was coming home pretty much by a certain time every night, that only made her more predictable for the stalker – and that was not good.

Click here to read about the 25th day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=784

(Years later we see that on this day the sheriffs had put our case # on Keenan Vanginkel’s Global Subject Activity Report (report of crimes), and as you can see the sheriffs wrote ‘Criminal Trespass’ – which, in my opinion, is much too minimal a crime for what has been happening to our family for the last 24 + days!)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011 – the 22nd day of Morgan’s stalking

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I wake up to the smell of coffee, and the glow of Steve’s computer monitor.  Our motion detector lights outside our Master Bedroom went off multiple times last night.  Steve has already made rounds of the neighborhood, and noticed the BBQ and furniture have been shuffled around on our neighbors back patio. They are still out of town, so he wants me to call the sheriffs whenever I have the time. The red fold-up chair has been moved again, and the officers want us to report anything different that we notice going on around our house – this looks suspicious. No one has been at that house for quite a while now, so why should that chair be moving from one spot to another?  I go with Steve so he can show me the chair & BBQ and how they have been moved.

I call dispatch late morning, and a sheriff’s deputy arrives just before lunch. First we walked around the house talking about the stalker. Since this is still not considered felony stalking yet, and only misdemeanor trespassing, we have to explain the situation every time an officer comes to the house, unless they have already been to our house and they know what has been going on.  I tell him that since we put up all the detectors it has been only alarms that have been triggered, and pebbles (we think that is what is making the noise, but we really have no idea) against the windows – it’s very unnerving to us knowing the stalker is right out there, but we can’t see him/her. I tell him that my husband is going crazy trying to figure out a way to trap him, and I ask the deputy if he has any ideas that might help.

The deputy goes out to the berm behind our house (this is the grass and treed berm that divides the houses from the ranch), and is wondering if anyone lives at the ranch next door. I know most everyone there, because our horse is boarded there.  I run through them all again in my mind. They are all horse people, except for the renters in one of the buildings on the ranch.  I don’t think any of them are capable of this – but you never know, I don’t know them. They are all in the least likely group on our suspect list. The deputy was walking up the berm when he stopped, and pointed out a trail well worn into the tall grass. He asked me if we had ever seen this before, and I tell him we search for footprints around the house, but not out on the berm.  We have never see anyone up on the berm – there is no reason to be there.  It’s not a short cut to anywhere, the gardeners never work on it, it’s just wild natural growth, meant to block the view of the ranch.  He sees another trail, and thinks it leads to our neighbor’s house. He walks towards the back of their house, and asks if I know who lives there.  It’s Ken’s house (the house that has the red chair that has moved recently, again).  We have a key to his house in case of emergencies, we always keep an eye on it when no one is there, as is most often the case.

The deputy is checking doors, and finds one that is not locked. I remember him asking if he has my permission to enter the house. The next thing I know his gun was drawn, the door swung open, and he was calling out “Garfield Sheriff’s Department, is there anyone here, I’m coming in!” I was frightened, I have never been in a situation like this, and in my mind I imagine a shoot out, I don’t know if I should drop to the ground or run. He keeps calling out, while inside the house for a long time, and then he comes back out, the house is clear, and he didn’t think anyone was hiding out inside. He wanted me to contact the owner, get the house locked up and keep a closer eye on the berm behind our house. Also, call if anything at all happens, even just our motion detectors going off, especially out back. He thinks the trails worn into the berm are obviously where the stalker is approaching our house from – he was right.  https://morgansstalking.com/?p=744

The sheriff’s patrol officers were all very passionate about wanting to catch this stalker, they were great people, great warriors in my opinion, but the methods they were taught to employ, the protocol they were told to use, never had a chance against this type of stalker.

Standing on our neighbor’s patio, I can see my closet window. Morgan is still sleeping in that closet, because she feels safer there, and I wondered if she really is safe in there. I called Steve and told him we need a gun.  We were joining that group of people that feel they need a loaded gun, one that is ready to go at all times.  At first Steve didn’t want a loaded gun in the house, but I was insistent, and he said we would get one. It has been 23 days now, and I feel danger all around us.

Months later, in one of our moments of desperation, when we were thinking of what to do next, Steve went on the Internet to look at Google Earth.  He saw the satellite maps for our neighborhood that had been updated at the end of summer, September 22, 2011. There, plain as day, were the trails in the berm behind our house. It was sickening to see them. You can still see them today on Google Earth.  If you don’t have Google Earth it is free from the Google site, once you have it, enter – 62 Corral Drive, Carbondale, Colorado, 81623 – and zoom in. We did not realize it at the time, but the trail was going to prove very important in connecting the dots later on.

Click here to read about the 23rd day of Morgan’s stalking https://morgansstalking.com/?p=737

Morgan, before the stalking started, sitting in our backyard, with the berm in the background, reading a book. Her peace & tranquility should never have been taken from her.