Daily Archives: October 5, 2012

October 7 – 8, 2011 – Days 67 & 68 of Morgan’s Stalking – The Stakeout…

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Aspen Tree

In the morning Steve and I went out to breakfast at our favorite local’s hangout in Carbondale, we texted Morgan (she was with a friend) to see if she would join us and she did.  Every time we went there Morgan would order the exact same breakfast, so it got to the point where we would just order for her, after checking of course.

After breakfast, Steve and I spent some time painting the motion detectors a brown camouflage color, so they did not stand out at night.  The motion detectors were the most consistent weapon in our arsenal.  The stalker could not cross through an area covered without setting the detector off.  The way they were deployed was giving us advance warning to a window banging event.  It had not allowed us to actually catch him, but it was certainly the most promising.  Early detection is the key, just like cancer, if you think about it.

A friend of Morgan’s texted her around 7:00 pm, “Dude. Now considering Stanford? They offer Romanian.”  Earlier that Spring when Morgan was out on location, working and helping her big sister, they stopped at Stanford on the way home. Morgan was quite smitten with the possibility of attending the law school there.  Morgan always had ultimate faith in herself, and was positive that if she knew the requirements, she could meet them.  Morgan answered her friend, “Yesss!!” And she responded, “Doing some school research. Seeing what I can find. =D.”

Detective Glassmire was coming out for a stakeout, naturally we were kept in the dark about actual arrival and departure times, but he agreed to text me on the way out.  There was no way I was waiting until the next day to find out what if anything had happened. At 2:06 am I could not contain myself any longer, and sent a text to him, “Backyard motion detector light going on and off – same time as last night.” Detective Glassmire texts back, “Okay, we did leave at 12:45 am, and we did notice that the backyard motion detector did go on and off twice while we were watching it.  Definitely was not us at that time, as we were very far from that light.  Otherwise quiet while we were there.”  I texted back, “OK better luck next time.  Morgan never alerted us to anything on her window tonight.”  Detective Glassmire texted back, “Okay, that’s where we focused on, we will be in touch soon, have a good night.”  I texted back, “You too.”

This was the night (the only night that I know of) that they did a stake out to try to catch the stalker.  Detective Glassmire the next day suggested that maybe we had a faulty motion light and that’s why it would go on and off in the middle of the night.  So Steve swapped it for another light that we could also see from our room, but hadn’t been going on and off, now that that light was put where the other light had been it still did the same thing, so it wasn’t defective – what we didn’t know at the time was that this was the area that was being triggered, because this is where the stalker was getting on to our roof!!!

Today it is October 5, 2012 – and I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it will always bear saying again.  Months after Morgan was murdered we know the stalker was gaining access to our roof from that exact area that would set off that motion light, he would run over the berm, towards the back of our house, and climb up the Aspen tree that was leaning right up against the back of our house.  Once up on the roof he had the advantage to be able to see up and down the streets, as well as the advantage to hide where the roof comes together and created a perfect hiding place for him.  He could also lean over the edge of the roof, body against the metal gutter over Morgan’s room, and see in to her room, or dangle something down to tap or bang on her window, ever eluding the Sheriff’s and all others.  He was “getting off” in being able to make fools out of the Sheriffs.

Except for one, Rhonda’s little dog next door that used to bark in the middle of the night at his window that faced Morgan’s side of the house.  But unfortunately dogs can’t talk (or at least most of us don’t understand what they are saying) so we never knew that the stalker was on our roof.  But the little dog knew, and he tried to tell us.

Public Service Announcement – there are some people that don’t want to look at the facts

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Obviously stalking is a much bigger problem then most people believe. I point to the circulation of this blog – which deals with stalking. As of yesterday this blog is now being viewed in over 100 countries, and has had over 60,000 views per day.

It’s important to remember as we search globally for an answer to the not so easy to solve problem of stalking, that those hardest hit by stalking are the VICTIMS of stalking. Just as obviously there are so many victims both in this country and around the world, our daughter Morgan herself was a VICTIM of stalking, victims rights is becoming a huge issue, and it is well past the time for this to happen! In fact this year a constitutional amendment will most likely be passed dealing with victims rights on a national level.

Having been a victim of stalking as a parent, and watching my daughter be a stalking victim, and forced to pay the ultimate price, the one thing I can tell you without doubt is how her right to decency and fairness has been repeatedly trashed. Even after her death, the Forensic Pathologist, after repeated threats to me, changed Morgan’s manner of death from natural to suicide – he did this while completely ignoring that the test he ran in complete secrecy, in hopes of justifying his reclassification of death, found not only amitriptyline, as anyone would logically think would show up if you did another test, since it showed up in the 1st test that was run, but the 2nd test also found 5 other date rape drugs in Morgan’s system – so now it’s called a suicide…am I missing something here? Is this a common occurrence that a girl would commit suicide with a date rape cocktail? If so the rapists of the world have little to fear…especially in Garfield County! And of course this is after she steals all her own jewelry, and gang stalks herself for 4 months, follows herself in her car twice, and I am not sure how she managed to get people to show up in the middle of the night on our video surveillance cameras, or show up in our backyard in the dark while she was putting her puppy out to go potty, or having me witness the stalker on our porch, in our front yard, etc., etc. The point I am really trying to make here is that we have to find room in our hearts for the VICTIMS of STALKING, my family has lived through it, and it is horrific in every sense of the word. And there is one simple truth that I wish for all of you to remember – one day we were not victims of stalking and the next day we were – it happens that fast, that completely, and it may take years to put your life back together, as I have heard from other victims.

Part of the solution for stalking will always be caring, and compassion for the victims. If you know anyone that is a victim of stalking give them any help you can, because they desperately need it, and always remember that one day it could easily be YOU that is suddenly the victim of a stalker.

Steve and I, in our personal fight against stalking, will hold every government official accountable for what they did, or did not do, to prevent a crime that affects so many.

 

 

 

 

Public Service Announcement – there are some people that don’t want to look at the facts

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Obviously stalking is a much bigger problem then most people believe.  I point to the circulation of this blog – which deals with stalking.  As of yesterday this blog is now being viewed in over 100 countries, and has had over 60,000 views per day.

It’s important to remember as we search globally for an answer to the not so easy to solve problem of stalking, that those hardest hit by stalking are the VICTIMS of stalking.  Just as obviously there are so many victims both in this country and around the world, our daughter Morgan herself was a VICTIM of stalking, victims rights is becoming a huge issue, and it is well past the time for this to happen!  In fact this year a constitutional amendment will most likely be passed dealing with victims rights on a national level.

Having been a victim of stalking as a parent, and watching my daughter be a stalking victim, and forced to pay the ultimate price, the one thing I can tell you without doubt is how her right to decency and fairness has been repeatedly trashed.  Even after her death, the Forensic Pathologist, after repeated threats to me, changed Morgan’s manner of death from natural to suicide – he did this while completely ignoring that the test he ran in complete secrecy, in hopes of justifying his reclassification of death, found not only amitriptyline, as anyone would logically think would show up if you did another test, since it showed up in the 1st test that was run, but the 2nd test also found 5 other date rape drugs in Morgan’s system – so now it’s called a suicide…am I missing something here?  Is this a common occurrence that a girl would commit suicide with a date rape cocktail?  If so the rapists of the world have little to fear…especially in Garfield County!  And of course this is after she steals all her own jewelry, and gang stalks herself for 4 months, follows herself in her car twice, and I am not sure how she managed to get people to show up in the middle of the night on our video surveillance cameras, or show up in our backyard in the dark while she was putting her puppy out to go potty, or having me witness the stalker on our porch, in our front yard, etc., etc.  The point I am really trying to make here is that we have to find room in our hearts for the VICTIMS of STALKING, my family has lived through it, and it is horrific in every sense of the word.  And there is one simple truth that I wish for all of you to remember – one day we were not victims of stalking and the next day we were –  it happens that fast, that completely, and it may take years to put your life back together, as I have heard from other victims.

Part of the solution for stalking will always be caring, and compassion for the victims.  If you know anyone that is a victim of stalking give them any help you can, because they desperately need it, and always remember that one day it could easily be YOU that is suddenly the victim of a stalker.

Steve and I, in our personal fight against stalking, will hold every government official accountable for what they did, or did not do, to prevent a crime that affects so many.

 

 

 

 

The crime scene was a “mystery” wonder why?

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I guess if you die under suspicious circumstances, you have been stalked for 4 months, and you are a healthy 20-year-old…I guess law enforcement shouldn’t wonder if maybe a murder has been committed and they should gather as much evidence as possible.

Just the thought of an autopsy makes my eyes shut and my shoulders quiver.  But I told myself, they’re right, it has to be done, and I tried to think of other things, pretend it was not happening. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do, maybe I should have grabbed Steve, and insisted on both of us riding with her, being right there every horrific step of the way. If my daughter was taken away in an ambulance to the hospital it would not have been any other way…I would have been with her.  Steve and I would be right there every single step of the way.  But on that cold Friday morning, on December 2nd, they were taking my daughter’s body away, not my daughter.

Only I’ve been told I would not have been allowed to be there for any step of the way, no matter how much I insisted.  First, as hard as it is for me to conceive, I was a suspect – until I am ruled out, it could have been me, and I can’t begin to be ruled out until the autopsy is finished, so I can’t possibly be allowed anywhere near it.

Enter the first theories of law as I understand them:

  • Pronouncement of death
  • Process the scene
  • Approve the removal of the body
  • Arrange to have the body moved to the lab for an autopsy
  • Maintain the chain of custody

And all of those steps happened for Morgan, but remember they were done by Thomas Walton.  What if he is not trained or legally able to do any of them?  What if the Garfield County Coroner’s office never completed the steps that would have established Thomas Walton as a legal Deputy Coroner?  I don’t even want to think about how potentially tainted Morgan’s case could be by the actions of the Coroner. But first things first.

There is another document recently adopted by the State of Colorado in May of 2011, before Morgan’s murder.  To clarify autopsies and it pertains to this case.  It is called the National Association of Medical Examiners Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards (NAME).  It was adopted intact as the minimum for an autopsy in the State of Colorado.

And wouldn’t you know it, right there in the first section, section A, another problem.

Section A: Medicolegal Death Investigation

The purpose of this section is to define responsibility for medicolegal death investigation and to outline the types of cases that are to be investigated by such systems. Investigations can be conducted by inquiry with or without examination. Inquiries are typically conducted via telephone interview, personal interview, or review of records. Examination may include scene investigation, external inspection, and forensic autopsy.

Standard A1 Responsibilities

Medicolegal death investigation officers, be they appointed or elected, are charged by statute to investigate deaths deemed to be in the public interest–serving both the criminal justice, civil justice and public health systems. These officials must investigate cooperatively with, but independent from, law enforcement and prosecutors. The parallel investigation promotes neutral and objective medical assessment of the cause and manner of death.

To promote competent and objective death investigations:

A1.1 Medicolegal death investigation officers should operate without any undue influence from law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.

A1.2 A forensic pathologist or representative shall evaluate the circumstances surrounding all reported deaths

The problem? The investigators and interviewers are to be independent from law enforcement and prosecutors.  Well if your interviewer is a Garfield County Sheriff’s detective, and your investigators are a group of Garfield County Deputies and Detectives, do you see the problem?  None of these people can legally be processing the crime scene.  It’s Colorado Law.  In Morgan’s case a neutral and objective medical assessment of the cause and manner of death never happened.

Was Thomas Walton, not really a legal deputy coroner? And a death scene overrun with Garfield County Sheriffs who are not supposed to be participating, by Colorado Law. Is that what Morgan had?  No Medicolegal officers in charge here,  trained in death scene assessment, practicing good investigative techniques present to take over and restore order?  Are all of the pages of investigation from Morgan’s death scene not potential evidence of a crime?  Are they rather evidence of a crime or evidence of crimes by the deputy coroner by the mere fact of being there, and crimes by the Garfield County Sheriff’s department by interviewing, touching, processing, and handling all of the evidence in an investigation that must be independent from these very law enforcement personnel?  Why on earth would they do that?  And who is responsible for the law enforcement personnel not following the law?

Should Thomas Walton have been in charge of preventing this intrusion into the death scene in violation of Colorado Revised Statutes?  He should have been, but…  Certainly not If his mere presence is in direct violation of Colorado Revised Statutes.  Is this really what happened?  Was Morgan’s death scene destroyed for all intents and purposes by the Sheriff and the Coroner?  And of course if you have been reading this blog of Morgan’s stalking you have to know it does not get any better.  You might be wondering how it could possibly get worse, but trust me, it can, and it does.

Enter Dr. Robert Kurtzman the forensic pathologist. He will be supervising the autopsy.  And the National Association of Medical Examiners Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards adopted by the State of Colorado once again set his minimum standards to work under.

I am only going to question one facet, as most of us did not witness what happened.  This is more of a prima fascia case based on timing.

First the standards complete with examples:

These standards underscore the need for assessment of all available information prior to the forensic autopsy to (1) direct the performance of the forensic autopsy, (2) answer specific questions unique to the circumstances of the case, (3) document evidence, the initial external appearance of the body, and its clothing and property items, and (4) correlate alterations in these items with injury patterns on the body. Just as a surgeon does not operate without first preparing a history and physical examination, so must the forensic pathologist ascertain enough history and circumstances and may need to inspect the body to decide whether a forensic autopsy is indicated and to direct the forensic autopsy toward relevant case questions.

Steve was asked by the detective to prepare an email with anything they should look for at autopsy, no matter how minor or far fetched, absolutely anything that may help to guide the autopsy.  They told him he didn’t have to do it right away. This was Friday early noon and they said Monday would be just fine.  So it has always bothered me deeply that a forensic pathologist is supposed to assemble all of the facts, history and circumstances, Prior to the autopsy, not during, not after – Prior.  And that simply was not done for Morgan.  And what is the purpose of asking Steve for that email of things, “to look for at autopsy” when the autopsy is going to be wrapped up Friday evening, in time for dinner, before Steve ever sends the email of what to look for. Has anyone ever given you a list of things to pick up at the store, after you leave the store?  Is this what happens when the Deputy Coroner lacks training and certifications, and when in place of Medicolegal officers they utilize the one officer that is specifically to be excluded from the investigation, the law enforcement officer.  And then it all ends up in a nice pile for the Forensic Pathologist, and he knows without question the investigators were not Medicolegal officers, that they were Garfield Sheriff’s.  He knew or should have known this is in direct conflict with the Forensic Autopsy Performance Standards that he is charged with upholding.

And it is not a simple gaffe, not a simple misunderstanding, it is in direct violation of Colorado Revised Statutes.  It is going 85 MPH when the posted limit is 25 MPH.  It is breaking the law.  A rose by any other name and all that.  I have been told there are “official” documents of Morgan released and circulating.  I should look at them.  But I have not.  I really don’t want to see them because to me they are anything but official documents.  They are prima fascia evidence of the miscarriage of justice that took place and continues to take place in the investigation of Morgan’s death.

Would you believe me if I told you that – to date nobody has ever asked Steve or I, her only parents, who her doctor was, what medications, if any, she was currently taking, and for what reason?  Where would be the best place to get the most current medical records for Morgan, and on and on.  I already know the answer, but really, is it too late to just start over?  It could not be any worse.

On the way to Grand Junction