The boys at the skate park
In the very early hours of the day Morgan was startled awake by banging on her window. She was really tired and couldn’t find her phone in the dark. She didn’t want to get up and turn on the light because that excites her stalker and then she can count on “his attention” for a much longer time.
She just lay in bed and waited. That wait, she guessed was after midnight, but really early. She drifted back to sleep until 5:00 am when a sharp loud bang woke her up again. Morgan told me at breakfast that she almost pressed her panic button, but didn’t want to wake us. Steve reminded her for the umpteenth time, that if anything happens, let us know. Morgan promised she would.
Ballet was this morning and that always had her smiling no matter what else was going on. After classes she grabbed her camera and went to the skateboard park to photograph the boys doing their tricks.
Morgan loved to quietly master a new skill. Action photography was her latest quest and the skateboard park was a great setting for her. Close-ups, groups, fast, slow, all the different angles. She explained it all to me in great detail. It was an odd year in that snow would have usually closed the park a while ago but the ground was cold, but clear and good enough for a group of young men to be doing something they liked, and for Morgan to bundle up and photograph them.
Just before 5:00 pm I called Morgan to say her father was cooking dinner. She got off the phone with me and called him to see if he wanted help. He told he had news and they would talk over dinner.
At dinner we all discussed the move. Steve had committed to the new shop and there were two places for us a very short walk away. Then a few more that were within a block or so. First big decision was before or after the holidays. Steve and I were leaning toward sooner and Steve was asking Morgan if she would like to work in his office for a few hours each afternoon and Morgan was very excited about that. In the past his shops were always in places that became deserted around 4:00 pm and Morgan never felt safe so when she did help Steve with his work it was mostly at home. But now if she could walk with Wylah over to his office and have people around, she thought it would work out great.
Morgan was going babysitting over the weekend and was going to need my car so we talked about that a little bit. She also had quite a few babysitting jobs lined up in December and she was wondering how to keep track. I told her I would see if next years calendars would have this December in them and if they did I would just get one for her. The detectives were coming tomorrow so I reminded Morgan.
Today it is November 23, 2012 – I remember so vividly how the stalking had become something we wanted to ignore. It seemed like we were never going to stop him, although we would never admit it. And Steve and I talked a lot about how strange it had become.
The term “lulled to sleep” may sound completely out of place, but it was what happened to some extent. We had come to “expect” certain things from the stalker. I hear it over and over again now. Invisible lines are created unintentionally, and your stalker does not cross them, this gives you a mistaken feeling of security. You want to feel safe in your world. I have heard stories over my life of people spending time in a part of town that was down on its luck, and car alarms, maybe cars racing around at all hours and even gunfire was not out of the ordinary – on a daily basis. And they stayed, and even got used to it somehow.
As I approach a year since Morgan was killed I still am not sure how to advise someone on how to really stop their stalker. However: it is something that has become very important to me. Real solutions to stalking would mean so much to Steve and I. Not a better way to ignore the growing problem, as is far to often the case today – but a better way to stop it, to return lives to those who have had theirs taken from them. And a better way for justice to mean something more than a hollow promise. Morgan’s rights were taken from her in so many ways, and they continue to be taken away by people that don’t know the facts of her case, but believe any lies that they hear on the Internet as the Gospel truth…how sad.
Thanks for sharing this. I have a question: if you would have moved while Morgan was alive, what would have prevented the stalker from following you? Did you think about moving out of state as well?
Nothing would have stopped him from following her – we knew that and she knew that. That is why up until then the 3 of us were doing everything we could think of to catch him, thinking if we catch him then we can move and feel much safer, but finally we decided we just couldn’t take it anymore and we had to move and pray he wouldn’t follow…as they sometimes and quite often do.
We wanted to move Morgan out of state but she didn’t want to and at that time we didn’t consider it an option for all of us.
if he was not following her to classes, friend’s homes, babysitting, etc. do you feel distance might have slowed down his obsession? have you ruled out it being a complete stranger who may have met or seen her through school and honed in on her?
He did follow her to and from town…Morgan documented it and signed the statement for the Sheriff’s as well as telling them. She did see him multiple times when leaving school and she did tell the Sheriff’s about this – I have emails discussing what the detective was doing about it. The stalker would arrive at our house within 10 – 15 minutes of coming home for the first month that we tried to catch him and after all the “investigating” the Sheriff’s had done they told us it was someone in the neighborhood, close by. Even though this was someone close by it was also a stranger stalker – Morgan had never dated or knew this person and she was scared. We know now this person used people that did know Morgan to know where she was at times. I have emails to and from the detective assigned to her case about Morgan wanting to take out a restraining order once they honed in on the suspect.
So what was the series of events that lead Steve to find the cameras on the floor ? ( from yesterday’s post)
This is a duplicate answer from day 118:
On the afternoon of the following day we discovered those motion detectors were not working and in the daytime hours we could easily see them on the ground and by pinpointing that location, where they ended up lying on the ground, we were able to painstakingly go back through the nighttime hours to see when that spot appeared on the ground and we could not see how but we could see when they appeared down on the ground. This was very upsetting to us, as it was obvious Steve was being watched, in the dark, when he put them up, but we also realized this must be exactly where the stalker did not want us to catch him, and this was in the front corner of the house, and across from the side of the house, both by Morgan’s room. This was very upsetting!
Thank you for replying – sorry I missed the answer elsewhere . Sometimes I really feel like the stalker(s) may have bugged your house – is that a possibility or just too out there . It’s just so darn weird how every time they know what’s been done and can avoid it . It’s hard to believe 15 minutes then removed could be any kind or coincidence and it seems unfeasible they could watch all the time you add or move a camera so how the heck did they know . Bless you all in your quest for justice x
Karen x
The person/s who gave any information on Morgan’s where about’s should be held accountable as well! Why someone would rather help a stalker than report their knowledge of the crime being committed, I just can’t comprehend. Why will nobody come forward with information!!! The police should have put more pressure on Keenan, Brooke, and all the others involved. Bring them in every time their was a incident reported against Morgan. Question them repeatedly! Confirm an alibi! How did the police think this was going to end, that the stalker would simply just walk away? They don’t. It just builds and builds within a stalker and things only get worse for the victim. It’s only a matter of time till they wait to make their move to attack/assault/rape and kill their victim, and usually it’s when the victim is least expecting it. I really hope and pray this case can be reopened and ALL those involved will be prosecuted! Prayers to the Ingram family.
We are hoping to make sure everyone involved in Morgan’s murder and cover up are held accountable. So many people have helped us over the years, and so many more are still helping in our quest for justice for Morgan – we are eternally grateful!
I also want you to know that I greatly appreciate your comments, insight and prayers. I really wish more people asked questions, because quite honestly if you don’t ask you will never get to the truth…so many people want to blindly believe what it said over the Internet by people that were never even involved in the incidents they are discussing – it is very sad. Those people have no idea what the truth is and the truth is not something they seek – they have a different agenda, which to me is pretty transparent, but maybe for the general public not so much. 🙁
My hope is that people that have honest questions will ask those questions so I can give them honest questions.