Tag Archives: Stalking

No suspect…really?

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Morgan’s case was my first experience reading a police report, and let me tell you what jumped out at me, first it was how little the reports compared to what was really happening at the time (where were all the missing reports?), and then, how many times Keenan is named as a “suspect” in the police reports, as well as in the supplemental reports, in JUST our daughter Morgan’s felony stalking case, he is mentioned over 270 times in sixty skimpy pages.  If you take out the pages with everything Morgan or I sent them, as well as Keenan’s hours from City Market, that’s how many pages are in their reports – only 60 pages. Never mind those reports actually report on about one-in-five of the incidents they came to investigate.  So my question is, how do those reports so thoroughly miss what was happening?

Here is just one page out of the police reports, which are public record – and yes, Steve & I are listed as victims of the stalking as well.

So how in the world can anyone ever act like there was no stalking, and no suspect?  We requested, but did not receive the police reports until the new District Attorney intervened, on our behalf, and facilitated that for us in 2013.

We have been told the police reports have been put on some websites over the Internet (we ourselves have not shared them yet – we only have this website www.morgansstalking, this blog on the website, our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/morgansstalking, and our Twitter site https://twitter.com/morgansstalking), but if people are sharing these reports, don’t they read them?

Keenan Vanginkel was listed as a suspect in Morgan’s stalking case (with her case number) on August 25, 2011 – Just over three weeks into her stalking, on the NICS (national instant criminal background check system) AKA his “Global Jacket,” the sheriffs had reported him to all law enforcement,  At that time Morgan did not even know Keenan was living in our neighborhood, Morgan did not know him, only saw him once before that, and had heard only bad things about him.  We were not told at that time that he was a suspect. But without our knowledge, he was obviously already a suspect.

In emails from Det. Glassmire, I have his statement that he designed, and distributed “flyers” to all GarCo sheriff patrol officers, as well as Carbondale police officers, with Keenan’s picture, a picture of Keenan’s car, and information about the ongoing felony stalking case, involving Morgan as the victim.  This was so they could keep an eye out for the suspect, and know if something was reported, that it was her case.  Would you do this if you were a felony stalking detective that didn’t have a suspect?  I have retained many emails, text messages, and voice messages from the detective. I even have emails where we ask, and were answered, about Morgan’s request to get a protection order against Keenan!

In the police reports: Brooke and her father James Harris, only days before Morgan was murdered, were interviewed by Det. Glassmire and “warned” that the following week the detective would be collecting Keenan’s hours, as well as doing an on-camera interview with Morgan.

Might criminals worry about the sheriffs getting closer to making a possible arrest?

The morning we found Morgan’s body, Brooke’s father, James Harris, called his client (a Pitkin County sheriff’s wife) to cancel his appointment with her.  He left a voice message on her machine admitting that the police knew his daughter’s boyfriend was his neighbor’s stalker… just quoting what was put in the police report.  

It is also noted in the police reports that the detective even collected all Keenan’s work records to compare to the incident reports, unfortunately he didn’t pick them up until after Morgan was dead. Why would he obtain only Keenan’s work records if Keenan wasn’t a suspect?

Det. Glassmire’s email 3.12.2011 – conversation talks about TACTICS for his next interview with KEENAN. AND comparing STOLEN JEWELRY KEENAN HAD PAWNED at a Cash for Gold Store with JEWELRY ROBBED FROM MORGAN the night she was killed.

In the police report supplement #18: On March 25, 2012, over 3 months AFTER Morgan is murdered, Det. Glassmire again interviews Keenan, and tells Keenan that he is still a viable “suspect.”

So you tell me – do you really believe there was no suspect?

 

 

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So many times crimes begin with stalking.  Many times you read about a case of burglary, rape, kidnapping among many other types of crimes, but what you usually don’t read about in the news is that many of these cases involved the victim being stalked, and surveilled, before the crime happened.

This article talks about a woman that listened to her “intuition” or “gut feeling” and did a smart thing in this case – possibly saving herself from becoming a victim.  She shared her story on Facebook in order to raise awareness, and warn other women to be on the lookout.  I believe this is just another type of stalking story – whether the predator watches and stalks someone for 30 minutes, or 30 years, it is still a precursor to a dangerous situation. For someone to have wrapped a shirt around this woman’s wiper blade, it is much more likely that someone “knew” a single woman would be getting in this car…they knew her routine, and were lying in wait.

http://www.9news.com/mb/news/womans-facebook-warning-about-shirt-wrapped-around-windshield-wiper-goes-viral/411917785

 

Today We Honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In King’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” he promoted non-violent civil disobedience and urgency in the Civil Rights advancement.  His words are still true today when it comes to ANY injustice.  I like to print his quote at the end of my emails to remind people of the importance to really care about our fellow human beings.

There has been an injustice done to our daughter Morgan.  Morgan was a victim of a felony stalking for 4 months, she was found dead under “suspicious circumstances” (the sheriff’s words – not mine), and her body was taken away for an autopsy.  That same morning her lead felony stalking detective told us her stalker had nothing to do with her death.  He could not have known that at the time so why did he say it?  The coroner’s office took her body away for an autopsy.  While waiting for the results of her autopsy I truly believed the sheriffs were investigating her suspicious death.  I asked what will happen if the autopsy shows she was murdered.  I was told that if that happened another detective would be assigned to the case.  So in the meantime unbeknownst to me there was no investigation into her suspicious death – why?

Then 18 days later the forensic pathologist stated Morgan died a “natural death” – I asked how could that be?  Morgan was an extremely healthy 20 year old…a healthy 20 year old with a predatory stalker that was escalating his presence.  So then at that time the sheriffs said there would be NO investigation into her “suspicious” death BECAUSE the Coroner had decided she died a “natural death.”

For the next 6 – 7 months forensic experts, along with Morgan’s doctors, tried to explain to the forensic pathologist that Morgan did not die a “natural” death.  After reviewing her medical records, the postmortem report, all toxicology results, etc. they said Morgan died from foul play and suggested her case should be investigated.  At that point the forensic pathologist threatened me that he did not want the opinions of any other experts and if he wanted to he could change her “manner of death” to suicide.  Then 8 months after Morgan’s death the forensic pathologist for Garfield County along with the coroner did just that…they changed her manner of death to “suicide.”

Getting angry is fine who wouldn’t be outraged, but how do we really make changes to a system that is broken?

Cases, like Morgan’s, that are swept under the rug are caught in a kind of trap, a trap created because of the cracks in our legal system.  Solving murder cases, when a coroner says the victim died from a natural death, accidental death, or suicide isn’t easy.  In order to obtain justice you have to be your own investigator.  You need to be methodical and spend as much time as you would on a 40 hour per week job.  Unfortunately in some cases like ours the family is the only one left that can put all the evidence together in order to obtain justice…and if justice is not found all that means is that someone has gotten away with murder, and that will always be an injustice, not only to the victims, and the victim’s family, but it is an injustice to all.

Thank you for following Morgan’s story through this blog.  I believe through knowledge and awareness of things that others are experiencing in this world people gain their strength.  I promise you our family has not given up, and never will.  It has been 3 long unimaginable years since Morgan’s suspicious death, and we have continued to gather and document all evidence in order to have her case investigated.  Morgan deserves justice – all victims of violent crime deserve justice.  Some people may not want her case opened…they do not want to visit the skeletons they have hidden in their closets, but soon the truth will come out and justice will be served.

I believe perseverance, as well as sheer tenacity will prevail, they will bring about positive results not only in Morgan’s case, but on so many other levels as well.  Wish us luck – 2015 should be an amazing year to right some wrongs and bring justice to many people!

 

An Extremely Important Tool For Law Enforcement

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Communication with the victims family is one of the most important tools that law enforcement can utilize in order to solve a case.

Many families might not even realize how important they are to the investigation.  They might not even know how much vital information they actually have.

Law enforcement needs to open up and continue communication with the families.  They need to continually go back and ask more questions.  Lots of questions.  These questions can trigger memories of things the family didn’t even realize were important to solving the case.

Community policing is another tool that should be used.  “Community policing is a philosophy of full service personalized policing, where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis, from a decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems.”—Bertus Ferreira (Bertus, Ferreira. The Use and Effectiveness of Community Policing in a Democracy . Prod. National Institute of Justice. Washington, D.C,, 1996.)

Partnering up with the communities they serve – the police have access to an important tool, especially when it comes to stalking cases.  With the police no longer the sole guardians of law and order, all members of the community become active allies in the effort to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods.  Police can’t do it alone.  Partnering up with the community is a positive way to stop stalkers.  https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf

This is an excellent video to listen to about community policing and stalking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8reNGMUIHU

The message needs to get out.  People that violate an order of protection show a course of conduct, and at that point you know that particular stalker is very dangerous.  There are really amazing stalking task forces in some states – it would be wonderful if every county had stalking task forces.  Please keep informed.  Push for community policing in your town.  Stay involved…it may ultimately save someone that you deeply care about.

I want to do everything in my power to raise awareness and help people to become knowledgable in order to keep other victims of stalking, like Morgan, safe as well as other families from going through the same horrors our family has had to endure.  Keep well and keep informed…2015 is going to be a year of many changes.