November 27, 2011 – Day 118 of Morgan’s Stalking – Is He Standing Right Behind Steve?

Steve was up early, and left for work.  I was in the kitchen when Morgan walked in, it was late morning by then and she still looked tired.  She wondered if we were really moving, she knew what a job it was going to be, and hated to see us go through it, because of a stalker.  We had a great talk about how strangely enough her dad, and I had talked about it this morning before he left, and he was going to call the people we were dealing with today and start the process.

I told her how her father was very confident this was all going to work out for the best.  I didn’t tell her he was also going to move his shop at the same time so he would be a block away most every day, and his only reservation was that with our new home being so difficult to approach, the stalker would be forced into something that did not involve the house at all.  We had no plan for that yet, but Steve was insistent that we did before we moved.

Morgan had lived through enough fear, and fright for a lifetime, and then some.  I could not bear to start talking about what might go wrong after we moved, when all of a sudden she seemed to be warming up to the idea.  Obviously it had been on her mind the night before.

I made her tea and encouraged her to go back to sleep.  We had a lot of stuff coming up just as soon as the details were worked out.  Morgan went back to sleep and I spent a few hours packing up those things you know you are not going to need for the next month.  It was a really good feeling to think we were about to put an end to this stalking.  I can’t remember if I was concerned or not that we had not caught him yet.  I do remember a time when it was so important for Morgan that we did.  But right at that time I’m not sure how I really felt about it.

At 12:30 pm Steve was home from work, and his shop would be humming till late as he liked to put it.  He had a project to wrap, and he could carve out the time for a double move.  Sounded quite daunting to me, and I knew he was underestimating.  He had not gotten a call back from the bank, but thought they would be OK with the move.

Morgan had planned to come with us at 1:00 pm to a belated Thanksgiving with Steve’s brother and his family, but after her cousin Camille had to leave early, she wanted to just stay home in bed.  Her friend Nathan came over to stay with her and we felt she was very safe with him, so we left for another round of Thanksgiving and family.

Another of Morgan’s friends started texting her around 7:45 pm and she was telling them about her lingering flu.  She felt it had been going on for over a week and she was all the way up to just feeling “yickish”

Steve and I were enjoying our day, which was now turning to evening, so much and at 8:30 pm I checked in with Morgan again.  I texted her, “Any rocks or noise?”, and she answered, “Nope. We’re going out though. Nate’s sleeping over. We’re taking wyla.”  Nope, how nice that word sounded, nothing happening.  How simple it would have been if it was always like that. Steve wanted we to ask Nathan a question and since he didn’t have a cell phone yet, I texted Morgan for him, “Ok Nate’a going to work with Dad in the morning? Remember to lock the front door love you.”  Morgan answered, “Love you too.”

I asked her to have Nate check the bushes by the front of the garage on their way out.  The motion detector light kept going on and off, like the one on the corner of the house by our room had done a while back.  Steve had switched it with another light just like we had with the one by our room and the new one still kept going on and off at certain times.  It was so frustrating to have something happening, and never see what it was that was causing it to happen.

Morgan answered that “He is. :)” about Nate going to work with Steve and I told her, “Ok”

We were home before 9:00 pm and Steve immediately went to the task of putting together some motion detectors that he had been “custom” painted to match where he intended to place them, so they would blend in.  There was something going on in the front corner of the house, and he was working to catch it.  At around 9:21 pm he placed the detectors, and then called me on my phone.  He wanted me to stand by the alarms in our room and see just how close he could get before the alarm went off.  After a few tries he was satisfied with his new setup and came in the house.

At 9:46 pm the newly placed detectors were very carefully taken from their perches and placed face down on the ground.  They need heat moving to detect motion and if one were to grab them from the behind and slowly move them toward cold ground there would be no alarm.  And even if there had, Morgan’s stalker had plenty of hiding spots nearby.  He would probably have sat patiently and watched Steve show up wondering how the alarm had ended up on the ground, so quickly.  But we would not know they had been moved until after a series of events the next day.

Today is November 22, 2012 – Thanksgiving is today and it has been a long and lonely day for Steve and I.  I constantly receive screen shots by email now from some of our readers.  Little clips about what is being guessed at about Morgan around the Internet.  Some people seem to be amazingly certain of what they think they know.  My decision to tell what happened that day last year perhaps plays into this and of course free speech is free speech for all, well almost all, but don’t get me started on that.

For all of you who read Morgan’s Blog about Morgan’s stalking, at the end of the day the story I tell is for all of you, and your families.  Stalking is under reported, pervasive and lethal.  So many more know these three truths than when Morgan was being stalked – and Steve and I are so grateful for the chance to be sharing this information and raising awareness.

I will also let you all in on something most of you know already.  The people who work on Morgan’s case now are quite a different group then the Garfield Sheriff’s Department, and there are things I ache to share with the world. But I am not allowed to, not because of any court in the land, but because the investigators go over it with me, apologize for the obvious pain it has caused and remind me that this is not going on Morgan’s Blog, not yet.  I believe very strongly that even Morgan agrees with the decisions being made.  It is not to appease the court of public opinion – it is important for an eventual criminal trial.  We miss you honey, and have no idea what Thanksgiving looks like up in Heaven.

Trust me – Hollywood is a lot harder than it looks!

I was unaware, but I guess a few of you were busy asking the Dr. Phil Show to share their thoughts on the story of Morgan’s Stalking.  They spoke with me, and then asked others to be on the show to give them a chance to tell their side.  Unfortunately, no one would agree but then ? and ?’s dad did agree to be on the show.

Well – I had to miss work for a few days, and am now furiously, but without any complaints scrambling to catch up.  Steve and I were in Los Angeles since Friday, guests of the Dr. Phil show.  They are all amazing people, and work so hard at what they do, and I assure you both Steve and I were humbled to watch them all at their craft.  We met so many people we want to thank for what they did on behalf of our daughter Morgan.

Monday November 12, the episode will air and I honestly don’t know what it will come across as, but I hope you can all see it.  Showing the world what Morgan was really like has always been a goal of her blog, and it does get lost at times.  Her cousin Camille and Dr. Dobersen had a brief chance to tell their feelings about Morgan and I thank both of you two sooo much!

Please don’t hold back, tell everyone you know about the show, and as always, feel free to comment, good or bad, after you have had a chance to see it.  Steve and I have never been on TV once before, a few seconds on CBS Denver news,  but for Morgan, and all the other stalking victims out there, we would do anything.   We both are feeling more than a little self-conscious about how we will look on the show right now – but I know I can’t think about that.

Finally, with all of the best wishes Steve and I can ever express – thanks to Lindy and Sam and Alex and of course Dr. Phil, I had never met him before, we met on stage and I think he is a really wonderful man…no wonder all of his employees love working for him.

Daddy and I miss you dearly Morgan!  But we are happy a lot of people will get a chance to meet you, not in person, but perhaps the next best thing – this coming Monday.

One little piece to this gigantic puzzle that was overlooked – as usual…

The morning I found Morgan’s body, and our family showed up, our daughter-in-law told me about a show she had watched on TV, and wanted to make sure I told the detective to tell whomever he would be talking to, like the Forensic Pathologist doing her autopsy, so he was aware that she had a stalker and to please, please check for injection marks.  The detective said he knew the doctor doing the autopsy and he “always checks for injection marks in this kind of case”, and again I believed him.  I now see no notes about looking for injections marks, but I do see in an instruction book on how Forensic Pathologists are supposed to look for injection marks.

Morgan had a beautiful french manicure put on her nails the night before she died.  In the instruction book it explains why you have to take any nailpolish off to look under the nails for injection marks.  When I spoke to Dr. Kurtzman at the end of February, on a conference call with Steve, myself and Detective Rob I asked about Morgan’s nails, about the 3 nails on her right hand that were torn or cut at an angle and I was assured her nails still had a perfect french manicure on them when her body left their facility.   What does that mean – what kind of answer is that?  How can there be a proper check for injection marks under the nails with the nail polish still on?  I have so many of these unanwered questions they could fill a book, but I wanted to tell you all about this story because a reader last night sent me an email through the webiste with the following information, and yes it is the link to the story that my daughter-in-law saw before Morgan’s death:

Did you see this on DateLine?   A college student died, coroner originally thought it was natural causes, but then the ME found a tiny pinprick on her arm and it was discovered that a guy who was obsessed with her had injected her with proponol.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25855779/ns/dateline_nbc-crime_reports/t/obsession/
I asked my daughter-in-law if this was the story she had watched and she  said, “YES!!!!   I watched this just a few weeks before Morgan passed, and this story really stuck with me!  I have thought about it of a lot, every time  I would have doubts about Morgan….and it would remind me, that crazy things happen!!!”

November 23, 2011 – Day 114 of Morgan’s Stalking – The day before Thanksgiving

Wylah crashed out!

Morgan arrives home from Denver by noon.  I have a short day of work, so Morgan and I go shopping to get all the ingredients for her favorite cake for Thanksgiving, she loves to make Paula Dean’s Pumpkin Gooey cake.  We got home with all the ingredients and Morgan puts on her little pink apron and goes to work on making the cake.

I spoke with Detective Alstatt over the phone today and then after making her cake, Morgan and her friend decided to lie on the living room couch and watch movies until 2:00 am – they feel asleep on the couch, and about 2:10 am (after the lights had been turned off in the living room) all of a sudden Morgan heard continual scraping and tapping on the living room window – her friend was asleep on the couch so he didn’t hear (Morgan had not fallen asleep yet), she sent me a text and I came running out of the bedroom to see what was happening.  I heard a tap on the living room window…I ran to the window to look out to see if I could tell what was happening.  After not seeing anything I whispered to Morgan to just go to sleep on the other end of the couch, as was her friend, and if she heard anything else to let me know.

I went to bed and hoped for the best. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and we have reservations (usually I cooked) to go to the Maroon Creek Club in Aspen for Thanksgiving dinner, so I just prayed that we could all get some sleep and have a nice Thanksgiving.

November 19 & 20 – Days 110 and 111 of Morgan’s Stalking – Half A Weekend Is Better Than No Weekend At All


Morgan spends a quiet Saturday.  She is tired and sleeps so much during the day.

We have some  positive signs from Detective Glassmire.  He is going to interview Keenan.  He is trying to arrange it so that it takes place at the sheriff’s department, and that is why it is taking so long.  There are problems with going to his house (he doesn’t explain why), and he believes he has it all arranged.

Steve and I have come to a standstill.  We are waiting to see what develops in the next week or so before we launch into a new program.  In the beginning I was always hopeful of things happening in a day or two, but that always became days, and now it has slid down to weeks.

That it has dragged on for so long is no surprise to me.  Glassmire recommended a book about stalking that has examples of stalkings that took place over many years.  That is not acceptable to me, and at the rate individual investigations or interviews are  being constantly dragged out I can see why that happens.  To have a stalker for two years who is being actively pursued is one thing.  But to have a stalker for years, because once a month someone has an hour to spend on your case is a completely different matter.

Lately Detective Glassmire and Detective Alstatt have been more openly discussing what we might do if we catch him and still remain within the law.  It is obvious to us, as far as Steve is concerned, that this is an end they would love to see.  We corner him, perhaps rough him up a little in the capture, but not too much, or we will be the ones in trouble.  And they will take it from there.

Steve points out the miles he has logged chasing in the direction he believes the stalker has gone – running as fast as he can go.  While he has never seen an attempt by the sheriff’s department that involved anything, but a fast walk.  Having been through what we have been so far in this stalking, Steve knows all too well that they are never going to see anything, and they are certainly never going to catch anyone with the protocol they are implementing.

We have decided to talk with the detective about the use of tracking dogs when he comes tomorrow.  So many times it has been promised to us as a great tool.  In fact it was almost successful in catching the stalker with the same MO across the road in Blue Creek the summer before.  After all the talk of bringing out the dogs we are going to make that happen as a priority in the very near future.

I have seen trained tracking dogs and they can be quite amazing, especially in a situation like this, where he is close by, and just a step too fast for us – I feel like we have waited long enough.  The time is now.

Winter has stubbornly refused to unfurl blankets of snow that would also spell an end to the stalker, because then he could easily be tracked.  Unless he can figure a way to drop in from the sky, and take off the same way – if only we had snow we could track him.

Steve has made some tweaks to the cameras and feels he has better coverage around the house.  We went to sleep and waited. and the night is mercifully quiet.  After Morgan had spent most of the day recuperating and looking so much better, it would have been so upsetting to see her just be terrorized over the night and take it all back.

Sunday Rob and Megan come over much earlier than normal.  There are developments.  His father has brought Keenan to the station for an interview – he can’t have  the detectives showing up at his place of employment anymore.  It is bad for his job.  Keenan’s dad, Wade Vanginkel, also works at City Market with Keenan, along with some other relatives.  Wade wants to be sure there is no problem for his son.  So far they have only told him he is a person of interest.  Detective Rob has gotten him to agree to turn over a copy of his work hours from City Market.  He feels that with my timeline of stalking incidents, once they are overlaid it will be powerful evidence.

His partner does not agree, as she knows how things really work in grocery stores, and feels anyone on the night shift can come and go as they please – on or off the record.

That disagreement does not last long as Detective Glassmire instantly turns to what he calls a real problem that we have now.

It seems that someone has been threatening Keenan.  We quickly learn that the facebook argument between Morgan’s friend and Keenan got a little out of control.  Keenan’s father wants to take out a restraining order against Morgan’s friend.  I tell them they have to be joking.  We were talked out of taking a restraining order out by Detective Glassmire in the beginning, and now if their number one suspect takes out a retraining order it isn’t a problem?  This is crazy!

I have seen the text of the argument and I know it was under a name I do not recognize.  I think I know who did it, but I am not really sure.  I know that it took place over three days and Keenan’s side of the conversation clearly shows he is in constant contact with someone in the neighborhood.

Steve has agreed to keep it from happening again before the matter is concluded.  I had actually thought the exchange was pretty even, as far as chest pounding went.  At the time I thought they should have followed up on the conversations more closely.  I had thought before that conversation, that on a social media site it really didn’t hold much weight in court.  But if they did as much as I was being led to believe I guess it would count.  Then I felt all of the statements, and conversations should get far more scrutiny.

Detective Glassmire agreed he would look into it and reminded us that we should not let this happen again, we agreed to take care of it.

Today is November 2, 2012 – Keenan had implicated someone else of a crime in his interview, but we did not learn that until much later.  It was a simple matter that Keenan was all too happy to share a little  information about.  But as the wheels of justice turn at their maddeningly slow speed  it will still be a while longer before that bit of information gets to take its place next to all the other little pieces of information that were collected over the year.