Anne, the use of the antidepressant amitriptyline (Elavil) is used for several things, not just depression. It's also used in equine/canine/feline pharmacology, too.
750 mg of Elavil is the dose that is generally thought to cause severe toxicity. The average daily dose is between 50-100 mgs, for a maximum of 300 per 24 hour period (although that's usually used in an inpatient setting), and the daily dose is usually split into several doses. Some of the symptoms of ODing are heart arrythmias, confusion, hypotension, agitation, hallucinations.
Elavil can come in liquid form, as well as injectable form. I know that for large animal use (equine) it can be injected, and maybe for large dogs, but mostly, pills are given for human, and household pet usage.
The shelf life for Elavil states 5 years, but kept in the right conditions (blister packages, dry, in cool environments, et cetera) the meds can be potent a lot longer (some say double the time). However, most folks don't have it stored properly, and in Morgan's case, it was (from what I read) in a prescription bottle and in her room (in her bathroom?). That would limit the meds effectiveness after some time, say, maybe 3 years.
The pills themselves are not rapidly digested; if she voluntarily took enough to OD, I think that the TOD would have been later. I don't know what time she went to bed, or left her parents' sight; and I don't know what time she was found. But I'd suspect that ingesting some 10-15 pills would have left some fragments, if not whole pills, in her stomach.
Moving on...I, too, think that either she had been stalked previously (and was either unaware of it, or didn't realize she was being stalked) by the same man, or her family was being stalked, and likely unaware of it as well.
It starts out fast and furious indeed on the blog, but some stalkers are like that. They choose, watch and wait, and then attack without any "warm-up" so to speak. It could have happened that way, or it could have been missed earlier, and this amping up could have been the attention getter they needed to see they were being stalked.
I'd be interested in seeing if there were any telephonic harassment, or if there was any kerfluffle that Morgan had had in the previous 6-9 months. Turned someone down for a date; got in an argument with someone; something like that.
In my stalking, it started with a woman who swore I was dating her husband. I was not. It went from hangup phone calls at all hours to notes on my car (even in secured parking; in my garage!) or my apartment door (again, a secure building), to calls to my boss at work, to calls to my parents, to following me around town trying to catch me and her husband together. Threats were made to my life, my critters' lives, my boss's career, and so on. It was hell. I was scared, because she was not listening to reason, and not quitting but escalating.
It only ended in the DA's office...after I had gotten the LE to put a trap on my phone, got restraining orders, and documented literally months of this behavior with more than 30 police reports spanning 4 months' time. Only then did she stop...and sometimes, I think she didn't stop there, either...
And I tell you, the ONLY reason I was able to get as far as I did in protecting myself (which, honestly, wasn't much), was because I KNEW her (or rather, I knew of her; her husband and I worked in the same building in downtown Los Angeles) and knew it was her doing this stuff; and once the telephone trap came, some 50 calls in a 36 hour period were traced, all back to her.
If I hadn't known it was her, or if it was random (as it often is), then I'd've been SOL. There are few laws which protect us against harassment, and, in my case, LE was reluctant to believe I wasn't dating her husband, and that I didn't somehow encourage her or that somehow I deserved this. The only thing which could have been mistaken for a "date" was a building party for the holidays which she didn't go to, and I spent some time talking to hubby...but not dating him.
As I said earlier, this definitely has struck a cord with me, and I feel sure that with enough eyes and the brilliant minds here on this site, we can help this family...the murderer may never be prosecuted, but some closure can be had, somehow, for Lori Ingram, her husband, and her family.
Best-
Herding Cats
