Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #1

[RammerJammer]

Kant---FYI--the University of Va. is IN Charlottesville.

 

[MBLover]

WSLS has once again reported that:

Morgan's car was driven to the JPJ arena

Morgan's car was driven back to JMU by her friends.

 

[lucky181]

The fact that her friends drove her car back and didn't even question where she was the next day leads me to believe that they knew she was going to meet someone at the concert and leave with that person. I wonder why they took her car to the concert. I guess it could be because it was in better shape to drive the distance, was larger, had more gas, etc etc.

It sounds like the friends had the car keys, not Morgan. Again that sounds like they knew she was going with someone else.

 

[West]

The fact that her friends drove her car back and didn't even question where she was the next day leads me to believe that they knew she was going to meet someone at the concert and leave with that person. I wonder why they took her car to the concert. I guess it could be because it was in better shape to drive the distance, was larger, had more gas, etc etc.

It sounds like the friends had the car keys, not Morgan. Again that sounds like they knew she was going with someone else.

If she was going to meet someone up there and friends knew about it....why even GO INTO THE ARENA? She didn't stay for main act, was barely at the arena anyways. I would have just hitched a ride with friends and met up with the guy without even entering--parents aren't there to say no, friends are cool with it, so why even pretend to go to the show if you're just meeting a guy? I mean you're 20 year old and frankly it wasn't like the ticket was outrageously expensive (80$ vs. something like 500$ front rows).

 

[kant]

There is something that doesn't seem "normal" in this young woman's relationship with her parents. The task of teenagers is to break away from parents in order to form their own lives. Such a close attachment with her parents at 20 doesn't set well with me. It looks like co-dependency to me.
I can't help but think that Morgan lived a lot of her life in secret from her parents and at the same time had an abnormal attachment to them.
The make-up, piercings, sexy clothes, etc. just don't jive with the "perfect daughter" image.
After observing teens and young adults for my 34 year career, I have seen many of these "perfect" young ladies (especially females) who have another totally different side. So, what I'm trying to say is that I can imagine her experimenting with drugs, meeting and leaving with someone (planned or not), and getting way in over her head.
I think the friends are not telling the whole story, a la Natalie Holloway. I have seen it over and over where young people will not "rat" NO MATTER WHAT.
Puzzling and frustrating. Kant, thank you for your enormous efforts. Thoughtful scenarios.

JMO

This post was diplomatically and thoughtfully said. I've been so hesitant to say this b/c I couldn't seem to manage to word it delicately enough to suit me without feeling like Im sounding disparaging or like Im "blaming" her which I would never do.

Im back to the the subtle undercurrent of a family power dynamic at work here. Mom and dad are comfortable financially and likely footing all the bills. The mother made sure to say "got to give your child wings" but why did I hear an additional unspoken "...wings... as long as you do as we want you to do.") ?

She IS a "good girl" imo, but sometimes "good" is... well, let me back up. Sometimes an adult "child" can be seen as "wrong" in the parents' eyes simply if they have a different view of things than the parents. (This speaks to the "separating" task you mentioned above.) (And not for nothin but, she's 20 and a Jr in college. Not 17 and living at home.)

I've seen it in my career too. (Im thinking of anorexia and control issue cases off the top of my head, but the concept can be exprapolated and loosely applied to a similar situation like this.. perhaps) ** (have to add the "perhaps")

Not saying her parents are like this and Im just using an EXAMPLE, but there was a neighbor with an adult daughter who had just gotten married. The husband wanted a real Christams tree. The bride was flexible on what kind of tree, (real vs artificial) So since she didn't have a strong preference, she wanted to get whatever her groom preferred (Iow it didnt' matter to her either way as long as they had a pretty one.)

Well, the mother went BALLISTIC, b/c daughter "OMG!!! They got a real tree!! Oh the humanity!!! She is rejecting us!! We've ALWAYS had an artificial tree!! Oh Dear Lord in Heaven!!"

...e.tc etc... and you'd have thought the world was freakin ending.

I know that is a random story; not sure why I told it. I need some coffee, y'all.

 

[MBLover]

Why did the friends have her keys in the first place?

That tells me that there was some type of altering substance being used and that someone else was the DD...

 

[West]

WSLS has once again reported that:

Morgan's car was driven to the JPJ arena

Morgan's car was driven back to JMU by her friends.

So back to square one with the sketchy behavior of friends...why did Morgan not have her car keys? Who had them instead--DD? Was this a fluke thing (friend ran back to get something out of car before entering and wound up keeping car keys by mistake)? Why did they leave without contacting her parents ("uhhh we're trying to leave, Morgan's not here, not answering, we're driving her car...")? Why did friends not have any contact (that we know of) with event staff, campus security etc.?

If I had made prior plans to meet up with a boy and possibly spend the night at UVA with him...I would have cleared this said person and asked about ride home in AM, then told my friends about these plans which would result in them taking another vehicle to the show as opposed to mine. I don't mind my friends driving my car when I'm with them, but I'd be leary about letting them just drive it after a concert without me instead of their own?

 

[kant]

Kant---FYI--the University of Va. is IN Charlottesville.

OK that helps alot; thanks for that. The dad said she didn't know folks there in C'ville (doesn mean she didnt)

And dad said that her brother recently graduated from there. Still why bank on that for a ride when you had a sure thing by just waiting on the friends you came with? Also, without calling the brother for contacts, do you have those numbers (friends of your brother who already graduated) handy in your phone?

 

[CindyS]

There were search teams again searching the woods along Ivy Rd which parallels the railroad tracks which are under the Alderman Rd Bridge ... this is also near the baseball field with the small parking lot (where the purse was found?)

Her older brother graduated from UVa but according to her parents, she knows no one at UVa or in Charlottesville. MOST kids who went to high school in VA know people who go to UVa, JMU and VaTech ....

That's so true!!!

 

[MBLover]

So back to square one with the sketchy behavior of friends...why did Morgan not have her car keys? Who had them instead--DD? Was this a fluke thing (friend ran back to get something out of car before entering and wound up keeping car keys by mistake)? Why did they leave without contacting her parents ("uhhh we're trying to leave, Morgan's not here, not answering, we're driving her car...")? Why did friends not have any contact (that we know of) with event staff, campus security etc.?

Exactly...

And the comment of waited around a significant amount of time...(supposedly by the friends after the concert had ended)...why did they wait if Morgan had told them she was getting a ride with someone else...what would have been the point of them waiting.

These friends know more - somehow knew the situation Morgan was getting into was not kosher or whatever...

As another poster said... Natalee Holloway...yep and I'll add Brittanee Drexel to that too... What is it with these friends...

 

[kant]

If she was going to meet someone up there and friends knew about it....why even GO INTO THE ARENA? She didn't stay for main act, was barely at the arena anyways. I would have just hitched a ride with friends and met up with the guy without even entering--parents aren't there to say no, friends are cool with it, so why even pretend to go to the show if you're just meeting a guy? I mean you're 20 year old and frankly it wasn't like the ticket was outrageously expensive (80$ vs. something like 500$ front rows).

Great point. Unless he was supposed to go in too, but she couldnt get back in so he didn't go in either.

but no, kant, that doesnt even make sense. If that were the case, that doesnt require her to outside at all in the FIRST PLACE. (And quit talking to yourself; it's creepy)

 

[West]

Exactly...

And the comment of waited around a significant amount of time...(supposedly by the friends after the concert had ended)...why did they wait if Morgan had told them she was getting a ride with someone else...what would have been the point of them waiting.

These friends know more - somehow knew the situation Morgan was getting into was not kosher or whatever...

As another poster said... Natalee Holloway...yep and I'll add Brittanee Drexel to that too... What is it with these friends...

As a member of the 18-30, twentysomething crew, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and throw some of my generation under the proverbial bus. MANY-not all!- kids born in the late 70s/80s have had overly involved parents who raised to be believe we "special" and "unique" etc. I really feel that, even among my friends, there is a sense of entitlement and selfishness that astounds me within my peer group. Kids demanding cars at 16....Friends who started working their first job at 23!...Volunteerism a non-existent idea...all about them attitude. Not everyone in my peer group is like this, thank goodness, but having gone to a large Southern university and coming from an upper middle class background, I can certainly understand and see where some of the stereotypes for these diasffected youth could come from.

Instead of worrying about friends safety, these girls were worried about getting home "on time", not getting caught drinking/doing drugs whatever. Putting their personal concerns over their friends to avoid trouble whatever...even though I bet these girls knew something fishy was going on as they waited for significant time by the vehicle at the arena.
Just some thoughts!

 

[petresq_algc]

I really hope that she didn't ask a guy that she met at the concert (over 21) to buy her a beer. The guy could have drugged her without her even knowing. That would account for her feeling sick and needing to go outside to get some air. The guy could have just followed her out and then pretended to play the "good guy" all concerned about her feeling ill. It is a scary thought that she may have thought this person was going to help her.

 

[Chili Fries]

Mom and Dad on HLN right now.

Had few boyfriends, no real steady relationships. Interesting...makes the online bf scenario more plausible (new to dating, naive etc.)

I posted this earlier. Morgan reached out to a guy it seemed like she didn't know on Myspace to try and meet him. She said that's something she didn't normally do and I have no idea if he responded but I thinks it's interesting.

Here is the link:
http://www.myspace.com/mutedsilence

Another thing that's interesting is that he didn't have her in his top friends yesterday but now he does.

 

[CindyS]

OK that helps alot; thanks for that. The dad said she didn't know folks there in C'ville (doesn mean she didnt)

And dad said that her brother recently graduated from there. Still why bank on that for a ride when you had a sure thing by just waiting on the friends you came with? Also, without calling the brother for contacts, do you have those numbers (friends of your brother who already graduated) handy in your phone?

Maybe she did call her brother to get the names of some of his friends, or she has friends in the C'Ville area she hadn't discussed with her parents.

I got the sense from the press conference that additional phone calls and/or text messages occurred between the time Morgan left the arena until the 9:30 pm time frame when she was last accounted for. IIRC, the presser spokesman mentioned something about her whereabouts had been tracked during that period of time. Unless she left the arena and her phone (if it still had the battery) pinged off another tower, there would be no way they could account for her without eyewitness reports and/or cell phone records.

 

[secret_agent_mom]

I am so confused. I thought her car was left at JMU and she rode with her friends to JPJ.

 

[petresq_algc]

Just a thought and not sure if it means much. She had the tickets 6 months in advance. That is a long time. How far in advance were tickets sold to the general public? Lots of artists offer pre-sale tickets to members of their fan clubs before they ever become available to the general public. If she was a big enough fan to be a member of a fan club and buy pre-sale tickets, I find it very hard to believe that she did all of that with the intentions of using it is a front to meet a guy. That seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for a date :waitasec:

 

[CindyS]

I posted this earlier. Morgan reached out to a guy it seemed like she didn't know on Myspace to try and meet him. She said that's something she didn't normally do and I have no idea if he responded but I thinks it's interesting.

Here is the link:
http://www.myspace.com/mutedsilence

Another thing that's interesting is that he didn't have her in his top friends yesterday but now he does.

Good catch Chili! How did you manage to trace Morgan to this guy, and from his photo, he looks like he's enjoyed a few heavy metal bands (although looks can be deceiving).

 

[kant]

Duh what planet am I on. The arena IS AT the university of virginia. DUH. DOINK! (Thanks for telling me)

OK so even more reason for her to have a false sense of security maybe.

Holy crap on a cracker they need to change that policy about folks going out and getting STRANDED out there. There should be some provisions for someone who wanders out for whatever reason. I could see myself easily getting a little freaked out from the crowd and maybe the heat and feeling like I need air and barging willy nilly out a wrong door and finding it locked behind me. I could so see that happening to me. I dont know what the solution is, but something has to be done differently.

Dont' they stamp your hand where you run your hand under a light at Disney World so you can get back in? (Or that was in the stone age heh) but dang. A person is MISSING b/c she couldn't get back into the G D arena? That is appalling. (if that's what happened, but it's appalling anyway)

 

[MBLover]

I am so confused. I thought her car was left at JMU and she rode with her friends to JPJ.

According to WSLS - News Channel 10 (NBC) Morgan's car was the one driven to JPJ and these "friends" drove her car back to JMU...

That was reported on their 6 PM newscast tonight.