Journalist could still have interests in UVA. If the place gets a rep for crime, money will be at stake.
OK, so why did the journalist - in the same article you quoted - say this:
It wasnt the last time the Richmond woman saw the young blonde. After she, her husband, and friend parked near U-Hall, she says, she saw the same group of five gathered around a vehicle in the RV Lot, or Lannigan Field overflow parking lot the spot where Morgans purse and phone were found and one of the last places police have officially placed her.
Here the reporter IS placing her at UVA.
"The reporter doesn't want the crime associated with UVA and is helping to cover up the story" doesn't make sense.
Maybe she was inside somewhere for a few hours. Could be an innocent explanation: someone accidently spilled beer on them? Snagged on furniture? Or something like that?
I'm not sure if women would remove their hose for such a reason.
Copeley Bridge is off-campus. They don't want a college girl to have come to a violent death as result of her presence at UVA --- because that's bad for business. Think of how much they charge in tuition and housing.
And that is why the
UVA police crime statistics page notes that there was a manslaughter case on grounds in 2007?
You really think the University of Virginia is going to cover up a murder because it is "bad for business"?
Some people believe in going public as a defense strategy. Now if she comes to harm, the police will have a strong suspicion as to why. Maybe as to who as well.
Or she's making it up.
Speculating isn't wrong in itself. We have a right to speculate when we are not given the facts. We should just not get mixed up between the two: fact and speculation. The arguments thrown against Parson are all equally speculative.
There is a difference between speculating and making stuff up.
You are "speculating" that a local newspaper and UVA are helping to cover up a murder based off... what? Usually when people speculate here, they do so based off facts. You are taking the claims of one woman, who may not have seen MH, and disparaging a number of organizations.
MH is believed to have been drinking (JMO: she wasn't totally drunk); and she was on high heels (according to that particular witness).
Drinking doesn't make one automatically wobbly. She'd have to be pretty sloshed.
Again, her brother had recently been graduated UVA.
So...?
She grew up in C'ville. Her parents had ties there. It would be amazing if she knew no one at all at UVA. Besides maybe she had met them just that night. Or from the internet.
Not really. I lived in C'ville years after graduation; the only people I knew at the University was my advisor and a few students who went to grad school. Townies don't tend to interact with students.
The article says the police did:
a neighboring student says police interviewed him and his neighbors following Parsons tip.
Sounds like the police did their job to me...
MH was probably heading to some party or beer place where there were lots of other students. Go east to one place, go west to another, go to the Lawn; all in 6 hours. Not unusual.
If she wanted to party, you'd head towards Rugby Road, which is where the fraternities and sororities are.
A map of the area
She could take the Copeley Bridge to Ivy (aka 250), head down 250, and head up Rugby. Very straightforward.
The Lawn ain't exactly where you go to party.
But the last thing she told her friends was that she was going to find another way home. It's more likely that she tried to hitch a ride, no? Indeed, she was last seen with her thumb out, trying to hitch a ride.
I mean, if she was going to be around for - say another few hours - she'd call her friends and say "hey, I am still in town, give me a call when the concerts over and pick me up."
Could have been a guy's jacket. And, yes, people lose a jacket or something all the time, and may not even notice.
Whenever I see a woman wearing a men's jacket, the jacket is obviously too big, especially in the sleeves. Our witness - who is also an artist - would surely have noticed that. That would stick out like a sore thumb.
Also, at universities, there are lots of visitors: some travelling student could have loaned her a jacket, and then left & forgot about it. Or someone could have given her their roommates coat without asking. Also, she might have had a jacket in her pocketbook/backpack.
I'm not sure I'd forget about my lost jacket... and how do you squeeze a jacket in a pocketbook? If it was in a backpack, it'd probably be quite wrinkly, and again, I think the artist-witness would probably have noticed that.
The bridge is off-campus though.
Look at
the map. The Copeley Bridge (it runs over the railroad tracks) is all University property directly north of the Bridge, and the University owns property to the south as well. Not to mention the students who live over there.
Parson may or may not be correct; but her statements were not senseless. Face it: MH probably did go off with some group of male UVA students who killed her.
No, that is speculation and not based off confirmed sightings.
Again, LE made no statement either way. See the quote 2 pages back. Again, the reporter may be biased in the way she writes the story. Review the first post on this topic.
They're not reliable because...? You don't believe them? That's not a good reason IMHO.
I'm not. The simplest answer is not always best. Simple cases may have simple answers, but not every case is simple. If this case were simple, we would not be here. It would have been solved long ago.
It may not be the best, but it makes far more sense that someone "gave her a lift" and abducted and killed her not long after. This takes into account that she was hitchhiking, and that she didn't call her friends later.
Finding that person, well, that is a pain because they probably aren't talking and nobody saw her being picked up.
A Toolie is UVa slang for an Engineer. That's pretty basic terminology at the University.
"My brother was a four-year toolie..."
You don't know C'ville and UVA very well if you don't know that. Technically, you aren't even using the correct terminology for the campus (UVA students/faculty refer to it as the Grounds.)
(Having her get a jacket from a girl she doesn't know...)Not unusual.
Really? When was the last time you borrowed a jacket from a complete stranger? When was the last time you gave a jacket to a complete stranger?
(getting rid of her hose...)Not unusual.
I'm not female, so I can't say how frequent this is.
After being sighted with such a group earlier is not unusual. College students tend to stay out late.
She was seen with some students before the last confirmed sighting of her alone on Copeley Bridge. And the sighting you are referring to her was not confirmed.
Maybe LE had ten. They just don't tell the media everything.
We'd hear about the last confirmed sighting, though.
The media discussed it at length; though The Hook sounded more than desperate to debunk it. LE made no such statement that the Parson's story was discarded.
The Hook was won
numerous awards from the state journalist association - including:
- 2006 Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service
- 2006 First place, in-depth or investigative reporting
- 2008 Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service
- Third place for general news writing (for this article on Harrington)
And the State Police DID say her story was investigated and discarded, in the very same story you criticized.
According to police spokesperson Corinne Geller, police have thoroughly vetted Parsons lead but have not found anything connecting it to Morgans disappearance.
You are going beyond speculating, IMHO. You are spreading misleading and incorrect information about this case. You want to believe that the University is covering this up with the help of local newspaper, and apparently students as well, but I don't see any facts to support your speculation.
There are a lot of "coulds" and "maybes" in your posts. Yes, we always need a few to speculate. But your case is based entirely on "coulds" and "maybes."
Shall I summarize what you have speculated on so far?
- UVA police are covering up the case because it is "bad for business"
- Award-winning local newspaper is covering up the case for whatever motivation
- MH borrows a jacket from someone who hasn't stepped forward
- MH gets rid of her tights
- MH goes from trying to hitch a ride on Copeley Bridge, and telling her friends that she is going to find a way home, to deciding to party instead
- MH doesn't call her friends in the six hours between her last confirmed sighting on Copeley and her sighting on the Lawn
- MH knows someone at UVa who hasn't stepped forward
- MH got from Copeley Bridge all the way to the Lawn without a confirmed sighting of her
Yeah.