Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #14

[Katrinka]

Unless that is what the VSP/coroner told her, then I'm not sure that's a very reliable source.

From this article, the Harrington's actually saw the shattered bones:

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/crime/article/family_morgan_harrington_bones_were_shattered/53752/

When Morgan D. Harrington’s bones were found in an Albemarle County pasture, they had been shattered and broken into jagged pieces, her parents said Wednesday.

“When you view … not just a skeleton, but brutal damage to a skeleton, you can imagine what [her mother] must have gone through,” the victim’s father, Dan Harrington, said.

 

[SkewedView]

From this article, the Harrington's actually saw the shattered bones:

http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/crime/article/family_morgan_harrington_bones_were_shattered/53752/

They didn't just see them, they held them, as they've mentioned numerous times.

 

[PaulR]

I'm unsure why she'd give false information about the condition of her daughter's body. So, to me it seems that she was either told this or that she could tell herself by looking at the skeleton. I suppose that since she's a doctor, she is probably educated about skeletal structure and things of that nature.

She may be a doctor but that doesn't make her a forensic pathologist. Even if the bones were shattered, how could she tell whether Morgan was alive or dead? The bones were found a while after she was killed.

I'm not saying she's lying, but I'd like to go with whatever the coroner's report says.

 

[rossva]

There is always the chance that LE put the shirt out themselves to rattle the actual killer. Remember, the controversy when it was first found, how it was hush hush, etc. Maybe LE was not prepared for that story to break at that time.

Why display the tee shirt in public then?

 

[nostoneunturned]

Yea it would be most useful to see the coroners report..because being as close as the H's are to the tragic aftermath they viewed..It may have looked like she was broken before death but it could prove her condition was the result of being left to the harsh elements from Oct 18 till Jan 26 that is a lot of time for hungry animals to visit that area. I can't understand why the police ask for help in solving this mystery..then give almost nothing to go on to help in solving it...recap...we know for a fact that MH is dead because they found her body..up till then LE was still going on the hitch-hilking adventure and possibly boyfriend connection. No video??no cell pictures? noone in side that arena..that night took a picture of "their friends" and MH was in the background...nothing..from the time MH was in Her parents home till the time she was found...we have nothing but what was told to the police.
How about credit card purchases...did they stop and buy a soda from Blacksburg-Harrisonburg-then to Charlottesville... in lots of cases they have video of the people getting gas..receipts in her car that place her actually alive after she left mom and dads.
The only account ...(no cell pings to track...no pictures..only the words spoken by the people that said "they met..he drove..she left after a kiss from the friend...she called said no reentry..would be ok..they enjoy the concert..but yet wait to see if she returns..they drive to their home in her car...no one calls to find out if MH made it to her home..Hours later when she didn't show up the parents,called the friends!
Start at the beginning from the time she left home..everyone she spoke to..the friend was in the car..she should be able to recount every stop they made..I think LE needs more than just what was told to them...get something that shows she was even alive after she left Harrisonburg..if she even made it alive to Harrisonburg?????(I know some will think this is just to crazy..noone would do that! well just watch Nancy Grace and see what makes me think this whole story "Is Hinky,and has Been Hinky from the start"

 

[dovebar]

I'm not a pathologist but I seem to have heard that they can determine something like whether a bone was broken before or after death. It would have to do with things like the way the blood residue appeared, chemical traces in the blood or marrow, and so forth. Specific things happen in the body at death that show up in ways that can be tracked. Essentially, they can tell whether a lot of things happened pre- or post-mortem.

It may have been that Mrs. Harrington saw the bones but was TOLD by the experts just when they were shattered.

 

[Walker]

I'm unsure why she'd give false information about the condition of her daughter's body. So, to me it seems that she was either told this or that she could tell herself by looking at the skeleton. I suppose that since she's a doctor, she is probably educated about skeletal structure and things of that nature.

That said, IMO, Morgan's parents are probably the best sources next to LE.

MH's mother, GH, is a nurse who specializes in caring for cancer patients, and her father, DH, is a psychiatrist. Not sure what they could tell about the skeleton, but death rarely comes easily, esp. in a young victim.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Well, they would no doubt have enough biological training to know about crushed bones.

 

[carbuff]

The shattered bones reinforce my opinion that she was hit by a car (probably by a drunk student) and dumped to hide the crime/scandal.

 

[ThePhantom]

I know zero about pathology and forensics, but I think the coroner might be able to determine if the kind of damage Morgan sustained was via a car, tractor, hammer, shovel, etc.

Also, would it be possible that the police have by now identified any crime related DNA from Morgan's body (do we even know if they were successful doing that?) and have had it checked against known offenders?

 

[gnomony]

A lot of the suggestions being posted are basic police procedure. The fact that we don't know what LE has done is no evidence that they haven't done all of these things. LE has no reason to tell us the details and, as several have noted, good police procedure requires withholding of most details that don't need to be released.

I judge (as others have posted) that the odd news conference with its odd language, etc., was calculated to achieve a certain effect with the perp or, more likely, with others who might know something about what happened. It may have have achieved nothing, or it may have been highly successful -- LE doesn't have any reason to tell us.

I'm assuming that LE has a bunch of clues, but has been waiting for the toxicology, DNA and other test results. By now they must have them, so let's hope for a break soon....

 

[carbuff]

Very well put, gnomony, and very true. Just because we don't know what's been going on doesn't mean that nobody knows.

 

[PaulR]

The shattered bones reinforce my opinion that she was hit by a car (probably by a drunk student) and dumped to hide the crime/scandal.

Or it could have been made to look that way... the police go digging through records at the local body shops and waste their time.

 

[Sally10]

Hi everyone,
I'm new here but not new to keeping up with Morgan's case. I am still reading the 14 humongous threads and am not yet caught up.

Would someone please tell me if you all have discussed any of the following (and if it is allowed here as it is not on another forum)?

1. The friends - no names of course
2. LE timeline beginning so late in the night (LE 101 says last verifiable accounting. Wouldn't that be her call to dad at 2PM?)
3. Why Morgan would try to go home with no keys to enter either apartment/dorm and leave her own car behind instead of waiting a couple of hours.
4. Why black clothing was spotted by the farmer but her shirt was supposedly taken - possible changed clothes before concert? What other black clothing do you all think was actually found?
5. Mushrooms growing where cow pies are
6. "6 months ago"
7. Deadbolt lock on her bedroom door.
8. Strange lack of ex-boyfriend(s) coming forward to help as we have seen in other cases
9. Drug issues (ex. her myspace page is "highya")
10. Lie about her car being there - did friends lie to LE - isn't that a felony?
11. Underage drinking/proof/pictures and what LE is or isn't doing about it.

That's enough for now. Mods - If anything is out of line, please feel free to edit as appropriate! I'm dying to hear you guy's take on all this stuff. Going to read more. :dance:

 

[TechWriter797]

The shattered bones reinforce my opinion that she was hit by a car (probably by a drunk student) and dumped to hide the crime/scandal.

I've always thought that happened. Especially with the battery falling out of her cell phone -- maybe she was squatting down to the pavement to search for it. If she were run over by a car while in this position, I'd imagine lots of her bones would be crushed. And it would explain the dumped purse, too.

 

[gnomony]

Hit & runs are common. Domestic murder is common. Fatal ODs are common. Stranger abduction, rape & murder is less common, but common enough.

But to kill someone in a MV accident, scoop up all the evidence, go find a remote pasture and dump the body there? Certainly could have happened and probably has, at some time, but it would be highly unusual, in my judgment.

Until more evidence is revealed, I'm betting that a stranger picked her up (offering either transportation, use of a working cell phone, or both), raped and killed her and then dumped her body in a place he knew pretty well. I'm betting that the reason no one claims the reward is not that the truth is known by rich kids who don't need the money, but that he acted alone and, so far, got away with it. I'm betting that there is a woman out there somewhere who didn't know the victim, but who knows intuitively that something happened and is in denial. I'm betting that one single clue or one single new development (like the perp punches out the woman and she gets angry) will lead LE to an arrest.

Hope I'm right....

 

[arielilane]

Hit & runs are common. Domestic murder is common. Fatal ODs are common. Stranger abduction, rape & murder is less common, but common enough.

But to kill someone in a MV accident, scoop up all the evidence, go find a remote pasture and dump the body there? Certainly could have happened and probably has, at some time, but it would be highly unusual, in my judgment.

Until more evidence is revealed, I'm betting that a stranger picked her up (offering either transportation, use of a working cell phone, or both), raped and killed her and then dumped her body in a place he knew pretty well. I'm betting that the reason no one claims the reward is not that the truth is known by rich kids who don't need the money, but that he acted alone and, so far, got away with it. I'm betting that there is a woman out there somewhere who didn't know the victim, but who knows intuitively that something happened and is in denial. I'm betting that one single clue or one single new development (like the perp punches out the woman and she gets angry) will lead LE to an arrest.

Hope I'm right....

I'm going agree with you, gnomony.

 

[Walker]

7. Deadbolt lock on her bedroom door.

That puzzled me, too. Back in college, students had locks on their doors in certain apartments, but that was because they didn't know or trust the other students who were moving in and out in revolving door fashion. OR the landlord was renting the rooms of the apartment out separately (with separate leases) rather than a group of friendly roommates sharing the lease together. MH's apartment situation sounded stable, with a long-time friend as a roommate.

 

[nostoneunturned]

Still Praying for Justice for MH and all the rest of the loved and lost discussed on the forum.
The crimes go on ..and on ..some even worse than this...it's not hard for me to believe, the person that harmed MH is well known to her family.I believe this because after the death of little Caylee..Little Haleigh ..and the last Monster that allowed her child to be abused( Ethan Stacy)...people will do anything...I don't find it at all hard to believe it was someone close,friend,fellow student...I just can't help believe that MH was more street smart than to hitch a ride with a stranger...she had too many other outs...NUMBER 1 her own car.

 

[Cher352]

Hit & runs are common. Domestic murder is common. Fatal ODs are common. Stranger abduction, rape & murder is less common, but common enough.

But to kill someone in a MV accident, scoop up all the evidence, go find a remote pasture and dump the body there? Certainly could have happened and probably has, at some time, but it would be highly unusual, in my judgment.

Until more evidence is revealed, I'm betting that a stranger picked her up (offering either transportation, use of a working cell phone, or both), raped and killed her and then dumped her body in a place he knew pretty well. I'm betting that the reason no one claims the reward is not that the truth is known by rich kids who don't need the money, but that he acted alone and, so far, got away with it. I'm betting that there is a woman out there somewhere who didn't know the victim, but who knows intuitively that something happened and is in denial. I'm betting that one single clue or one single new development (like the perp punches out the woman and she gets angry) will lead LE to an arrest.

Hope I'm right....

I also thought of her being hit by a vehicle too ever since hearing the shattered bones parts.

One reason I could see for hiding the body would be to have time to get the damage done to the vehicle fixed before LE was on the lookout for a newly damaged vehicle as they surely would have been if a hit and run had been found at the time she disappeared.

If this has now been considered by LE I would think they would have checked the local area body shops. The vehicle though could have been taken to another city or state for the repair which would require the shop to come forward. Seeing as there were now the months between her death and her being found the shop that repaired the vehicle might not put 2 and 2 together has they would have had the body been found that night.

Another reason I have considered for the shattered bones could be that someone without realizing it had driven over the body after it was placed there either by tractor or large truck.

Of course I would suppose that ME would have some idea when and how the bones were shattered but I guess we won't see that until an arrest is made.