I certainly hope so because this latest info seems completely bunk in a way no other info has. I had no problem believing the friends' stories -- although a lot of people here adamantly maintained they would never have left a friend stranded outside, I can see how twenty year olds could rationalize that without being awful people -- and I had no problem believing Morgan would set out across a dark parking lot on her own rather than call her parents -- because at twenty, you do stupid things like that.
But hitchhiking? I'm sorry, I did A LOT of stupid things at twenty -- like walking through Harlem at 2AM with a friend just for the hell of it, and YES, I, too, was a pretty blonde -- but I would never, EVER hitchhike. In fact, on that extremely insanely stupid 2AM jaunt, some taxi driver slowed down and tried to convince us to get in and accept a free ride lest we get killed. And even though, at that point, we were now realizing how stupid we'd been to walk into such a dangerous neighborhood so late at night, we STILL would not take the ride from the cab driver -- that's how strong our ingrained reaction was to hitchhiking, and to strange men offering us free rides.
Obviously my judgment is not identical to anyone else's, but I do think, if Morgan grew up in the area, she had to KNOW that Charlottesville is not a crime-free area. Even more than a visitor to the area, she would be very likely to understand that it is not the sort of small-town place where you hop in with any passing car.
I realize this post is adding nothing new to the discussion, I just had to vent and add my protest of utter incredulity to everybody else. Waddles, I so hope you are right, and this information has been released as part of a calculated strategy.
And if athletes were involved... my blood will boil over. Seriously, how many women have to be victimized by college athletes before the administrations STOP inculcating these little twerps with a sense of superhuman, nearly sociopathic arrogance? Even at my university, which is known as an intellectual rather than athletic powerhouse, there were a dozen instances while I was there of abuse by athletes that got covered up by the administration for the sake of the precious teams and the donors who supported them. UGH!