Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #7

[Janeumayer]

The lady said that she had seen that particuliar bunch of kids before and so it couldn't have been the missing girl. That may be why LE discounted the story.

I thought that when she says "she had seen them before" she was referring to the boys, not the girl. jmo

 

[Wes]

I heard on the radio this morning that the state police are now putting out the possibility that Morgan was hitchhiking and are asking anyone if they saw anything in that regards.

http://www.wfir960.com/wire/stories/05664_Harrington-WEB_045429.asp

 

[magic-cat]

I haven't posted in here in awhile. I am sad to see that no more information has come out in Morgan's case. We are still rehashing the same info. I doubt she quit smoking. I'm sad to say I smoke and when I was Morgan's age I was forever telling my parents I had quit. (Wish I had...)

Now, about the 3 basketball players or men... If she was walking with the basketball players towards their dorm, I doubt she would have been seen walking later on the bridge. If she was going to get a ride from them she probably would have left from the dorm. I am also sure the LE talked to the basketball players...

Morgan's poor brother, escaped from Virginia. He has the "club kid" look in the magazine pic. He fled and anyone from the southeastern, bible belt, part of the country knows he fled. If you have an alternative lifestyle in the southeast and you are not living in Atlanta or one of the other major metropolitan cities it is awful. I have friends that have alternative lifestyles and they fled out of there. It doesn't matter if his parents were supportive... He is probably devastated that his sister didn't make it out of there. I doubt he wants to show his face on TV because of all the bigots that would do nothing but make fun of him. My friend and I have a sneaking suspicion that he had an awful time where he grew up and found freedom when he went to college and then he fled (just like my friend) It is not an area of the country where someone wants to be different.

Still no new info... Still the silent friends... Still no Morgan Harrington...

OT: Hi. I live smack in the middle of that good old Bible Belt, at the southern tip of Virginia, and I agree with this post about 97%! It IS getting better, because the KIDS are being taught better at school now, but you are right, the general concensus in this area is that different is unacceptable and that is so wrong in so many ways!

I have a daughter attending college at Radford, and this case has personally gripped me (much as the Caylee case did so long ago) on a personal level because I think...that could be MY girl...I could be the one hunting for MY missing college student. The pain of even considering that is almost more than I can even stand to think on...

I cannot imagine the agony that the Harringtons are enduring! I somehow missed the picture of Morgan's brother, does anyone have a handy link or can point me in the right direction?:waitasec:

 

[Wes]

Sarah Snead: "I mean obviously if we thought.... something bad....we wouldn't have done it if we didn't think it was ok."


The "it" now definitely sounds like it was them deciding to stay for the concert and agreeing to let Morgan hitchhike

 

[lilacwine]

I wonder if she's ever hitchhiked before.
I never have and wouldn't do it....

I find it difficult to believe she gave up on the concert so easily...

 

[kikid]

I heard on the radio this morning that the state police are now putting out the possibility that Morgan was hitchhiking and are asking anyone if they saw anything in that regards.

http://www.wfir960.com/wire/stories/05664_Harrington-WEB_045429.asp

I don't know about this lead.... somehow I just can't see any halfway intelligent college girl doing something like that, especially when her car was there in the lot. I wonder how many sightings they had ?

I'm leaning towards a no way on this direction of investigation. I'd look closer to home if I were LE, meaning someone right there on that campus that night.

 

[part time prof]

I wonder if she's ever hitchhiked before.
I never have and wouldn't do it....

I find it difficult to believe she gave up on the concert so easily...

Agree on the giving up on the concert...suggests fight/conflict that's not being revealed more and more, or serious disorientation, imoo, as does hitchhiking.

For what it's worth, I did a google search on MH and hitchhiking awhile back (I thought travel blogs or concert/festival postings might have come up), but came up dry.

 

[Wes]

I wonder if she's ever hitchhiked before.
I never have and wouldn't do it....

I find it difficult to believe she gave up on the concert so easily...

I don't know about this lead.... somehow I just can't see any halfway intelligent college girl doing something like that, especially when her car was there in the lot. I wonder how many sightings they had ?

I'm leaning towards a no way on this direction of investigation. I'd look closer to home if I were LE, meaning someone right there on that campus that night.

I could possibly see the hitchhiking angle if she's been known to do this before and/or was extremely upset/frustrated and just decided to leave by any means.

But, that doesn't explain the purse. She would either have to have been rather disoriented or someone who picked her up came back and dropped it off. There's still too many unanswered questions.

 

[Hoosll]

I'm sorry ... unless hitchhiking equals approaching people and asking for a ride, maybe but a stretch... if equals standing by the side of the road in a strange town with your thumb out .... I don't buy it ... no one could be that foolish and desperate to leave a parking lot where MY car is parked ...

The day that they searched the area around the Comfort Inn, my husband saw a female with long blond hair and 2 men walking along the highway, these people may have been the ones who triggered the search as others probably saw them, too, 250 East of town on Pantops is a busy area ...

I haven't heard the hitchhike report but it makes more sense that there is another girl out ther with long blond hair and smoky eye make up ....

 

[West]

I don't necesarily think the hitchhiking theory is that plausible as well.

As a 25 year old, thats the one thing my parents always told me (besides dont let anyone else hold your drink) was never leave anywhere with people you dont know and especially don't hitchhike!

It seems Morgan was somewhat of a risk taker (going to heavy metal concerts, messing around with cigarettes etc.) but I just do not see it in her personality/to be that out of it on drugs or alcohol to go and hitchhike home. And I can not BELIEVE that her friends would think that it was any type of good idea for her to hitchhike anywhere.

 

[secret_agent_mom]

We are planning to do some searching this weekend. We are planning on going to Afton Mountain, but are open to suggestions. If you have ideas about where we should go - or if there are pics you would like to see or something you would like us to take a look at - let me know.

 

[kikid]

I don't necesarily think the hitchhiking theory is that plausible as well.

As a 25 year old, thats the one thing my parents always told me (besides dont let anyone else hold your drink) was never leave anywhere with people you dont know and especially don't hitchhike!

It seems Morgan was somewhat of a risk taker (going to heavy metal concerts, messing around with cigarettes etc.) but I just do not see it in her personality/to be that out of it on drugs or alcohol to go and hitchhike home. And I can not BELIEVE that her friends would think that it was any type of good idea for her to hitchhike anywhere.

I agree. Of course, I've never necessarily believed Morgan said, "I'll find a ride home," anyhow. Her friends may have thought she said that since they were in a loud auditorium and probably couldn't hear all that well - or they may have even want to believe she said it to absolve them of any guilt in her disappearance.

I'm of the mind that since a) her car was right there b) her friends were inside JPJ arena and c) she was an hour and half away from home in unfamiliar surroundings, that she may have been looking for a warm place nearby to hangout until the concert ended - she may have even been looking for some cute college guys to party with to kill the time, but I do not nor will I ever believe she was trying to hitchhike or snag a ride home.

 

[lilacwine]

I agree with you and for the first time I can see her taking the battery out of the phone.

What if her battery was low and she felt she'd need it to get in touch with her friends after the concert ended... so she took it out to conserve power and have it when she needed it.

 

[kikid]

that makes sense to me, and maybe she just stuck it in her pocket instead of her purse?

 

[Tracie5]

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...organ-harrington-still-missing-sought-a-ride/
hitchhiking story and pic of the necklace

 

[kikid]

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...organ-harrington-still-missing-sought-a-ride/
hitchhiking story and pic of the necklace

I read the story and as I understood it, they are reporting she was seeking a ride while on the Copeley Bridge? Even if she was "Seeking a ride on Copeley Bridge" for me that doesn't mean she was trying to find a ride out of town - she may have known someone on campus or just looking for a lift several blocks away - it was cold. I will hold to my theory that she was looking for a warm place to kill a few hours, not looking for a way to Roanoke.

Also, this is JMOO, but just because the players in the RV lot got in their vehicles (several?) and drove away, didn't mean they didn't circle back around.....

also, I'd be asking those players who else was in there when they left that would have been leaving right after them.

 

[part time prof]

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...organ-harrington-still-missing-sought-a-ride/
hitchhiking story and pic of the necklace

How do they know she was hitchhiking, and do they mean it the way I think about it, literally "thumbing a ride?"

Hard to believe. Here's why - she was seen on both sides of the Copeley Road Bridge, and I think it has been stated that she was heading south toward Ivy Road, away from Lannigan Field Parking/R.V. lot. But she'd be hitching a ride back toward where she had just been (from the oncoming traffic lane, since the sidewalk is only on the east side of the bridge)...doesn't make sense to me.

 

[tamfish]

I don't believe she was hitchhiking either.

Does anyone know the answers to these questions:

1. When Morgan found she wasn't going to be let back into the arena, did her friends offer to leave, too? (My friends would have, altho I would have said no, don't do that)

2. Did the friends offer to bring the car keys to the door so she'd at least have some shelter to wait it out? (My friends would offer and I'd have accepted)

I don't believe she was just going to "find a ride home".... that makes no sense at all.

I can see where Morgan would have sought shelter to wait out the concert. I can see where Morgan might have been vulnerable to a supposed friendly person saying, "You can't get back in? That's terrible! I know where you can wait for your friends... come on, I'll show you...." and she's never seen again.....

She did not just drop her purse on accident. I think it was either taken from her, dropped in a struggle, or she left it there on purpose, to indicate she was in trouble.

 

[sarah7855]

This article also mentions the basketball players. I'm not sure if they looked into this themselves or if they are just using Blink's story.

Very interesting info though. I am feeling a little more hopeful that LE has a theory of what happened to Morgan.

Not sure what to think of the hitchhiking though.

Snipped from the article and BBM:

The young woman who disappeared after leaving a Metallica concert on October 17, was last seen seeking a ride on the Copeley Road bridge, according to Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller, who also released an image of a necklace Morgan Harrington was wearing the night she disappeared.

“We now can confirm that she was hitchhiking,” says Geller, noting that Harrington, who had been stuck outside the John Paul Jones Arena after she was denied reentry and had told friends by cellphone that she’d find her own way home, was allegedly seen by multiple witnesses on both sides of the bridge.

LE is confirming that she was hitchhiking. Wow. I just don't understand it. Why would a person hitchhike when their car was right there?! that doesn't make any sense. Even drunk. If you are drunk enough to think about seeking a ride home, then why wouldn't you think about your car in that thought process? It's not like she forgot about it.

The only thing that I can think of is Morgan being seriously mad at the friend that had her keys for some reason, and wanting to get away from there no matter what. So much so that she decided to leave the concert and hitchhike. Would also explain her leaving the concert despite being excited about it, and the lack of emotion from the friend(s). I don't know. What a mystery.

 

[tamfish]

Why would a person hitchhike when their car was right there?! that doesn't make any sense.

It wasn't her car. It's been established in several sources (the hook is one of them) that Morgan's car was left in Harrisonburg and the friends took another car from there to the arena. Morgan's dad confirmed this and I think he would know for certain.

I find it interesting that the same agency who gave mistaken info about the car is also the agency "confirming" Morgan was hitchhiking.

Confirmed by whom? Did any of these witness stop and ask her what she was doing on the bridge? Do we even know for certain it was Morgan they saw?