Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #8

[Cardinal47]

http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2009/10/morgan-dana-harrington-profiler.html#more

With the direction we were heading I thought this might be insightful.

 

[MeoW333]

It's been stated in news reports by LE that MH was seen hitchhiking. I don't think too many of us here completely buy that statement/theory.

Wonder if someone saw MH talking to someone thru the window of a stopped car and assumed she was hitchhiking?

IF MH was hitchhiking would she just go with whoever or would she be a little more selective in what kind of vehicle she would get in? Someone with a nice vehicle? Someone whose vehicle had some kind of company name and/or logo on it? Campus security? A police car? A taxi? Someone who had a vehicle that may have been a former LE vehicle? Or an unmarked LE vehicle? UVA Hospital security?

It's late and I'm brain drained...what I'm trying to get at...who could take MH off the street seemingly without struggle? What would make it easier for this person to do this - besides being under the cover of darkness and a girl being alone?

Would be nice to know if all security personnel was retained at the venue the entire time of the concert or if after things got underway that some were sent on their way or had finished their shift - or left due to "illness"...

Just throwin' this out there...

BBM

The perp would have to be very familiar with the area

The perp would most likely own their own vehicle or

The perp would have to reside or at least have a place they know of to go to for "privacy"
The perp would probably be a smooth talker, manipulative enough to either get Morgan to go off with him away from where they could be seen
and then to get her to go to his car with him. OR
He could be an acquaintance of hers who she doesn't know personally, yet perhaps he was stalking her prior.

Serial Killer/Predator/Random (Morgan being victim of "oppurtunity" for the perp)
vs. Isolated incident by unknown perp (someone who has known of her prior to the concert, developed an obsession and is living out some type of delusional fantasy involving her).

The perp (IMO) would have to have at least a good deal of confidence in himself that he could pull off the whole scene without alerting other people and drawing attention to him and her and what his plan was.

If the perp was the one who removed her cell phone battery, it shows awareness that he does know cell phones can be pinged, and also foresight that she might use it to try to get help.
(It seems she was asking others to use their phone, either her battery had died, or already fallen out). Perp didn't realize phone wasn't working and or did yet was taking precautions anyway.

Where is the battery? It has not been found?

Little to no evidence found aside from the pocketbook. There is no crime "scene" just a missing girl and a pocketbook found the next morning, not to mention some random different witness accounts.

I have faith that LE went over the area where the pocketbook was found very very well with forensics and all.

This case is very baffling, it's almost as if someone "seasoned" with kidnapping people did it.
The perp certainly knows how to not make a scene. I almost believe, IMO, that whoever did this has done this before..

 

[wanttohelp]

I had thought i read in an article that Morgan left right before Metallica was to go onstage. We know she left about 8:20pm and it was said before Metallica went on. Bands usually play for 45-1 hour i would think, although i guess it would depend on the band. Maybe some play an hour and a half.
That's what i was basing that on... do you have a link to what time they went on? I'm trying to find one. They played a total of 18 songs.

Here is a pdf file with a map of who was to park where buses, limos, prepaid passes regarding the parking during the Metallica concert at JPJ arena.

http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/documents/MetallicaParkingOptions.pdf

oic see what your saying. i actually had read a post, i think on fb that a girl who was at the concert said metallica went on at 9 sharp. she also said you could hear the music outside. i think she was saying that if morgan couldnt have gotten back in she could have atleast listened from outside.

 

[weetziebat]

Knowing that Morgan was stuck outside the arena and unable to re-enter, just wondering....if she went to security and told them friends inside had her car keys and her cell phone wasn't working/they apparently couldn't hear the ring, would security have gone inside to get the car keys for her?

Just thinking if the friends wouldn't (for whatever reason) give Morgan the keys, is there anyway, with her being outside, to get the keys? After all, it is her car. Even if friends feared she was impaired, if at least one of them wouldn't leave the concert to be with their friend, she shouldn't have been denied access to the warmth and security her car could have given her, while waiting for the concert to finish.

On the other hand (oy vey, I drive myself crazy!) if they gave her the keys and she consequently drove and got into a MVA, they would be responsible, knowing she was impaired!

 

[Waddles]

snipped
Why would Morgan go up to some older man she didn't know and have out her arm like to escort?
I don't think it was her, however i do think it was a random drunk woman. That type of behavior is not sane.

It's probably best to just focus on the confirmed sightings and confirmed evidence. So many people claim to have seen Morgan, and i'm sure most of them have good intentions, snipped.

Hmmm..what if that "random drunk woman" had gone missing? we'd all be on here looking for her and think it was another "random woman" that must have kicked the guy!

sorry, couldn't resist

:blowkiss:

And ditto the rest of that post!

If a random drunk woman had gone missing from the same concert, for sure we would have heard about it by now.
It was probably just a random blond girl that looked like Morgan to someone.. =)

No, just to clarify I was teasing you in a friendly way. I meant imagine a whole different situation where we were actually on WS in another thread looking for that particular woman who had gone missing and had supposedly kicked the guy, in that case we'd be very sympathetic to her and cast doubts that it was her kicking the guy. Was just some light hearted silliness on my part.

 

[crystalgenie]

When I heard the parents say ( I think they were on Dr. Phil. They would be the only reason I would watch the moron.) that they had friends in Charlottesville... and I know I have stated this before but it wasn't late at night, the latest she was seen was about 9:10 or 9:20, I would have called my parents friends. DH said she talked to them and that MH never called. They wished she would have... I don't care if MH was drunk or high, but it would explain why she didn't call the family friends. I still say this all goes back to her "friends" and their sins of omission. One would hope that they have been honest with the police because obviously they lied to MH's father about the car and its location and by the way her friend that did the "tiny, little" interview before the search, I just caught the short video clip, didn't look too broken up about it all.

32 days and no new news...
32 days and no pleas or at the very least an active show of concern from the so-called friends...
32 days and no Morgan...

 

[eachandevery]

I am just amazed by the number of "Found Deceased" labels next to names that are all over the Missing/Located forum. I know "missing person" usually leads to something bad (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just basing this on what I've been seeing lately), but I really hope that Morgan is out there somewhere, for whatever reason, alive and well.

I don't want to go in circles if this has been examined over and over already, but how cold was it the night of the concert? If all Morgan was wearing was a t-shirt, skirt and boots, and it was a chilly night, maybe she was simply trying to find a warm place until the show was over and ended up running into the wrong person. It wasn't particularly cold outside when I went to a concert last night, but I was shivering with a jacket on.

 

[Cardinal47]

To this day it amazes me that not one person from that night has spoken. Not one picture has surfaced. Not one friend has come forth. Does LE have that much power to silence thousands of people? How do they do that?

 

[nervous_nellie]

I am just amazed by the number of "Found Deceased" labels next to names that are all over the Missing/Located forum. I know "missing person" usually leads to something bad (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just basing this on what I've been seeing lately), but I really hope that Morgan is out there somewhere, for whatever reason, alive and well.

I don't want to go in circles if this has been examined over and over already, but how cold was it the night of the concert? If all Morgan was wearing was a t-shirt, skirt and boots, and it was a chilly night, maybe she was simply trying to find a warm place until the show was over and ended up running into the wrong person. It wasn't particularly cold outside when I went to a concert last night, but I was shivering with a jacket on.

45 degrees with light rain...

 

[hoppyfrog]

I am just amazed by the number of "Found Deceased" labels next to names that are all over the Missing/Located forum. I know "missing person" usually leads to something bad (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I'm just basing this on what I've been seeing lately), but I really hope that Morgan is out there somewhere, for whatever reason, alive and well.

Actually, most missing persons cases turn out well. There are dozens of cases every day that are not posted here b/c the missing person is located within hours or a day or two. What you see at WS are the ones that go beyond a couple of days, and many of them turn out badly.

I don't have stats in front of me about the number of missing persons who are found safe and those who are not, but I do know the majority are found safe.

Hoppy

 

[Track292008]

Would be nice to know if all security personnel was retained at the venue the entire time of the concert or if after things got underway that some were sent on their way or had finished their shift - or left due to "illness"...

Just throwin' this out there...

Don't know about security people, but have read that stagehands who are employed by the bands are free to go once the concert starts and then return for tear-down. Which brings to mind the possibility of someone from the opening acts being out there after their shift ended, as well as Metallica people on their break. MOO.

 

[MBLover]

To this day it amazes me that not one person from that night has spoken. Not one picture has surfaced. Not one friend has come forth. Does LE have that much power to silence thousands of people? How do they do that?

I would suspect as far as it goes with the friends - specifically those there are the concert...one has a father in LE who I would guess has told his daughter not to speak and maybe the others have retained lawyers or this LE father has told the others not to speak.

 

[MBLover]

Don't know about security people, but have read that stagehands who are employed by the bands are free to go once the concert starts and then return for tear-down. Which brings to mind the possibility of someone from the opening acts being out there after their shift ended, as well as Metallica people on their break. MOO.

True - and this speaks of a person that MH could possibly trust. I'm sure these stagehands are given some kind of ID badge to wear around their neck - which could have given MH a false sense of security that this person was okay because "they're with the band"...

 

[x_files]

To this day it amazes me that not one person from that night has spoken. Not one picture has surfaced. Not one friend has come forth. Does LE have that much power to silence thousands of people? How do they do that?

That does seem very bizarre, my guess from working at concerts is that people go to let loose and get drunk, high and are also self-absorbed.
Someone from her immediate crowd on the other hand would be a different story.
I wonder if it was common for her to walk off by herself?
So many questions little answers.

 

[evelyn24]

I read on Morgan's FB that a poster saw a post from a woman on findmorgan.com who witnessed her fall inside the arena, and this woman said MH was going up some steps and slipped, maybe missed a step and went forward on her chin. That makes sense to me, and now that I see the necklace she was wearing I'm not so sure it was a step that caused the "minor" cut on her chin. Not that this matters, but I bet her necklace some how cut her during her fall considering it's location hanging down the neck area, the fact it had crystals, and it's pretty big. I could see it flying up and scraping her chin causing a cut and then bleeding. This fall up the steps doesn't necessarily mean she was impaired considering most of us have fallen up or down a few steps, because we slip on something, or hit a step the wrong way and lose balance.

 

[MeoW333]

To this day it amazes me that not one person from that night has spoken. Not one picture has surfaced. Not one friend has come forth. Does LE have that much power to silence thousands of people? How do they do that?

LE isn't silencing anyone. In their first press conference, they asked her friends to take an interest in the case, i qouted the officer some pages back. Her friends just don't seem to care. The one in that interview showed lack of emotion. LE is incouraging them to get involved, yet they don't seem to do anything.
I would be doing all i could for a good friend who went missing under my watch. (i would have prevented it from happening to begin with). I don't know how they go on with their daily routines when Morgan is missing and they could have prevented it. Do they not feel guilt? I would be making a public plea for my friend to be found. I'd also be beating myself up over it.

 

[Ghostmaster]

When I was a teenager my mother had a saying that I never forgot because as time went on it rang true surprisingly often; “A lot of times trouble starts out being fun”. That’s what I think has happened here. No one had planned to do harm to Morgan. There was no stalker or predator working the crowd. There was no underlying motive on any of the friend’s part. No one could imagine the night would turn out as it did. Everyone just wanted to have fun, no doubt like they all had done many times before. I doubt this was the groups first concert away from Va. Tech. Often times in a situation such as this an unforeseen chain of events build and lead to a tragic outcome. Nobody meant for whatever happened to occur, somebody panics and you have a crime.

Many here have covered such scenarios already. As far as the friends silence goes, it could be that they are cooperating fully (which I believe they are) and are scared to death. They may have said or done something (or not done something) that they could be charged for as the case matures. LE could be bargaining with them and scaring them a little; “If you keep your silence we will not bring charges down the road”, that type of thing. At that age and given the large group involved I think that is about the only way you could get a group to cooperate.

 

[evelyn24]

LE isn't silencing anyone. In their first press conference, they asked her friends to take an interest in the case, i qouted the officer some pages back. Her friends just don't seem to care. The one in that interview showed lack of emotion. LE is incouraging them to get involved, yet they don't seem to do anything.
I would be doing all i could for a good friend who went missing under my watch. (i would have prevented it from happening to begin with). I don't know how they go on with their daily routines when Morgan is missing and they could have prevented it. Do they not feel guilt? I would be making a public plea for my friend to be found. I'd also be beating myself up over it.

True, and just because we the public are not seeing or hearing from her friends doesn't mean LE isn't. I know initially it certainly appeared that the police wanted more info from MH's friends (the presser you mentioned), but maybe now they are helping behind the scenes.
In the end the only thing the public really needs to know is where MH was last seen, what she was wearing, and who she was seen with, if anyone.

I do wish Morgan's mom would try to find similar clothes to the outfit MH was wearing and release pics of the outfit to the public including the boots.
How can people turn in found articles of clothing/boots if they don't know what the outfit looked like.
I know we can picture it from the description but I think a pic of a similar outfit would trigger memories etc.

 

[MeoW333]

When I was a teenager my mother had a saying that I never forgot because as time went on it rang true surprisingly often; “A lot of times trouble starts out being fun”. That’s what I think has happened here. No one had planned to do harm to Morgan. There was no stalker or predator working the crowd. There was no underlying motive on any of the friend’s part. No one could imagine the night would turn out as it did. Everyone just wanted to have fun, no doubt like they all had done many times before. I doubt this was the groups first concert away from Va. Tech. Often times in a situation such as this an unforeseen chain of events build and lead to a tragic outcome. Nobody meant for whatever happened to occur, somebody panics and you have a crime.

Many here have covered such scenarios already. As far as the friends silence goes, it could be that they are cooperating fully (which I believe they are) and are scared to death. They may have said or done something (or not done something) that they could be charged for as the case matures. LE could be bargaining with them and scaring them a little; “If you keep your silence we will not bring charges down the road”, that type of thing. At that age and given the large group involved I think that is about the only way you could get a group to cooperate.

You think maybe an accidental overdose or alcohol poisoning, the friends freaked out and dumped her body somewhere? That she never made it to the concert?
It couldn't have happened at the concert, too many people around, so it'd have to be either before or after.
We know Morgan's cell phone was at the concert with her, yet there is no Morgan entering or exiting on the security videos of the arena. Are her friends on the videos?
If there's a camera near the entrance, you'd think they would have caught the group on there, or at least Morgan alone on it at some point.
In a situation such as an accidental overdose, it would have to have happened at some point either before or after the concert. The smartest thing the friends could have done is call an ambulance at the time.
It's an interesting theory, i wish we had more info on this case in general.

The bb players were talking to Morgan around (9:10-9:20pm if i recall right) so that would put her in the RV lot.

I really do think she was targeted by a perp, she is a beautiful girl. She just goes missing, the only thing left behind is her pocketbook.. it's a bizarre case. Whoever took her knows how to leave no evidence (provided she was really abducted).

 

[Ghostmaster]

MeoW333 I think you are on the right track. It could be anything from an accidental OD, to alcohol poisoning, to rough sex, to a delayed trauma injury to the head sustained in the fall; we just don’t know. I don’t think the friends know either. IMO they know what led up to her being outside (meeting a friend, etc.) but that’s it. I think Morgan ended up somewhere she was comfortable being (motel, apartment, dorm) and it went bad from there. Given the cat and mouse game LE is playing here it would be a good guess to assume they have a person of interest in mind but are trying to scare or provoke that POI into making the next move. I hate to say it but it’s almost like they are looking for the body, they already have everything but that.