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

[secret_agent_mom]

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.

Have you seen this composite pic that someone did on the FB site? I wonder how close it is to being right?

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9674835&op=1&o=global&view=global&subj=162224546575&id=712425576

 

[Mountain Mama]

When I heard the term "working the crowd" it reminded me of something I used to notice during my concert-going heyday. Scary men would hang out in the hallways watching girls who were going in and out of the bathrooms. I understand that there are theoretically "too many people around"; but perhaps, just perhaps, somebody grabbed her INSIDE the show. Or saw her leave and followed her out..

My gut tells me that, like meoW333 says, this perp is skilled at abductions and has masterfully orchestrated it to where they would not be seen during the abduction portion of their operation. Which seems to suggest some level of premeditation. And perhaps skill of an advanced level. MH's friends are certainly not skilled in this type of crime. If it were them, LE would have figured that out by this time.

Lots of folks who are posting here feel strongly that they can trust the reports of sightings (w/the 4 guys, bb players, etc.), thereby establishing a timeline. This timeline would then, theoretically, prove that there was no way she was already abducted by the time the phone call occured. Consider this, one way to explain the strange phone call is that she WAS abducted by the time the call was made. That would explain why she did not ask for someone to bring her keys. We all agree that would be one thing she would definitely mention!!!! So was she prompted on what to say? Just asking.. do we take these reported sightings as the gospel truth?

I feel its a local, somebody who knows the area.

As far as the weather is concerned, the temperature in Charlottesville is 10 degrees warmer than the elevations of the mountains that are only 20 minutes west. That means if its in the low 40s in town, it can be snowing on the mountains, including Blue Ridge Parkway. That is why I ask if anyone knows if there were gate closures up there that night. And cameras there. There have been many crimes, getaways, etc. on the isolated Parkway. If searchers want further clues they might want to investigate what took place up in the higher elevations. Especially any camera footage that might exist!

 

[secret_agent_mom]

Respectfully snipped:

I feel its a local, somebody who knows the area.

As far as the weather is concerned, the temperature in Charlottesville is 10 degrees warmer than the elevations of the mountains that are only 20 minutes west. That means if its in the low 40s in town, it can be snowing on the mountains, including Blue Ridge Parkway. That is why I ask if anyone knows if there were gate closures up there that night. And cameras there. There have been many crimes, getaways, etc. on the isolated Parkway. If searchers want further clues they might want to investigate what took place up in the higher elevations. Especially any camera footage that might exist!

Great minds think alike! My friend and I have been searching all along the parkway. We have found lots of trash dumping sites and a few dead animals, but nothing else.

We asked the same questions as above to a close friend that is an adminstrator with VDOT. He said there was light snow in the Afton/Waynesboro area that night, but not enough to close the gates. We also asked about the cameras and he said they are live Web Cams and do not record.

 

[Sillybilly]

URGENT !!

www.klaasKids.org/pg-truckerTV.htm

Marc Klaas and KlaasKids desperately needs help NOW from each and every Websleuther to support Trucker TV through America. This could be the single most important thing any of us can ever do for missing children.

Please take 3 minutes to read the above link, click the REPLY button, express your support or voice your concerns, click SEND.

Then forward the above link to your email contacts, everyone, everywhere, so they can do the same.

www.klaasKids.org/pg-truckerTV.htm

 

[Cardinal47]

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-morgan-harrington-story,0,1260432.story

An interesting story and video that I thought you might like watching.

 

[Mountain Mama]

Secret Agent Mom,
What about Shenandoah National Park, especially since its accessible from I-64. Is there a way to see if cameras there detected late night vehicle traffic. Has anybody searched that stretch of the park?

 

[Le Singe]

Hello to everyone. The post from Cindy S this evening had a link to an article that stated that the Harrington’s returned to C’ville today to drop off their daughters dental records. Huh?? I have shared with you guys that for a year or so I was a LEO in Virginia. The intricate details being released by LE have made me question the game plan of the various agencies involved but I’ve always been able to see a method to what they’re doing to reach the end objective. i.e. finding Ms. Harrington and it’s been all good. But now, they have thrown a curve into things that I can’t figure out. I thought I’d share it with you folks.

Having been both a LEO and a Paramedic involved in searches for those presumed dead, I can tell you that the first thing the agencies in charge do is request photographs and dental records. The very first thing. Back in the day when I did this sort of thing dental records were about as good as it got for a positive ID on a victim. Sometimes victims were so decomposed or the trauma so horrific that fingerprints weren’t much help. Now of course there is DNA, which is the best method of all for a positive ID.

I’m sorry to be so long here and I apologize if it sounds like I’m being egotistical but I point this out for a reason. The link Cindy S provided did indeed take you to the article saying that the parents took the dental records today. BUT here comes my, Huh?? mentioned above. Let me call your attention to the link below dated 22 October that was in The Roanoke Times newspaper and this statement from Mrs. Harrington;

Here’s the quote;

It has been, admittedly, a harrowing process, one they have endured even as they struggle to help investigators working to find their daughter. "Having to find DNA samples and dental records of your child -- it's not a path or ground you thought you'd have to walk," Gil Harrington said Tuesday in her home on Strathmore Lane. "There's no template for it."

And the link;

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/223391

What?? I would bet that the family got the DNA and dental records together and LE had them that very week. So why this statement from the parents today? I don’t know what to say except that I’m almost certain the LE agencies have had what the need in terms of DNA and dental records for quite some time. Like I said, I can’t for the life of me see the logic in this move on the part of LE and the Harrington’s. To quote a band I used to see quite often back in the day; “What a long strange trip it’s been”. Any of you have any ideas?

EDIt: after reading honeybunnys post I think that they probibly just wait the thirty day period unless the have reason to need the information sooner.


only thing I can think is the may not want to "go there" with the family early on so they just plan on getting them if they need them. Then as time passes when they think the family is starting to accept the fact that there is a good chance there won't be a happy ending they ask for them. Alternatively it's possible the with the news of the bodies discovered in the last week the family may have offer the information.

 

[secret_agent_mom]

Secret Agent Mom,
What about Shenandoah National Park, especially since its accessible from I-64. Is there a way to see if cameras there detected late night vehicle traffic. Has anybody searched that stretch of the park?

To my knowledge there there haven't been any official searches anywhere on Afton Mountain, The Blue Ridge Parkway or the Shenandoah Natiional Park. :banghead: We get frustrated when we search because there is so much to search. It is like the more we see - the more there is to search.

I think that they have only searched the three mile radius around JPJ and then other areas as tips have come in. Others feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[21merc7]

To my knowledge there there haven't been any official searches anywhere on Afton Mountain, The Blue Ridge Parkway or the Shenandoah Natiional Park. :banghead:

Respectfully snipped:

I don't think any searches have occurred at any of the places you mention. All tremendously difficult to search. Also, if there was fog that night or morning it would be so very easy to dump a body off the side of a road and down a hill with no witnesses even if the roadways were busy. Scary places in a situation such as this. Beautiful otherwise. Helicopter searches may be the way to first begin. (Although I feel that LE think she must be closer or have some sort of lead with the way everything is being handled.)

 

[x_files]

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).

Do you know if there is any video surveillance of he entering or exiting the arena? or if the arena did not have video cameras.
I've heard both.
What's the facts?
Why not release video footage of her to the public?
Why the secrecy?

 

[Le Singe]

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 think it really depends on what exactly you are talking about as far as the people that are reported "missing" to police I think a huge majority of them are actually not missing or missing by there own intentions. The impression I get from various things I have read is this is way more common than most ppl realize.

As far as people that are actually missing against their will I think you are right the odds of a happy ending are not good at all.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Have not posted for a while, but some of these recent posts made me think that there are a few, possibly close (not sure as I don't have a map of them currently) rest areas that were shut down recently. I wonder if anyone has searched those? Again, I am not sure how close they are to the JPJ Arena, but if there are any pretty close, I think they should be looked into. I know I saw one of those boarded up and closed when we traveled to Northern Virginia a few months ago and it really looked desolate. I am not sure how close the way we go up to NV (Chantilly, VA) is to the JPJ Arena.

 

[Wes]

Yes, of course, one of the acquaintances was one of the "9" teen pals, but (esp. among the well-to-do) friendships are often "arranged" by the parents. They may not have liked MH very much, but (let's say for example) her parents were an important political connection for so-and-so's parents, and don't we all need pull to get our first jobs ... that's the attitude.

MH seems not to have any friends; despite having "her own place," she spent all of her time with her parents, who even micro-managed her checkbook. Her father's gesture of buying the tickets for the "9" may have been a desperate effort to rebuild her former "normal" social life. Maybe the former "9" were not interested in seeing MH even with the offer of a free ticket to see Metallica. If she did ask them to attend, maybe she felt angry and humiliated at their "no" responses --- and full of rage. Maybe the real purpose of her going to the Metallica concert then became to meet up with some forbidden BF at nearby UVA; maybe her parents had threatened to cut her off without a dime if she saw him again. So the evening was in MH's eyes a big joke at her parents' expense. Not only did she see BF whom her parents hated, but she went partying with his whole group (whom they also didn't like). She may have realized why her parents didn't like him for just one second at the end.
.

Interesting. You really put a lot of thought and detail into that Walker.

 

[Waddles]

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-morgan-harrington-story,0,1260432.story

An interesting story and video that I thought you might like watching.

that broke my heart the part about her mom who had hoped MH's baby toys would be passed on to her children

so sad

 

[secret_agent_mom]

Have not posted for a while, but some of these recent posts made me think that there are a few, possibly close (not sure as I don't have a map of them currently) rest areas that were shut down recently. I wonder if anyone has searched those? Again, I am not sure how close they are to the JPJ Arena, but if there are any pretty close, I think they should be looked into. I know I saw one of those boarded up and closed when we traveled to Northern Virginia a few months ago and it really looked desolate. I am not sure how close the way we go up to NV (Chantilly, VA) is to the JPJ Arena.

There is one rest stop at the foot of Afton Mountain going West to Charlottesville. It is still open. I have driven through there and tried to see if there was a location where someone could hide and decided probably not. It is pretty well lit.

There is one rest stop after the Ivy exit going East towards Waynesboro. It is closed and I haven't been crave enough to snoop...er, I mean search there. There isn't a place to park near the entrance so I doubt anyone would have been able to get in there anyway...but who knows, right?

I haven't been West of Charlottesville so I can't speak to those rest areas.

 

[Waddles]

I think it really depends on what exactly you are talking about as far as the people that are reported "missing" to police I think a huge majority of them are actually not missing or missing by there own intentions. The impression I get from various things I have read is this is way more common than most ppl realize.

As far as people that are actually missing against their will I think you are right the odds of a happy ending are not good at all.

I was thinking about all this earlier. We are influenced by the press but I'd like to have an idea of how frequent is it to have someone missing without a trace that is clearly not a runaway or suicide and with no factor such as a violent husband or difficult past etc. - as in just completely vanished ...

 

[theforgotten]

Thank you for pointing this out. I'm thinking Daddy bought it for her, because she's in school and even used honda's are pricey. When I was that age, my dad bought me a car and I didn't really appeciated. Now, that being said, I was never stupid enough to give my keys away. I have 2009 honda and now that it's mine and I payed for it. I take care of it. Sorry for messing up the quote.:twocents:

 

[secret_agent_mom]

I was thinking about all this earlier. We are influenced by the press but I'd like to have an idea of how frequent is it to have someone missing without a trace that is clearly not a runaway or suicide and with no factor such as a violent husband or difficult past etc. - as in just completely vanished ...

Statistics from National Crime Information Center (NCIC) show:

As of December 31, 2007, there were 105,229 active missing person records in NCIC. Juveniles under the age of 18 accounted for 54,648 (51.93%) of the records, and 12,362 (11.75%) were for juveniles between the ages of 18 and 20.*

During 2007, 814,967 missing person records were entered into NCIC, a decrease of 2.53% from the 836,131 records entered in 2006. Missing person records cleared or canceled during the same period totaled 820,212. Reasons for these removals include: the subject was located by a law enforcement agency; the individual returned home; or the record had to be removed by the entering agency due to a determination that the record was invalid.

In 2007, there were 518 records entered as Abducted by a Stranger; 299,787 entered as Runaway; and 2,919 entered as Abducted by Non-Custodial Parent. This only accounts for 303,224 entries of the 418,967 entered, or 72.4%, which is an increase from 297,632 entries of the 836,131 entered, or 35.6%, in 2006. The Missing Person Circumstances field is optional and has been available since July 1999 when the NCIC 2000 came online. This is not an accurate reflection of the actual circumstances of all the entries.

Source: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/missingpersons.htm

 

[tamfish]

I've been reading around here and in other places today re: MH and this case.... and my thoughts right now are mulling over "the Nine". All along I've wondered why her friends seemed to be unconcerned about MH that night. Of course, as is our nature, we all relate things to our own experiences and here is where I am, today:

I, myself, have a "Nine" -- only we are six (well, five, because we lost one to cancer last year. We have a special name for our group, just like "the Nine". We've been friends since grade school, just like "the Nine". I can tell you with certainty that we would move mountains for each other, and have even attempted to do that. We would never, EVER leave one of the group stranded outside alone, in the cold.

But -- we are middle aged women now.

How were we back in our 20s?

Well.... (bear with me... thinking back that far is hard haha) In our 20s we were pretty scattered physically. Some of us were married with children. Some were in college. We all lived in different towns. So while still friends - back then there was no internet so we wrote letters and made phone calls - there was a separation there due to distance. Also, being in different chapters of our lives played a factor in that separation, too. Yes, if one of the group called in dire straits, the rest would drop everything and go to her. But past that, as far as daily life, we remained friends but were not inter-connected into each others lives as we were when teens or younger.

This leads me to think that perhaps it is the same way for "the Nine". They are at that same stage, early 20s, in college, making independent lives for themselves. It is a transition period in life -- and in the friendship. This could explain the sort of "detachment" we are perceiving from them.

Also, I am fondly remembering the friend we lost last year. She was our "wild child". I wonder if MH is the "wild child" of the Nine? Little things stick out to me about her, in particular: her wearing a red prom dress while the others wore white. Such a little thing, maybe, but to me it says MH wanted to stand out from the others. Maybe she held herself a bit apart from them. This reminds me so much of my late friend and how she was at that age.

Which leads me to this: maybe MH saying she would "find a ride" didn't ring any bells. In that situation, at that age, with my group and our "wild child" -- had she left us for whatever reason? Said she'd find a way home? We'd have let her go........ it was her way of doing things. It would not have set off alarms.

I know that MH's parents have written a lot about their daughter and who she was...... but did they know everything? Was there a part of MH that she didn't share with her family? A part that the Nine knew, that didn't scream "red flag" over MH being outside that arena alone?

 

[MeoW333]

Secret Agent Mom,
What about Shenandoah National Park, especially since its accessible from I-64. Is there a way to see if cameras there detected late night vehicle traffic. Has anybody searched that stretch of the park?

Are you thinking a serial killer is at work again?
There have been a lot that went cold awhile ago.. either a new one, or an old one returning to where he left off?