Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #9

[part time prof]

http://www.wric.com/Global/story.asp?S=11566968

Quote from the above link:





The BB players are being conveniently air-brushed out of the story, while MH is being portrayed as crazy & completely stoned. However, if she really were totally inebriated & falling all over the place, why didn't the BB players try to help her? (For example, by just calling Campus Security who could surely have provided assistance). Also, what time exactly did they speak to her? We haven't been told.

If I recall correctly, the official LE time line had MH having "limited interaction" with people in the R.V. parking lot between 9:10 and 9:20, which I assume to have been the BB players, who LE then says left in their own cars with no reason to believe that MH left with either of them.

I assume there must be independent sightings of MH hitchhiking on the bridge at 9:30 besides any the BB players may have provided, but I don't know that that's true.

I agree with others that it would be nice to know more of the nature of their conversation and MH's apparent condition. If she said, "hey, I'm off to hitchhike to home, 90 minutes away," or dropped/forgot her purse while talking to them, then yeah, I'd hope they would take a more proactive and helpful role. But if she just seemed a little tipsy, or even more, but seemed like she could manage to get herself to the 7-11 or a bank close by or wherever, they may have just assumed she'd be okay.

 

[debirlfan]

Awhile back there was the mention made that the bb players did not come from the same background as MH, and that was construed as a racial statement.

Well, not knowing exactly what their background might be, I think we can revisit that, without it being a racist statement.

First, they're male - and as they're bb players, it's likely that they are fairly tall, athletic men. That in itself gives them a different perspective than what many of us on this board would have.

What am I driving at? Even if MH was intoxicated and/or planning to hitchhike, they may well not have seen this as being a particularly dangerous situation. That would be especially true if, as has been suggested, one or more of the players comes from an inner city background. That's not a question of race, it's simply a matter of perspective - if you come from an area where there are daily shootings, you're going to see the area around the arena as perfectly safe - and are unlikely to be especially concerned about a young woman's safety. So, I wouldn't be so quick to blame them for not calling security.

 

[Walker]

Now that the official word from Geller is that Morgan definitely dropped the purse multiple times ...

Please post a link to Geller actually stating that MH dropped her bag several times.

 

[Walker]

But if she just seemed a little tipsy, or even more, but seemed like she could manage to get herself to the 7-11 or a bank close by or wherever, they may have just assumed she'd be okay.

But if the three BB players just thought that she was a little tipsy but basically okay, isn't it likely that their judgment would have been correct? We seem to be assuming that she was totally inebriated and acting provocatively; but might not spreading such rumors be damage control for UVa; that is, the classical blame the victim approach.

 

[Walker]

... - if you come from an area where there are daily shootings, you're going to see the area around the arena as perfectly safe - and are unlikely to be especially concerned about a young woman's safety. So, I wouldn't be so quick to blame them for not calling security.

Generally, if you grow up in an urban environment, you tend to be more security conscious & less trusting of the safety of an area.

 

[winterrose]

Please post a link to Geller actually stating that MH dropped her bag several times.

That was in one of the articles I just posted.

 

[MeoW333]

Morgan look alike DS' interview saying she is the one in video and pics looking like Morgan.Isn't it wierd they have mutual friends,both were wearing black and black boots that night?For anyone that's not read the interview...

http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/66764102.html

Thank you for the link, Winterrose. IMO, i think a lot of these supposed sightings of Morgan, may in reality be DS instead, especially the supposed sighting of Morgan with some "white guys" that sounds like DS.

"We call and [our friend] is like, 'We're actually missing somebody,' one of the people she was with, and they're like, 'We don't know what happened to her. She said she was getting a ride home, so we guess she's fine,' but so we're like OK, we didn't think anything of it and they went home," says DS.
http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/66764102.html


What is interesting is that Morgan's friends use the phrase, "we're actually missing somebody". IMO, this is odd for their age group to use, most would say, "well Morgan went..." or in the case that they don't know "we don't know where Morgan went."
Instead we see Morgan being referred to as "somebody" by her friends. This in itself is strange, as DS and co know who Morgan is, so why wouldn't Morgan's friends just refer to her by name? Very very odd! There is no reason for Morgan's friends to be elusive as DS knows who Morgan is. Instead they depersonalize the conversation and use the term "somebody" in reference to Morgan.

Why would Morgan's friends feel the need to depersonalize Morgan at that time?

They say they don't know what happened to her, that she was getting a ride home, so they "guess" she is fine.

They aren't sure she is fine, yet if they thought Morgan would for a fact get a ride home, why would they wait around after the concert for her as they supposedly did?
If they weren't sure she was fine, why not call LE or at least Morgan's folks as it is better to err on the side of caution? They couldn't reach Morgan on her cell phone.

Her friends seem awfully cold hearted, especially SS who in that video made the comment, "Obviously if we knew..". Should have could have would have, yet they didn't.

Her friend on the phone when the call around 8:48pm knew Morgan wanted to get back inside the arena, and actually suggested entrances for Morgan to try to use to sneak back inside. They took Morgan's car, her father paid for the tickets, yet not one of them at the very least can't go outside to let her in the car or wait with her...

My concern is Morgan's friends depersonalizing her when speaking to other friends who know her by name, yet her friends leave her anonymous in the term of "somebody".

 

[MeoW333]

Here is a link to WHSV TV in Harrisonburg, VA. This ran today. I was surprised to read the text of this article and how it seems to imply that all of Morgan’s friends are so concerned about her. The article states that they are all using words like heartbreaking and surreal when speaking of her disappearance. Maybe I’ve missed something these last two months because I’ve not heard her friends saying much of anything. I wonder what friends they are quoting? If you look under “Home” there is a video of Morgan’s mom being interviewed by phone. It’s call Noon interview. I would think she would have used the opportunity to call attention to things to look for or do to help find Morgan. But instead, she rambles about their strong family and holding each other together. But with it being two months now with no sign of Morgan, maybe she needs to hear herself say that to stay strong. And that certainly is ok. May they stay strong. God Bless the Harrington’s on this very sad day.

http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/79545557.html

Thank you for the link, Ghost, i'm going to use this as a jump off post (i think that's the right term).
I'm sure they aren't qouting the friends who were present with her that night. It must be her other friends, imo.

What if her friends who were there with her that night are directly involved in her disappearance? They come from well to do family, we have a large reward sum, which would hopefully make someone who already has money and may know something talk. However there are many that value their freedom over money. LE needs to find the weakest link out of those "friends" of hers who were present with her that night and break them.

Their silence is deafening. You'd think they'd be pleaing for Morgan's safe return, after all if they had been better "friends" they'd have not let her remain stuck outside alone. You would think they'd feel guilt, SS in that video seems to chat as if it's normal everyday small talk.

These so called "friends" do exactly the opposite of what friends should do, especially considering they were the last to see Morgan.
They reek of suspicion and guilt, imo.

I wonder what Morgan's parents think of her friends leaving her alone outside like that? Especially when they were nice enough to pay for their tickets and Morgan was nice enough to allow them to take her car?

My prayers for the Harringtons in that they continue to stay strong, this is a horrible case, it's the not knowing, the not having resolution of some type.. and the Harringtons are intelligent, i wonder if they question that maybe some of the girls who they've though of like daughters, who they've fed and let stay at their homes, why did they act so cold and not help their daughter or join her when she got stuck outside in the cold at the concert and couldn't get back inside?

IMO, Morgan's friends who were at the concert with her have ran for the hills. They don't make pleas, they don't talk, they go on with their lives like nothing. Normally we'd hear people's friends pleaing for their safe return and showing emotion in cases like this.
Her friends that were with her at the arena seem to be void of emotion.
It's as if they have distanced themselves (or at least have attempted to as far from this event as possible, and they figure if they ignore it it will go away.)
I can see how it would leave a bad taste in their mouths, however denial is not the answer for them. At some point they will have to deal with this, LE said for them not to let Morgan out of their perspective in the first press conference. It seems her friends have done just that and let Morgan out of their perspectives.
LE also was kind enough to remind them that they (LE) won't forget.

 

[MeoW333]

That story is so incredibly sad.

What are everyone’s thoughts on Amy moving out? Wouldn’t it have been at least a year lease?


The Harringtons are also keeping Morgan’s Blacksburg apartment, 35 minutes away, although they say her roommate, Amy Melvin, has moved out.
http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...he-harringtons-face-christmas-without-morgan/

It seems like Amy is distancing herself from what she most likely considers a bad memory. All her friends who were present that night seem to be distancing themselves from that night and Morgan.
While it seems normal that Amy moves out, the emotional distancing that it appears they are doing (lack of them speaking out or pleaing for Morgan or even speaking about this case anywhere or we'd find it) shows that they may be repressing the whole incident, which isn't healthy for them to do. At some point they are going to have to deal with what happened, or it will come back and haunt them until they do.

Amy's moving out despite the lease seems normal in the circumstances.
Maybe she feels guilty every time Morgan is brought up since had they chosen different choices, Morgan most likely wouldn't be missing.

It's hard to tell how they feel exactly as they never talk..

 

[part time prof]

Thank you for the link, Winterrose. IMO, i think a lot of these supposed sightings of Morgan, may in reality be DS instead, especially the supposed sighting of Morgan with some "white guys" that sounds like DS.

"We call and [our friend] is like, 'We're actually missing somebody,' one of the people she was with, and they're like, 'We don't know what happened to her. She said she was getting a ride home, so we guess she's fine,' but so we're like OK, we didn't think anything of it and they went home," says DS.
http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/66764102.html


What is interesting is that Morgan's friends use the phrase, "we're actually missing somebody". IMO, this is odd for their age group to use, most would say, "well Morgan went..." or in the case that they don't know "we don't know where Morgan went."
Instead we see Morgan being referred to as "somebody" by her friends. This in itself is strange, as DS and co know who Morgan is, so why wouldn't Morgan's friends just refer to her by name? Very very odd! There is no reason for Morgan's friends to be elusive as DS knows who Morgan is. Instead they depersonalize the conversation and use the term "somebody" in reference to Morgan.

Why would Morgan's friends feel the need to depersonalize Morgan at that time?

respectfully snipped

To me, this goes back to the possibility that they were all going to party/stay at a hotel/motel in Charlottesville, and needed MH's monetary share to do so...this was alleged or rumored at one point on the FB site, iirc, but never went anywhere there or here. Then, waiting (self-interestedly) for MH to show up after the concert (with the ability to pay for her share of the room), before begrudgingly driving the 1:15 back to Harrisonburg makes more sense, rationally (if not emotionally).

As for the tickets, while I have read repeatedly that DH purchased them, I have seen both six months and two months before listed as the purchase date, and have never seen mentioned if people paid MH/DH back for the tix (which I routinely do with my friends when they or I buy tickets for a group).

Finally, I really think the friends and MH thought they were going against DH's wishes by driving MH's car further than Harrisonburg, thus the confusion initially about whose car was driven and by whom. One report said MH was studying (for her math test?) during the drive; most speculation and consensus I've seen is that it was some form of designated driver. But I guess what I'm saying (in reference to a later post here) is we don't know how much MH was doing for her friends in this or how much her friends were doing for her. MOO.

 

[part time prof]

For those of you not local, 20+ inches of snow have blanketed the Charlottesville area, so nothing new will be found for awhile on the ground.

 

[Spacemonkey1975]

Generally, if you grow up in an urban environment, you tend to be more security conscious & less trusting of the safety of an area.

I guess this is an opinion thing, after living awhile in Philly and experiencing the joys of the inner city those places in my rural hometown that seemed sketchy before are pretty benign now. When we have reps come to our hospital locals will warn them of the "bad" parts which they never realize they were in because they've actually seen some truly "bad" neighborhoods in the cities they come from.

 

[LogicalMinds]

Hi....Winterose, I must have missed the info on the "church" or cult or ??
From what I can see this "Unity" seems like a pretty much non denominational church,
the sort that might appeal to intellectuals/college professor?? (similar to Unitarian etc)?

I sort of doubt that church...or even friends ...was responsible here...the more I think about poor Morgan the more I feel that an "opportunistic" monster got her....maybe thru charm...or because she was drunk/high....maybe also he "goes to her school"...or "knows someone she knows"??

College kids may be "grown" but not fully aware of their own mortality or aware of danger...especially when drinking etc

I think in the end what she wore, what church the family went to, what her brother does or did, won't really be the key here..

she was at the wrong place at the wrong time IMHO

I wish I could be more optomistic here but my sense of "logic" tells me this is what we will find...statistics, other cases...all point to this

IMHO the idea of convoluted "group" plots and plans , conspiracy, etc is more likely to be seen in a mystery novel or a tv show than in real life

the "simplest" explanation is (most) often the right answer
sad to say

 

[arielilane]

It seems like Amy is distancing herself from what she most likely considers a bad memory. All her friends who were present that night seem to be distancing themselves from that night and Morgan.
While it seems normal that Amy moves out, the emotional distancing that it appears they are doing (lack of them speaking out or pleaing for Morgan or even speaking about this case anywhere or we'd find it) shows that they may be repressing the whole incident, which isn't healthy for them to do. At some point they are going to have to deal with what happened, or it will come back and haunt them until they do.

Amy's moving out despite the lease seems normal in the circumstances.
Maybe she feels guilty every time Morgan is brought up since had they chosen different choices, Morgan most likely wouldn't be missing.

It's hard to tell how they feel exactly as they never talk..

I agree…the silence is what is so deafening. If that makes any sense?

 

[Walker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walker
Please post a link to Geller actually stating that MH dropped her bag several times.

That was in one of the articles I just posted.

Sorry, but I read through quite a lot of articles, and neither Geller nor any other credible party made such a statement as fact.

 

[Walker]

I guess this is an opinion thing, after living awhile in Philly and experiencing the joys of the inner city those places in my rural hometown that seemed sketchy before are pretty benign now. When we have reps come to our hospital locals will warn them of the "bad" parts which they never realize they were in because they've actually seen some truly "bad" neighborhoods in the cities they come from.

Nonetheless, at least three young adult athletes should have had both the street smarts & common sense to call Campus Security if MH were obviously incapacitated. Likely, they didn't think that she was in an extreme state of intoxication.

 

[Walker]

Hi....Winterose, I must have missed the info on the "church" or cult or ??
From what I can see this "Unity" seems like a pretty much non denominational church,
the sort that might appeal to intellectuals/college professor?? (similar to Unitarian etc)?

I sort of doubt that church...or even friends ...was responsible here...

Maybe I missed something, but absolutely no one has accused Unity Church of abducting or killing Morgan on this or any other site. Not even those "National Enquirer" sites went that far. Talk about ridiculous.

Unity Church does hold some untraditional doctrines which may have influenced MH's behavior that night.

http://www.unity.org/aboutunity/whatWeBelieve/index.html

... All people are inherently good ...We create our life experiences through our way of thinking.

Traditional churches hold that man is inherently evil (Original Sin doctrine and so forth), but also capable of goodness; and that God creates us, our world and therefore our experiences.

Was she inclined to believe that any guy offering her a ride was actually a good person? When she found herself in difficult situation (as she did that night), was she afraid that her parents & minister might accuse her of causing the bad situation with the power of her own negative thoughts?

More info about Unity Church on this site:
http://www.unity.org/events/index.html

the more I think about poor Morgan the more I feel that an "opportunistic" monster got her....maybe thru charm...or because she was drunk/high....maybe also he "goes to her school"...or "knows someone she knows"??

College kids may be "grown" but not fully aware of their own mortality or aware of danger...especially when drinking etc

I think in the end what she wore, what church the family went to, what her brother does or did, won't really be the key here..

She was dressed just like practically every other college girl that night. The church may (or may not) have influenced her behavior & attitudes. We can't really say much about her brother.

she was at the wrong place at the wrong time IMHO

I wish I could be more optomistic here but my sense of "logic" tells me this is what we will find...statistics, other cases...all point to this

IMHO the idea of convoluted "group" plots and plans , conspiracy, etc is more likely to be seen in a mystery novel or a tv show than in real life

the "simplest" explanation is (most) often the right answer
sad to say

Simplest explanation is an ex-BF.

Stranger abduction & murders are actually extremely rare. Because they attract so much attention, we read about them more; therefore, we tend to imagine that such crimes occur much more frequently than that actually do.

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/homicide/relationship.cfm

Quote from the above link:

In 14% of all murders, the victim and the offender were strangers.
Spouses and family members made up about 15% of all victims.
About one-third of the victims were acquaintances of the assailant.
The victim/offender relationship was undetermined in over one-third of homicides.

Since the possible relationship between perp & victim could not be determined in one-third of these homicide cases, the actual proportion of violent crime perpetrated by complete stranger may be even much lower than 14%.

The next most likely explanation is that someone had some purpose in abducting MH. Examples: to obtain money somehow; to retaliate against her, her group or a family member or some social entity which they perhaps wrongly associated with her (for example: "those spoiled rich kids"); to prevent her giving out some type of info about them (i.e. in the case that she knew "too much").

Stranger goes berserk and strangles drunken college girl? That is actually the most far-fetched explanation, which is not to say that it's impossible.

 

[MeoW333]

Walker, IMO, the most likely scenario was she met a young man who seemed harmless at first and then things went wrong like the Natalie Holloway scenario.
She's a beautiful girl, the possibility exists that she was raped and murdered. She could have been a victim of oppurtunity to a criminal.

 

[MeoW333]

People on here are discussing that the BB players should have called LE if they thought she was too intoxicated, maybe Morgan wasn't drunk, and was acting sober.
If someone is sloshed wasted piss drunk then it's noticeable, staggering around etc.
She may not even have been drunk at all/
Not to mention the responsibility of Morgan should have been shared by her friends if they are truly friends. They messed that up that night. So instead of "protecting" her they left her alone outside to whatever harm did come.

 

[MBLover]

Maybe it's that the people MH encountered that fateful night could have cared less if she was intoxicated - IF she was exhibiting signs of being incapacitated on some level.