Found Deceased VA - Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, Charlottesville, 17 Oct 2009 - #11

[rickh]

went back and reviewed google at body found location by looking at landscape image house on right appears to be on top of hill perp could have easily driven out there will out being seen.hope LE has checked who had access to property where what appears to be equipment shed.

 

[Waddles]

Moxie, IIRC Mr. Bass said he saw findgers and toes so I am assuming she didnt have her boots or tights on...The only thing is did he mean it literally or figurativley?

Yes I mentioned this the other day -I think he may very well have meant it figuratively

 

[nostoneunturned]

Caution is used because the person may be reading along with us.

 

[mahoneys07]

For the last week we have all looked at maps and tried to find the entry point to the are where Morgan was found.Most of us had came o the conclusion the person had brought her through the back area along Red Hill or Waldemar as well as Blandemar. This comment from the article released this morning kinda throws that out of the window "The resident also detailed the division between Anchorage Farm and their property in Blandemar: a half-mile that includes a ridge (“very steep”), a creek, woods and several rows of barbed wire fencing. “Not that it couldn’t be done. It could be done, but with great difficulty. At night, I’d say pretty much impossible.”


Confusing....I would think someone heard or seen something unless there were no reason to be alarmed if the came in along one of the houses?

 

[Mellen]

For the last week we have all looked at maps and tried to find the entry point to the are where Morgan was found.Most of us had came o the conclusion the person had brought her through the back area along Red Hill or Waldemar as well as Blandemar. This comment from the article released this morning kinda throws that out of the window "The resident also detailed the division between Anchorage Farm and their property in Blandemar: a half-mile that includes a ridge (“very steep”), a creek, woods and several rows of barbed wire fencing. “Not that it couldn’t be done. It could be done, but with great difficulty. At night, I’d say pretty much impossible.”


Confusing....I would think someone heard or seen something unless there were no reason to be alarmed if the came in along one of the houses?

Well, the house is not close to the part of the yard that we are thinking the perp went through. I think it is very likely the residents of the house would not have heard anything. While I think it is likely they would have noticed if a car drove through long grass on their property, I'm not so sure they would notice the tracks of someone walking through long grass. For one thing, they'd have no reason to suspect this happened, so I doubt they were out looking for tracks right after it happened. And the perp probably would have been careful to stay to the edge of the property where any tracks would be least obvious. If the perp was as familiar with the area as we are thinking they must have been, I think they could have done this at night. Plus, the perp would be extremely determined to finish his mission at all costs. Upon reading this, my first thought was that this poor homeowner is coming up with reasons it couldn't have happened because they really don't WANT to think something like this could have taken place on their land. And who would! So while I agree that the job would not have been easy, it still seems like the most likely path of entry to me. It is the shortest route to where Morgan was found, there's only a small patch of woods involved (versus going through the expanse of woods off Red Hill Road only to come to that same creek and barbed wire), and does not involve driving right past a house as coming in the main farm entrance would.

 

[rossva]

There is a difference between homicide and murder.

Most people use the words “murder” and “homicide” interchangeably, but they are not the same. Although murder and homicide are both used to describe the act of killing another human being, the circumstances surrounding the charges are different.

The easiest way to describe the differences between murder and homicide is that homicide is the killing of another human being, while murder requires the intent to kill another human being. Homicide can be used to describe any death where another person is at fault, but there are
mitigating circumstances that can influence the charge of homicide. When someone is convicted of murder, however, they are not only convicted of a homicide, but also the malicious intent to kill.

In the United States, we have terms like “justifiable homicide” and “non-criminal homicide” that are used to describe acts of homicide where there is no “mens rea” involved. The U.S. requires that the prosecution in a criminal trial prove both actus reus and mens rea in a criminal crime; the former translates as “guilty mind” and the latter refers to “guilty act”. Actus reus is simply the proof that a defendant committed a criminal act, while mens rea is a little more complicated. In order to prove mens rea, the prosecution must show that the defendant either had an intent to commit the crime or acted with criminal negligence.

With this in mind, you must understand that homicide is not always illegal, while murder is always illegal. For example, judicial homicide involves the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer who must kill in order to save his life or the lives of others. Although judicial homicide is usually investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), criminal charges are not brought against the officer unless there is evidence that deadly force was unnecessary

From what I've read, they are investigating as if it were a homicide even though the ME hasn't decided a cause of death as yet.

Did that make sense ?

 

[KaylynnCouture]

Just want to make sure I'm right..are we using codewords from the Clue board game to refer to this case?

I just don't want to get confused, so wanted to double check if that's what all the Clue references were Thanks.

 

[Calliope]

There is a difference between homicide and murder.
<snip>

Um.

Not sure how my post indicates confusion between homicide and murder. The person I was responding to asked if it was true this case is not being investigated as a homicide. The police have indicated that it is.

 

[Le Singe]

If Le had pictures or her actually at the concert, and even being in front of the building, I don't think it would have taken them weeks to finally go "with an abduction story".

Here goes my theory to what happened...
There has been no drug connection so far but here is what I think.
The plan was to score some weed or something to have for the concert. She drove to Harrisonburg and left from there the night before the concert..the plan was to meet with her there...(that's why they didn't make it clear who rode where and how many people.
These are 20 year old's shouldn't be that hard a question.)
She never showed up and her friends didn't know what to say or do.
They went into cover-up mode.The knew something wasn't right, and never said a word .Never called to ask about her, and didn't say anything until asked by Mr. Harrington where she was.
I don't know if they actually knew what happened but they "knew" something was wrong and didn't want to rock the boat hoping she would show up and everything would be OK.
I think now that she is recovered there will be more about that night come-out.
I don't think she was randomly abducted.I think what ever happened, she was with someone she considered :"safe"
I hate to even mention my thought's about her scoring drugs as I have nothing to base this on, no conformation about partying at all...but it's not that hard to believe that students going to a Metal concert might try to get their hands on something.

1. She spent the night before the concert with her parents.
2. How then would the friends have her car and her car keys and why would they have choosen to take her car to the concert?....If she took one of their cars wouldn't that car have been missing?
3. What about the many totally unrelated people that LE has put out saw Morgan in the 8:30-9:30 hour outside the arena alone. P.S. there were many reported siting LE did not mention so they are not just throwing any random thing they hear, they must have some basis for thinging these sitings are credible.

etc. etc. etc.

 

[ams1985]

We need you, Morgan needs you.

That said, I thought I might mention something that I'd considered that I didn't see here before: Morgan was wearing tights/pantyhose. As every woman here knows, she didn't walk into waist-high grass willingly in pantyhose, it would be insta-run city out there. If she went there on her own accord it was not a friendly situation I don't think. What do you think?

If I were drinking, I might not care. If I had already got a run in them from being at the concert (or falling) I wouldn't care about them at that point, either.

 

[Wes]

I was completely lost too...

pipe wrench = the SO that lives near the location Morgan was found, who also works, for a plumbing company near John Paul Jones arena (the place where Morgan was supposed to be the night she went missing)

So why were we afraid to spell that out? :waitasec:

 

[BigDBossDog]

I think the owner said there were no hired hands. But there are lots of other reasons for people to be familiar with the ranch. Hunters, partiers, previous residents, etc.

"plumbers" as in the SO that lives on the other side of the "creek"

 

[truthsleuth]

There is a difference between homicide and murder.

Most people use the words “murder” and “homicide” interchangeably, but they are not the same. Although murder and homicide are both used to describe the act of killing another human being, the circumstances surrounding the charges are different.

The easiest way to describe the differences between murder and homicide is that homicide is the killing of another human being, while murder requires the intent to kill another human being. Homicide can be used to describe any death where another person is at fault, but there are
mitigating circumstances that can influence the charge of homicide. When someone is convicted of murder, however, they are not only convicted of a homicide, but also the malicious intent to kill.

In the United States, we have terms like “justifiable homicide” and “non-criminal homicide” that are used to describe acts of homicide where there is no “mens rea” involved. The U.S. requires that the prosecution in a criminal trial prove both actus reus and mens rea in a criminal crime; the former translates as “guilty mind” and the latter refers to “guilty act”. Actus reus is simply the proof that a defendant committed a criminal act, while mens rea is a little more complicated. In order to prove mens rea, the prosecution must show that the defendant either had an intent to commit the crime or acted with criminal negligence.

With this in mind, you must understand that homicide is not always illegal, while murder is always illegal. For example, judicial homicide involves the use of deadly force by a law enforcement officer who must kill in order to save his life or the lives of others. Although judicial homicide is usually investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), criminal charges are not brought against the officer unless there is evidence that deadly force was unnecessary

RossVA, if you are going to lift an article from another source and insert it here for posters to read, you need to specify the author of the article and where it was published. In this case, the author is Stephen Johnson and the article was published in 2006 at the web site Associated Content (AC),

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/73160/homicide_vs_murder_the_differences.html?cat=17

Without giving proper credit, it would appear that you were the author.

 

[ChasingMoxie]

If I were drinking, I might not care. If I had already got a run in them from being at the concert (or falling) I wouldn't care about them at that point, either.

Gah! I had totally forgotten about the fall! Oops.

Although, it still seems like a stretch to me to think she was intentionally hanging out in such a remote and overgrown area; I wouldn't want to walk through three-foot tall grass and I drink quite a bit.

 

[January.]

I was completely lost too...

pipe wrench = the SO that lives near the location Morgan was found, who also works, for a plumbing company near John Paul Jones arena (the place where Morgan was supposed to be the night she went missing)

Thank you so much for clarifying that. I was sitting here trying to figure out why we weren't allowed to mention pipe wrenches!

 

[Nouveau]

I'm curious to know where all of the talk of pipe wrenches originated from.
Has someone been arrested that someone knows about?

Also, I have a question, if a SO is arrested, are they re-registered? Because that would explain a lot.

 

[Cardinal47]

Who knows when Morgan was placed in that spot on the farm. Somebody could have had her in their trunk for up to a week. By now that trunk has been cleaned and sanitized. Tires have been changed. Tackes have washed away and been filled in. Valuable time is wasting away and still no arrests.

 

[Betty P]

Caution is used because the person may be reading along with us.

 

[nostoneunturned]

1. She spent the night before the concert with her parents.
2. How then would the friends have her car and her car keys and why would they have choosen to take her car to the concert?....If she took one of their cars wouldn't that car have been missing?
3. What about the many totally unrelated people that LE has put out saw Morgan in the 8:30-9:30 hour outside the arena alone. P.S. there were many reported siting LE did not mention so they are not just throwing any random thing they hear, they must have some basis for thinging these sitings are credible.

etc. etc. etc.

1. I was meaning after she arrived in Harrisonburg..she left her car parked somewhere here (most of the student houses require parking permits )and went with a group of friends perhaps to get dinner and drinks or what ever.She went with one group and ended up with another...
2. Since her car was parked off campus, her friends must have had her keys, and intended to hook up with her at the concert...she never shows leaving them sitting in the parking lot for several hours trying to figure out where she was and what to do...not that they did anything but try to keep her from upsetting parents if they were aware of her behavior...they went into protection mood...thinking everything would be fine..
3 In hind site anyone could say they saw Morgan..her color of hair her outfit..but these people didn't know her..there is a difference...if one of her teachers..or members of her camp,church,clinic,class etc said I saw Morgan then I would believe it...but people see what they want to see...and some people get the attention they are craving by saying they saw someone somewhere...
I am not saying they lied or mean to mislead...I am just saying..Unless you knew Morgan it would be hard to pick her out of a crowd just by her hair and outfit..

Just thought of this ...we know no footage of Morgan ,has been released how about her friends?..any video of them...inside the concert, outside sitting in the parking lot...gotta have something that proves their story...it just sound like great friends don't do great friends like that...

My reason my mind screams "cover-up" any connection to drugs and underage drinking could result in a class four felony charge for all involved ..so the years spent getting a degree and work getting a 4.0 average, all the money spent, the hurt to their parents ..
worth a cover-up? I say "YES"

 

[Betty P]

Who knows when Morgan was placed in that spot on the farm. Somebody could have had her in their trunk for up to a week. By now that trunk has been cleaned and sanitized. Tires have been changed. Tackes have washed away and been filled in. Valuable time is wasting away and still no arrests.

They have to analyze the evidence and determine the cause of death. At this point, they can't definitively say how she died, though they should be able to eventually. Patience.