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

[MBLover]

This was from LE ... it makes sense that the bank cameras would have seen her if she made it to Ivy Rd ...

If she was picked up on Ivy Rd headed west .... then yes she could be anywhere.

I wonder if there was an attempt to grid the searches last weekend towards that direction?

Remember the Hook article that stated when the reporter asked for comment from the bank - they declined... I thought then that they must have had MH on tape...

 

[lilacwine]

Things that bother me:
1. If Morgan needed a ride.. why not ask the basketball players instead of strangers? If they weren't willing.. I think they'd at least let her hang out in a safe place until her friends were done. She could have left a note on the car or sent them a text where to get her on campus. Hitching a ride?

2. A senior on a basketball team taking a LOA is HUGE. I would think there'd be a presser to at least clarify that this is in no way connected to Morgan's disappearance. Surely they must no the silence is not clearing anything up.

3. Any idea what kind of vehicle these three men drive? (Not saying they are perps but they may know where she went)

4. If she was spotted on bank cameras was her purse there? If so then it would seem someone doubled back and dumped it to cover up.

5. If they have her on camera and haven't released a pic of the vehicle then they are either HORRIBLY irresponsible (IMHO) or they already know who the vehicle belongs to and they are just putting pieces together trying to find her body.

 

[arielilane]

Things that bother me:
1. If Morgan needed a ride.. why not ask the basketball players instead of strangers? If they weren't willing.. I think they'd at least let her hang out in a safe place until her friends were done. She could have left a note on the car or sent them a text where to get her on campus. Hitching a ride?

2. A senior on a basketball team taking a LOA is HUGE. I would think there'd be a presser to at least clarify that this is in no way connected to Morgan's disappearance. Surely they must no the silence is not clearing anything up.

3. Any idea what kind of vehicle these three men drive? (Not saying they are perps but they may know where she went)

4. If she was spotted on bank cameras was her purse there? If so then it would seem someone doubled back and dumped it to cover up.

5. If they have her on camera and haven't released a pic of the vehicle then they are either HORRIBLY irresponsible (IMHO) or they already know who the vehicle belongs to and they are just putting pieces together trying to find her body.

I totally agree with number 5.

 

[lvfan]

Things that bother me:
1. If Morgan needed a ride.. why not ask the basketball players instead of strangers? If they weren't willing.. I think they'd at least let her hang out in a safe place until her friends were done. She could have left a note on the car or sent them a text where to get her on campus. Hitching a ride?

2. A senior on a basketball team taking a LOA is HUGE. I would think there'd be a presser to at least clarify that this is in no way connected to Morgan's disappearance. Surely they must no the silence is not clearing anything up.

3. Any idea what kind of vehicle these three men drive? (Not saying they are perps but they may know where she went)

4. If she was spotted on bank cameras was her purse there? If so then it would seem someone doubled back and dumped it to cover up.

5. If they have her on camera and haven't released a pic of the vehicle then they are either HORRIBLY irresponsible (IMHO) or they already know who the vehicle belongs to and they are just putting pieces together trying to find her body.

I would love to know the answer to #3.

 

[Ghostmaster]

I thought I would follow up to the couple of posts that addressed my most recent one. First to evelyn 24; you are correct in the fact that truck drivers caught the shooters. However, since the very beginning of the investigation the police let it be known publicly they were looking for a “white box truck” similar to a small U-Haul or delivery truck and two angry white males, who were the shooters. This is because someone spotted a truck like that very near one of the first shootings with two white males in it. For a couple of weeks dozens of those trucks were stopped and checked. The police discovered however that they were actually looking for a blue Chevrolet Caprice based on information obtained during the investigation. It was not a white truck, not white guys, but a blue car and two black males. They did not release that info to the public but did share it with truck drivers via weigh stations and interaction at rest stops first, hoping for a break in the case. It wasn’t but a couple of days later however that the press got a hold of it and released it everywhere. There was quite a bit of distain for the news outlet that did that too on the part of LE. They were jeopardizing the investigation claiming the public’s right to know.

Until the press released the real info, it was a classic example of mis-information to the public. Granted, it wasn’t done initially on purpose but once law enforcement knew the details they had a huge advantage over the shooters because the shooters were more apt to make a mistake; like sleeping in a car in plain sight at a public rest stop instead of hiding it. They thought LE was looking for something altogether different because word was just getting out to the public via the press. They hadn’t heard the info yet or they would have never made such a mistake.

And to nervous Nellie; yes I think there is a certain degree of mis-information and conflicting stories out there on purpose. Your point about perhaps they want to appear clueless is exactly right, IMHO. Think how you feel right now when it comes to figuring out things about this case. Not just you, but me and just about everyone else on this board. We don’t know what to think or what to believe. Those involved feel the same way. That’s a huge advantage for LE if they have a suspect or two under surveillance because neither will they. Just like the shooters in D.C., their guard will be down sooner or later and then LE can make a move. What they expect to see or not see is not something we’d know about from here, but there is a reason for every comment and every press release. It either solidifies a suspicion they have or eliminates one and that brings them one step closer to ending this nightmare.

Let’s all keep this family in our prayers.

 

[Angel Who Cares]

Today Show Video: Parents plea for missing daughter
Nov. 14: It’s been nearly a month since Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington went missing. NBC’s Amy Robach sits down with Morgan’s parents Dan & Gil.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/33929756#33929756
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harrington's Parents on the Today Show
Posted: Nov 14, 2009 6:24 PM EST
Updated: Nov 14, 2009 7:31 PM EST
<snipped>
Gil Harrington stated, "None of this makes sense. It doesn't make sense that our daughter is missing - snatched from her life, abducted or possibly murdered."

Police say Morgan would have been seen wearing a necklace like the one pictured here. It is an unusual and expensive Swarovski crystal necklace made up of large chain links. It was a gift from her brother.

Gil Harrington said, &#8220;There are not thousands of them out there. It's unique like my daughter. We want her to come back home."

Video Report: Harrington's Parents on Today Show 2:04
http://www.nbc29.com/global/Categor...default&clipId=4302258&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

Video: Police Say Harrington seen Hitchiking 0:32
http://www.nbc29.com/global/video/p...Format=flv&clipId1=4300458&at1=News&h1=Police Say Harrington Seen Hitchiking&flvUri=&partnerclipid=

Article:
http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=11506290
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harrington's Mom Questions Hitchhiking Claim
Updated: 3:08 PM Nov 14, 2009
<snipped>
Virginia state police say Morgan Harrington may have been hitchhiking when she was last seen on the Copeley Road bridge, after leaving a Metallica concert, but Morgan's mother says that would be extremely unusual behavior for her daughter.

In a telephone interview, Gil Harrington said she had never known of her daughter trying to catch a ride with a stranger.

Article:
http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/70108012.html

:angel:

 

[evelyn24]

I was skeptical of the hitchhiking story, however, I am no longer. I&#8217;m also beginning to believe there is video of her getting into a vehicle as well.

Omg, really?
How are they ever going to find her if she was picked up by a stranger and driven out of town, and why was her pocketbook back at the field if she was driven far away?
That pocketbook had to be placed there later IF the story of the bank camera is true. Maybe it was one of the b'ball players that drove to where she was hitching and picked her up?
Either she dropped her pocketbook and didn't notice, threw it down and left it intentionally (not likely), or whoever picked her up hitching had to know she was previously in that field and then took the pocket book and threw it there later to make the trail stop cold in the field.
Then I ask, why bother risking getting caught putting her pb back? Why not just throw it in the woods or river somewhere along your travels?
This case is very odd with the friends attitude when MH was locked out, MH's decision to hitchhike instead of just waiting at a restaurant or by the car, and the pocketbook left in the field area when she supposedly went onto the bridge, and now apparently she wound up on the corner of Copeley/Ivy. How would her pb wind up back in the little field area?

 

[Janeumayer]

Possible Scenario: What if Morgan fought with the "friends" at the concert and decided to leave? Went outside to her car to open it and realized that she did not have her keys. Texted or called her friends to give her the keys through the entrance and they said no. Morgan tries and tries to get back into the arena but noone would let her. Stayed outside for a while but got cold and decided to contact someone else to come get her. Phone dies and she doesnt know anybody's phone numbers from memory so she starts walking towards the Shopping Center to either: 1) Go somewhere warm and wait till the concert ends to go back and get her keys from her friends or, 2) Hitch a ride home even though its a bad idea but she is really pissed off at her "friends" and wants to get home. Bball players see her and engage her in conversation. They ask her to join them while she waits for her "friends" but she says no and goes on her way. On the way to the Shopping Center, her purse slides off her shoulder without her noticing and she keeps walking.

 

[newshound6]

I was skeptical about the hitch hiking at first -now I think it might be true or at least some POI said this and LE are trying to make them feel comfortable by stating this publicly.Also -remember several days ago when Waddles started a minor uproar by saying she heard 3rd hand from an inside source that LE felt MH put herself into really dangerous situations(I'm totally paraphrasing) Maybe this has been a known fact(hitch hiking) for many days.On some other forum( I think it was the basketball team's message board) I read about somebody's "driver" sitting outside waiting ,seeing MH with 3 tall males talking, walking away from each other and rejoining for like 10min.The bridge, the RV lot and this intersection are not that far away from each other.

 

[TripleA]

Not sure if the possibility of drugs have been discussed, but paranoia from a bad trio (even if it was slipped to her) could have made her do something out of character such as hitchhiking.

 

[MeoW333]

I wish they would make the supposed video public they have of Morgan attempting to or actually hitchhiking.
A lot being said about her necklace, it is very unique. There are many blonde girls with the black smudged eyeliner out there, however Morgan may be the only one of them with that necklace on. If it's still on, if not it has to be somewhere, and it is quite noticeable.

"Several of Harrington&#8217;s neighbors came to Charlottesville to take part in last weekend&#8217;s community search, and have since told Harrington that in the course of their searches they ran into residents near the arena who hadn&#8217;t heard about the missing Virginia Tech student, he said.
&#8220;It just amazed them that people had not even heard of this in Charlottesville,&#8221; he said."
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/police_missing_woman_may_have_hitchhiked/48856/

I am not surprised that some college students/residents aren't aware. A lot of times this is the case. They are in "their own worlds" which may be a college campus, etc and the "outside world" doesn't always leak in.
In the case that individuals have no idea Morgan is missing, it is very possible that there are a lot more witnesses out there that haven't come forward since they have no idea that the blonde girl they seen is all over the media missing.

It does happen. When i was in college, i didn't know Princess Diana died until a week later and that was all over the news..

 

[MeoW333]

If they have a video of her hitchhiking and getting into a vehicle, it should be easy for them to figure out the make/model/year of the car not to mention even get the plates. A lot of photo enhancement nowadays can go a long way to see details.

Did she have her purse in the video when going to hitchhike or no?

The question is why would Morgan hitchhike?
Why would she not have her purse?

What would cause her to hitchhike? It is such a dangerous thing to do especially at night in a strange area.

What if after she went outside the concert, couldn't get back in, things start falling apart, she is mad. She encounters someone while outside the arena or RV lot. The person she encounters really scares her, she starts to panic, she can't think clearly, she may ditch her bag either out of fear or as a "clue" or both.
She needs to leave the area asap, she is panicking. So she gets as far as she can from the person who is creeping her out and hitchhikes..

Fear would make people do irrational things. Not everyone is level headed and calmly when faced with fear. Maybe she was running from someone? Maybe thats why she initially left the arena?
Just throwing some ideas out there..

 

[Chili Fries]

Not sure if the possibility of drugs have been discussed, but paranoia from a bad trio (even if it was slipped to her) could have made her do something out of character such as hitchhiking.

If you are feeling paranoid from having a bad trip you are not going to hitchhike, you are going to do the opposite and look for somewhere you will feel safe. Alcohol could make your inhibitions lowered and make you do something like that but I think if she did hitchhike it's probably something she did before.

 

[Janeumayer]

 

[MeoW333]

If you are feeling paranoid from having a bad trip you are not going to hitchhike, you are going to do the opposite and look for somewhere you will feel safe. Alcohol could make your inhibitions lowered and make you do something like that but I think if she did hitchhike it's probably something she did before.

oops lol multitasking not for me..

All drugs and alcohol aside, if she felt she was going to be in immediate danger, her cell didn't work, she wasn't near people she knew or people, maybe someone was creeping her out really bad, she might panic and feel the need to get out of there any way possible.

 

[evelyn24]

I was skeptical about the hitch hiking at first -now I think it might be true or at least some POI said this and LE are trying to make them feel comfortable by stating this publicly.Also -remember several days ago when Waddles started a minor uproar by saying she heard 3rd hand from an inside source that LE felt MH put herself into really dangerous situations(I'm totally paraphrasing) Maybe this has been a known fact(hitch hiking) for many days.On some other forum( I think it was the basketball team's message board) I read about somebody's "driver" sitting outside waiting ,seeing MH with 3 tall males talking, walking away from each other and rejoining for like 10min.The bridge, the RV lot and this intersection are not that far away from each other.

I'm not 100% sure, because I think the post was deleted, but I don't think Waddles post contained information directly related to MH's disappearance. I think it was about the feeling in general LE MIGHT have if MH had put herself in a bad situation for example; not working as hard to crack the case. This was not Waddles POV, but she was relaying the POV of someone on another board that she reads who used to be FBI or is a friend of an ex FBI agent.
Waddles mentioned what she read on the other board to point out how awful it is for someone in LE to think that way.
Again, I don't think her post had any 3rd hand information about MH putting herself in a bad situation, or about the LE who are currently working on the MH case.

 

[MeoW333]

Omg, really?
How are they ever going to find her if she was picked up by a stranger and driven out of town, and why was her pocketbook back at the field if she was driven far away?
That pocketbook had to be placed there later IF the story of the bank camera is true. Maybe it was one of the b'ball players that drove to where she was hitching and picked her up?
Either she dropped her pocketbook and didn't notice, threw it down and left it intentionally (not likely), or whoever picked her up hitching had to know she was previously in that field and then took the pocket book and threw it there later to make the trail stop cold in the field.
Then I ask, why bother risking getting caught putting her pb back? Why not just throw it in the woods or river somewhere along your travels?
This case is very odd with the friends attitude when MH was locked out, MH's decision to hitchhike instead of just waiting at a restaurant or by the car, and the pocketbook left in the field area when she supposedly went onto the bridge, and now apparently she wound up on the corner of Copeley/Ivy. How would her pb wind up back in the little field area?

Do we know if she even had her pocketbook when the bank's cameras caught her if they did?
She might not have, Morgan hitchhiking on Copeley Rd is the last sighting of her around 9:30pm.

I don't see how someone couldn't notice that they dropped their pocketbook unless they were completely wasted. She knew where JPJ arena was so she couldn't have been that wasted. She was also doing a lot of walking around so if she had drank, she would sober up a little. We don't have witnesses saying she was falling over drunk or drunk and sloppy, so i take it if she did drink, it wasn't much at all. With her size, if she did get drunk, i would think it would be noticeable. She's a small girl and alcohol effects them stronger.

She could have tossed her pocketbook on purpose to mark where she had been if something was wrong. If you look at a map, where the purse was found and also where sighting #5 is, it looks very isolated it's a grassy area near the track that borders trees almost parallel to Copeley Rd and facing the back of the Ivy Rd Shopping center (as if she was going to cut through the little bit of trees woods, then the traintracks, to the back of the shopping center.
Why would she go all the way out there that far away from the arena and her friend and car, by herself? It's very strange.. If at some point she sensed that someone was stalking her maybe she tried to flee him. If she thought something bad might happen to herself, she could have ditched the purse to leave a trail?

If the video at the bank shows her with her pocketbook getting into a vehicle, i'd say the perp is the one who ditched it.

http://www.roanoke.com/datasphere/wb/xp-224154
(Above link has a map, you have to scroll down. You can also move the map around with your mouse to see where sighting #6 on the bridge was)

 

[newshound6]

I'm not 100% sure, because I think the post was deleted, but I don't think Waddles post contained information directly related to MH's disappearance. I think it was about the feeling in general LE MIGHT have if MH had put herself in a bad situation for example; not working as hard to crack the case. This was not Waddles POV, but she was relaying the POV of someone on another board that she reads who used to be FBI or is a friend of an ex FBI agent.
Waddles mentioned what she read on the other board to point out how awful it is for someone in LE to think that way.
Again, I don't think her post had any 3rd hand information about MH putting herself in a bad situation, or about the LE who are currently working on the MH case.

The post from Waddles is from MH thread #6 post #73 she said her friend has an ex-boyfriend who is FBI. This friend was dismayed by the ex's statement that LE feels Morgan "is not as innocent" as we all think and put herself into a dangerous situation "as was her habit" that could mean hitch hikig

 

[evelyn24]

Do we know if she even had her pocketbook when the bank's cameras caught her if they did?
She might not have, Morgan hitchhiking on Copeley Rd is the last sighting of her around 9:30pm.

I don't see how someone couldn't notice that they dropped their pocketbook unless they were completely wasted. She knew where JPJ arena was so she couldn't have been that wasted. She was also doing a lot of walking around so if she had drank, she would sober up a little. We don't have witnesses saying she was falling over drunk or drunk and sloppy, so i take it if she did drink, it wasn't much at all. With her size, if she did get drunk, i would think it would be noticeable. She's a small girl and alcohol effects them stronger.

She could have tossed her pocketbook on purpose to mark where she had been if something was wrong. If you look at a map, where the purse was found and also where sighting #5 is, it looks very isolated it's a grassy area near the track that borders trees almost parallel to Copeley Rd and facing the back of the Ivy Rd Shopping center (as if she was going to cut through the little bit of trees woods, then the traintracks, to the back of the shopping center.
Why would she go all the way out there that far away from the arena and her friend and car, by herself? It's very strange.. If at some point she sensed that someone was stalking her maybe she tried to flee him. If she thought something bad might happen to herself, she could have ditched the purse to leave a trail?

If the video at the bank shows her with her pocketbook getting into a vehicle, i'd say the perp is the one who ditched it.

http://www.roanoke.com/datasphere/wb/xp-224154
(Above link has a map, you have to scroll down. You can also move the map around with your mouse to see where sighting #6 on the bridge was)

I have no idea what the bank camera shows, or if the story of her being caught on camera is even true. It was posted as something a local heard supposedly from LE in the area.

As far as the pocketbook, why would she drop it intentionally if something was wrong, then go to the bridge, and then on to the corner of Copeley/Ivy to hitchhike?
I'm not saying it's impossible but it seems like an odd sequence of events.

 

[MeoW333]

The post from Waddles is from MH thread #6 post #73 she said her friend has an ex-boyfriend who is FBI. This friend was dismayed by the ex's statement that LE feels Morgan "is not as innocent" as we all think and put herself into a dangerous situation "as was her habit" that could mean hitch hikig

It's also coming down the grapevine from the ex-gf (obviously she is an ex to the FBI agent for a reason) so who knows if it's even true or what branch FBI he works for, he could work at the office in Nebraska for all we know. It's irrelvant to the case. It also would have the agent reprimanded for voicing his opinion like that since it got out.

Back to topic.

Does anyone know if there are drainage tunnels underneath the track and field area where Morgan was seen in sighting #5 and her purse was found?
The reason i ask is, we had some underneath our High School and back in the day we entered a drainpipe at a stream nearby and could straddle-walk the water trickle (maybe a foot wide and 5 inches deep at most) to underneath the school track/football field. Also in there was a room under the stands, very small, not really a room, yet a space someone had managed to get a school chair in there..