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

[KAE]

I have check some postings on ebay to see if anyone has this pretty necklace listed. There are a ton of swarovski crystal necklace auctions.

I found this auction just after they released the info on the necklace:
Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - VA-Morgan Dana Harrington, 20 Charlottesville #7


I think it's the source LE used for the photos they released.
The auction is closed now, but if you scroll down the photos are still there.
It might be a good idea to check ebay and other sites periodically for the necklace .
I don't think the perp would list it online, but someone who found it and is unaware of it's significance might.
I wish they would include a photo of the necklace on the posters being distributed in the area. It's pretty distinctive and might be enough to trigger someone's memory.

 

[nervous_nellie]

Thank you for the link MeoW333, it has some new little tid bits like "independent witnesses" to her hitching, and that LE suspected all along she was hitching. I would think she had to do this on previous occasions for them to think something like that in this day and age. How many young college girls do that now a day? Her friends had to tell LE she hitched before, right?
Now we are are back to the pocketbook being left behind in the little grassy area. The person who took her and most likely desposed of her had to be from that area or from the Univserity with her PB being thrown back in that field, don't you think?
I know you had very reasonable explanations for why she got rid of it before hitching, but it still feels in my gut it was placed or thrown there later by the perp.

At least the LE are getting closer, I hope the story of her on the bank camera is true.
That would be a huge break, but why aren't they releasing it to show the public the car/truck?
They are still asking for witnesses of her getting in a car/truck.

yes, i agree that they must have been from around there. actually i think that they must have been seen with her at some point so they brought the purse back so they could say: "see, she didnt leave with me ... i left alone". unfortunately for the basketball players, they look to be the only ones seen walking with her and like someone has already suggested that either they or one/some of them looped around and picked her up - which like someone else has asked "why wouldn't she just get a ride with them?", maybe she did??? maybe when she saw them coming she stuck her thumb out in a joking manner and then got in with them??? so on camera it would look like she was really thumbing a ride from any stranger?

 

[Waddles]

Have people seen the latest read the hook article posted on the FB page now, about witnesses being concerned?

 

[KAE]

Have people seen the latest read the hook article posted on the FB page now, about witnesses being concerned?

Wow, thanks Waddles! There's some new info in that article.
Is there a reason you didn't post the link?

 

[Lindsaym]

Have people seen the latest read the hook article posted on the FB page now, about witnesses being concerned?

Yeah. These sightings definitely pull my mind back to your earlier post that you feared was controversial. To me, what it says is: she was drunk and pissed off about getting locked out from the concert. Alcohol can make you belligerent or aggressively flirty (or a weird mix of both). The shouting - she probably lost it at some security guard, and I can't blame her. Crappy weather out, no idea what to do...

The only way it changes my view is to make me more interested in theories that have directed interest toward the U.Va players, or whomever else she was talking to in the RV lot.

I bet you, though, it will make some people more willing to accept the idea that she was in a head-space to do something crazy and out of character like hitchhiking. Which leads me to my real question: why are these witnesses suddenly talking to the media now?

 

[Cortne]

Have people seen the latest read the hook article posted on the FB page now, about witnesses being concerned?

Please do share for those of us at work that cannot click on fb pages!! TIA:angel:

 

[newshound6]

Yeah. These sightings definitely pull my mind back to your earlier post that you feared was controversial. To me, what it says is: she was drunk and pissed off about getting locked out from the concert. Alcohol can make you belligerent or aggressively flirty (or a weird mix of both). The shouting - she probably lost it at some security guard, and I can't blame her. Crappy weather out, no idea what to do...

The only way it changes my view is to make me more interested in theories that have directed interest toward the U.Va players, or whomever else she was talking to in the RV lot.

I bet you, though, it will make some people more willing to accept the idea that she was in a head-space to do something crazy and out of character like hitchhiking. Which leads me to my real question: why are these witnesses suddenly talking to the media now?

Wow-I think we need to carefully consider all the things that have been said about strategic "leaking" of info. by LE - we must have some faith that they are on top of this case.This new witness description by the guy who says MH put her crooked arm out and said "let's go" rings true to me somehow. I have been in that drunk, angry,aggressive state before.This guy reported the encounter right away as did the woman in the car.Be brutally honest with yourselves- if this info was public from day 1 do you believe there would be as much unmitigated sympathy and distress among the public about this case?If you need me to add all the disclaimers that I do not believe any woman or child should ever be preyed upon no matter the circumstances I will- I truly feel that way- but others DO NOT.If you don't believe me hunt around for some article I read on AOL about MH and the comments section following-you will see just how unsympathetic people can be if they think the victim acted in any way they don't consider proper.Blame the victim thinking is real.This info. may have been held back to prevent "blame the victim"

 

[Hoosll]

Please do share for those of us at work that cannot click on fb pages!! TIA:angel:

see readthehook

 

[Waddles]

Wow, thanks Waddles! There's some new info in that article.
Is there a reason you didn't post the link?

just being careful

 

[KAE]

just being careful

Thanks, I'm still not sure what's safe to post.
On the FB Wall, there's an interesting comment from the author of the article. Did you get a chance to read it?

 

[Cardinal47]

Just catching up with the posts. There are so many whys in this case.

1. Why did she ever leave her friends with Metallica about to start.
2. Why did she go outside the arena?
3. Why did she leave the safe area of the JPJ for the unknown?
4. How did she lose her purse?
5. Why did she hitchhike?

The last two make me ask the question..was she mugged for her purse, jewelry where the purse was found? Then she ran off trying to get to the lights of the shopping center?

The saying "desparate people do desparate things" keeps coming to my mind.

When I trace her steps that fateful night I can't get over the fact she was not dressed for walking in 40 something degree weather, in the dark. She had to be very scared. I sometimes feel her fear and pain. Thats how close this case is to me now..scary.

 

[newshound6]

Thanks, I'm still not sure what's safe to post.
On the FB Wall, there's an interesting comment from the author of the article. Did you get a chance to read it?

Interesting comment from the reporter- makes it sound like this info. has not been intentionally withheld by LE.

 

[CindyS]

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...fore-hitching-morgan-harrington-caused-worry/

This article has a clear explanation for why so many alleged eye witness accounts are erroneous, and the comments section includes interesting statements that seem to debunk the accounts of two witnesses, including the newspaper delivery woman's stories.

"Evidence experts, however, say that even the most earnest and certain witnesses can err. 'It’s well established that confidence and accuracy are not clearly correlated,' says UCLA Law Professor Jennifer Mnookin, an evidence expert. Mnookin says that’s the reason police confirm every alleged sighting and look for multiple witnesses or surveillance tapes before releasing new reports. 'The mind isn’t a camera,' she says. 'Recollections can be affected in all kinds of ways by other information, by what we want to believe, by other biases.' "

 

[KAE]

Interesting comment from the reporter- makes it sound like this info. has not been intentionally withheld by LE.

But they weren't going to release it themselves...

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...fore-hitching-morgan-harrington-caused-worry/

This article has a clear explanation for why so many alleged eye witness accounts are erroneous, and the comments section includes interesting statements that seem to debunk the accounts of two witnesses, including the newspaper delivery woman's stories.

"Evidence experts, however, say that even the most earnest and certain witnesses can err. 'It’s well established that confidence and accuracy are not clearly correlated,' says UCLA Law Professor Jennifer Mnookin, an evidence expert. Mnookin says that’s the reason police confirm every alleged sighting and look for multiple witnesses or surveillance tapes before releasing new reports. 'The mind isn’t a camera,' she says. 'Recollections can be affected in all kinds of ways by other information, by what we want to believe, by other biases.' "

And LE has to wade trough all these witness reports and somehow arrive at a reasonable timeline. That would explain why they didn't release them in the first place.

 

[lilacwine]

I don't understand why impairment can't be openly reported. For all we know someone slipped her something.

 

[part time prof]

http://www.readthehook.com/blog/ind...fore-hitching-morgan-harrington-caused-worry/

This article has a clear explanation for why so many alleged eye witness accounts are erroneous, and the comments section includes interesting statements that seem to debunk the accounts of two witnesses, including the newspaper delivery woman's stories.

"Evidence experts, however, say that even the most earnest and certain witnesses can err. 'It’s well established that confidence and accuracy are not clearly correlated,' says UCLA Law Professor Jennifer Mnookin, an evidence expert. Mnookin says that’s the reason police confirm every alleged sighting and look for multiple witnesses or surveillance tapes before releasing new reports. 'The mind isn’t a camera,' she says. 'Recollections can be affected in all kinds of ways by other information, by what we want to believe, by other biases.' "

Good article, I agree. Re: Sheetz in Orange. Someone on here posted that there are 2, but I have only been able to find one on the Sheetz website or Google maps. I recall reading an address, maybe in that same post, that I recall was not the one that comes up online for Sheetz in Orange, but I can't remember what it was. Could it possibly be that there are 2 (maybe one a brand new one), and LE checked the wrong one's surveillance tapes?

I think there was a quote, either in the article or in the comments, that the woman claimed LE had indeed looked at the wrong tapes (not specified if wrong location or wrong date/time).

Can someone just help me out with this one piece? It probably wasn't MH, but the woman seems pretty adamant about the shirt and has, imo, a plausible reason for having noticed that it said "Pantera." TIA.

 

[Cardinal47]

Just finished reading The Hooks Sunday article. I was most interested in the 44 year old mans eyewitness account. The argueing that he heard but did not witness. The way the girl was so forward with him and his calling his girlfriend immediately to tell her what happened. She advised him to call LE. Another what if...

With the way Morgan acted with him it makes me think we really don't know much about Morgan. Was she quiet, loud. Was she an angry drinker..for that matter did she drink?

Funny with no friends speaking, no pictures and no LE giving us a profile we can only guess at the type of young woman she was. Have they done this to protect her or her family?

The friends have taken quite a bit of heat over all this and I understand why. But was Morgan a reckless, fearless, take risks type of person? Were they just tired of following her. I am sure they never in a million years would have thought anything would happen to her. As I write this I say to myself..wait a minute..that kind of friend needs more protection and where were her friends when she told them...I am locked out...I will find a ride. If she was reckless..she needed a friend.

 

[evelyn24]

Sorry, I don' t think the 44 year's encounter was with MH. Wasn't she away from the arena by 9pm?

Another witness:

In addition to a black miniskirt, tights, and a black shirt, the young blonde was wearing distinctive high-heeled boots, Until now, the missing woman’s boots have been described as “knee high,” but this witness insists they were “over the knee.” At presstime, neither police nor Morgan’s parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, had responded to the possible discrepancy

Wasn't it reported by LE she had knee high boots with a modest/small heel?

IDK, sounds like MH was all over the place creating scenes with everyone in different areas.

Not sure about all these witnesses really seeing MH.

 

[Hoosll]

I've come to tne conclusion that LE keep the necklace design out of the news in order to vet eyewitness accounts. No necklace=no credility, seems harsh.

The latest from the paperwoman now says MH was wearing a jacket with her hair tucked into it so she really only saw a blond in black with smoky eye shadow ...

I do think it is time they release any pictures they have from that night.

I would like to know if they found any fingerprints on her purse/wallet/phone?

Did she wear rubber bands on her fingers because she liked to pull her hair back? Did she have her hair pulled back?

If LE can see the car on bank cameras, did the cameras see the car return that night (heading in either direction) on Copeley to place the purse back at Lannigan field parking?

 

[evelyn24]

I've come to tne conclusion that LE keep the necklace design out of the news in order to vet eyewitness accounts. No necklace=no credility, seems harsh.

The latest from the paperwoman now says MH was wearing a jacket with her hair tucked into it so she really only saw a blond in black with smoky eye shadow ...

I do think it is time they release any pictures they have from that night.

I would like to know if they found any fingerprints on her purse/wallet/phone?

Did she wear rubber bands on her fingers because she liked to pull her hair back? Did she have her hair pulled back?

If LE can see the car on bank cameras, did the cameras see the car return that night (heading in either direction) on Copeley to place the purse back at Lannigan field parking?

I agree, and it's a good tactic, because the necklace is distinctive.