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

[Strawberry Fields]

On the 6 o'clock news, WSLS Channel 10, Roanoke, an update on the body found on Candlers Mt, it was stated that they think possibly more than one person would have had a hand in putting the rocks over the body because they seemed too heavy for one person to lift. They also stated that due to the amount of decomposition of the body, they are pretty confident the body has been there for much longer than the 6 weeks that MH has been missing. So sad a family will have to receive this horrible news of their loved one when they determine who it was. The WSLS.com web site has not been updated, so I am posting this from memory of the report. Hope I have it all correct.

 

[cat thief]

Most victims get sympathy; therefore, no one is going to point out that (for example) they weren't really that good-looking. They publicize a handful of their best photos.

You don't have to be young. A missing parent case gets huge attention. Also, an elderly person is usually found quickly; since their disappearance is usually due to wandering off. Their possible impaired judgment is obvious to all.

As for being White, your complaining is totally unfair. At least 65% of our country is White; and we are all just supposedly so evil because once in a while we show evidence of caring for our own?

Also, the missing reports of nonwhites usually provide so little info that you get no sense at all of what the person was like; esp. that important question, Do they want to be found? The public interest in missing nonwhites is actually there. Instead of sitting around and complaining, why don't you go publicize a case?

You snipped my post. I said some people believe you have to be young, white and good looking to get the press coverage. I didn't say I believed it.

I think how the family reacts once a person goes missing plays a part in the media coverage. Morgan's family has been using all media resources to get the word out, missing posters, Internet web sites, television news/talk shows and even local searches which fuel both local and national television and internet coverage. The more details you give about the person that is missing and what they were doing when they went missing the more it might peak somebody's interest.

 

[shannon2008]

Gaddy says the clothing found at the scene is inconsistent with what Harrington was wearing the night she disappeared.

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1109/682665.html

looks like they dont think that it is her. oh well, it is someone - is there a thread for the other girl?

Forgive me if this has already been said, but I wonder if these remains clothing match the one that lady said she saw Morgan wearing?

(By lady I mean the one who called the police and they discredited her sighting..)

And on the rumor I posted, I know it really didn't change anything major but it did give an idea on how non-family describes her and how different her personality may have been. And what may have affected her decision-making ability. I don't think any differently of her whether true or not.

I hope that these remains are not Morgan...but it doesn't look good does it?

 

[Heroine]

"Two women are currently missing in the Lynchburg area and investigators say they are following up on those cases. Both missing women are in their early twenties. One is a Lynchburg College student."

So there are 3 missing young women in southern Virginia? Morgan, Cassandra Morton, and a Lynchburg College student? And then there was Heidi Childs who was killed along with her boyfriend David Metzler on July 27 on Craig Creek Road in Jefferson National Forest, not all that far from Lynchburg. I'd be freaking if I lived in that area. All of these people were/are in their 20s.

Repeat after me: Serial killer on the loose.

Oh, did I say MOO, JMO, and IMO?


P.S. Believe me, I will not be visiting southern VA any time soon.

Hey I'm from southern VA.....that is a real scary thought. I'm actually glad I'm apart of these forums, because had I not been, I probably wouldn't even have noticed.

 

[truthsleuth]

The remote mountain areas provide good dumping grounds for killers as they are remote. Less chance of being caught while burying or ridding a body. Less people, less travelled, less witnesses.

I totally agree. The current site, Camp Hydaway (Candler's Mtn.), is remote as you can get (well, I think so anyway; I'm a city person), and if you take a peak at Craig Creek Road in Jefferson National Forest, where Heidi Childs and David Metzler were found, it is in the same type of area, perhaps slightly more traveled, but not by much.

What I don't get in this finding is, why wouldn't the killer bury the body? Why would one leave it covered by rocks above ground, yet missing its head? Burying the corpse would make finding it far less of a sure thing. Maybe this guy wants to be identified--and it certainly seems he's toying with LE.

 

[Amster]

If the killer didn't have something to dig a grave with, covering the body with rocks makes sense. Or, dumping the body in a river or lake.....

 

[truthsleuth]

Hey I'm from southern VA.....that is a real scary thought. I'm actually glad I'm a part of these forums, because had I not been, I probably wouldn't even have noticed.

At the very least, please be more aware of your surroundings. We should probably all do that, no matter where we live. These are crazy times.

 

[di anna]

I totally agree. The current site, Camp Hydaway (Candler's Mtn.), is remote as you can get (well, I think so anyway; I'm a city person), and if you take a peak at Craig Creek Road in Jefferson National Forest, where Heidi Childs and David Metzler were found, it is in the same type of area, perhaps slightly more traveled, but not by much.

What I don't get in this finding is, why wouldn't the killer bury the body? Why would one leave it covered by rocks above ground, yet missing its head? Burying the corpse would make finding it far less of a sure thing. Maybe this guy wants to be identified--and it certainly seems he's toying with LE.

Probably buried the body with rocks so that animals could tear the flesh or what have you and it would decomp faster.

 

[truthsleuth]

Probably buried the body with rocks so that animals could tear the flesh or what have you and it would decomp faster.

You know, di anna, the minute I pushed the "submit reply" button for my comment, that's exactly what I concluded: animals would devour the remains and there'd be quicker decomp. Thanks for confirming that I'm not totally "off" in this assumption--glad that someone agrees.

BTW, welcome to WS.

 

[di anna]

You know, di anna, the minute I pushed the "submit reply" button for my comment, that's exactly what I concluded: animals would devour the remains and there'd be quicker decomp. Thanks for confirming that I'm not totally "off" in this assumption--glad that someone agrees.

BTW, welcome to WS.

Thankfully I am not the deputy that had to guard the remains overnight to preserve evidence, can you imagine?

 

[shannon2008]

Updated at 7:12pm:

Questions Surround Body Discovery

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1109/682917.html

This story is generating a lot of interest from media outlets around the state. A crew from Richmond has shown up believing the remains could be those of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington. The sheriff tells me they are too decomposed to be Harrington's and the victim’s victim's clothing does not match what Harrington was last seen wearing.


Still, state police tell us they have followed up on the discovery, just as they have with any other unidentified remains that have been recovered since her disappearance.

Still curious as to whether the clothing might match the ones that woman swore she saw Morgan wearing when she was talking to the news and police....

 

[Cardinal47]

I am a little puzzled that there is some speculation as to whether Morgan ever left Harrisonburg and made it to the JPJ arena. I am just wondering if someone could discuss possible scenarios as to how her purse would have shown up there near the JPJ arena. I really have not formed an opinion one way or the other, only that I cannot think of a scenario that would have her not going there and her purse showing up there, unless it was taken there and dumped to make it appear she was there?

The following is MOO unless a link is provided.
I would like to take a shot at answering. From the very beginning I have believed Morgans trip ended somewhere between Blacksburg and Charlottesville, JPJ Arena. MOO

The early part of the evening, at least, had been uneventful.

"Morgan and Melvin, who share an off-campus apartment in Blacksburg, drove to Harrisonburg, where they picked up Snead and, according to her father, the boyfriend of a friend. According to State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller, the four rode from Harrisonburg to Charlottesville in Morgan's car. Morgan, Geller says, allowed a friend to drive, so she didn't have her car keys with her during the show." http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2009/10/29/cover-findMorgan-E.aspx

MOO
I believe Morgan left the group in one of three places. Blacksburg, Harrisonburg or somewhere outside of JPJ Arena where they might have been catching up and partying with friends.

The gals left Harrisonburg for a 45 minute trip to Charlottesville. I have to believe the father, Dan Harrington, who states Morgans car never made it to Charlottesville. That is why the friends had the car keys..it was their car. What did they do in the three hour span between arrival and concert time?
]
Somewhere in that trip..Morgan left the group. That is why there are no video or camera pictures of Morgan. She was not in the arena.
Everybody has said Morgan was so looking forward to this concert. I have always believed Mom and Dad were more interested in Morgan being interested.

So how did the purse get there? That puzzled me for a long time. One of my specualtions is that her "things" were in the friends car when they parted company. She either didn't show up for the trip or she wandered off in Charlottesville.

Morgan wanted her purse and jacket. Morgan came to the concert and the text to the friends who were inside "please bring me my purse". She texted the friends. The friends texted back but never left their seats. Perhaps they were po'd with her behavior. Remember too that LE have been looking for a phone Morgan might have used other than her own.

Since she might have gotten a lift to the arena thinking her friends would come out and give her her purse that is the reason she was sighted outside the arena. Her ticket was in her purse and that is why she could not get inside. She was dropped off by somebody so she could get her purse and phone and ticket and go to the concert.

After the concert they waited around a bit to see if she would show up. I think they dumped her stuff in the lot and drove on.

I never knew girls could be so evil but the more I read I wonder about true friendship. How far will a girl go for her friends. Why did Morgan's friends desert her in her time of need?

 

[cat thief]

Thankfully I am not the deputy that had to guard the remains overnight to preserve evidence, can you imagine?

:ghost: I was thinking the same thing, then I thought...there must be two deputies.:ghost:

 

[truthsleuth]

Horrifying. That's the stuff of which nightmares are made!

Yikes! Give those men a raise!

 

[di anna]

Had to be:angel:

 

[Cardinal47]

Updated at 7:12pm:

Questions Surround Body Discovery

http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1109/682917.html






Still curious as to whether the clothing might match the ones that woman swore she saw Morgan wearing when she was talking to the news and police....

How in the heck do they know what she was wearing. No video, no camera shots. She made three stops after leaving her parents home with the black outfit on...a girl can change her mind.

 

[MeoW333]

I totally agree. The current site, Camp Hydaway (Candler's Mtn.), is remote as you can get (well, I think so anyway; I'm a city person), and if you take a peak at Craig Creek Road in Jefferson National Forest, where Heidi Childs and David Metzler were found, it is in the same type of area, perhaps slightly more traveled, but not by much.

What I don't get in this finding is, why wouldn't the killer bury the body? Why would one leave it covered by rocks above ground, yet missing its head? Burying the corpse would make finding it far less of a sure thing. Maybe this guy wants to be identified--and it certainly seems he's toying with LE.

The rocks thing is weird, maybe in absense of a shovel or something to dig with. That's the only thing i can think of unless covering with rocks is a type of ritual the killer does for some reason..

Most likely lack of something to dig with. Also if the body was fully covered by rocks, it would prevent it being sighted from an aerial search.

If he were to dig a shallow grave, animals could still dig it up quickly, especially loose dirt. Raccoons and possums used to dig up our compost pile very quickly when we had one..

If the killer didn't have a shovel handy, i guess the next best thing he could think of is rocks. They would conceal the body from an aerial search with a helicopter..
The thing is, using rocks is extremely time consuming, he'd have to lift each rock and pile them over the body, so i wish we had a better idea of exactly how the body was covered with rocks, its odd..

As for the head being missing, it sounds like the killer may have wanted it for some sexual reasons, trophy, or wanted to dispose of it elsewhere.
As disgusting as it is, the removal of a head seems to be done for shock value of LE and whoever else hears about it. Also removing a head shows that the killer is comfortable with killing, and likely he may have killed before this.

Usually when people kill who are not serial killers or comfortable with it, they opt for cleaner ways such as shooting someone (they don't necessarily have to get their hands dirty) or even strangling. This killer likes to get his hands dirty, i wouldn't be surprised if he's a serial..imo

The body was covered with rocks, wood, and debris according to the article.. pretty sure at the time the killer just gathered up what was nearby to hide the body.

The head was found detached further in the woods.. there is a possibility that during decomp animals dragged the head farther in, if the killer did not seperate the body parts.

 

[Cardinal47]

You know, di anna, the minute I pushed the "submit reply" button for my comment, that's exactly what I concluded: animals would devour the remains and there'd be quicker decomp. Thanks for confirming that I'm not totally "off" in this assumption--glad that someone agrees.

BTW, welcome to WS.

Not to get too goorie here but wouldn't that attract the buzzards that would attract the people???

 

[MeoW333]

Sheriff said that the remains are too decomposed to be Morgan. Has there been a thread started for this unidenfied jane doe?
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1109/682917_video.html?ref=newsstory

 

[kikid]

So there are 3 missing young women in southern Virginia? Morgan, Cassandra Morton, and a Lynchburg College student? And then there was Heidi Childs who was killed along with her boyfriend David Metzler on July 27 on Craig Creek Road in Jefferson National Forest, not all that far from Lynchburg. I'd be freaking if I lived in that area. All of these people were/are in their 20s.

It's not all that close to Lynchburg really. The thing about distance here is that it may look somewhat close from above looking down at a satellite image or map, but because you must drive the existing roads through mountains, what looks like a short drive can actually be a long one.