Holiday heartache: Harringtons face Christmas without Morgan
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Dan and Gil Harrington are facing the holidays without their daughter.PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART
“Today,” says Dan Harringon, “I’m imagining that she did decide to leave, that she just started a new life somewhere.”
His wife, Gil, gently chides him, calling the idea that their daughter, Morgan Harrington, could have voluntarily disappeared October 17 after attending a Metallica concert at UVA’s John Paul Jones Arena, “impossible,” and Dan manages a grim smile.
“It makes me feel better,” he tells his wife, before turning to a reporter and admitting, “I don’t really think that’s the case.”
Sitting in their comfortable living room in their Roanoke home less than two weeks before Christmas, the Harringtons say the last two months have been “hell on earth.” And with no sign of their 20-year-old daughter, a Virginia Tech student who’d come to Charlottesville to attend the show and vanished after getting stuck outside the venue without her friends, there is no end to that earthly hell in sight.
They are coping, they say, in different ways.
“She deserved a life,” says Gil Harrington, pictured here with a self-portrait by her missing daughter, Morgan.PHOTO BY COURTENEY STUART
While Gil, a nurse, is home, Dan, a psychiatrist, has gone back to work at Carilion Clinic, but only in his capacity as vice president of academic affairs.
“I can’t see patients,” he says. “It’s like I’m crawling out of my skin.”
The distraction of the part-time administrative work is welcome, he says, but it keeps the ongoing nightmare at bay only briefly, and the agony of not knowing where his daughter is— if she’s alive at all— hits again and again, a merciless staccato of pain. The aftermath of Wednesday-evening meetings, during which he and his colleagues discuss the various young medical students and professionals they oversee, is particularly difficult.
“I break down and sob in the car on the way home,” says Dan, as he imagines what may never happen in his own daughter’s life: finishing college, pursuing a career, finding love, having her own family.
“Morgan,” says her father, choking up, “had not fulfilled her potential yet. It’s such a waste.”
Gil, a slip of a woman with strawberry blond hair in a ponytail, dressed in black, her face drawn, is also finding ways to cope, as well as ways to ensure that whatever happened to Morgan doesn’t destroy the rest of her family including the couple’s 22-year-old son, Alex, who lives in New York.
“We are being made into something different,” she says softly. “But I don’t want it to be something sour.”
As she talks, Christmas music plays softly in the background. While joyful melodies are typical household music in mid-December, here they underscore an internal struggle.
“I don’t want to celebrate,” says Gil, “but I want to acknowledge tradition, if nothing else.”
There is no Christmas tree here, but a plain green wreath hangs on the front door, adorned only with a yellow ribbon. It’s another compromise between a family tradition of making elaborate wreaths and an impulse to do nothing at all.
“We’re establishing a tradition of our new life,” says Gil. “I don’t want it to be that we batten down the hatches and say we won’t celebrate holidays ever again.”
Morgan Harrington.PHOTO FROM STATE POLICE
With no new information in the case over the past several weeks, the national media spotlight has moved to other stories. But according to Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller, Morgan’s case remains “very active” as police continue to follow up on approximately 600 tips, but none so far have allowed them to extend the official timeline past 9:30pm, when Morgan was seen by multiple witnesses with her thumb out, hitchhiking on the Copeley Road bridge.
Dan and Gil say they remain mystified by what could have happened to their daughter and by descriptions of her behavior, which reportedly included falling and injuring her face, kicking someone outside the Arena, and— in a new detail that Geller now confirms— repeatedly dropping her purse.
That last detail may help explain why various of Morgan’s belongings were found in a separate location near the place where the purse was discovered in the RV lot. “It was like they’d spilled out,” says Geller, maintaining that the intact purse showed no evidence of struggle.
“What happened in the bathroom seems critical,” says Gil, noting that when Morgan last saw the two friends with whom she attended the show, she told them she was going to the ladies room. “We don’t know if she took something or was given something. None of this makes sense,” says Gil, adding that Morgan had no history of getting in trouble for substance use or abuse.
To some, the silence of Morgan’s friends, who have almost entirely refrained from commenting to media outlets, seems questionable. But both Gil and Dan are adamant that Morgan’s friends should not be vilified, with Dan likening Morgan’s case to the “wrong leg being amputated in the ER.” Many factors, many mistakes by different people, he says, led to one devastating outcome.
“There is someone to blame,” he says: the person who took her.
“Someone should not be taken, raped and murdered,” he says. “That’s what we have to believe the bad outcome is here.”
Yet despite being forced to face that brutal possibility, the Harringtons, although constantly correcting themselves when they use the past tense to discuss Morgan, insist they have not given up hope. Morgan’s room remains untouched, her bed neatly made, a pair of Chuck Taylor hightops sit in her closet next to a pair of black stiletto ankle boots. The Harringtons are also keeping Morgan’s Blacksburg apartment, 35 minutes away, although they say her roommate, Amy Melvin, has moved out.
The Harringtons say they understand the quieting news cycle but wish attention could stay focused on finding Morgan. They mention the $150,000 reward and express hope someone will soon claim it.
“It’s time,” says Gil, “for someone to come forward.”
The absence of reporters calling and television crews setting up in their house is also leaving them with more time to absorb the horrific reality.
“How can we even be having this conversation? It’s absurd!” Dan suddenly exclaims during an interview, before falling silent, as though the surreality of what has happened is hitting him for the first time.
They reminisce about this past summer, when Morgan suddenly seemed more adult than child. They laughed together watching The Real Housewives of Orange County, took a beach trip, ate meals together.
“We call it the ‘miracle summer,’” says Gil, explaining the name doesn’t imply that there were problems before— only that Morgan had, after years as a friend-obsessed teenager, at last seemed genuinely interested in spending time with her parents and moving toward a relationship of equals.
“We didn’t know that in 20 years we were supposed to pack in a lifetime,” says Gil.
While Dan has his day-to-day work, Gil is looking ahead to a long-planned journey she’ll take this spring to Africa with the nonprofit Orphan Medical Network International, a group bringing medical supplies to impoverished villages. It’s her sixth such trip, and in her garage, she is assembling “birthing kits,” zip-lock baggies packed with items including a large piece of plastic, two pieces of string to tie off an umbilical cord, a sterile razor blade to cut the cord, and a towlette. The kits cost less than $1.50 to put together from Lowe’s, says Gil, yet they are prized possessions in a world where mothers deliver infants alone in huts and often perish from infection, leaving their babies to die of starvation. Knowing that she is not the only mother who suffers, and having seen other women’s suffering up close, helps her stave off self-pity.
“Even if I can’t find my child, save my girl,” says Gil, who imagines herself as an umbrella, protecting those she pulls close, “I’m going to make sure I’m saving someone.”
But she’s not ready to give up on Morgan.
“The hole that she leaves,” she says simply, “is unfillable.”
~
Anyone with information about Morgan Harrington’s disappearance is urged to call the Virginia State Police hotline at 434-352-3467. Anonymous tips are accepted.
Website for Morgan: http://www.findmorgan.com
Please join us at http://www.findmorgan.com/forum/index.php
Thanks for keeping Morgan’s story out there, Courtney. Let’s hope she’s found soon, my heart breaks for her brave parents.
Dan and Gil. I pray everyday that Morgan comes home safe. God Bless you and your son. 2.4.1. Morgan
I want to remind everyone that there have been student disappearances like this where the student was recovered alive after eight months. It is not a voluntary disappearance, rather a mental event that causes “running.” That’s what this is called in other countries. The first cases were noted in 1880’s France.
I attempted to contact Dr Harrington about her disappearance, leaving a message at the clinic, but have no success so far. It is very likely that she is a Dissociative Fugue victim just as he theorizes.
Dissociative Fugue is diagnosed when someone is found that disappeared and started a new life with no memory of the old one. But little is known about the cause or first few days of the event.
Psychosocial psychobabble reasons are given by “experts” to explain it. But I discovered that a little known problem capable of causing a mental break is unknown by anyone in mental health services.
Virginia Tech was warned about this problem, Subliminal Distraction, after the Cho shooting. Since then there has been a suicide and a beheading murder. How much must happen before Tech acts to investigate Subliminal Distraction and Cubicle Level Protection.
L K TUcker still spreading pseudo-science? Her father is a real professional, no wonder he doesn’t want to hear your made up diagnosis. Got a perpetual motion machine to sell too?
My prayers continue for your Morgan. My prayers continue for you & your son as well. I pray for you to find some sense of Peace in your life this Holiday , if even for a moment to feel Heavenly Peace & know that even strangers Love you & your family.
~~ Blessings ~~
Frances Loper Corwin
one of Morgan’s Facebook Moms
Bless you: Dan, Gil, Morgan, and Alex. I hope that Morgan will be found soon. I am sending you many good thoughts and energy as I pray for you. I wish that I could do more. You have shown us all how to cope with the pinnacle of a parent’s nightmare with strength and dugnity.
I am keeping love, hope and faith alive for Morgan. I simply can not give up. She is such a sweet, beautiful girl, and she has strength that most people don’t know about. I just refuse to think negatively! God bless The Harringtons this holiday season. And i will continue to pray for a miracle!
Everyday I pray for Morgan and never stop hoping she will come home.
Wishing you some moments of peace this christmas and know that your beautiful shining Morgan and the love you have for each other has touched the hearts of so many of us.
Godspeed Morgan Godspeed precious child.
Dan,Gil, Alex
I can only imagine the pain you are in, as I too have a daughter the same age as Morgan. We have been following your story from the province of Ontario,Canada praying at our church for the safe return of Morgan. We will be thinking of you over Christmas.
Take care and God bless yous.
“Today,” says Dan Harringon, “I’m imagining that she did decide to leave, that she just started a new life somewhere.”
————————————————————–
Yes, that has been my theory that she changed identity and may be in a distant location such as New York City or Tokyo, Japan.
Also the name that Morgan listed on her Facebook page as her own favorite celeb is Allison Harvard — the runnerup in Cycle 12 of America’s Next Top Model. I cannot find on the internet where Allison is or has been since briefly modelling in LA in the Spring.
I have posted on the fans’ website of ANTM almost a week ago, and no answer about the whereabouts of Allison Harvard. Today I added the question about where is Morgan Harrington.
I hope the lines of convergence will lead someone to finding both of them in safety.
Thank you,
Ed Cooper
excellent follow up story. The hook has done an outstanding job for Morgan & her family. I am deeply touched by your continued caring articles on Morgan.
I found it curious and frustrating that LE is just now confirming ‘new’ information that Morgan was dropping her purse outside the venue, when most of us via facebook have known that for well over a month.
Also, this is the first I’m hearing that contents of Morgan’s purse were found “in a separate location near the place where the purse was discovered”.
I cant help but wonder why this information took long to reach the public, as it doesn’t seem like it’s anything that would hinder the investigation yet can add insight to those of us helping to find Morgan.
Going by the information from the witnesses that saw Morgan injured,
Morgan was last seen inside the venue- in the smoking lounge area during Lamb of God, not in the bathroom. So unless there is more ‘new’ info that LE has yet to pass along, then we don’t know that Morgan was ever in the bathroom.
xo Pam, angel Kelli’s mom
ps: we haven’t had a tree since Kelli’s death.
So I can certainly relate with the Harrington’s going through their first Christmas without Morgan.
Our major snowstorm is pretty much going to trump this thread for a while. Therefore, I hope the Harringtons realize we’re still thinking of them every day, and that we have them and Morgan in our prayers as well!
How is Allison Harvard in any way connected to Morgan Harrington? Why are you wondering about Allison Harvard?
Allison Harvard was the only person’s name on Morgan’s favorite celeb list on Morgan’s Facebook
page with contained almost 700 friends.
Please email me ([email protected])
and I can send you facial poses of both girls that I have paired because of similar expressions.
The photos were from public accessible websites.
Also I cannot learn from the internet fansites where Allison is now or has been for a few months.
I have no knowledge about either of them and maybe they never met before or after Oct 17.
Courteney, thanks for staying on top of this story…
This is so very sad. It sure does sound like Morgan was drugged. The repeat dropping of the purse and aggressiveness sounds like PCP. Ketamine?
I hate to read of her father talking about rape and murder, although he is right, that is probably what happened.
The best case scenario is that she was taken and is being held captive — which does happen. What a horrible best case scenario.
I just have a really strong feeling that Morgan is still very much alive. My feelings on this kind of thing are usually right.
Most likely, whoever gave her the drug then later took her. The two actions go hand in hand. She got the drug first indoors, and then was taken, almost surely by the same exact person. The chance is slim of there being two equally violative people in the same location on the same night. Whoever took her is likely someone with a history of drugging women at rock concerts, getting them thrown out, and then taking them away. Someone had to see some of this indoors.
Whether self-inflicted or a victim of unknowingly consuming, this girl was drugged. Nothing else really makes any sense. You have a woman who was acting out of character. She was possibly seen hitch-hiking, but was definitely on her own at night. Any person looking to take advantage of a woman who seemed incapable of protecting herself could have taken, or hurt Morgan. If that person is reading any of this: Please give her back. Turn yourself in. Go sit in a jail cell. You’ll have a wonderful Christmas dinner in a warm place, and the Morgan’s can go on living their lives. Maybe you will even find God while in prison and live a better life for yourself. You don’t have to end up living a life like you are now. Yes, some are unforgiving and judging, but you have seen the Morgan’s on television or online, and I do not think they are unforgiving. They need Morgan back, or they need to know what happened to their baby. Don’t take that away from them. You may be someone who was deprived your whole life, but the Morgan’s didn’t do anything to you. Try to see that.
Pardon, I meant “the Harrington’s”, not “the Morgan’s.” My bad.
Whomever is responsible for Morgans disappearance find it in your conscious to let her go.. Let her go back home to her loving family where she belongs. There is someone out there who knows what was done with Morgan. Please pick up a phone and call the police and tell what you know that will lead them to Morgan. You owe that to Morgan, her family and yourself .
The Harrington family needs to come to Charlottesville whenever UVa is back in session and refuse to leave their campus until the UVa administration stops playing games and gets these 3 or 4 people who were spotted at 3:45 am that night by the eyewitness who said Morgan was with them to come forward and explain themselves. The eyewitness delivering papers that morning says she can ID at least one of the men she claims she saw Morgan with but NOBODY seems to care who it was or what they were doing. If it wasn’t Morgan, where is the woman they WERE with?
There are apparently very few students who live in that area. It’s also long overdue for the basketball players to start talking too. Enough with the unexplained suspensions. Nobody cares what they were up to if it has nothing to do with the disappearance! But instead it seems that UVa is doing everything it can to protect their students and deflect attention away from scrutiny - even though Morgan vanished on their campus. This is unacceptable for a MISSING PERSONS investigation! Instead of getting everything out in public asap to try and find a missing girl in danger, we’ve got people trying to cover things up to protect their turf and their own instead. The cops’ hands are tied unless public pressure comes to bear on this college to produce these students and have them start explaining themselves one way or the other..
SICK.
I feel terrible for the Harrington’s and the families of all the missing everywhere. I pray this has a happy ending, of course. My heart goes out to them. But I think UVa’s behavior the last few months has been disgusting. To hell with bad publicity that might tarnish a sports star or a top student. They are safe and sound. If they have nothing to do with this, then why the shroud of secrecy? Howsabout we cover ALL the bases and get to the bottom of EVERYTHING we can - regardless of who it is or what school they go to..
There are apparently very few students who live in that area.
***
Wasn’t this on the Lawn? Do you even know much about U.Va?
There has been absolutely no evidence that U.Va. athletes were involved in this matter, apart from talking to her for a minutes before she disappeared.
Your amateur sleuthing is well intentioned, I am sure, but it’s much more realistic that investigators have followed up on these claims and found them to be unsubstantiated.
WestBerkeleyFlats-I agree with you completely. Here and on other forums, people are commenting who not only have never set foot in Charlottesville, they’ve never even been to the state of Virginia. So many have become experts on what should be done and where searches should be conducted while misstating what little information is known. As for the suspensions, one has now been stated to be for academic reasons. All who are familiar with UVa sports know that Virginia places higher academic standards on its athletes than does the NCAA. This academic suspension is not the first, and certainly will not be the last. As for the other suspension, that was for a violation of team rules, was for a specified # of games and that player has now returned to play. I have lost count of how many people have come under suspicion by amateur sleuths, who have little if any actual knowledge, and I have yet to understand why these individuals think they should be entitled to any information. This could very well be a criminal case, and again it might not be. If anyone has information, take it to the authorities, and only share with the public if you want to speak. No one is obligated to speak out to the public just to satisfy what some feel is their need to know.
First and foremost, I pray Morgan is still alive and will come home to her family. But as Lannie points out, this may or not be a case of foul play. Witnesses say they saw Morgan dropping her purse several times, and appeared to have fallen. What are the odds that if she was falling-down drunk when witnesses saw her, that she became even more drunk minutes later as she absorbed more alcohol? Could she have stumbled across Copeley bridge going towards Ivy Road, decided to use the restroom at the portopotties (which were situated in the U-Hall lot, in the vicinity of the railroad tracks when I noticed them at the Phish concert)and then crawled over the guard rail to her left and then turned around and tried to walk down the steep embankment leading to the railroad tracks on her way to the Porto-pottys, and slipped or blacked out trying to cross the track, only to be hit and snagged by a train which then carried her untold miles westward (or eastward, but the trains are usually travelling west on that line) before discarding her body? I hope not. But it wouldn’t surprise me if her body turns up on the CSX line. Especially if a search of the railroad tracks for miles and miles west and east of Copeley Bridge is conducted.
I know we’re not supposed to crucify the friends, but does anyone have any additional information on their stories?
As I understand it, Morgan called and told them she couldn’t get back inside the venue. She didn’t have keys to go wait in the car and, rather than staying put for several hours, she told them she was going to “find a ride” back to her apartment in Blacksburg.
That’s almost 150 miles away and a nearly three-hour drive. And they let her. Okay.
At the end of the concert, they emerge from the venue. No Morgan. Did they drive around Charlottesville, looking for her? (Sorry for the sarcastic tone — it’s unintended. I really don’t know what they did immediately following the show).
They eventually get back to Roanoke and Blacksburg. No Morgan. What happened then? I heard they slept in their respective beds and didn’t sound the alarms until Mrs. Harrington called, looking for Morgan.
They allowed Morgan to fend for herself in the cold and dark, trying to hitch a ride back home with God-knows-who. Or they know she was meeting someone and it’s gone awry.
Either way… their actions make no sense.
Amy,
It was actually Mr. Harrington who notified the authorities. He and Morgan had a date at noon to balance Morgan’s checkbook. When she didn’t show he called the “friends”, then notified the authorities…Maybe the “friends” actually believed Morgan could find a ride home, 3 hours away ??!!…What I don’t understand is why they did not confirm Morgan’s arrival…Valuable time was lost due to this failure…The fact they have refused to make the talk show rounds like the parents when the story was active is also appalling…
In one Hook article, Dan Harrington says it was like Morgan “fell off the face of the earth”. In the most recent he is quoted as likening the focus on her friends to Morgan having the wrong leg amputated. I realize this is morose, but if she didn’t need her leg amputated, either leg would be the wrong leg. Maybe she did have a “fall”. Maybe Morgan’s leg was amputated. Maybe Mr. Harrington should focus on what he himself is saying about her disappearance. Maybe God is trying to tell him something. I think another search party should be organized specifically to search the train tracks, and any trains that passed under Copeley bridge in the days following her disappearance. It’s illegal to walk on the train tracks (and to cross them outside of a railroad crossing, for good reason), but they should close the line for a day so that anyone who wants to look for her can do so safely. I’ll be there to help when they do so.
Twisted world some people live in if not showing up on tabloid TV is “appalling.”
Twisted world some people live in if not showing up on tabloid TV is “appalling” to them.
Funny, it wasn’t tabloid TV when the parents went to various networks to get the word out about their daughter…It’s only when the “friends” are criticized that the importance of media coverage is minimized…The only thing twisted is the conduct of Morgan’s “friends”….
Face it CJ, you have nothing to do with solving this case unless you happen to have Morgan with you or know where she is. Twisted also applies to your endless attempts to smear someone who simply has no reason to answer to you. And you wonder why they don’t want to be in the public eye!
If you would get your head out of the cookie jar for a moment you would realize that it’s not about what the “friends” want..It’s about doing what is needed to bring her home. It’s obvious that media exposure can be an effective tool in turning up leads when it’s properly utilized.
You must be a close friend of the “friends” otherwise, you wouldn’t be defending the indefensible….Think about how different the case would be if the “friends” had been friends…
The friends are fine…they don’t need you to defend them. Morgan is the one that’s missing.
I’ve never met any of them. I don’t need to have met them to know that you won’t have anything to do with finding Morgan.
The friends most certainly don’t need you to attack them. You have no idea what is going on behind the scenes. Additionally, you have advanced neither a rational nor a compelling argument as to why they should make themselves available to you or anyone else not connected to the case for more personalized attack. It is then indeed about what they want and clearly they don’t want to be on television or answer to critic on the internet.
…and as long as they continue to do what they “want” I will continue to criticize them until they come out of hiding or Morgan is found, whichever comes first…
And they will rightfully continue to ignore you, who are a irrelevant person “hiding” under the signature CJ.
Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, and hopefully Morgan, with the New Year I pray it will bring you enlightenment, strength, wisdom, hope, comfort, and love. God bless you and your family.
CJ
Don’t you know those friends are suffering deeply over this .Please tell me you seen their deep concern in the pics where they are doing shots half naked, nay I add the header in the pic is the notorious 2..4…1 . mere days after Morgan disappeared . My personal favorite is “one” of the “nine” with her shirt tied up mocking Morgan hitchhiking right under a sign for the search for Morgan .What a pile of trash !
Morgan didn’t have a friend in sight that evening .
But on a good note . UVA is clicking along like the well oiled MONEY machine it is .
GO UVA !
Dakota
Well said Dakota…but remember there’s no “rationale” or “compelling arguement” for criticizing the “friends” the pictures you mentioned are only worth 1,000 words !!
Where did you see these pictures of Morgan’s friends doing shots half-naked, and mocking her? I have to see it to believe it.
Kat, the pictures were posted by ilvcville on the “concerned witneses” thread. See link and his (or her)comment below.
ilvcville December 23rd, 2009 | 3:37 pm
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036708&id=1564500045&page=3
Form these pictures it looks like her best buds got over their grief fast (including the girls she went to the concert with).
How sad for Morgan and her parents.
Kat
If you have trouble finding the pic’s , I will lead you to them . The “friends” of Morgan have pulled everything down they can in an effort to stop the bleeding , I mean so their deep grief is not exposed to the world .
Dakota
Yeah, the facebook page is locked down tight. Dakota or CJ, it would be better to send such “possibly incriminating” photos to said LE. If you have a way to get to the pictures then right click and do a “save as” then upload the pictures in an email to the police. Possibly LE has already seen the photos.
State police email taken from the wwww.findmorgan.com website:
Even if their motives are misread in the pictures, it would still be best for LE to get to the bottom of their latest actions. It’s possible they are just grieving over Morgan, and they are angry at the fact that they are suspected by some of their colleagues. Making inappropriate jokes while intoxicated may simply be their way of dealing with this situation. A pathetic way to grieve, yes! However, everything having to do with Morgan’s disappearance is important to the investigation.
CJ…didn’t you say you know them? Do you think they are capable of such? I think back to the boyfriend when speculating. Could there have been any jealousy, or betrayal over the boyfriend, or anything else? A motive would get the ball rolling on investigating “the friends” further if need be.
Kat I don’t know them but I do recall someone on the Concerned Witnesses thread stating that they did….
Everyone -Here’s the latest based on today’s briefing from law enforcement:
http://www.wset.com/news/stories/1209/691614.html
Some facts on human trafficking (a huge problem in North Carolina): http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/about/fact_human.html
Kat, what’s up with the page you linked to? It doesn’t have anything to do with this case from what I can see there.
When there are no leads…chances are you are dealing with a professional criminal. Someone who knows when and where to kidnap a person, and someone who is good at covering their tracks. It seems in cases like this where you have a beautiful woman missing her abductor is usually a repeat sexual offender. On the other hand, it could also be human trafficking. It has already been said in another article that LE believes Morgan is alive and being held against her will. See the article on the website above that “CJ” has given. Why would they write that if there was not some truth in it. Morgan may have held out her thumb for a ride and got in the car willingly; however, if a person chooses to seek out lonely girls to kidnap she would have been the perfect victim. Some of these human traffickers are females. If you needed a ride and it was a woman, wouldn’t you trust her more than you would a man.
Also, if you are a human trafficker (pimp), wouldn’t you think about where you could find such victims. Like heavily publicized rock concerts for instance. From Rhode Island to Florida there are several reports of human trafficking. Google North Carolina human trafficking, or Virginia human trafficking, etc., to see what I mean. If you kidnap girls in one state then your chances for getting caught would be higher? Common sense. The fact sheet I presented says that it is usually foreigners who are used for this, but on another report:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=humtraffconf
almost half of them were people just like Morgan. They were abducted in the U.S., and white. Stripped of their identities. Are being held against their will. Their abductors threaten the victims by telling them their families will be harmed if they are “bad”. This type of human trafficking is called “Johns’ Demand”. Read it for yourself.
The main reason I posted it is because; 1) it is a possibility and 2) because people who read these comments are concerned about Morgan and others like her. They should familiarize themselves with what to look for in spotting a human trafficking victim. The link I provided has other links which take you to such vital information. Fliers are posted for such victims with photos of how they looked before being abducted, but chances are, if you look for these victims as they look in their photos you will not see them. Readers need to know these types of things.
This case needs a swift kick in the “think outside of the box.”
Comments for this post will be closed in 6 days.
I hope we have a fresh story to keep the interest alive in finding Morgan .
Dakota
@ Dakota…I hope so too, but we saw this bus coming. The delayed, vague release of information pretty much had a chilling effect on things….Still praying for Morgan’s safe return.
Cj
I wish I didn’t have to agree with you over this , but I must .
Your observations in my opinion are exactly what has give little hope this case will be solved . The powers that be shut down the most powerful tool they had in finding Morgan , the public .
This will be the same as the serial rapist in Charlottesville , the public will have to hand the powers that be the animal that was raping Women for what 10 years or more , pat themselves on the back and take all the credit for a job they didn’t do . When Morgan’s remains are found it will be again by the public , the investigation will be ongoing , records sealed to hide the utterly botched investigation . Life goes on, I guess .
There is a powerful force driving that bus you mention .
I feel the important details that would have sparked a clue to find Morgan will come out in a few years when the infamous “friend’s sign the movie deal .
In the meantime we have two of the most courageous parent’s I have ever seen, haunted over the loss of their Daughter . I am to the point I can barley stand to see the updates by the Harrington’s , it’s heartbreaking to even look at the pain in their face .
Not saying abduction cases are easy , they are difficult , understood . I am not understanding why the powers that be decided to make it even harder with the misinformation and lack of engagement of the public when it was desperately needed , not weeks to months later .
WE are better than this ,Morgan deserved much better .
Dakota
does everyone know that the Harringtons are now working with a new search and rescue organization called the Cue Center for Missing Persons? They are planning another expanded search. Don’t give up. She is still out there and she may still be alive. I sure think she is. LE HAS done a lot, there is always more to do. The best place for updates is Findmorgan.com
quote: “This will be the same as the serial rapist in Charlottesville , the public will have to hand the powers that be the animal that was raping Women for what 10 years or more , pat themselves on the back and take all the credit for a job they didn’t do.
Agreed.
quote: “… records sealed to hide the utterly botched investigation….
Even I can’t go so far as to say that! :)
The investigation hasn’t been botched. There’s simply nothing to work with.
The only thing that has been botched up to this point is the John Paul Jones arena refusing to allow her back inside. I consider them and their “entry policy” to be the direct cause of Morgan’s disappearance.
@ Kat - Issues w/Jane Valez Mitchell will be devoting a large block of time to human trafficing tonight -it’s a bigger epidemic than we realize.
@ cat -I’m glad they are getting a new search team.
@ Dakota -spot on as usual !!
@ Gas Bag - The no re-entry policy is standard in large arenas but how many people go missing as a result ? Why was Morgan outside to begin with ? I think that is the most basic, critical yet elusive question in this case.
Does anyone know if the Harringtons have considered or have hired a private investigator ? I think one is in order…..
Thanks CJ. I will watch. From the time I first read my first article online about human trafficking (accidently stumbled upon article), I have since then Googled human trafficking, and it is scary to find so much information about it. No one can say for sure what has happened to Morgan, and I’m not saying this is what has happened to her. I just pray for God to comfort her and her family, wherever she is. I pray for protection of all of our children. In some cases these so-called “John’s” request older females from “pimps”. Females ranging in ages from 20-40. The public should be well informed in all aspects of these vile acts of crimes. Border states are usually worse than inland states.
Interesting .
http://www.homesurfer.com/crimereports/view/crime_report.cfm?state=VA&area=Charlottesville
DO we need a changing of the guards ?
Dakota
In most missing cases where abduction is a possibility all known sexual predators homes are searched. I have not heard of such in this case. Maybe I am mistaken. Below is the name of one such predator who lives close to Ivy Road. In an apartment complex with the name “University Garden Apartments”. I thought sexual predators were not suppose to live close to areas with minors, or colleges and such.
Matthew A. Munson, 85 University Gardens, Apt. 8, Charlottesville, VA 22903, Conviction: Aggravated Sexual Battery
There are a few others who live nearby. You can check it out yourself at the Family Watch dog website. Anyway, I hope the police have checked these guys out, and why are they living so close to a college campus?