The Morgan Harrington Case--Discussion

Discuss the Morgan Harrington case here.
I think there were a couple of us already following this case so continue discussion here instead.
http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/18/hes-here-harringtons-warn-killer-hell-be-caught/

http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=11101808092903167&ShowArticle_ID=11801102100390887
http://www.noisecreep.com/2010/02/19/morgan-harringtons-parents-say-killer-will-be-found/
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/crime/article/dna_tests_under_way_on_body_harringtons_reveal_in_city_visit/52489/

Thanks for the reminder, I wanted to post that one also, I know Blou was very interested in it, I heard they shut the thread on this case down at WS. Very interesting case indeed.

They did shut it down once because LE asked them to right before ours was shut down. There was info in the thread that LE didn't want discussed. I discussed the info without knowing and was told right away to delete it because thats what LE didn't want out there and LE asked them to report anyone who posted on the subject! OOOPS!

you're a threadkiller

claudicici wrote:you're a threadkiller

Yea and all this time she has been playing innocent, I didnt know she was the one who got it shut down LOL, too funny.

Heroine.

I wasn't the one who got it shut down, I just didn't know what we were allowed to talk about or what we weren't at the time after it got opened back up. BUT I got it deleted before any mods saw it, so it was all good. I'm still not real sure why we weren't allowed to discuss it but...whatever.

It was talk about a shirt that was found in town that was presumably Morgans ... this being months after the disappearance. We all thought it was a rumor ... it was found behind a big bush in front of an apartment building. So we just took that nibble of a possibility and talked about where the building was in relation to other parts of the crime, etc. There was a PM sent about a week later that said they were pulling the tread to remove all trace of talk about the shirt, per LE. I had JUST finished reading the PM, went to the thread, and there Heroine had posted a whole paragraph talking about the shirt! I got to her through a PM and she was kind to remove the posts before anyone else saw them.
Still curious why LE had the posts pulled

wadahoot wrote:It was talk about a shirt that was found in town that was presumably Morgans ... this being months after the disappearance. We all thought it was a rumor ... it was found behind a big bush in front of an apartment building. So we just took that nibble of a possibility and talked about where the building was in relation to other parts of the crime, etc. There was a PM sent about a week later that said they were pulling the tread to remove all trace of talk about the shirt, per LE. I had JUST finished reading the PM, went to the thread, and there Heroine had posted a whole paragraph talking about the shirt! I got to her through a PM and she was kind to remove the posts before anyone else saw them.
Still curious why LE had the posts pulled

Yes, it was you wada! AND I thank you for that, especially since they never sent me a PM telling me not to talk about it. IMO, we must have had some good info on that shirt for them to close it. Don't you think?

Weird that the Websleuths discussion would get shut down because of a mention of the shirt. It's still here and in a number of related articles and comments.
http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/01/multiple-riddles-harringtons-body-creates-new-mysteries-angles/#comments

I'm not really too terribly interested in the Morgan Harrington topic other than for what it says about people in general. My local news is filled with it, and it really brings out some nutcases. Before her body was found, the onslaught of "psychics" came to comment o teh local news. now we have someone claiming to be channeling her who is posting ridiculous BS that he claims to be from her. Check out the commnents from Kevin Gregory McNeill (if I were a police investigator, I would be knocking on his door with some questions, but he's probably just a nut). http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/27/black-ribbon-harringtons-parents-express-emotions/

There are countless comments on the local news blogs from people who are extremely critical of the police, but who seem to have no idea how an investigation might proceed or what needs to be done in the investigation stage to not fuck up a trial should someone be charged eventually. Those same people often seem to think that their own obsession and endless uninformed commentary is essential if a suspect is to be found and constantly tell one-another that they have to keep the discussion going and some sort of pressure on the incompetent investigators who would otherwise just chill and let the killer run free. There are also endless comments about how beautiful she was, which I don't really see, but which really ought not to have anything to do with trying to find and jail someone who kills other people. The fact that people from all over the country who aren't even apparently intelligent enough to write in sentence form have weighed in just because a blond girl disappeared is very telling about where our society is headed. It's a very weird sort of voyeurism in my view.That's what I was alluding to in the comments I made about the endless inane threads on the Harrington topic at Websleuths.

I've often thought about that case in relation to this group and our discussions, since I am fairly familiar with the locations that are important in the Harrington case and I see just how mistaken some of the speculation about what happened to her is. Just a few days ago, I read something on a crime forum somewhere., it may have actually been websleuths, where someone was suggestion a route from the arena to the farm where she was found and saying it was a back way that a local might have used. It was exactly the sort of back way that a local would have avoided because it is a pain in the ass to drive, not too mention much more confusing and much farther to drive for no reason. Looking at a map though it seems like a possible route, but it just wouldn't have been unless someone were lost.

This group has been different largely because we have a smarter group of people who actually sift through ideas and debate their merits, which is very uncommon from what I've seen. Disappearing children or blonde white girls seem to attract a much more emotional and often irrational or frankly insane bunch of comments that have very little if anything to do with the truth. You should all congratulate yourselves for collectively keeping this discussion from sinking into that.

I thought it was weird that WS pulled the thread to remove all mention of the T-shirt, but there was an article about in that stayed up on a C-Ville site, plus the Blink site never removed any mention of it. Can't believe LE would only ask WS to remove posts about it, or that Blink and the other site would've ignored any LE requests.

blouAngel wrote:Weird that the Websleuths discussion would get shut down because of a mention of the shirt. It's still here and in a number of related articles and comments.
http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/01/multiple-riddles-harringtons-body-creates-new-mysteries-angles/#comments

I'm not really too terribly interested in the Morgan Harrington topic other than for what it says about people in general. My local news is filled with it, and it really brings out some nutcases. Before her body was found, the onslaught of "psychics" came to comment o teh local news. now we have someone claiming to be channeling her who is posting ridiculous BS that he claims to be from her. Check out the commnents from Kevin Gregory McNeill (if I were a police investigator, I would be knocking on his door with some questions, but he's probably just a nut). http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/27/black-ribbon-harringtons-parents-express-emotions/

There are countless comments on the local news blogs from people who are extremely critical of the police, but who seem to have no idea how an investigation might proceed or what needs to be done in the investigation stage to not fuck up a trial should someone be charged eventually. Those same people often seem to think that their own obsession and endless uninformed commentary is essential if a suspect is to be found and constantly tell one-another that they have to keep the discussion going and some sort of pressure on the incompetent investigators who would otherwise just chill and let the killer run free. There are also endless comments about how beautiful she was, which I don't really see, but which really ought not to have anything to do with trying to find and jail someone who kills other people. The fact that people from all over the country who aren't even apparently intelligent enough to write in sentence form have weighed in just because a blond girl disappeared is very telling about where our society is headed. It's a very weird sort of voyeurism in my view.That's what I was alluding to in the comments I made about the endless inane threads on the Harrington topic at Websleuths.

I've often thought about that case in relation to this group and our discussions, since I am fairly familiar with the locations that are important in the Harrington case and I see just how mistaken some of the speculation about what happened to her is. Just a few days ago, I read something on a crime forum somewhere., it may have actually been websleuths, where someone was suggestion a route from the arena to the farm where she was found and saying it was a back way that a local might have used. It was exactly the sort of back way that a local would have avoided because it is a pain in the ass to drive, not too mention much more confusing and much farther to drive for no reason. Looking at a map though it seems like a possible route, but it just wouldn't have been unless someone were lost.

This group has been different largely because we have a smarter group of people who actually sift through ideas and debate their merits, which is very uncommon from what I've seen. Disappearing children or blonde white girls seem to attract a much more emotional and often irrational or frankly insane bunch of comments that have very little if anything to do with the truth. You should all congratulate yourselves for collectively keeping this discussion from sinking into that.

Well originally I got into the story of Morgan because it was so close to home, but the more I learned of the story, the more I wanted to help, mainly because honestly, I have been fucked up at the wrong place at the wrong time before and in her very same situation. (at a concert intoxicated and wandered away from my group of people) So in a way all I could think about was OMG, I have done that and lived to tell about it, but what if I hadn't lived to tell about it? That could have been me.
I can definitely see where some people are carried away about the subject though. I agree with you on many levels Blou.

I have been following the case with some interest too. I was actually more interested in it before she was found ? What piqued my interest is that the friends weren't having much to say or seem concerned when she was missing. The mystery of it caught my attention.
Actually , to me she is not attractive at all. What I did find wierd was some of the WS posters and their wierd comments. And the LE sure is acting funny , especially that strange press session.
That thread got boring fairly quick and I have rarely checked back in on it over there.
I will say that those folks in the neighborhood sure seem strange. And I dont say that lightly , because I have done lots of work in the hills of Arkansas , upstate New York in the Adirondacks near the Canadian border , and the mountains of North Carolina , and even some rural parts of Kentucky. So I am used to country folk and mountain people from diverse areas. But judging from some of the comments of the local posters , something tells me I dont want to work out in the country up in that area.

Local posters in Albemarle county? Most of what I've read that seems off is from posters that are from far far away. If you've gotten the idea that Albemarle is a weird place or full of sketchy country people, then that's exactly what I'm getting at with how ridiculous the lost girl thing can get and what kind of nuts it interests. Albemarle and Charlottesville are nothing like that. Mountian people? This is the land of huge 18th and early 19th century estates and landed gentry. The farm where her body was found is 700 acres with a substantial main house that was built in the early 180'0's. It's easily a $5-10 million property.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with being interested in any case, it's just that some people get way freaky when it's a relatively attractive white girl who has gone missing. Is justice only for the pretty? What about overweight black girls, or middle aged men? Shouldn't they get some attention if they go missing? If they are killed, shouldn't their killers be brought to justice? I think there's something fetishistic or voyeuristic beneath a lot of the interest and I think a lot of people are just hoping for some kinky detail to be revealed every time they turn to the news about the case.

There are a lot of weird obsessives who constantly post really bizarre or just plan stupid comment in the local media who don't have the slightest clue about what happened, what might actually be going on in the investigation, or anythng about the area. They seem to think that their obsession is somehow instrumental to solving the case, but have little to offer to the police that they claim are incompetent other than suggestions like investigating people who used to live on the farm or registered sex offenders who live nearby. Like the police hadn't thought of that or were reading the local blogs for suggestions on who they ought to question?!?!

Hey Blou,
The girls parents strike me as weird. Sentences like " feeling the heft of her skull".
Whoa ! If a family member of mine gets similar treatment , I won't be touching their bones .
I know I have used the term "wierd" too much , but most of the stuff I read about the MH case on ws and the hook is just - wierd , wierd , wierd.

ROCKDAWG wrote:Hey Blou,
The girls parents strike me as weird. Sentences like " feeling the heft of her skull".
Whoa ! If a family member of mine gets similar treatment , I won't be touching their bones .
I know I have used the term "wierd" too much , but most of the stuff I read about the MH case on ws and the hook is just - wierd , wierd , wierd.

I'm from VA, but not from where they are from, thankfully.
AND don't forget the one statement "she had lovely bones" or something to that extreme. Very mysterious and odd indeed!

I love her mother's writing in her blog...that's actually the only reason I started looking at that case.she writes beautiful.
anyways...I totally agree with blou,no doubt,that will never change,look at the anthony sorrell case ,it would have never went on that long if he was targeting middle class white girls.Nancy Grace knew she wouldn't get good ratings if she would have plead to the public for the safe return of those girls.it wasn't a "bombshell" when one of them escaped death by jumping naked out of a two story window and the cops didn't bother to check when she told them "he had the devil in his eyes"...they didn't bother to check when the people in the neighborhood repeatedly complained that they couldn't take the smell of death coming from that house any longer....anyways that's just the sad reality...
back to Morgan Harrington...what I find so beautiful about her is that she truly seemed to have a sweet soul,by her drawings and by the way she decorated her room I can tell she was not tainted,she still believed in a lot of good in this world.I also think she was very guarded,like rapunzel in the tower,her long,blond hair has that angelic quality to me,what I find so sad about that case is that all rapunzel wanted to do that night was let her hair down and taste some freedom...

claudicici wrote:I love her mother's writing in her blog...that's actually the only reason I started looking at that case.she writes beautiful.
anyways...I totally agree with blou,no doubt,that will never change,look at the anthony sorrell case ,it would have never went on that long if he was targeting middle class white girls.Nancy Grace knew she wouldn't get good ratings if she would have plead to the public for the safe return of those girls.it wasn't a "bombshell" when one of them escaped death by jumping naked out of a two story window and the cops didn't bother to check when she told them "he had the devil in his eyes"...they didn't bother to check when the people in the neighborhood repeatedly complained that they couldn't take the smell of death coming from that house any longer....anyways that's just the sad reality...
back to Morgan Harrington...what I find so beautiful about her is that she truly seemed to have a sweet soul,by her drawings and by the way she decorated her room I can tell she was not tainted,she still believed in a lot of good in this world.I also think she was very guarded,like rapunzel in the tower,her long,blond hair has that angelic quality to me,what I find so sad about that case is that all rapunzel wanted to do that night was let her hair down and taste some freedom...

I agree, and that's what I find so sad about it all. She was just trying to have a little fun. Not like we all haven't been there, young and careless. AND now she's gone, just for that.

I've always wondered why she did not try (or try harder) to get back into the concert. Or why her attitude was "Don't worry, I'll find a ride home." Is it that easy to run into someone you know and get a ride? Wouldn't everyone else still be watching the concert? Most people don't hitch hike anymore, do they?

I remember when I first read this story that I wondered if she was meeting up with someone. Maybe someone that her friends would not have approved of, or someone she wasn't supposed to be with.

I haven't followed this case very much but I have been too fucked up at rock concerts before...

Seems likely she screwed up and couldn't get back in to the concert. Then she didn't know what to do, so waited around the venue. Back in the day there were often people that didn't have tickets that would try and get tickets or sneak into the venue and would mostly fail and then just end up partying out in the parking lot anyway. I don't know if this still happens but if so maybe she hooked up with someone out there with some booze or weed and they offered her a ride.

Most of what I've read points to a girl without much experience with intoxication who took it too far and ended up making some really bad choices. She was a student at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, where you can see intoxicated cute girls stumbling around fairly regularly. Despite the image the media may have presented about B'burg, it's a quiet small town and I'd say is one of the safest I've ever lived in. I have been all over Blacksburg by myself routinely at all hours of the day and night in any number of states of intoxication and never had the slightest issue with anyone.

Obviously, violence does happen in Blacksburg, but there are also thousands of really good smart kids there who are fresh scrubbed, innocent, and willing to help someone who needs it rather than take advantage of the situation. The number of teetotaling Christians wearing virgin rings that I met just amazed me and my architecture studios usually had several Campus Crusade for Christ members. A few well publicized incidents aside, both the campus and the town feel that they are safe enough that people behave as though they are and literally thousands of kids every weekend do just fine with that assumption. The problem with living in a bubble is that you may start to believe that the whole world works that way and I believe that mistaken assumption, made in the wrong place, at the wrong time, led to Morgan's death.

I really doubt that it had anything to do with some secret pre-arranged meeting gone wrong. The police would have to know about that. I can't imagine that her friends would withhold any information they knew about that or her state of intoxication considering the circumstances and a secret meeting wouldn't likely have been necessary anyway. She didn't live in a prison and Charlottesville and Blacksburg are a relatively short drive from one another. She was most likely drugged in some fashion by here own choice and as a result left the area despite numerous warnings that she would not be able to get back in. Most every adult I know, myself included, has been lucky enough to have survived making more than one impared foolish decision. It's sad that not everyone is always so lucky.

On the subject of her "weird" parents, they are medical professionals who have spent a great deal of time around dying or dead people. I don't think it is any way easy or a happy event for them to have nothing left of their daughter but her bones. I can though understand them seeing the earthly remains of someone who they loved and who one day happily walked out of the door never to return alive as something to cherish and not to turn away from in horror. We all have bones, and we are all mortal. Decay is essential to life and we all will inevitably decompose back into the elements we are made of. There is nothing weird about acknowledging that even as we wish it weren't so.

Is her mom Leilah Wendell or something?

blouAngel wrote:Most of what I've read points to a girl without much experience with intoxication who took it too far and ended up making some really bad choices. She was a student at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, where you can see intoxicated cute girls stumbling around fairly regularly. Despite the image the media may have presented about B'burg, it's a quiet small town and I'd say is one of the safest I've ever lived in. I have been all over Blacksburg by myself routinely at all hours of the day and night in any number of states of intoxication and never had the slightest issue with anyone.

Obviously, violence does happen in Blacksburg, but there are also thousands of really good smart kids there who are fresh scrubbed, innocent, and willing to help someone who needs it rather than take advantage of the situation. The number of teetotaling Christians wearing virgin rings that I met just amazed me and my architecture studios usually had several Campus Crusade for Christ members. A few well publicized incidents aside, both the campus and the town feel that they are safe enough that people behave as though they are and literally thousands of kids every weekend do just fine with that assumption. The problem with living in a bubble is that you may start to believe that the whole world works that way and I believe that mistaken assumption, made in the wrong place, at the wrong time, led to Morgan's death.

I really doubt that it had anything to do with some secret pre-arranged meeting gone wrong. The police would have to know about that. I can't imagine that her friends would withhold any information they knew about that or her state of intoxication considering the circumstances and a secret meeting wouldn't likely have been necessary anyway. She didn't live in a prison and Charlottesville and Blacksburg are a relatively short drive from one another. She was most likely drugged in some fashion by here own choice and as a result left the area despite numerous warnings that she would not be able to get back in. Most every adult I know, myself included, has been lucky enough to have survived making more than one impared foolish decision. It's sad that not everyone is always so lucky.

On the subject of her "weird" parents, they are medical professionals who have spent a great deal of time around dying or dead people. I don't think it is any way easy or a happy event for them to have nothing left of their daughter but her bones. I can though understand them seeing the earthly remains of someone who they loved and who one day happily walked out of the door never to return alive as something to cherish and not to turn away from in horror. We all have bones, and we are all mortal. Decay is essential to life and we all will inevitably decompose back into the elements we are made of. There is nothing weird about acknowledging that even as we wish it weren't so.

Well even though I find some things her mother said odd, I guess I can see where she's coming from. My mom would probably feel the same way about my bones and she'd probably even say something very similar to that of Mrs. Harrington. That's all they had left of her and even in death her mother thought she was beautiful. I'm pretty sure a lot of mothers would feel the same.

Heroine wrote:
Well even though I find some things her mother said odd, I guess I can see where she's coming from. My mom would probably feel the same way about my bones and she'd probably even say something very similar to that of Mrs. Harrington. That's all they had left of her and even in death her mother thought she was beautiful. I'm pretty sure a lot of mothers would feel the same.

There are a lot of weird parents out there. Look at how many kids Dangrs claims as his (and that's just the ones he knows about).

blouAngel wrote:

Heroine wrote:
Well even though I find some things her mother said odd, I guess I can see where she's coming from. My mom would probably feel the same way about my bones and she'd probably even say something very similar to that of Mrs. Harrington. That's all they had left of her and even in death her mother thought she was beautiful. I'm pretty sure a lot of mothers would feel the same.

There are a lot of weird parents out there. Look at how many kids Dangrs claims as his (and that's just the ones he knows about).

Dangrs

Everyone is different. I hate to look at dead people because that is how I remember them. If either of my children were killed, I would not look at their bodies. However, I know some people who felt they had to look at really damaged remains (burned in a fire) because otherwise they wouldn't "accept" that person's death.

Her parents may have needed to look at her remains for closure.