Re: Morgan Dana Harrington -- Found Deceased 1/26/10

by FystyAngel on Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:24 pm

Parents: Morgan Harrington likely died quickly
Morgan Harrington's parents say police think their daughter died the night she disappeared. Her parents believe the perpetrator is local to Charlottesville. The investigation is focusing on the cause and time of her death.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/234568

UPDATED JAN. 28: In a statement posted Wednesday on Metallica's Web site, the band said it was "profoundly saddened" by the discovery of Harrington's remains and said its thoughts are with her parents, Gil and Dan Harrington.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For 101 days the parents of Morgan Harrington agonized over the unknown, tormented by thoughts of the "unspeakable things" a predator might be visiting upon their young, missing daughter. Wednesday, the day after her skeletal remains were found in a hayfield, Dan and Gil Harrington said their minds are, at last, at peace.

The Roanoke County couple now believe their daughter was killed the night she disappeared.

And for the first time since Morgan's disappearance on Oct. 17, said Gil Harrington, she is not imagining her daughter as a captive a frightened captive brutalized by a predator, day after day.

"I'm not thinking every minute, 'What is he doing to my daughter right now? What is she having to endure right now?' "

Such is the slender solace offered by Tuesday's discovery. State police said Wednesday the medical examiner's office in Richmond had used dental records to confirm that the decomposed body found on a sprawling Albemarle County farm 10 miles south of Charlottesville were all that remain of the pretty, blond Virginia Tech student.

While police said nothing more -- except to note that investigators are still trying to determine the cause and time of death -- Gil and Dan Harrington said they gather from conversations with investigators that their fears of captivity were never reality, that their daughter was killed the night she disappeared from a rock concert in Charlottesville, that the time she spent with her killer was, mercifully, short.

"We are very happy to know that Morgan very likely did not live through the time of the concert," said Gil Harrington, who with her husband spoke with reporters in Charlottesville while their son Alex stood by their side. "She was a long time in that field. I'm happy to know she was not alive long enduring unspeakable things."

Morgan Harrington, 20, vanished Oct. 17 after leaving the John Paul Jones Arena, where she had gone with friends to see the band Metallica play. She was last seen south of the arena, trying to hitch a ride on the Copeley Road bridge.

After three months of searches and nationwide publicity, a farmer found Harrington's remains Tuesday in a remote hayfield on his 742-acre farm on U.S. 29. State police put the Harringtons on a helicopter so they could view the field, which is not accessible from public roads.

The Harringtons said the placement of the body in such a rural, out-of-the-way area leads them to believe their daughter's killer is someone who lives in the rolling, wooded section of Albemarle County, someone who might know the intricate back roads.

"The area where Morgan was found is not a random place that someone came upon accidentally," said Dan Harrington. "Even though Morgan has been found and she has been murdered, we now need to find the person who did this and we will not stop until that person is brought to justice."

The Harringtons said they will continue talking with the media and encouraging people to call the state police tip line -- (434) 352-3467.

They added that they expect to receive Morgan's body from the medical examiner's office in five or six days, after which they will hold a public memorial service for their daughter.

And they said they will learn to live again, consoled by the knowledge that their daughter is not lost in the world and suffering.

"We had hoped to find Morgan alive," Dan Harrington said, "but at least now we have some peace and some closure today."

"We will move on, we will find a way to be a family of three," Gil Harrington said, addressing television news crews. "You all have these tripods and they are not as stable as a table, but we can make a tripod work. We don't know how yet, but we will figure it out.

by awaiting justice on Thu Jan 28, 2010 11:33 pm

The way Morgans parents articulate, is so special. You can tell that this family is a special one. To hear them have faith and have every intention to carry on, in a crusade of Morgan's memory is so inspiring. They are truly a wonderful family and I pray for peace in their hearts and justice for morgan.

Farmhands and relatives are likeley on the list too..

It sounds so far like this crime is going to be solved.

by randilynn on Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:25 pm

the sadness i see in the harrington family rocks me to the core.

they are good people.. you can see it. and for something so tragic to happen to them makes me question if any of us are "safe"..

they are in my thoughts and prayers. i hope they find peace in the justice that will hopefully come soon for morgan.

by Justice4all on Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:40 pm

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by Piper on Sat Jan 30, 2010 12:55 am

I am so sorry for Morgan's family and the pain they are having to endure. Her mother's words struck me as she referred to the lovely bones of Morgan from her initial ultrasound to her remains. My sincerest sympathy to the Harrington family.

by Snaz on Sat Jan 30, 2010 5:52 pm

Vigil held for Morgan Harrington: 'She should not be forgotten'
Dozens turned out Friday night to remember 20-year-old Morgan Harrington.

By Jorge Valencia
January 30, 2010

Dozens gathered in North Roanoke County on Friday night for a vigil honoring Morgan Harrington, whose body was found Tuesday in Albemarle County.

Dan and Gil Harrington exchange candles as they take turns speaking during a vigil honoring their daughter at their North Roanoke County home. The couple thanked the crowd for supporting them over the past months.

Gil Harrington stands with her son, Alex, while her husband, Dan, speaks during Friday night's vigil.

They parked their cars along the nearby suburban streets, and in the dark they huddled at the foot of the hill in front of the two-story brick house. There were dozens of them, clutching candles, the flickering lights of a hope for solace.

The vigil in front of Gil and Dan Harrington's home Friday evening was a physical manifestation of the online community that formed during the three-month search for their daughter, Morgan. Beyond the confines of Facebook and Twitter, in the Harringtons' North Roanoke County neighborhood, it had autonomously taken its own course.

Just hours after a farmer found the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student's remains in a remote Albemarle County field Tuesday morning, members of the "Help Find Morgan Dana Harrington" Facebook group began organizing a vigil outside her parents' home.

The family didn't organize it, said Janet Crawford, a longtime friend who passed out candles at the vigil. But the Harringtons embraced it as a way to channel public concern they'd helped generate during the search for their daughter through social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

"Having been nothing but private people heretofore, all of this is a foreign life," Gil Harrington said of the public attention. "But you don't want the person who killed her also to have erased her. I think you have to use [the attention] to do something good, to make something good, because that will give lasting memory to Morgan's life."

On Oct. 17 Morgan Harrington became separated from friends at a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena, her parents said. David Bass discovered her skeletal remains Tuesday morning in his Anchorage Farm hayfield.

The discovery of Harrington's remains 101 days after she was reported missing triggered a surge of tips to investigators trying to determine how she died, when she died and where she died, the Harringtons said.

Her family used the attention from new and traditional media as a means to garner support in the search for their daughter. But they've also used it to advocate for other parents in similar situations. On the "Today" show on Thursday morning, they told host Meredith Vieira they met with Virginia Sens. John Warner and Jim Webb last week to seek federal funding for the National Center for Missing Adults.

"We are a prime example of the pain and the difficulties that families have after someone goes missing," Dan Harrington said on the show. "There is no template: Law enforcement, communities, parents don't know what to do."

But the family has been flooded with support after the public's appetite for news through the Web site findmorgan.com, YouTube videos about Harrington and social-networking sites.

After her body was found this week, support came from other continents. "Mis condolencias a la familia Harrington," wrote one woman from Lima, Peru, on a Facebook page for Harrington. My condolences to the Harrington family. A man wrote: "Some prayers from France ... all my strength to you."

Supporters in social media also pushed for answers. By Friday afternoon, some of the 34,000-plus members of the "Help Find Morgan Dana Harrington" Facebook group were asking where the investigation would go. A Kent State University student wrote, "Has anyone heard anything about the time or cause of death yet?"

"It could take weeks-- or longer -- for the state medical examiner's office in Richmond to determine how Harrington died, assuming her skeletal remains yield any clues at all," said Emil Moldovan, an adjunct instructor of criminal justice at Radford University and former death investigator in the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office.

But some elements in the media and on the Internet have also disturbed the couple -- particularly suggestions that their daughter's attire or behavior was somehow responsible for her suspected abduction and death.

"No matter what Morgan did, she deserved to be safe walking the streets of Charlottesville, the streets of the University of Virginia, so those comments really, really made me angry," Dan Harrington said.

The family's public activism, friends said, is a counter to their private nature. Their advocacy has been in the interest of helping other people and keeping the case alive and honoring their daughter.

"We want to be able to show how you get through tragedy, and how you can be public about that and maybe help people," Dan Harrington said. "Secondly, Morgan had a short life of 20 years. She should not be forgotten."

At the vigil, some people walked up one by one onto the Harringtons' lawn and spoke of their prayers for them, and of their amazement that the family has been able to reach out to others, having lost their daughter in still unknown, yet horrific circumstances. Standing above the crowd with the candles, Gil Harrington said, "We know that we have been held up by your love in this catastrophe. We could have never made it without you."

Then, the crowd sang from lyrics handed out on small sheets of paper: "Let there be peace on earth."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/234881

by FystyAngel on Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:30 am

I saw this poor girls parents on HLN last night & I just sat & cried. The mother was talking about Morgan's last words to her, etc. Then she made a comment about her last time seeing her. No, not her last time seeing her alive, She described seeing her dead in that field. She stated she looked into bare eye sockets & her skull because someone killed her daughter. How very sad. Sad

by sitemama on Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:21 am

Fysty, she also said Morgan was beautiful, from the first time she saw her in her first ultrasound picture, to the last time she saw her lovely bones. The interviewer asked if she had made that remark because of the movie that had just come out, and the mom said "No, she had beautiful bones."

That gave me chills.

by Julie on Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:26 am

Fysty, that gave me cold chills. No parent should have to look at their child's bare eye sockets. Still having chills. I hope they can instead remember the love in their daughter's eyes of happier times.

by Piper on Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:27 am

It gives me chills, too Julie. How heartbreaking for them to be standing over the remains of their daughter, the light of their life. George and Cindy Anthony were enjoying fine dining at the Ritz while others looked over Caylee's little bones, piece by piece. I'm not implying they should have been forced to see Caylee's remains and all of her personal belongings scattered about, but I think you know what I'm trying to say.

by Snaz on Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:52 am

I agree with you, Piper...... the diffference in the Harringtons and the Anthonys is tremendous.... the A's would do well to take note of how the Harringtons have and continue to conduct themselves.

I have always been so impressed with the way Gil Harrington has handled, first, her daughter going missing, and then, finding her remains. It is so heartwrenching to read her blog and listen to her speak.

God bless, Harrington family.

by Julie on Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:18 am

Piper-I understand. Harringtons.....crying over daughter's remains; Anthonys.....stuffing their faces.

by Justice4all on Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:49 am

Friends, family of slain Va Tech student want justice

by EMILY FRIEDMAN
Posted on February 1, 2010 at 10:40 AM

(ABC News) - If there's one thing Jenna Testerman knows about her best friend Morgan Harrington, whose body was found last week in a farmer's field in Virginia, is that she would not have succumbed to a killer without putting up a fight.
"I really don't know what happened to her," Testerman told ABCNews.com, just days after the search for Harrington came to a grim ending with the discovery of her body. "She wasn't someone who would just wander off."
"But what I do know is that Morgan is a fighter and she would have fought to the death," said Testerman.
The mystery surrounding Harrington's disappearance the night of Oct. 17 deepened last week when authorities in Virginia identified skeletal remains found in a remote field as the missing 20-year-old Virginia Tech junior.
"We were all hoping that they were going to find her safe and while we knew it would take a lot of work to get Morgan back to normal, we just wanted her to be alive," said Testerman. "We just wanted her to give us one of her big hugs that she's known for."
Testerman said she is particularly feeling the loss. She and Harrington were part of a close-knit group of girlfriends who called themselves "The Nine." Some of the girls even got the number nine tattooed on their bodies as a symbol of their friendship when they all went off to college. Now they are eight.
"We just hope that she didn't have to go through any pain and that her killer showed her mercy and that she's up above in heaven looking down on us," said Testerman.
Friends like Testerman who had been holding out hope that Harrington would be found alive are now shifting their focus, eager to find the person they say is responsible for her murder.
While Testerman and Harrington's parents believe that she was murdered, the Virginia State Police department has not yet officially classified her case as a homicide investigation. The cause of death has not yet been determined, according to Corrine Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police. No one has been named a person of interest or a suspect in Testerman's case either.
What Happened to Morgan Harrington After the Metallica Concert?
Few details have emerged about the night she went missing. Harrington had gone to a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville when she got separated from her friends, who believe she stepped outside for a smoke.
Harrington, who was wearing a black mini skirt, black tights and black boots as well as a black t-shirt with "Pantera" written on the front in tan letters, called her friends on a cell phone to say she was not allowed back inside.
Sarah Snead, who had accompanied Harrington and another friend to the concert, told WSLS in Raonake that she had been the one to receive the phone call telling them that she was stuck outside the arena.
"[She said] don't worry, I'll find a way home," said Snead.
Surveillance cameras at the concert caught Harrington getting turned away from several entrances as she tried to return to the conert. Later, witnesses told police they saw someone matching her description in a nearby grassy parking lot, and then walking on an adjacent road.
The morning after the concert, Harrington's purse and cell phone were found in that grassy field and later, her parents Dan and Gil Harrington, called police to report her missing.
Up until the day authorities received a call from an area farmer saying that he'd found remains on his property, Harrington's parents had held out hope for their daughter. The body was found about 10 miles from the concert site.
On a blog dedicated to finding their daughter, Dan Harrington wrote on Jan. 24, "3 months! Despite the length of time Morgan has been gone I remain hopeful. Part of me is waiting to be surprised. Waiting for God to pull the rabbit out of the hat and bring Morgan home."
Now Dan Harrington is speculating on who took his daughter. He told NBC's "Today Show" last week that his daughter's killer must have been from around Charlottesville.
"There is absolutely no way that a stranger to the area would know [the local roads and the farm]," said Dan Harrington. "It is someone who lives in the Charlottesville area."
Friends Believe Someone 'Bad' Got Harrington
Jill Helm, whose daughter Chelsea was one of "the nine" and who frequently had the group over to her Roanoke home, said Harrington must have bumped into an evil person.
"I think she went out to smoke and they wouldn't let her back into the concert and he got her out there," said Helm. "Someone who is as bad as all the crazy people in the world got her."
"Morgan had nothing to run from," said Helm. "Her friends and family are absolutely wonderful."

http://www.whas11.com/news/Friends-family-of-slain-Va-Tech-student-want-justice-83250552.html

by Snaz on Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:32 pm

Gil’s thoughts from January 31st

January 31, 2009 (I think they meant 2010)

Clouds were mottled, purple bruises over the Blue Ridge as we drove over Afton Mountain to reclaim the skelontinized remains of our precious daughter, Morgan Dana Harrington.

We had tried to prepare ourselves for this eventuality for three months, but the reality of it is sharp and disorienting. How could someone have erased so much of what Morgan was and reduced her to a jumbled heap of bones? What a waste, what a desecration, a gross injustice.

Who would ever have thought it would be mine to see every image of Morgan’s life – from her first faint shadows on fetal ultrasound to the gaping orbital hollows in her skull? An abomination to witness this ending.

And yet there is growing peace. We realize Morgan has been dead for some time. Perhaps even since the day of the concert, October 17, 2009. Morgan Dana Harrington has been at peace, beyond pain and suffering, knowing that brings us some peace also.

Once her body is restored to us and put to rest, we can finally begin the hard work of grieving and growing strong as a triangulated family. Bless all of you who have held us up on this journey. My Darling Morgan!

2 4 1

**

****

*

http://findmorgan.com/family-blog/gils-thoughts-from-january-31st

In case some of you are not aware, the '2 4 1' was something Morgan and her mother always said to each other....it stood for "I love you too much, forever and one more."

by Julie on Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:33 pm

Snaz, that is really touching! I feel so bad for them.

by awaiting justice on Mon Feb 01, 2010 2:55 pm

Piper wrote:It gives me chills, too Julie. How heartbreaking for them to be standing over the remains of their daughter, the light of their life. George and Cindy Anthony were enjoying fine dining at the Ritz while others looked over Caylee's little bones, piece by piece. I'm not implying they should have been forced to see Caylee's remains and all of her personal belongings scattered about, but I think you know what I'm trying to say.

Wow, Piper... you really painted a vivid picture...You really put this in perspective of the kind of ppl this family is and where Morgan came from...

I bet the Harringtons have yet to eat a meal let alone indulging on anything special liked stuffed crab.

Your post made me think back to where I dont believe one time we have ever heard the Ants publically mourn Caylee and pray outloud for any justice. The only public "display" of grief we saw, was all for KC at the worst possible place...Caylee's memorial. It was more like KCs memorial where the Ants all collectively praised the obvious killer, and even asked for public support, and letters for their murderous daughter....

I cant imagine what the Harringtons, have gone thru and what lies ahead for them in any having any type of normalcy.. What I have seen is a beautiful family who prolly has never done an unkind, dishonest thing in their life, who have become inspiring heroes in my eyes...I believe this family will learn to be the best example of a triangular family, who was forced to find a way to regroup, and adapt, under the worst possible circumstances, and continue touching the lives of anyone they meet.

God Bless them all!
RIP Morgan

by Justice4all on Mon Feb 01, 2010 7:13 pm

Investigators begin piecing together how Morgan Harrington died

Media General News Service
Published: February 1, 2010

It’s not yet for certain that Morgan D. Harrington was murdered.

Because the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student disappeared from an October concert at the John Paul Jones Arena, and because her skeletal remains were found in a pasture Tuesday, plenty of people are making the assumption that she was.

Much of the public is. Her parents are.

The police have said the case is “most likely” a homicide, and are investigating at full tilt.

The one source that can ultimately make her murder official, rather than widely presumed, is the medical examiner.

Police are eager to get their hands on information about cause and time of death. But they say they’re also busy working with what they have.

Officers have wrapped up their search for evidence at the sprawling Albemarle County farm on which Harrington’s remains were found, according to Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

That means that now they’re interviewing people, waiting for scientific analysis of evidence they’ve gathered and combing through three months’ worth of information they’ve gathered, looking for connections.

New tips have continued to come in from the public, and authorities are investigating them, Geller said. Depending on what police are up to, anywhere from a core team of a few investigators to dozens of officers could be working the case, Geller said.

“Since the remains were discovered, our investigators have been working around the clock, literally around the clock,“ she said.

A VITAL CLUE

Former FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt says one of the strongest clues police likely have is the spot where Harrington’s body was found.

Hundreds of yards from the nearest road, the pasture where farmer Dave Bass found Harrington’s skeletal remains isn’t a location anyone was likely to stumble across by accident, he said. It’s a point others, including Harrington’s father, have made.

Statistically, it’s likely that Harrington was abducted, raped and murdered, Van Zandt said.

If that’s the case, either someone came to Charlottesville knowing there was a Metallica concert and figuring there would be plenty of victims, or someone decided to commit a crime on the spur of the moment, he said.

“In this particular case, it’s, I think, ... just wrong place, wrong time, wrong everything, and somebody took advantage of her,“ he said.

Criminal profiler Pat Brown outlined a similar scenario as likely.

The last reports police have of Harrington the night she disappeared had her hitchiking on the Copeley Road railroad bridge at about 9:30 p.m. Brown thinks she climbed willingly into someone’s vehicle.

“That would lead me to believe that the person ... was not so creepy from looking at them that she would think” better of getting into the vehicle, Brown said.

THEORIES ON A KILLER

If Harrington was abducted and murdered, it’s unlikely the killer was a first-time criminal, Van Zandt said.

“Either way, the disposal site appears to suggest somebody from the local area,“ he said.

He added, “The killer or killers were either very lucky or very comfortable with the area.“

Brown reached a similar conclusion.

“In my experience, when you find somebody on the private property, then the person putting the body there knows it’s private property,“ she said.

The farm is west of U.S. 29, near its intersection with Red Hill Road, about 5.5 miles south of Interstate 64. Bass, the farmer, has said that to access the site through his farm’s front gate would risk notice from the two households on the property.

His neighbors have suggested that entering the area through Blandemar Farm Estates, a subdivision to the west of the site, might be easier, Bass has said.

Both profilers said the location is likely evidence of a very determined effort to keep Harrington’s body from coming to light.

Bass has said that it was only a combination of heavy snow matting down the grass before melting and his seat atop a tractor that allowed him to notice the remains.

Brown said that if Harrngton was murdered, the crime itself might not have taken very long, but disposing of the body would have been an as-long-as-it-takes task.

“It doesn’t have to be a picnic for a person who’s trying to find a place to hide a body,“ she said.

SCARY POSSIBILITIES

If Harrington was killed the way Brown thinks she was, the person who did it will be disposed to do it again, she said.

Van Zandt said people should try to remember anyone who went away suddenly after Harrington’s Oct. 17 disappearance, or who got rid of a vehicle or showed up muddy, disheveled or scratched on the hands or face. An excessive interest in the case is also cause for suspicion, he said.

Brown said that a killer would likely be someone who is a pathological liar, or has a bad attitude about women.

Virginia State Police are soliciting tips at 352-3467.

Brown also warned young women to be careful of sexual predators.

“Yes, it is true, we shouldn’t have human lions out there, ... but the fact is, they’re out there and they think of you as prey,“ she said

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/state_regional/article/investigators_begin_piecing_together_how_morgan_harrington_died/78258/

by awaiting justice on Mon Feb 01, 2010 7:47 pm

If that was truly Morgan that was hitch hiking, then it wud appear to me that she knew her murderer...

The only way that she wud have left the grounds, seems likley that it was either by force, or with someone she knew...

If she left the grounds volentarily with someone she knew, the only way I cud see her needing to hitch hike out in the boonies, wud have been if this person and her had a falling out where he made her leave the vehicle where she had to make her way bak ...This person may have had a change of heart, after turfing her out, and come bak where he took her either by force, or she decided to get in, and he then killed her before anyone else cud pick her up...

For her to have been hitch hiking seems crazy. If she had have been assaulted or told to get out of the vehicle to make her own way home, one wud think she wud have been frantically trying to flag someone down as opposed to just hitch hiking on this bridge...especially knowing her purse and cell phone had been tossed in the lot beside the concert... It seems like taking her had to be violent, so why wud she be walking and not hysterical???

I suspect she wasnt hitch hiking. It seems like it makes more sense to think she had been outside smoking at the concert, where she either bumped into an acquaintance who tricked her to get into a vehicle, or was somehow forced into a strangers vehicle who was farmiliar with the remote area in which she was found...

Her friends account is so vague and hopefully they have been open with LE and are assisiting in every possible way.. They may unknowlingly have the information to lead LE to the perp..

For her to have been just liesurely hitch hiking from this bridge, then getting picked up by a perp, doesnt make any sense.. Why wud she had ever been in that area in the first place????

Hopefully the ME has enough to work with to be able to determione the cause, as well as get useful DNA...

by awaiting justice on Mon Feb 01, 2010 7:49 pm

Has anyone seen a map to put a link here so to show the area of the concert ... the dirsction of the lot bside the concert was where her phone and purse were found........to the bridge area..... to where her remains were found, and what direction was this person hitch hiking in and at what time?

I wud really appreciate it..

Also, the phone cal that Morgan made to her firneds sounds like it may have been coerced...On account her cell was found close by and the same eving of the concert, it suggests that when she was taken, she was taken by force and someone wanted her frineds not worry about her for a while... also do we know if there was nay security person who cud corroboprate that she tried to get bak in? Also it wud be very telling to know if her ticket stub was found in her purse, or on her body when she was found... This wud be indicative that ths call was forced.. Hopefully they were able to get prints off her phone or purse..