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

Anger and frustration mount as the days add up. I remind myself that this is not in my hands and that the truth cannot be hidden forever – it will out. I pray that the truth of this crime shows itself while Morgan is still alive. I have no interest in recovering a body. I would rather not know and always have some morsel of hope.

Meantime, Harrington's father tells CBS 6 about his mission to honor his daughter's memory.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY - The state medical examiner has confirmed the remains found on an Albemarle County Farm Tuesday are those of Morgan Harrington.

Virginia State Police say the confirmation was made using dental records provided by the family and say the investigation continues into the time and cause of death.

Meantime, Morgan Harrington's father talks to CBS 6 about the discovery of his daughter's remains and what the revelation means to his family.

Dan Harrington tells Catie Beck, "This may sound strange, but we have found some peace in all of this. It wasn't the outcome that we wanted but we know now where our daughter is and there is peace in that."

Harrington said he felt that God had answered his prayers in a way after last week telling his wife he couldn't take much more of the 'not knowing.'

He said, "Now we have to figure out how to honor Morgan in death, how to have her life mean something."

In a conversation Wednesday morning, Harrington says his mission may include campus safety or self-defense for women, but most importantly he wants his daughter to be remembered.

"That's been always our biggest challenge - making sure that people don't forget her."

Harrington says the Charlottesville community has taken this case seriously from the beginning and that he has stated from early on that there was a crime and that the criminal lives in the Charlottesville area.

He says, "I always said she would be found within five miles of the campus. This person knew the area. If Mr. Bass had found a fresh body, we would be feeling very differently today, like perhaps Morgan had been held and tortured. I think my daughter was dead before that concert was over."

The family has not made burial arrangements yet ,but they plan to.

Harrington also mentioned that he and his wife were recently on Capitol Hill testifying on behalf of the National Center for Missing Adults telling their story about Morgan. He says he's been amazed by the goodness of people through all of this and that he and his wife Gil have grown as people through the process.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Virginia State Police announced the discovery of the body of Morgan Harrington, saying they are "fairly comfortable with that conclusion."

Col. W. Steven Flaherty said items and evidence found on site indicate the remains are those of Harrington. He said Morgan's parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, were on hand to make the tentative identification. He indicated the search for her, underway since October 17 of last year, was now over.

Lt. Joe Rader, the lead investigator in Harrington's disappearance, said the area where the remains were discovered had not been searched previously. He added that the missing person case was now most likely a homicide. He said investigators were combing the area carefully, saying it was "imperative to maintain the sanctity of the crime scene, since the perpetrator, or perpetrators," were still at large.

He would not characterize the state of the remains, nor what evidence may have been found at the scene.

The Harringtons arrived in the Charlottesville area in the early afternoon. They had told CBS 6 they were there to identify skeletal remains that had been found in Albemarle County Tuesday morning. When speaking, Morgan's father Dan was in tears, telling CBS 6 "this is a horrible day" for his family.

An Albemarle County resident found the remains Tuesday morning at a private residence called Anchorage Farm on Anchorage Farm Road in the southern region of Albemarle County. The farm is ten miles from the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville where 20-year-old Morgan Harrington was last seen at a Metallica concert October 17.

CBS 6's Catie Beck spoke to David Bass, who discovered the remains on his property. Bass, a farmer and owner of Anchorage Farm, says after the wind and rain last week there were several downed trees in his yard. He was out looking for possible damage to make repairs in a remote area of his property, when he spotted the body.

He said the area would be next to impossible to access from a road, since it's at least a mile and a half from the roadway.

He said at first he didn't know whether the remains were human or animal, describing them as very badly decomposed. "I looked down and saw what looked like a human skull and my first thought was that it was Morgan Harrington," said Bass. He said the skull had no hair on it and he couldn't tell from looking whether the remains were male or female.

He immediately went inside and called 911, telling a dispatcher, "I'm not even sure if this is a human body, but I think so."

Bass told CBS6, "We're a small, rural family and we've never had any trespassers. Now in dealing with this tragedy, of a dead person and at the same time [wondering] if this is Morgan Harrington, a part of me thinks this is something good for people to know."

He said police confirmed right away that it was a human body.

Source: http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-body-found-albemarle-100126,0,5332581.story

Morgan's mother, Gil, and I are overwhelmingly saddened by yesterday's discovery, but we are also relieved because our questions can now be answered and we can give our daughter a proper burial. We know that because of the good life Morgan led and the love she created for everyone around her, she is now in a safer, better place. We appreciate everyone's respect for our privacy at this difficult time and we thank everyone who has helped us through this tragedy and helped us find Morgan.

Source: http://findmorgan.com/

MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: January 27, 2010

Stoic and struggling to contain emotions, the parents of the late Morgan Harrington spoke out this afternoon about their daughter from the spot on Copeley Bridge where she was last seen.

Authorities confirmed earlier today that skeletal remains found at an Albemarle County farm off U.S. 29 south of Charlottesville belonged to Morgan Harrington, a Virginia Tech student who disappeared outside John Paul Jones arena the night of a Metallica concert Oct. 17

Dan and Gil Harrington said they are considering ways now to honor their daughter, while at the same time vowing to never rest until her killer or killers can be found. The death is being investigated as a homicide case.

“Our sorrow is etched in our faces and our pain has been carved in our hearts,“ Gil Harrington said at the news conference minutes ago.

She described the search for her daughter, a period that included the Harringtons turning to the public and the media in a concerted effort to keep the case in the public eye, as an “unimaginable journey.“

The Harringtons said they are relieved to finally know the answer to the mystery of where Morgan Harrington was, though much remains about what happened after her last contact with friends and family.

Gil Harrington said she is relieved to no longer wonder “every minute what is he doing to my daughter now. What is she having to endure?“ She spoke of mental anguish at the thought of someone doing “unspeakable things” to her daughter.

The parents said in the brief remarks that they will continue working with authorities and thanked supporters from across Virginia and beyond.

Source: http://www2.starexponent.com/cse/news/state_regional/article/harringtons_deliver_emotional_message/51167/