In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #20 on Oct 31, 2009, 5:41pm »
Harrington received minor injury the night she went missing
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Police revealed that Morgan Dana Harrington, who went missing in Charlottesville on Oct. 17 while attending a Metallica concert, may have sustained an injury to the face the night of her disappearance.
The Virginia State Police, in a statement released Friday, confirmed that many of the people who gave tips to the police about Harrington described a minor scrape or cut. Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for Virginia State Police, said the injury was not the result of an attack.
“This injury would be consistent with a slip or fall,” Geller said. “In no way would such a minor abrasion be associated with an assault.”
Harrington, who left her friends to find a bathroom, ended up outside the John Paul Jones Arena between 8:20 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Circling around the arena, Harrington spoke to her friends by cell phone at 8:48 p.m., where she let her friends know she would find a ride home. Going through several parking lots around the arena, Harrington was last seen at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Copeley Road Bridge.
The 20-year-old Harrington, who has long blond hair and blue eyes, was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with tan letters that read “Pantera” across the front, a black mini skirt with black tights and knee-high black boots.
Morgan’s parents, Dan and Gil, thanked police and supporters for their assistance in the search for their daughter.
“We are doing everything in our power to bring Morgan home,” the two wrote in a statement released Oct. 30. “We appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to share any information you can with law enforcement so that we can find our daughter.”
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #21 on Nov 2, 2009, 6:58pm »
Parents of Morgan Harrington Set up Fund to Help Search
11/02/09
Roanoke, VA - The parents of a Virginia Tech student missing for more than two weeks have set up a fund for contributions to help in their search for her.
A spokeswoman said Monday that Dan and Gil Harrington are using the donations to print and distribute fliers and other material with a photo and description of 20-year-old Morgan Dana Harrington.
The Harrington family will donate any unused funds to charities that assist families of missing persons and causes with which Morgan has been directly involved, including Mental Heath America of Roanoke Valley and OMNI Orphan Medical Network International.
Lamar Advertising has posted photos of Morgan Harrington on about a dozen billboards across the state, including Roanoke.
Also, the Harringtons distributed 50,000 fliers at Virginia Tech's home football game last week.
Morgan Harrington has been missing since Oct. 17 when she became separated from her friends at a Metallica concert in Charlottesville.
Virginia State Police (web) spokeswoman Corinne Geller said Monday that police are still getting leads in the case, but they have slowed down.
Contributions may be sent by mail to the following address:
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #22 on Nov 4, 2009, 2:37pm »
New details: Smart arrives as Morgan Harrington’s parents launch search
Wednesday Nov 4, 2009
“We will stop at nothing until she is found,” says the father of missing Morgan Harrington, as he and his wife were joined in Charlottesville Wednesday by the father of once-abducted but miraculously recovered Utah resident Elizabeth Smart.
But before the November 4 press conference announcing that the public would be invited to join the search, new information suggests that the injured 20-year-old Virginia Tech student’s efforts to regain entry to the John Paul Jones Arena after she somehow ended up outside during an October 17 Metallica concert were more intense than previously reported.
“She did make a few attempts to get back into the arena at different entrances,” says Virginia State Police spokesperson Corrinne Geller in an email, declining to elaborate on which entrances or exactly how many times she tried. Previously, police had confirmed only one attempt around the time of her last phone communication with her friends, an 8:48pm incoming call.
“She did not make any other phone calls on her phone,” Geller said at the press conference.
In a pre-press conference email, Geller declined to elaborate on the number and source of texts sent or received, but Morgan’s father, Dan Harrington, told national crime show anchor Nancy Grace that his daughter texted that night with a “young man” who was not in the Charlottesville area and was not considered a suspect.
Morgan’s purse and battery-less phone were found Sunday morning, October 18, in the RV parking lot adjacent to the UVA track, where Morgan was seen, according to a police timeline, between 9:10 and 9:20pm the previous night. The phone’s battery, says Geller, has not been recovered.
One of the perplexing questions— and one that police may have an answer to, even if they’re not sharing— is how Morgan ended up outside, alone. At Wednesday’s press conference, Geller shot down the rumor that Morgan might have been ejected from the Arena.
“We have no information to believe,” says Geller, “that she was forced to leave or asked to leave, or anything of that nature.”
Security at the 16,000-seat facility is outsourced to RMC Events, a Richmond-based firm with a Charlottesville office. Company President Dan Schmitt declined comment, referring questions to Arena management, who also declined comment.
In the days immediately following Morgan’s disappearance, however, the Arena’s General Manager Larry Wilson defended John Paul Jones’ policy of prohibiting reentry during events as “standard operating procedure of every major venue I know of in the country.”
Security personnel working the doors, Wilson explained, are trained to inform anyone leaving the arena that they won’t be allowed back in, even with a ticket stub.
According to Morgan’s father, dean of academic affairs for Roanoke’s Carilion Clinic, Morgan left her friends to use the bathroom before Metallica took the stage. Early speculation focused on whether she got lost on her way to find one of the 18 women’s restrooms in the Arena.
Witnesses have reported seeing her at various points both inside and outside the Arena after she separated from her friends, and police recently confirmed that she suffered a facial cut, but one that was too minor to suggest an assault.
Geller says police have reviewed hours of surveillance footage from the Arena and from area businesses yet have found no images of Morgan. But according to the owner of the closest convenience store to John Paul Jones Arena, the 7-11 on Ivy Road, it was several days before investigators reviewed her store’s tapes.
“I believe it was Wednesday, October 21,” says 7-11 franchise owner Sabiha Raja.
Asked why it took so long, Geller said at the press conference, “It depends when that information might have come in.”
An employee of nearby BB&T bank declined comment on investigators reviewing surveillance at the bank, and the manager of the Cavalier Inn Best Western on Emmet Street did not return the Hook’s call by posting time.
The grieving parents have invited a tsunami of media coverage from local and national outlets. They are inviting interested searchers to a 7pm meeting on Thursday, November 5 at the Cavalier Inn in preparation for a massive search coordinated by a group called the Laura Recovery Center this weekend.
And bringing in Ed Smart offers a new round of headlines. But according to former FBI profiler Mark Safarik, now a consultant in Northern Virginia, every day that passes is bad news.
“Time is the enemy,” he says. “Evidence degrades.” And police currently don’t seem to have much to work with.
“They have a crime area, but not a scene,” he notes. “When you don’t have a scene, you don’t know where she disappeared, or how, and you’re left trying to figure out what you do have.”
After the press conference, Morgan’s mother, Gil, remarked that her brother’s best friend in high school was Franz Stillfried. As longtime Charlottesvillians may recall, the wheelchair-bound Stillfried died in 1988 when his he and his heavy motorized chair rolled down the ravine at the site of today’s John Paul Jones Arena.
“It makes me happy,” Harrington said, “that Franz might be looking over Morgan.”
~
Lead investigator State Police Lt. Joe Rader urges tipsters— who may remain anonymous— to call the tip line at 434-352-3467 or email information to bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov. The reward now officially tops $150,000.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #23 on Nov 13, 2009, 10:43pm »
Police say missing Va. Tech student seen hitchhiking
Nov. 13. 2009
Virginia State Police say they believe a Virginia Tech student missing for nearly a month was hitchhiking after she left a Metallica concert in Charlottesville.
Police said Friday that witnesses saw a woman fitting the description of 20-year-old Morgan Dana Harrington of Roanoke on a bridge that crosses railroad tracks trying to get a ride.
Harrington became separated from her friends after she left the concert arena Oct. 17 and was denied re-entry. She told them she would find a way home.
Police say they want to hear from anyone who might have loaned a cell phone to a woman fitting Harrington's description.
Police say Harrington was wearing a distinctive necklace made of large crystal chain links.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #24 on Nov 15, 2009, 9:48am »
Social media drive interest in missing-person cases Nov. 15, 2009
The disappearance of Mechanicsville teenager Theresa Marie Meadows languished in relative obscurity from the time she vanished in September 2004 -- until she was located alive last week in South Carolina.
On the flip side, the case of missing 20-year-old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington has received intense state and national attention since she disappeared Oct. 17 after a Metallica concert in Charlottesville. A three-day search last weekend involved more than 500 volunteers.
The attention such cases generate can vary greatly, as thousands of people are reported missing every year in Virginia. They depend largely, authorities say, on the circumstances of the disappearance, a family's resources and willingness to become involved, the public's curiosity and interest by the news media, which tends to favor some cases over others.
But authorities point to another emerging factor they believe has played a significant role in the Harrington case: the public's use of social-networking media.
"Never before have you been able to get information out via Facebook pages and forums and blogs and Tweets, with the capabilities of the public to get more involved in a case by being able to post their thoughts, suggestions, opinions and insights," said Corinne Geller, public-relations manager for the state police, which is the lead investigative agency in the Harrington case.
Geller believes that interest in the Harrington case has been driven in large part by the public through social networking.
"Five years ago, people didn't have that medium to access," she said. "More people can learn about [a case] through the viral networking -- somebody sends a link, somebody sends an e-mail to five of their friends and those five send it to another five. People have so much more access to get involved in a case than say maybe [they did] three to five years ago."
Geller noted how some people responding to the Harrington case provided police with cell-phone videos of the concert she attended.
Contrary to appearances, state police have not dedicated any more investigative resources or attention to Harrington's disappearance "than we have any other case," Geller said.
. . .
This year, state police alerted media outlets across the state about 48-year-old Halifax County resident Hattie Gertrude Brown, who disappeared May 16 after she was last seen at a service station just outside South Boston. Her burned 2003 Volkswagen Jetta turned up nearly two months later behind a barn near Virgilina.
State and local police in Virginia and North Carolina intensely followed leads and conducted ground and air searches for two weeks, but the case generated limited media attention and public interest waned. Recently, Brown's family members declined to talk about the case after a state police agent forwarded a request by a reporter.
In the Harrington case, "the family has made themselves very available to the media, and that's part of their passion and dedication," Geller noted. "The more they can keep [their daughter's disappearance] out there, the more interest the public will take in the case and hopefully continue to come forward with leads."
The family has even established a Web site that includes information updates, news releases, downloads, photos and television news clips about the case.
"Unfortunately, not everybody has those same resources," Geller said.
. . .
State and local police take reports on thousands of missing children and adults each year.
Just in the metro area, more than 1,400 juveniles and adults were reported missing last year in Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico.
Statewide, thousands of missing young people under the age of 21 are added yearly to Virginia's Missing Children Clearinghouse, a list maintained by Virginia State Police under state law. Of the 493 people on the list last Friday, 405 were reported missing in 2009.
"They change daily," noted Lt. William J. Reed Jr., assistant commander of the Virginia State Police Criminal Justice Services Division. The majority of missing youngsters are soon located or turn up on their own, Reed said.
A total of 13,539 children were reported missing across the state in 2008; of those, 13,488 had been located as of Friday, Reed said. As a public service, state police on their Web site display separate lists of children and adults who have been missing long term, in some cases for decades. The two lists, which include case narratives and photos, currently show 67 missing children and 31 missing adults -- 11 from the Richmond area. Meadows had been on the list until she was found last week.
. . .
Typically, when police confirm that a person is missing, that individual is immediately entered into the Virginia Criminal Information Network and the National Criminal Information Network, electronic data networks that provide computerized links to state and national law-enforcement systems.
"We want to make sure that they at least get into some automated system, so that if they're found or stopped or questioned [by police], they will come up as a missing person," said Chesterfield police Capt. Terry Patterson.
Most police agencies will also assign a detective to investigate each missing-person case.
In Richmond, each case is independently assessed and evaluated based on its unique circumstances, said police spokesman Gene Lepley. Richmond police took 672 reports of missing juveniles and 301 reports of missing adults in 2008. The department currently has 104 unresolved missing-person cases that cover multiple years, in addition to 52 juvenile "runaway" cases reported this year.
Chesterfield police took 166 reports of missing adults and 11 reports of missing juveniles last year, and all but two of those cases have been cleared.
The department maintains two lists of the missing -- one for "cold cases" that have been lingering for years and another for more recent cases. The cold-case list includes five women and one man who disappeared between 1977 and 1996. The more contemporary list includes six people, four of whom were added this year.
"Chesterfield is very liberal about our policy for taking reports about missing people," Patterson said. "There's a lot of restrictions that some departments will put on it before they will take a report. But we've never been that way."
The Hanover Sheriff's Office recorded 50 missing-person cases in 2008, but all have been cleared. The department keeps a single list of unsolved historical and contemporary missing-person cases; only one case, from 2003, is still unresolved.
Henrico police took 275 missing-person reports in 2008 and so far have cleared 107 of them. The department has received 235 missing-person reports this year and has cleared 146.
. . .
Theresa Meadows' mother regrets that more wasn't done to locate her daughter in the beginning, but she's pleased with the efforts of Hanover Investigator Dave Klisz, who located Meadows Wednesday in South Carolina. Meadows, now 22, has been living under an assumed name.
"I give him all the respect in the world," Margaret Swann said. "He's been on this case ever since Day 1."
The state and national attention devoted to the Harrington case hasn't gone unnoticed by Swann, but she doesn't feel slighted. "It's just the way things work out," Swann said philosophically.
Swann says she feels sorry for the Harrington family.
"Because anytime I see a case like that, I know exactly how they feel," she said. "It just hurts knowing that somebody did something [to the woman] and they can't find them."
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #25 on Nov 18, 2009, 1:42am »
Body not believed to be missing Tech student
Published: November 18, 2009
As the case of missing Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington entered its second month, authorities yesterday investigated the discovery of a body in Roanoke.
But authorities said they do not believe the female body discovered on Norfolk Southern railroad tracks shortly after daybreak in Roanoke is that of Harrington.
Roanoke police detectives and a medical examiner were called to the scene, and authorities determined the female's death did not appear suspicious. Police yesterday had not released a cause of death or identified the body.
Virginia State Police, the lead agency investigating the disappearance of Harrington, looked into the matter yesterday but had determined by noon that the body was likely not that of Harrington, agency spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student from Roanoke, has been missing since Oct. 17, when she attended a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena.
Investigators believe Harrington was hitchhiking before she disappeared.
Yesterday's discovery marks at least the third time investigators have checked into the possibility that a body may be Harrington.
Shortly after Harrington's disappearance, a body was found along the Blue Ridge Parkway outside Asheville, N.C., and a badly burned female body was found Sunday, this time in Kings Mountain State Park in South Carolina. In each case, authorities found no indication that it was Harrington.
Harrington was wearing a black T-shirt with "Pantera" in tan letters, a black mini-skirt, black tights and knee-high black boots. She had a Swarovski crystal necklace on, with large crystal chain links. She is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 120 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
State police have received about 500 tips and leads. They have a 24-hour-a-day tip line at (804) 263-5547. Tips can be sent to bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
In Memory of Brittany "BRITT" McGlone, Laci Rocha, Dru Sjodin and Brianna "BRI" Denison
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 8,443 Location: Raised in MS. Karma: 5,000
Re: Missing--- Co-ed Morgan Harrington, Oct. 17, 2 « Reply #26 on Nov 20, 2009, 3:22am »
Family of missing Tech student clings to hope
Published: November 20, 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Morgan Dana Harrington's parents this week visited the Copeley Road bridge where she was last seen to leave mementos and posters at a small, makeshift memorial.
"We are not building a mausoleum. This is her place of hope," said her mother, Gil Harrington.
Morgan Harrington, 20, disappeared the night of Oct. 17 after leaving a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena. Police have said they've received several reports of a woman matching her description hitchhiking at about 9:30 that night on the bridge, which crosses railroad tracks.
On Wednesday, Harrington's parents taped up laminated posters about their daughter and left a variety of mementos, as well as handing out business cards asking for help finding the missing Virginia Tech student.
A streamer of Tibetan prayer flags also draped the bridge. Prayer flags are a favorite of Morgan's, and she displayed them on a balcony in Blacksburg and on her bed in her parents' Roanoke home, her mother said.
Her parents said that as far as they know, state police haven't established a timeline beyond the 9:30 p.m. spotting on the bridge.
Her mother believes she was likely trying to return to James Madison University in Harrisonburg. "If she was traveling under her own wishes, that's the direction she would have been heading," Gil Harrington said.
Morgan Harrington had stopped at JMU on her way to the concert in Charlottesville. From there, she rode in her own car with a group of friends, one of whom drove to U.Va.
In the month since their daughter went missing, the Harringtons have been doing whatever they can to keep her disappearance in the news. Her case has been featured on "Nancy Grace" and "Dr. Phil," and her photograph has appeared on the cover of People magazine.
A host of benefactors has allowed Crime Stoppers to offer a reward of more than $150,000 for information leading to her location.
The family also has been using tools such as Facebook, said her father, Dan Harrington.
"We've used the social networking I think pretty significantly to get the word out and keep the story going," he said.
But the one-month mark has been particularly hard on the family, Gil Harrington said. "I would say . . . we've kind of unraveled," she said.
She urged anyone who might know something to come forward.
"There's a really big reward out there, and we would love to have our daughter home for Thanksgiving," she said.
Morgan Harrington is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black T-shirt with "Pantera" written across the front in tan letters, a black miniskirt, black tights and black boots. She also was wearing a Swarovski crystal necklace with a chain-link design that her brother had given her.
State police have received about 500 tips and leads. They have a 24-hour tip line at (804) 263-5547. Tips can be sent to bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov.
"THE DEAD CANNOT CRY OUT FOR JUSTICE IT IS A DUTY OF THE LIVING TO DO SO FOR THEM" Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness These are the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence for each of us; EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MURDERED YOU NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. Someone took them and now THEIR RIGHTS ARE PROTECTED. is a tradgedy that doesnt help the victims or their families heal.
![[image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/banner2-1.jpg)
![[Home]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/home.jpg)
![[Help]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/help_icon.jpg){kind=icon}
![[Search]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/search_icon.jpg){kind=icon}
![[Calendar]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/calendar_icon.jpg){kind=icon}
![[Login]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/login.jpg)
![[Register]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/photos/register_icon.jpg){kind=icon}
![[Live Chat]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/animations/rant.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Reply]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/reply.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
![[avatar]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/Brittany%20McGlone/brittjustice.jpg)
![[yim]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/yim.gif)
![[aim]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/aim.gif)
![[homepage]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/banner-1.jpg)
![[Quote]](http://s1.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif)
Logged