COLD CASE: Morgan Harrington Unsolved Murder Approachng Two Year Anniversary

by Michelle Sigona

Morgan Harrington was last seen at a concert outside the John Paul Jones arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was October 17, 2009. Police say Morgan separated from friends around 8:30 p.m. when she walked out of the front entrance of a Metallic concert. Morgan never returned, and it was the last time she was seen alive. Investigators say Morgan called her friends inside and told them she was finding a ride home. State police officials report Morgan was last seen by the ticket office on the University Hall side of the building and witnesses report seeing her hitchhiking close to the arena exit road. An intense search of the area yielded no new clues until three months later. 

In January 2010, Morgan’s body was found on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia. Investigators said her decomposed body could have been on the land as many as 100 days. One year ago this month, investigators released shocking information. They said the man who may have killed Morgan could be the same suspect that committed a sexual assault against another female in 2005. Virginia State Police officials confirm there is a forensic link between the 2005 assault and the murder. 

Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said the Virginia Department of Forensic Science processes and analyzes all of the evidence and lab work for every department and they randomly came up with a hit in their internal database. When the connection was made, technicians notified Virginia State Police of the link. Investigators from the state police contacted the Fairfax City Police in Virginia to compare notes. Geller said, “It’s one of those things, you never know what the next phone call is going to bring.” She added, “We know he (the man in the sketch) had contact with her (Morgan) the night of her disappearance, but we don’t know if he is responsible for her death. We are looking to identify and question him, and put the next pieces of the puzzle together.” Within 24 hours of releasing the sketch, the state police had 50 leads, but since then, the case has gone cold.

September 2005 Incident

Police say a female was walking along Rock Garden Drive in Fairfax City from the Giant when she was attacked from behind. Authorities say she was dragged to a park and sexually assaulted next to a pool. Sgt. Pam Nevlud with the Fairfax City Police department said, “We’ve gotten quite a bit of calls. That is very inspiring and we are hoping this leads to something.” As far as someone recognizing the sketch, Nevlud said, “People have little things that happen to them that they think are odd and that they don’t report to the police.” There is a chance that there could be more victims who haven’t come forward, or others who have crossed his path, but haven’t called.

CLUE: Authorities also say the necklace Morgan was wearing the night of the concert has not been found. 

Background of Morgan's Disappearance

According to a Virginia State Police press release: “During the course of the investigation, police have been able to establish a timeline of Miss Harrington’s movements once she ended up outside of the arena at approximately 8:30 p.m. After talking to her friends on her cell phone, she then walked through the parking lot of University Hall and was also seen in the Lannigan Field athlete parking lot, which is also used for RV parking. At around 9:30 p.m., she was seen walking on the Copeley Road bridge near Ivy Road.”

According to Virginia State police, based off independent witness accounts, investigators believe on October 17, 2009 (the night Morgan Harrington went missing) that she was hitchhiking along Copeley Road Bridge. Investigators are now searching for a vehicle they believe stopped in the middle of the bridge and possibly picked up Morgan. Also, investigators need the public’s help in finding a young woman the night of the Metallica concert that may have loaned her cell phone to Morgan.

The Farm

Nancy Bass, owner of the Anchorage farm where Morgan was found for more than 30 years, said the area where body was discovered is not accessible by vehicle. Nancy and her husband David said they have an SUV and there’s no way they could get down there. If it wasn’t for David on the tractor checking fences, Morgan may have never been discovered. David spoke out and said as soon as he saw the remains he instantly thought of Morgan. Nancy said when they first moved on the farm they did not allow hunting, but because of the trespassing, they decided to allow hunters assigned to different areas hoping they would keep an eye on things. 

Nancy says the main gate on the property is always open, it is never locked, but the pasture where Morgan was found is closer to a subdivision, only about 30 feet away. Morgan and the person who killed her may have had access to the location through the housing development, which isn’t too far of a walk. The Bass family owns more than 700 acres total, and the farm is only a few miles away from interstate 64. Police say the hayfield was cut in August, and Morgan’s body could have been there any time after mid-October when she went missing.

CLUE: The red digital camera Morgan was carrying the night she went missing still hasn’t been found. It is a Sony or Kodak. The suspect is described as a black male, between 25 and 35 and around 6 feet tall. In the 2005 attack, he was wearing a black pullover sweater with a zipper and light-colored pants. 

On the FindMorgan website, her family posted this: “We continue to work diligently with Law Enforcement to find justice for Morgan Dana Harrington and apprehend her killer(s). This is a difficult task during our worst nightmare with our limited energy and abilities. We will be successful though because of the strength we derive from the outpouring of love we have received from across the nation and beyond. Your support carries us as we continue to fight for Morgan and other precious children. We are so grateful to each of you." 

Virginia State Police have a tip line, please call them with any information: (434) 352-3467 or send them an e-mail: bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov

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Missing Morgan: The Family’s Pain

By Robin Sax

Morgan Harrington was a 20-year-old Virginia Tech education major who wanted to be a teacher.  She spent time working with children and victims of domestic violence. She loved Harry Potter and the Twilight series. Morgan disappeared Saturday October 17, 2009, after being shut out of a Metallica Concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena. Her remains were found in a field Wednesday, January 26, 2010. 

I had the privilege of being on the Dr. Phil show with Morgan’s family about six weeks ago. I was impressed by their strength and fortitude. The circumstances behind her disappearance were still a mystery; Morgan was still a missing person. And so her parents, showing so much grace and strength in the face of such difficulty, still had hope. 

The worst-case scenario -- a hellish reality for any parent -- unfolded that late January day when the Virginia State police said they were “fairly confident” that skeletal remains found in a hayfield on the Anchorage Farm in Albemarle County were those of Morgan Harrington. Dan Harrington, Morgan’s father, posted these words on the family’s missing person site:

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.

While searching through the family’s “Find Morgan” site, I came across a post by her mother, Gil, uploaded just two days before her daughter’s body was found:

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. I remember that the light always returns, it cannot help but return. Will the light of my life return soon? I cannot imagine that all the water of Morgan's potential is to run down the drain and be wasted. Can it really play out like that?

As a mother, I cannot begin to imagine coping with the horror the Harrington family now lives with. In cases of murdered children, there will be a range of emotions affecting the family: feelings of helplessness, guilt, grief, listlessness, anger, rage, horror, pain (both physical and emotional), and more. Many marriages break up after the death of a child. Unanswered questions haunt the family until the trial of the murderer (if ever found). And even then, not all the details will ever be known – nor would many families really want to know them. 

In the case of the Harringtons, I believe that Gil and Dan will be able, somehow, to weather the hurricane of grief. From what I have seen of them, this couple has an inner strength that will help them to cope. Still, life will never be the same.

At least when a child is still missing, you can share in the hope that they will be found alive. When you reach the point that remains have been found, there is no longer hope. The only solace is a sort of closure and a chance for healing. As Dan Harrington said, they will now be able to give Morgan a proper burial. 

Sometimes the ones who suffer the most aren't just the parents but the siblings left behind. These children have to live with the absent-parent syndrome (parents who are missing in their own way while dealing with the tremendous anxiety and stress of a missing child and then the trauma of the child's death).

Besides the ghastly circumstances the siblings face – going back into society and trying to be strong and brave – they also shoulder their parents' grief. It can be a huge burden. Dan Harrington said that his son Alex and Morgan were close, and that Alex is having the most difficult time of anyone. Alex has been in New York City during many of the past weeks and compartmentalized the limbo of waiting for news of Morgan. Keeping busy with work was a good distraction. But now that his sister has been found, he will travel back home and face the tragedy (and the new reality of his parents' grief).

I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with many families who endured the various stages and aspects of dealing with such a monstrous loss, an abduction, or other crime committed against their children. In some ways, it's so much easier to connect to a family that is still searching, still clinging to the hope that somehow, somewhere their beloved child is simply missing and will return home. Cases like Jaycee Duggard and Elizabeth Smart -- as tragic as they were -- still are considered “happy endings.

There are examples of survivors who have done incredible things after the homicide of a child. Mark Klaas is such an example. After the murder of his daughter, Polly Hannah Klaas, in 1994, Mark established the Klaas Kids Foundation. Mark has fingerprinted over a quarter of a million children in the last decade, had tremendous success with his public awareness campaigns, and is involved in legislative efforts to strengthen sentences for violent and recidivist offenders -- to name a few of his activities. I'm constantly amazed at what Mark, and many other parents, are able to do following such a tragedy. We can all learn from their strengths.

The Harringtons involved themselves in the legislative process while they were searching for Morgan. They asked lawmakers to reauthorize Kristen’s Act, which creates a national database to search for missing adults. The 2002 federal law was named for Kristen Modafferi, an 18-year-old Charlotte, N.C., woman who vanished in June 1997. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children could not help the search at the time because Modafferi was an adult. The House voted to reauthorize the law in February, and it is pending before the Senate. It is activism like this that helps to reaffirm that Morgan Harrington did not die in vain.

Though I cannot say I fully understand the grief or pain the Harringtons feel -- or any family of missing or murdered children for that matter -- I know it's our obligation as a society to unite and demand that justice prevail. Those responsible for these crimes must be found, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for the heinous acts they committed.

We cannot make sense of a senseless crime. We can only mourn the loss of such a lovely young woman, whose life tragically ended far too soon. We send our prayers to Morgan’s family. And we pray that something so unthinkable will never happen in our family. 

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