Morgan Harrington Case: Separating Fact From Fiction From Facebook Part II
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Charlottesville, VA– Just passing the month mark, the disappearance of Morgan Harrington from the John Paul Jones Area located on the UVA campus, leaves us with more questions than answers. Part II
The Faces of Her Facebook
Help Find Morgan Harrington was developed by a few concerned individuals interested in spreading the word about Morgan’s disappearance and boasts over 30,000 members. Not all posts are welcome.
In particular, a member by the name of Nelson Kane was recently banned for posting very detailed hypothesis scenarios that sparked a firestorm of interest in the self-appointed athlete scout. His posts were deleted at the request of Law Enforcement who admit tasking two officers with monitoring the web for such activity in Morgan’s case.
Additionally, Mr. Kane reached out to several individuals on facebook as well as the Harrington family’s findmorgan.com site in attempts to speak to the family directly and request an interview. The Harrington’s were made aware of the concern for such requests by sources close to the investigation.
He has recently changed his facebook drastically. 
Mr. Kane, a member of the family owning the longtime furniture store of the same name in Charlottesville is also a UVA alumni and season ticket holder. In addition to UVA, Kane also claims to have attended Virginia Tech on many of his many social networking profiles. He also fancies himself as somewhat of a Rock band critic.
On his site, nkscouting.com which he has maintained 
since 2001, Kane chronicles his trips to scout mostly High School basketball and football athletes. In an effort to make his site more interesting (his words) he details the travel experience, routes, times and in some cases photos of his visits to High Schools mostly within a few hours driving distance.
Very early on in Morgan’s case, blinkoncrime.com explored the idea that perhaps the double murder of VT freshmen David Metzler and Heidi Childs on August 27th should be investigated as a possible link to Morgan’s case simply because they attend the school and Morgan and Heidi bare a remarkable resemblance to one another.
As far as very odd coincidences go, the location of Nelson Kane’s scouting foray the evening of the August 28th could not be more relevant.
Kane scouted the game at Jefferson Forest High School. The very 
School Heidi Childs graduated from a year earlier. Unlike most of Kane’s other journal entries of his athlete accolades, there is no mention of his travel experience to or from Forest High School so it is unclear where he left from, when he got there, or when he returned home.
This is in no way an accusation that Mr. Kane had any involvement whatsoever in such a heinous crime, of course, but given his proclivities for leaving at all hours of the day and night his keen attention to travel detail and familiarity with the area: Perhaps he saw someone or something amiss in his trip that could help investigators.
On Saturday October 17th, Kane scouts a game, listens to the UVA football game on his way home and is home in plenty of time to make the concert.
Blink how do you know he was at the concert you ask? I do not. I do know he knows alot about security at the JPJ Arena, how to navigate the different lots near Uhall, and of course that there are blue portable lavatories next to Lanigan Field. His posts from the Charlottesville Daily Progress below:
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This is the guy that some believe is actually Norman. If not, he is definitely disturbed and has an unnatural obsession with Morgan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23eMo1EZBZ8
He posted this video, among others, when Morgan first disappeared. Page down and read the 28 comments, most of which are from him.
My niece went through a similar experience a few years back. She went to a concert with some of her friends. One girl took off with a guy that she met at the concert. She never came back.
After the concert, they waited for her in the parking lot for an hour or so, and she did not return. So, they finally had to leave without her.
The next day, nobody heard from her. Her mother called looking for her, and they told her the story. Her mother was upset with them for leaving without her. But, it really was not their fault if this girl chose to take off with a guy and not come back. What could they do about it?
The difference is (or at least, I think it’s a difference, maybe not), this girl used to do things like this ALL the time (take off with guys she had just met). It is possible that Morgan and her friends did this type of thing sometimes,too, I suppose.
This girl did finally end up coming home, though.
When I first heard this story, this is exactly what I thought….she took off with a guy. But, since she was outside, alone, supposedly trying to get back in, and talking with the BB players, this story does not seem to make sense anymore. Plus, we still don’t know how or why she ended up outside.
Sweetpea in #236–One more theory: What if Morgan was intoxicated or on drugs when they arrived at the concert.
Friends (and I say that loosely) leave her in the car. They go to concert without Morgan. Maybe even sell her ticket.
Morgan wakes up and tries to get in concert, but can’t get in.rings true.”
This is a very interesting idea and would explain a lot–remember how Ms. Snead says in an early interview “we wouldn’t have done IT if we thought [anything bad would happen].” IMO (and others I think I read here), a clear slip. IT could have meant leaving Morgan.
Most teens (and others) do the easiest thing for themselves when possible–her friends were there for the concert, and nothing was going to stop them. If they left her in the car, it might have been a win-win: no dealing with her possible state of incapacity, let her sleep it off, scold her or be mad at her afterwards–and still see the concert.
That “IT” is everything.
(Re my previous post: I am not locked in to the idea of her planning an escape–I just thought it should be revisited.)
Gack! Lumpy editing on my part–sorry.
wpg-
close but not the same. if you travel on East past State Farm and Marths Jefferson/Peter Jefferson Parkway office area you come to a light, where I 64 intersects with 250- to my knowledge, only the Comfort Inn on the left was searched and the ramps on that side going to 64. these areas are continuing east on 250- just a few miles down from here is Milton and then Boyd Tavern where other posters have commented on.
there is a lot of new construction where SF and MJH are located. these areas are less secluded though than the areas on past from there.
I am frustrated too with the lack of new leads…
where I grew up, I rode my horse past an old chicken coop on an abandoned property- never went to investigate…. years later, it was discovered a body of a woman who had been there for *years*- all those years I rode by…. well now I drive by these places and I know it takes effort to cover all the terrain and hiding places
just hope LE has checked all these places/leads
just another thought, this is such rough terrain, maybe a horse back search could be organized with one of the groups?
I’m brand new to posting here. I post on the findmorgan website as DebbieM. Been reading a little about NK. Weird. Did anyone notice that he posted a picture of his house on is 11/20/09 entry? I don’t know why but this guy really gives me the creeps.
http://www.angelfire.com/planet/nkscouting/page0190.html
I just read about William Hurley who left a Boston Bruins game at intermission, then disappeared on October 8th. His cell phone was found during a search and his body was found in the river behind a jail days later. He was awaiting his girlfriend picking him up who was only blocks away prior to his disappearance.
http://www.wbz.com/pages/5436699.php?
I was just checking in this morning to see if there was anything new…
I am getting worried that this case if going to grow cold. I almost feel like this weekend’s candle light vigils were a closure for the general public that has been concerned about Morgan.
There is only so much we can do with what we know. I really think LE is using the wrong strategies on this one. The general public is a great resource for information. But people get tired of speculating after a while.
Blink
I have heard that Morgan’s friends have lawyered up. Has this been confirmed or is this just something blowing in the rumor mill ?
I heard that about one of them, unconfirmed, but it would not surprise me.
B
WHO was driving Morgan’s car? One of her female friends or the male friend there? Has the male friend been definately cleared? Was the male friend with the other friends the whole time?
I posted once before about NK detailing his every move and the exact times on his scouting site the night Morgan disappeared. I just looked at the link #256 put on…there is no blow by blow time line of his exact movements and doing’s like he did on the October 17th scouting. Weird..wonder why?
This theory came to mind, because something similiar happened to me many years ago. However, I was not the intoxicated one.
We too had a two hour drive to a concert. Everyone was extremely excited, stopped at liquor store as we left town (designated driver)pickep up some Tequila, After Shock, and Vodka. By the time we arrived one of the girls in our party was completed intoxicated. We literally had to drag her into the concert.
Fortunately they let us in, probably due to the fact it was an outdoor
venue. We layed her on a blanet and she woke up after the first act
and enjoyed the rest of the concert.
Had they not let us in I can see us taking her back to the car and
letting her sleep it off. Other than our driver we were all feeling no pain.
#258 — RE: William Hurley
Sounds like the Smiley Face Killers
On the surface, yes.
B
blink:
what to think…
what to feel…
what to do…
i am at a loss. i keep asking to put up flyers of Morgan and sometime they (businesses)say yes and put it up, others just take the flyer and it never goes up (i check)and most of the time they say no thank you. i truly am at a loss. what is LE, UVA, JMU(?) and the rest of who are involved doing? i feel like people think “oh well, just another girl”.
my daughter calls this a “tragic tragedy!”
i now make copies and put them in all my mail. everything that goes out gets a copy! that is to every bill i receive and return with a check. i hope that it helps to get her picture out everywhere in the United States!
my thoughts and prayers go out to you and all of your posters for keeping up the good work. although i do not post often or even up to your caliber, i read it daily. it keeps me informed and somehow i feel a bit better knowing that you are not giving up. thank you from me and my children!
God Bless the Whole Harrington Family! Dan, Gil, Alex and Morgan!
Blink – are you aware of this?
Heidi Childs, 18, had been home schooled and was attending Virginia Tech to study biochemistry.
http://tinyurl.com/y8wx739
In what context specifically?
B
Comment by Candice Bond — November 22, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
I have a couple of questions:
1. If you were at a concert with a friend who is also your roommate and she told you she would find another way home at least 2 hours before the concert ended, what would you do upon arriving home with her car and not finding her there? Would you go to bed and only become concerned when her dad called your phone the next day?
2. If the above did happen, wouldn’t you have let dad’s call go to voicemail so you could try to call your friend/roommate to give her the heads up on her dad looking for her? Why would you answer the phone and recite the events and take her car back to dad’s house?
3. Would you then lawyer up?
Think about it…
Candace, I still do not quite understand the “friend” situation either. As do most of the posters posting here. Most dispell the “friend” involvement theory, and some slueths do not feel it should be discounted, but still, there are many questions such as you pose in your post that do not makes sense. I agree with all of your points. Makes sense.
I pose anther question? Why is there just one friend that has an attorney, and not the other 2? (that we know of) Certainly gives us something to think about.
Was it the male friend that lawyered up, I wonder? Again, not accusing anyone, but if she was slipped the date rape drug as witness accounts of her behavior may suggust, then it was done IN the arena.
If I was the perp why would I care if the battery was in the phone or not if I am leaving the cell phone and purse behind ON PURPOSE where it is going to be Obviously found anyway no matter which lot it was found in. Why would I stop to take the battery out.? What s the point? For that matter why leave those items out in the open where they will OBVIOUSLY eventually will be found easily? Or do I purposely want them to be found there (wherever THERE is). Does this make sense?
With all those people leaving the concert, you would think someone would have found those items a lot sooner then the next morning. The next day would there still be a lot of parking going on in the Lanigan Lot for someone to be there to spot a purse/cellphone? Are there maintence people to clean up the lots? Would the finder have left a name and number in case of a reward or is it not necessary to leave a name at all?
Did the friends drive home that night or stay overnight somewhere? If so did they get a room prior to going to the concert? I thought I read something about that. Sorry cant find it.
Also was one of the friends 21?
There was a woman and her daughter who stayed at a motel who reported seeing someone who looked like Morgan at a motel. Motel not named. The woman said that her daughter noticed that (the girl she saw appeared to be in some distress) Maybe this is the reason why the search at Comfort Inn.
This is what I’ve been going off of as to Nelson Kane.
Kane scouted the game at Jefferson Forest High School. The very School Heidi Childs graduated from a year earlier.
Did she actually graduate from Jefferson Forest? I don’t really understand how a home schooled student recieves their degree, is it in the mail or from an actual school.
My info was that she attended there, and ran track at this stadium occasionally. As far as the home school degree issue I have no clue how that works. I know alot of people like Rice for 29 killings, but he was in jail on this one.
B
(I posted this on the FB Part I thread, not realizing the discussion had moved onto Part II. Sorry to take up so much Comment real estate.)
#104 mosaic: “…I find it interesting that her trajectory takes her directly southwest as if she has a clear destination in mind.”
I agree. Apparently she was familiar with the campus, so I would think it logical that if she was sure she couldn’t get back into JPJ and had two hours to burn – possibly while feeling disoriented and upset – she would try to make her way to the main campus, either looking for a party or perhaps some of her brother’s friends, maybe even a cafe she knew about.
It stands to reason (based on maps of the area) that if she was walking down Copeley Road, crossing over the RR tracks and headed toward Ivy Lane, this would likely be where she was heading, imo.
If that was the case, it begs several considerations:
1. If she told the BB players her dilemma and that she was heading to the campus, why did they leave without giving her a ride? (Was she incoherent or sending up red flags about her condition?)
2. I’m not acclimated with the lay of the land surrounding JPJ, but it appears that making it to the main campus would have been quite a trek on foot – one that perhaps she thought she could make upon the initial outset (again assuming she was possibly under the influence or suffering through a concussion), but then realized how long and dark Ivy Lane was once she started walking it. Based on Ivy Lane’s proximity to the Cage Lot, she could have decided to circle back, cutting through the Cage Lot to return to the JPJ area…becoming separated from her purse/phone, and disappearing on the way.
Does anyone familiar with the area know if this is a feasible scenario as far as her movements that night, or am I way off? I’ve just been struggling with where the h*ll she could have been going so determinedly in the cold mist, and it sort of clicked when I saw the map. It would also make sense that, if she was headed for/down Ivy Lane, she may have tried to flag students down for a ride to campus.
Thoughts?
Fish, excellent idea about the flyers. It would be wonderful if everone would ask all their friends (and so on) to print up 10 flyers and distribute during their holiday travels, esp truckstops, rest stops, gas stations, etc.
One question, why was the search stopped? It would seem that if nothing was found, that the process should go on. Especially before winter.
My thoughts and prayers with her family and friends during the upcoming season.
This NK guy is still bothering me. Maybe I have watched too many crime shows on tv – but I think at least some of them are based on fact. Looking at his scounting site for 11/20/09. Why would he post a picture of his house on there??? Took me back to the above copies of his postings on facebook..
Nelson Kane 7. He takes her home and realizes that she may be dead. “What do I do with her now???!!!!” he thinks.
I truly, truly hope law enforcement is checking all of this out thoroughly.
EMS reports here:
http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/rids/rids.php?flag=prev&fdate=2009-10-18
Just FYI.
Did you notice the 3 consecutive calls from 250 Pantop Mountain Apts?
B
This may answer some of our questions:
Morgan Dana Harrington was reported missing by her father after not returning home from a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia. Police found her purse, with her ID and cell phone, in the parking lot of the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena. Her car was still in the lot but there was no trace of Morgan.
(UPDATE: Previous news reports of her car being in the parking lot are false. Police corrected the record stating that she road with firends)
http://tinyurl.com/ylcs8qs
Home schooled kids are affiliated with a school and must follow all the curriculum that the school does. They must take tests (state administered etc.) They are also eligible to participate in any of the school’s extracurricular activities or events. They can take part in the graduation ceremony if they choose.
TY, that explains that then-
B
for # 271: much quicker path to central grounds and main student hangout area, The Corner, would have been to head east from JPJ. Would have been a bit of a haul, but there is pedestrian bridge in place over 29, so dodging traffic wouldn’t have been an issue. I’ve always thought the Copley bridge route only made sense if Morgan was intending to meet someone in that vicinity or head to one of the banks nearby for an ATM transaction.
Actually Darrell Rice was NOT in jail… he is under an ankle bracelet montioring device that he has been able to sneak away for a few hours at a time…
Look it up
He got out in August sometime
J2K and Skyler—the same thing is bugging me…WHERE was she going? It seems she clearly had a destination. My guess is that the bb players know where she was heading…and maybe they didn’t give her a ride because it was too far (like out of town). So maybe she was in fact heading to Ivy to hitch a ride out of town. Or to meet someone.
With every post we add more and more questions to the pot…
Who/where is the dude that went with them?
Why did her friends not worry about her and leave in her car?
B
Comment by TR — November 23, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
Home schooled kids are affiliated with a school and must follow all the curriculum that the school does. They must take tests (state administered etc.) They are also eligible to participate in any of the school’s extracurricular activities or events. They can take part in the graduation ceremony if they choose.
TY, that explains that then-
B
Yes, thank you, was thinking that was probably the case, just wasn’t certain.
Why did her friends not worry about her and leave in her car?
Blink – I just put a new post in another place where it said that the origional news post had been updated and said that it wasn’t Morgan’s car that was at the arena, and that’s why she didn’t have the keys to the car. Her car was never there.
Sorry questioner, that info is incorrect. Her car WAS in the lot when the friends left the concert, THEY drove it back to JMU, that is the reference, it was not worded well, imo.
B
About the three consecutive calls from 250 Pantop Mountain Apts, I am sure that they have checked the hospitals for Jane Does, right?
They have. It is a retirement community, assisted care. It caught my eye because it is directly across the street from the State Farm building, and frankly the bulk of the searching area has been in Pantop.
B
Blink – just wanted to say you run a great website here – I am constantly checking in. Very informative and well run.
Dear Blink,
RE:#274
# Comment by rvrb — November 23, 2009 @ 3:08 pm
EMS reports here:
http://warhammer.mcc.virginia.edu/rids/rids.php?flag=prev&fdate=2009-10-18
Just FYI.
Did you notice the 3 consecutive calls from 250 Pantop Mountain Apts?
B
FYI
250 Pantops Mtn Rd; is an actual address (911 enhanced address) for one of the many, many apartment cottages in an upper income, GATED, retirement/assisted living facility called Westminister Canterbury. Everybody is getting crazy with routes and addresses here in Albemarle County. Yes there is a route 250 which can be Googled; it runs east to west through the Whole state, but is not used an actual door address. Sometimes it is called Richmond Rd., sometimes Ivy rd. sometimes Main st., sometimes West Main St. etc etc.through the state. All rural addresses have been 911 enhanced in Albemarle Cty. and proper places should come-up when Googled.
Read this about Rice.
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2002/04/18/explosivewords.html
Page down to read how he shot two women in a park because he believed they were lesbians.
Reminds me a bit of the Childs Metzler murder which i believe happened August 27th 2009.
NO Sue, he was indicted, Feds pulled back the charges after other male dna was on the scene.
B
“Did you notice the 3 consecutive calls from 250 Pantop Mountain Apts?
B
…It caught my eye because it is directly across the street from the State Farm building, and frankly the bulk of the searching area has been in Pantop.
B”
Woah.
Correction to above ie. Rice. He murdered the two women, not sure if they were shot, however,
For 271–There are University busses that run on Copeley, cross Ivy and go down Alderman to central grounds. The are pretty often, every ten or fifteen minutes, depending on the time of day. The BB players would be pretty familiar with them–
#277 Mystified: Thanks for clarifying the layout – as I said, I have no familiarity with the area, but assumed that if MH was shut out of JPJ, didn’t want to hang around, and was suddenly unable to use her phone(?), that she’d head toward a student hangout for fun and/or help (i.e. a ride or phone use). It seems odd she’d walk along a narrow, shoulder-less roadway to meet a potential ride when it *looks* easy for a car to pull in the main lot of JPJ (free parking/entry?) – she would have had to arrange a pickup in advance, and I can’t imagine a *friend* telling MH that her he/she would scoop her up along Copeley rather than meeting her in the lot. Oh, and as far as using an ATM, I’ve seen it reported that her checking account was overdrawn.
#280 mosaic: My sentiments exactly. The truly frustrating aspect of pondering *where* she was heading is that it could be critically relevant to what happened to her …or, it could be completely meaningless in the whole sceme of what went down that night.
B – (in response to #280, “Who/where was the dude that went with them?”)
I read in one of BoC’s first posts on the MH disappearance that dude/fourth passenger was Amy Snead’s boyfriend:
“When Morgan and Amy Melvin, roomie at VT in their off campus Blacksburg apartment arrived in Crozet to pick up Amy Snead and her boyfriend for the evenings event, Morgan called Dr. Harrington, or Poppa, as she affectionately called him, to notify her parents of their safe arrival. …”
Is there a different male person in their party not accounted for?
clarifying “friend” but yes a male, that is who I am referring to.
B
To: #278-Arianna
Where did you see that Rice was released in August….Do you know the exact date in Aug?
Thanks!!
B – Is said male “friend” the one who possibly lawyered up?
Was this man with MH’s group but driving in a separate car?
Re: where was she going? (#271, 277)
Crossing the Copeley bridge and crossing Ivy Rd, you get to Alderman Rd. Walk straight on Alderman about a mile (or less) and you get to the UVa dorms, Observatory Hill Dining, Scott Stadium and other university locations. If her plan was to meet someone she knew at the University, this is a reasonable route. You pass through a residential area & by a church on the way to the dorms, and there is some street lighting. At that time of the night, there would still be some traffic. From the dorm area, it’s an easy turn to head up to the Rotunda/Lawn. It would have been a cold night for a walk, though.
I think of the opening to the show “Without a Trace”, how the missing person is shown in the last known location, fading and then disappearing entirely. The possibilities now are, what…
1) abducted and held against her will, alive but endangered?
2) voluntarily MIA, a prodigal daughter?
3) deceased?
It’s only on this site that I’ve heard about the searches on Pantops. These were related to credible tips?
I keep going back to Occam’s Razor. To me, that points to a situation unintentionally going terribly bad, bad choices being made, and someone scared and in crisis/self-protection mode.
Clarification:
The initial ground and aerial search, conducted by LE, was done in and around the area of JPJ, Copeley, Lannigan, etc. on Wed., 10/21. [There were VSP helicopters over my office and other areas of UVA.] These areas are not in close proximity to Pantops.
The expansive volunteer ground search covered a much broader area in and around the UVA Grounds including Observatory Hill, etc.
The initial call to the Comfort Inn at Pantops (past State Farm and State Farm Blvd.) on Oct. 24 was in response to a report of suspicious behavior and a sighting of what someone thought was MH. It was not.
As cvilleconcerned aptly pointed-out, Westminster-Canterbury is an expansive, multi-level, retirement and assisted living facility. It would not be unusual at all for 911 calls to originate from that location, re: transport of geriatric patients in distress to the hospital.
That is all correct except there was an impromptu search, allegedly from a tipster proclaiming they saw a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity of the Martha Jefferson Med Center, and it expanded to the woods behind the State Farm Building, across the street from the Westminster. I agree that in and of itself would not be unusual given the residents.
B
As I recall, the two named female friends in the car with Morgan were Sarah Snead and (Amy) Amelia Melvin. There were two others in the car with them, who were, I think, JMU students and they were a ‘couple’…male and female. I have not seen or heard their names listed anywhere.
Blink, do you know the names of this couple? Where was the couple… and the male during and after the the concert?
And, which friend(s) has a lawyer?
Thanks for any reply back to this.
Well, we have some conflicting information I cant verify at the moment, so I would rather not comment except to say yes I know the ID of the male.
B
If Morgan was given this drug and felt nauseous and too hot, maybe that is a reason she felt she had to get outside?
Rohypnol Intoxication is generally associated with impaired judgment and motor skills. The drug has no taste or odor, so those given it don’t realize what is happening. About ten minutes after ingesting the drug, a woman may feel dizzy and disoriented, simultaneously too hot and too cold, and/or nauseated. She may experience difficulty speaking and moving, and then pass out. Effects peak within two hours, and can persist for up to eight hours. Such victims have no memories of what happened while under the drug’s influence
I am a regular lurker…Love the site…Thankfully,we have this and can brainstorm..
Saw this in today’s Wash Post….
pretty interesting….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112202364.html?wpisrc=nl_most
Leaving this on this thread as well.
Maybe Morgan borrowed a phone that night to call a cab or a car service. I wonder if she intended to go to the hotel that has been discussed as being where the group thought about staying that night. Was there a call to a car service for a ride to that Pantops hotel that night?
Interesting post from LD.
http://www.findmorgan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1108
“I keep going back to Occam’s Razor. To me, that points to a situation unintentionally going terribly bad, bad choices being made, and someone scared and in crisis/self-protection mode.”
^^^^^THIS
I have some doubts about the date drug.
If someone had given her a drug with the intent of taking advantage
(which is normally why they give it to a person) you would think they
would stay with her. Escort her out of the arena.
From all accounts mainly the basketball players; she was alone.