Charlottesville, VA-  Sean Michael Horn, 42, current Albemarle County reserve deputy and former police officer for the University of Virginia  as well as the Albemarle Sheriffs Office was arrested last evening for rape. The arrest  follows an extensive investigation conducted by the prosecutors office.

While there has been no specifics released, and it is the policy of www.blinkoncrime not to identify alleged victims of sexual crimes,  we have learned that a complaint of rape against Horn was received in the Fall of 2011.

The arrest follows what can only be described as a series of chaotic incidents and events affecting Albemarle county law enforcement officers since 2009 at a minimum.

Following the death of 18 year old Greene County resident Colby Eppard on New Years Day 2010 by police gunfire, 7 Albemarle county officers were either suspended and/or demoted.  Caleb Marden, a decorated sharp-shooter who served in Iraq was fired.   Denise Lunsord,  prosecutor for Albemarle county and North Garden resident, cleared all officers of any wrongdoing from the incident.

Eppard allegedly stole a neighboring Greene County patrol car and traveled almost 60 miles to Albemarle county. Although off duty Greene Sgt Randall Snead  was out of his jurisdiction, Snead was among the officers in pursuit of Eppard and participated in the ambush to stop the teen.  Snead’s former mentor and Sherriff, Willie Morris,  committed suicide on January 28th.

Although he was on desk assignment pending the investigation of Eppard’s death, Snead responded to the scene of Morris’s home where he was located and rushed to the hospital.  Morris was removed from life sustaining efforts without ever regaining consciousness.    A suicide note blamed his tinnitus condition.

In a recent election, Steve Smith won the Sheriff slot running against Snead, and has since met with controversy after releasing nearly all of his staff.   An email criticizing Smith was received by several news outlets from a previously fired Albemarle County Lt. Scott Cox, then a Greene county deputy who has since been released.   Horn has Sheriff Smith listed as a friend on his facebook profile.  Cox was among the Albemarle County Officers who was demoted after 18 years of service in the scandal.

Albemarle county is also the home of The Anchorage Farm,  where murdered Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington was recovered after exhaustive searches of the areas surrounding the JPJ arena, UVA campus and private LE searches failed to locate her.   Harrington disappeared from a Metallica concert at the John Paul Jones Arena on October 17, 2009 after being refused re-entry by security.  DNA evidence has linked the Harrington case to a suspect in an unsolved rape in Fairfax, VA in 2005.  Former lead detective now retired, Lt. Rader,  has only indicated that forensic link means that Morgan came into contact with that individual prior to leaving Charlottesville.

Efforts to confirm whether Sean Horn was working the event as a UVA officer that evening have not been returned.

Corrine Geller,  public information officer for the Virginia State Police,  whose agency leads the probe into Morgan’s homicide responded to our inquiry as to whether or not Horn was a target of their continuing investigation this morning:

“The investigation remains ongoing at this time. I’m not able to comment on who our agents have or have not looked into during the course of their investigation.”

Horn lists Virginia Tech among his educational credentials on his facebook account, where Harrington was a junior at the time of her disappearance.  It is not known if the two were acquainted.

Horn is being held in the Albemarle Regional jail pending his bond hearing today.

Check back to www.blinkoncrime.com for updates.

Girl In The Hayfield

Morgan Dana Harrington was the ingenue of artist and adjunct professor at Virginia Tech, Jane Lillian Vance.

She was scheduled to travel with her to Nepal in the Spring of 2010 while continuing to pursue her Education degree in her third year as a Hokie.

Morgan would not make that trip, and Vance would complete her latest work in her former students honor, last week.

With her Mother Gil’s help, albeit posthumously, Morgan is indeed educating children; the underprivileged children of Zambia.   In April, 2010,  Gil Harrington carried some of her beloved daughter’s ashes during the Orphan Medical Network International (OMNI) pilgrimage to Zambia.   After raising donations for the Morgan Harrington Educational Wing, Morgan’s ashes were mixed with the concrete foundation of the school bearing her name.

At 5’6” ,  with breck-girl locks and eyes like briolette  faceted tourmaline’s,  Morgan was a stunning beauty.

Behind her neon smile was the burgeoning sophistication of a girl beyond her years and peers.

This gilded lily stood out.

On the grounds of the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia while attending a Metallica concert with her friends, unfortunately, she also caught the eye of a dangerous predator.    The cost of admission to the events that followed, would be her life.

Devoid of her ticket to return inside the presumed safety of the venue and old friends,  Morgan scored the unwilling and unalterable ticket to the cross-hairs of a Medium Build, 6’ African American sexual sadist who has likely spent the last four years honing his skills.

“Sketch” was interrupted by a passerby during a vicious beating and sexual assault in Fairfax on September 24, 2005.  His DNA is linked to both victims.

Lights, Cameras, 400 Blue Phones

According to JPJ and UVA security guidelines, all hired security must be law enforcement.

In addition to the regularly scheduled patrol assignments of UVA PD, events such as the Metallica concert required additional security posts which were hired via a security request when the date was booked.  Although additional UVA officers were working the night of October 17, there has never been a statement regarding any observations  from that evening on their behalf by Melissa Fielding, Investigative Lieutenant.

However, in a private meeting that included UVA PD staff, shortly after Morgan’s disappearance, an attendee speaking to www.blinkoncrime.com on the condition of anonymity, told me he heard Fielding tell someone openly that Harrington’s car never left Harrisonburg, or JMU, and that it was a different friends car that was driven to the arena and hers had been accounted for.

In response to another UVA PD staffer loudly offering  that he heard that Morgan was behaving “obnoxiously” during the trip to JPJ, which resulted in a tiff between the friends and the reason she ultimately left the concert, Fielding snapped “That was still no reason to leave her.”

When pressed as to why she thought they still believed Morgan’s car was not a factor when Lt Rader of the Virginia State Police (VSP) and Dr. Harrington, Morgan’s Father, both confirmed her car was the vehicle the foursome traveled in,  she repeated that information was incorrect with no further explanation.  While VSP was leading the investigation at this point, it certainly still begs the question as to why the original agency tasked with her disappearance, and still assisting, would have such important misinformation circulating in an active investigation and ongoing search.

According to the Office of the Executive Vice President of UVA,  UVAPD security personnel are also responsible for surveillance on grounds.  The central monitoring  area, which is linked to the security cameras in several lots and public areas, is located in the central parking garage.  There is no information available on the storage medium of recorded footage from the cameras, and requests for information were deferred to VSP.

The University of Virginia uses technology to improve security on Grounds. University Police install video cameras in several parking lots and public areas. Additional cameras may be installed in the future. Security cameras will be connected to a central control room operated by the Police Department in the new Central Grounds Parking Garage. The purpose for using the cameras is to reduce incidents of crime while limiting the need to expand the Police Department.

VSP is not discussing the specificity of what they have or do not have regarding footage supplied by JPJ/UVA.

With the exception of course that out of everything that has “been supplied to them”, there are no images of Morgan whatsoever.

Stationed inside the arena,  is UVA PD security, non-police event security run by RMC Events,  security staff employed directly by Metallica, UVA facilities management personnel, and contracted vendors to both JPJ and UVA.   Firemarshall, zoning, and University guidelines also require EMT attendance. (more…)

Charlottesville, VA-  Sallie Hamilton, the original owner of the Hamilton House on Chancellor Ave., was ahead of her time when she chose Charlottesville to build her boarding house.

Recently divorced and the mother of two young sons, she was one of five single women from 1900 to 1910 to build and operate boarding houses to accommodate students of the University of Virginia as a means of income and support for her family.

The Chancellor Street address abutted the newly established and exclusive Fraternity Row on Madison Lane and was directly across from the central grounds. The Delta Zeta Sorority purchased it in 1979.

In the early morning hours of September 17^th, 2010, it was also the scene of the latest rape of a UVA student and DZ sorority sister.

September 17^th, 2010 also happens to have been the first full day of a 10 day memorial to Yeardley Love, the lacrosse player who was brutally murdered in May.

The columns of the Rotunda were draped in black just hours before the vicious rape and assault in the backyard of the sorority house, an assault that the young woman has very little memory of.

Coincidentally, Yeardley Love was a sister at Kappa Alpha Theta, whose sorority, Saunders House,  resides at 127 Chancellor Street.

A “stones throw away” you might say.

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Charlottesville, VA– In a new development in the murder investigation of Morgan Dana Harrington, blinkoncrime.com has learned that Anchorage Farm was very much a frequent party spot for local musicians.

In fact, there was a 7 Mile Sleepover exactly one week after Morgan’s disappearance from the JPJ arena that included an invitation list of over 130 guests.

Jenny Bass, the adult daughter of David and Nancy Bass, is an accomplished pianist, musician, horticulturist and artist in the Charlottesville community.

The Seven Mile Sleepover appears to have been posted prior to Morgan’s disappearance, approximately October 14, 2009.

While it is unconfirmed how many guests actually attended the event, it is clear there could have been over 100 people within a few hundred yards of Morgan’s final resting place a week after she went missing, and presumably, her death.

As Anchorage Farm is a verified crime scene in an active murder investigation, one wonders if anyone found anything they may not have realized of importance at the time.

According to her facebook, Ms. Bass was clearly disturbed by her discovery as well:

Jason Mateos and Elizabeth Morton, contributing editors to this report

Disclaimer– exclusive original content copyright and property of Internet Network News, LLC and Blinkoncrime.com. Reproduction of this article , ANY OF IT’S Conclusions or CONTENT, in whole or in part without proper attribution and source link is strictly prohibited without prior written permission.

North Garden, VA– Morgan Harrington, the 20 year old fair-haired, radiant beauty, was brutally murdered after disappearing from the John Paul Jones arena the evening of October 17, 2009.

Morgans remains were recovered the morning of January 26, 2010 in a hayfield on Anchorage Farm, owned by David and Nancy Bass.

Since Morgan was found by Mr. Bass that blackest of days in January, there has been rampant speculation about her last hours and how she ended up in the creek bed of total strangers.

A sequence of events and incidents in the days and hours preceding and following the January 26, 2010, discovery of Morgan Harrington’s skeletal remains on Anchorage Farm continues to attract attention from pundits and volunteers dedicated to Morgan’s cause.

Although naysayers point to a lack of a viable connection, and police have disavowed a link, others say emergency services runs to a nearby fire and also other responses which are  not supported by publicly available documentation has led to calls for more complete disclosure to eliminate any connection or chance of prank calls to misdirect or busy first responders.

The editors of www.blinkoncrime.com present  a series of events occurring in Albemarle County, VA that pose the question:

What the Hell is going on and what does it have to do with Morgan Harrington’s murder?

The Monsoons of Albemarle County …. PD

Ok, maybe I meant “The monsoor”. Karl Monsoor that is.

Former Officer Karl Monsoor had been tugging on the shirtail of ACPD for years before he finally left with pocketfuls of sunshine. Almost 500 G’s.

It is not my intention to be glib, it is my intention to say that as one of the youngest police departments in the country, enacted in 1983, this tank needed algeacide before this past March.

Death By Cop.. January 1, 2010

Colby Eppard, described by some as a cross between Gomer Pyle and cool hand luke, had the rawest of deals growing up in Greene County.

According to his foster-mommy-aunt, Tammy Harlow Cox, Colby was hit by a car at a very young age and suffered a brain injury that apparently served to shape his future of home upheavel and juvenile detention facilities.

Ms. Cox, to whom Colby Eppard was entrusted for a time as a foster parent, is no stranger to the judicial system. Tammy was arrested for admittedly having sex with 3 High School seniors athletes on the Varsity Football Team, where her own sons attended. The same school Colby elected to leave without his diploma.

Colby’s family recalls better times, and I don’t think anyone believes this is the last we have heard of this case.

Specifically under VA statute, Greene County Captain Randall Snead was out of his jurisdiction, both when he was called about Colby stealing the patrol car and the fact that he was in North Garden, Albemarle County, looking for it. It would seem the Greene County Roster could accommodate a deputy vs. a captain to respond, no?  Keep in mind, EVERY responding officer was put on desk duty pending the investigation, through at least February 9^th, 2010.

While the attorney for the Commonwealth, Denise Lunsford has cleared all officers from all participating counties involved, none of the dash cams have been released despite requests through The Freedom of Information Act..

According to Ms. Lunsford, in an incident that spanned almost 70 miles and over 2 and a half hours where traffic was rerouted and stringers were used, Colby Eppard was allegedly wielding the 20 gauge Greene County Issue out the windows, not one LEO attempted to engage or respond to Eppard in an effort to get him to pull over, or negotiate his surrender at any time.

In fact, according to statements from Snead, Albemarle Deputies Fields and Marden, they were all in place on the south junction of 20 “in the event” he went that way, yet, they did not block traffic until after the stinger caused Eppard to crash.

My biggest question regarding this incident is: Did anyone ask Colby Eppard why he would take the truck and 2 rifles on New Years day ending up in Albemarle County?

Was it related to a New Years Eve occurrance of a friend, family member or associate of his? After Sgt. Hutchinson loses Eppard near the Nelson line, the next time he is seen is parked on Green Creek Rd, back in Albemarle.

What route did he take from 29 South to end up there? Was he seeking Red Hill Road where the overdose call came in to EMS the night before?

By all accounts he was a troubled young man with challenges throughout his young 18 years.

Additionally corroborated by those that knew him, he was never violent to anyone. There were over 6 Law Enforcement Officers from 4 different jurisdictions this man encountered before he hit just below Carters Bridge; 14 by the time the stolen vehicle ended up in the ditch.

Not one of them spoke or attempted to speak to Colby Wade Eppard at anytime he was on the police radio for over 2 hours. Was there an order given not to?

How is it that not one officer responded to Eppards threats, which were even being monitored by the media at this point in an effort to have a peaceful result to this situation?

Did Eppard have a cell phone with him and have the records been checked?

Did he call anyone, like Amber Rogers, his off-again girlfriend of 3 years? His brother Courtney or any of his friends?

In the preliminary release by the Virginia State Police, it stated Eppard returned to his crashed 2006 Ford Ranger truck prior to stealing the unmarked Green Cty car. If he were attempting to have a police stand off, why would he not take the two rifles he brought with him? He left his guns behind.

It also states in the report that Eppard is seen on the video from the STOLEN police car retrieving the shotgun from the trunk and loading it, how is that possible considering all the cameras are dash mounted?

Can someone explain to me how the officers have been cleared, but the footage of  both Eppards actions and their responses, the very evidence of the incident cannot be released? One of the officers involved, Caleb Marden, was fired for reasons nobody is willing to comment on.

There is only ONE way that is legal; if is part of an ONGOING investigation.

So what investigation is it an active part of?

(Editors note: If Mr. Eppard put ANYONE’s safety at risk through his actions, in the end, I say what happened to him was done to protect others, which I support. That said, as it was not so long ago a Virginia Conservation Officer was indicted for the involuntary manslaughter of a 16 year old kid whose girlfriend he was trying to grab out of his moving car, and later had the charges dismissed, I think it is worthy of conversation.)

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Disclaimer– exclusive original content copyright and property of Internet Network News, LLC and Blinkoncrime.com. Reproduction of this article , ANY OF IT’S Conclusions or CONTENT, in whole or in part without proper attribution and source link is strictly prohibited without prior written permission. Charlottesville, VA– On the evening of one of the most anticipated musical events of her young 20 years, Morgan Dana Harrington, 20, disappeared from the Metallica Concert at JPJ on October 17, 2009. After months of investigative efforts involving four different law enforcement jurisdictions, Morgan’s skeletal remains were found by Anchorage Farm owner David Bass on January 26, 2010.

Upon the recovery of Morgans remains, many parallels of her life reflected her love of the musical community in general, but also, the surrounding venues she attended previously, such as bonnaroo, allgood, the rooster walk, and floydfest. Charlottesville is rife with heritage, musical talent, eclectic artisans and those wanting to be a part of it, nightly, across the vast bucolic landscape. As a tribute to Morgan Harrington’s love of the Indi music scene, blinkoncrime.com will explore some of the culture and artists she embraced.

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