..” I have nothing to hide. I Have ABSOLUTELY nothing to hide..”

Tiffany Hartley emerged on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 yesterday after her 16^th hour of interviews at the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, Texas.

Hartley recounted the events of September 30, ending with the alleged murder of her husband David. Ms. Hartley gave both new testimony and confirmed her previous statements according to reports from the Mexican Attorney General and Ms. Hartley herself, without the presence of an attorney.

According to several statements from Hartley, David was shot “off his jet ski” while the couple was returning from the Mexican side of Falcon Lake, where they briefly took pictures of the historic church on Old Guerrerro. Neither David Hartley nor his Sea Doo watercraft have been recovered.

One of the most baffling aspect of the case, is the fact that Ms. Hartley claims the pair were shot at at as they were driving their jet skis away from alleged “pirates” they both waved a friendly hello to, seconds before.  Tiffany Hartley was uninjured in the attack, and her jet ski was not hit in the gunfire. Although media was alerted last week that tests on a possible blood source on Tiffany’s life vest were due back that afternoon, we were quickly told there would be no updates about the possible blood evidence at this time.

This afternoon, blinkoncrime Editor spoke with Chuck Smith, owner Smith Marina USA about specifics of the Sea Doo RXT.

..Your correct, the RXT has a chip in the starter that is electronically programmed to “match” the owners lanyard key. If he was wearing the lanyard, whether attached to his vest, or in some cases the arm, and he was thrown off the ski, it activates a kill switch and will not start without the key it is programmed to without a factory reprogramming, which of course, one would need the paperwork for. In short, no matter what, they would need his key to start it.

Blink Question: What if he was not attached to the key, and he was shot and flew off the unit “in motion”, this would not shut the engine off, correct?

CS: Correct. The ski would continue in the direction the handlebars were pointing and continue to throttle in that direction.

Blink: How hard are these models to sink?

CS: Virtually impossible. I have never actually heard of, or seen one, sink to the bottom. The way the Coast Guard standards are now with these, they have hulls similar to boats.

Blink: Could enough bullet holes sink it? What about if the contiuum– could that have caused it to flip? Could anyone right it?

CS: No, not unless we are talking morter rounds. I guess in theory an automatic weapon could put enough holes cut it in half if that was the goal, but again, your still going to see shards of fiberglass all over the water, remnants similar to a boat accident or crash. Again, under these circumstances, I don’t see how he could flip it, but if it were, again, harder to see because the bottom is black, but any SAR or Coast Guard deployment knows what abnormalities to look for on the water surface. It would be next to impossible to “right it” in deep water. It would be more likely they would drag it to shallow water.

Blink: Is this chop-shoppable?

CS: Absolutely. There is some after factory devices, similar to lo jack, but the engine and parts are expensive and could easily be sold that way.

Blink: He was wearing a PFD I. In your opinion is that keeping him afloat until he is located if he was left in the water?

CS: Absolutely, unless it was removed, or he and the vest were removed from the water, he would be floating, yes.

As announced this morning on Dana Pretzer commentary, Blink, Editor In Chief of blinkoncrime.com will be discussing the Hartley case this evening live at 9PM EST on Scared Monkeys The Dana Pretzer Show.

Listen To Podcast Here

Charlottesville, VA– Sunday October 17 marks the one-year anniversary of the worst day of Dan and Gil Harrington’s lives. Although they were not yet aware of the horror that had befallen their Roanoke, VA family, the next morning their daughter’s purse was found on the grounds of the University of Virginia Lanigan Field. Morgan Dana Harrington had vanished.

While attending a Metallica concert with friends Sarah Snead, Amelia Melvin and Dan Cassagne with tickets purchased 6 months earlier by Morgan’s Dad, Morgan, for reasons unknown, was outside John Paul Jones arena at approximately 8:45PM.

Morgan attempted to re-enter the arena but could not locate her ticket and was denied access to return to the venue.  Shortly thereafter, Sarah called Morgan at 8:48PM looking for her and was told she could not get back in and would be attempting to locate a ride, according to Snead. 

Various witness accounts and in some cases corroborating statements from Virginia State Police (VSP), place Morgan in different areas of the adjacent parking lots of JPJ over the following 45 minutes, moving toward the far perimeter of UVA property.

 According to the VSP, there is a witness statement that a person matching Morgan’s description was seen hitchhiking alone on the Copeley bridge at approximately 9:30PM.

After several private law enforcement searches and two volunteer based efforts organized by the Harrington’s failed to locate her, Morgan Harrington’s remains were discovered by a prominent Charlottesville land owner on his remote 700 acre farm in Albemarle County,  8 miles South of JPJ arena, on January 26^th, 2010.  Morgan’s death has been classified as a homicide, however her cause of death has not been released.

Until July, the case seemed to be at a virtual standstill from an investigative perspective, in fact the only arrest to date is that of a man who provided a false lead to VSP, and was prosecuted for it.

On July 1st, as a direct result of an article linking Morgan’s case to an unsolved sexual assault case in 2005 in Fairfax, VA published by blinkoncrime.com, a sketch of a man forensically linked to both the Fairfax case and that of Morgan Harrington was released by the Virginia State Police, albeit grudgingly, at first.

Behind the scenes, Dan and Gil Harrington, who were made aware of the connection a few weeks earlier, were adamant the sketch was critical to developing leads and warning others and demanded the sketch be posted on the VSP website; it was uploaded later that afternoon at Dr. Harrington’s request.

Virginia State Police have not commented publicly on the case in several months, but in a private correspondence with a concerned blinkoncrime.com reader, Lt. Joe Rader, leading the investigation for VSP,  said not only is the case not cold, but he has recently assigned additional manpower to it.

Dan and Gil Harrington, Morgan’s bereaved parents, along with Morgan’s beloved brother Alex, have spent the last year keeping Morgan’s case alive through the development of their own family blog, TV and radio appearances, and most recently, a meeting regarding safety concerns with new University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan.  This Sunday, a memorial plaque to promote safety and honor Morgan Harrington is being presented to the Harrington’s on the Copely bridge.

Note From the Editor

“How would you describe the Harrington’s?”  I am asked this question frequently.

I always respond the same way.  “I would not”. 

The grace and poise these parents have shown in the face of the worst conceivable tragedy to befall a parent is not something I could wordsmith or articulate. 

If the question comes from someone I feel may help their cause, I offer to make the introduction, but I would never presume to speak for them.

The Harrington’s have created a legacy in memory of Morgan that only parents of a 20-year-old blossoming artist, music loving, budding educator could.

Morgan Harrington Photo chosen by and courtesy of The Harrington Family Library

Elizabeth Morten, Madeline Tanner and Jason Mateos, contributing editors to blinkoncrime.com

Madeline Tanner, copy editor

Images By Klaasend

Portland, Or– Following one of the largest organized search weekends on Sauvie Island since Kyron Horman, 8,was abducted from Skyline School on June 4, his step-mother and father squared off in family court. Kaine Horman, Kyron’s father, arrived with his attorney, Laura Rackner.

Kaine’s estranged wife Terri Horman, arrived with her criminal defense attorney; Stephen Houze and her family law attorney Peter Bunch.

Mr. Horman appeared in a crisp-white dress shirt and tie, and Ms. Moulton-Horman wore an eggplant hued suit with a long skirt.

Cameras were banned in the downtown Multnomah County courtroom; however, there were apparently several hidden “nests” as the tweets were flying real-time.

Peter Bunch, counsel to Terri Horman, is adamant his client is the subject of more than one criminal investigation:

“The state has the ability to obtain every single bit of information that is produced in this case and that is outside the bounds of what it could do were this proceeding not occurring,” Bunch said in court.

“It is fundamentally unfair for Kitty (Kiara) and for Miss Horman for me to be hamstrung in the divorce case for the information I have compared to what they have.” “The publicity that’s going on is not being driven by Ms. Horman, it’s being driven by Mr. Horman, when he tells national media there’s no doubt Ms. Horman is involved.” “If Mr. Horman is really interested in what‘s best for the child, then Mr. Horman wouldn’t object to any visitation by this child’s mother.” “We’ll concede, Mr. Horman can have the house, right now. Mrs. Horman is going to lose money…” (more…)

According to his wife, Tiffany Young-Hartley, who called 911, David Hartley, 30, was gunned down by Mexican pirates while the couple ventured across the Falcon Resovior lakes US border to take pictures of the “Mexican Atlantis” or Old Guerreo.

Hartley says her husband was shot in the head and as a result “flew” off his jet ski while the couple was returning from the landmark on the Mexican side of the lake, after taking pictures. She goes on to say she became aware of 3 different boats chasing down the couple only after she saw bullets hitting the water next to her. As she turned around to see where they were coming from, she claims she witnessed her husbands murder. 

David was driving a new Sea Doo RXT ski that can climb from 0–30MPH in 1.7 seconds and is capable of top-end speeds of over 60 MPH.  Blinkoncrime.com has not been able to confirm which model Ms. Hartley was driving. The couple had been on at least one earlier jet ski jaunt while still in Mexico, but was cut short due to a mishap with David’s craft on June 20th.

According to his wife, David was face-down in the water, wearing a life vest, after he was shot.

Despite the horror of what she had just witnessed and astonishingly avoiding injury to her or her watercraft, she circled back around, jumped off her jet ski, and turned her 250 lb. husband upright to observe the gunshot wound to his forehead. You read that correctly, according to Tiffany Hartley, while being chased from behind, David was shot from the front. Hartley maintains this is when she attempted to load him onto her jet ski, and also when two of the three boats were now positioned in front of her.

(more…)

Charlottesville, VA– Late Tuesday evening, prompted by questions by the Editor In Chief of blinkoncrime.com about a recent rape which occurred at the DZ sorority on Chancellor Street, The University of Virginia sent out an alert to students.

However, as required of UVA by the Clery Act, the alert was 10 days late. Charlottesville Police recorded a police report of a forcible rape on September 17, 2010. 

The Jeanne Clery Act, founded by her parents, Howard and Connie Clery, is a Federal Law applicable to all Higher Learning Institutions that participate in Federal funding assistance which requires mandatory reporting for specified crimes.

Constance and Howard Clery founders of Security ON Campus, Inc. after their 19 year old daughter Jeanne was brutally raped, tortured and murdered while sleeping in her dorm on April 5, 1986.

Fellow Lehigh University co-eds propped 3 different doors open, in violation of security rules, unknowingly allowing her killer access.

The bill which became a Federal law, was based on the fact that 38 different violent offenses occurred at Lehigh U that the student body was never made aware of prior to Clery’s murder. Had they been, it is almost certain not only would the automatic locking doors have been inaccessible, but parents and students combined would have demanded security upgrades to prevent such a heinous event.

Following the email that went to 23,000 students at 11:01 PM September 28, Allen Groves, Dean of Students, and Lt. Melissa Fielding of the University Police Department, held an impromptu press conference Wednesday, as a follow up to the email alert with some additional background information. 

(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.

(more…)