Morgan Dana Harrington (20), missing

[Bailey]

Thursday, February 04, 2010





Investigators: Person who killed Morgan Harrington knew farm where her body was found

By Rex Bowman | The Roanoke Times

State police investigators believe the person who killed Morgan Harrington was very familiar with the farm where her body was found Jan. 26, Lt. Joe Rader said this afternoon.

Rader said the person "may have traveled, worked, recreated, visited or periodically passed through the farm or the nearby area."

Harrington, a 20-year-old Virginia Tech student from Roanoke county, disappeared Oct. 17 after leaving a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville. Her body was found in a field on Anchorage Farm in Albemarle County, about 10 miles south of where she was last seen.

At a news conference in Charlottesville this afternoon, Rader urged residents of the area in Albemarle County to call a new police tipline to discuss anything they may have seen or heard.

The new tipline is 434-709-1685.

Rader said profilers have concluded that the person that left Harrington's body there had to have been familiar with the territory, otherwise that person would not have negotiated so many obstacles, such as streams, fences and rough terrain.

"You could not have just walked in there without having to be able to negotiate things," Rader said. "You had to be familiar with the layout."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/235426

[Bailey]

Police ask residents for information in Virginia Tech student's death
February 4, 2010 6:10 p.m. EST


The family of Morgan Harrington will hold a Mass for her Friday in Roanoke, Virginia.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Person responsible for death said to be familiar with area where remains were found
* Morgan Harrington last seen at concert in October, when she was separated from friends
* Harrington's skeletal remains were found on 700-acre farm about 10 miles from concert site
* Fences, streams, terrain would make land difficult for stranger to negotiate, authorities say

(CNN) -- The person responsible for a Virginia Tech student's death was familiar with the area where her body was recovered, police said Thursday.

The farmland site where Morgan Harrington's remains were found is the "most significant" aspect of the investigation into her death, Virginia State Police Lt. Joe Rader said.

He asked that members of the surrounding community call police with any details of the area and who has frequented it.

"People in North Garden, people in the Anchorage Farm area, you know what goes on there," Rader said, referring to areas of Virginia's Albemarle County. "You know the history. You know who comes in and out of that vicinity. You may not realize it, but you probably have some information for us that you don't think is important."

Morgan Harrington disappeared October 17, after attending a Metallica concert at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia. The 20-year-old education major was separated from her friends at the concert.

A farmer discovered her skeletal remains on his 700-acre farm January 26, police said. The farm is about 10 miles from the concert site.

There have been no arrests in the case, police said. The cause of her death is still under investigation.

Investigators think that the farm "did not present an unnecessary risk for the person responsible" and that the person passed through or visited the farm or the nearby area, Rader said.

Traveling to the area where the remains were found "would have created a significant risk for any person not familiar to that area and not comfortable with that type of setting," Rader said.

"Farmland like the place where Morgan's body was located has obstacles, difficult obstacles. It has streams, it has fences, it has defects, it has terrain that changes. That's important, that's a high-risk opportunity to pick that location to take Morgan Harrington unless you're familiar with the area," he said.

"We don't believe those are challenges that someone unfamiliar with the area would confront."

The farmer who found Harrington's remains came across them in a remote section of a hayfield, police said last month. The farm's owner, David Dass, told CNN affiliate WTVR that he was out looking for damage after wind and rain knocked down several trees in his yard when he found "what looked like a human skull." He told WTVR that the area is at least a mile and a half from a main roadway.

Read more about the case from WTVR
http://www.wtvr.com/news/harrington-...0,486679.story

"There is no public access to this particular area. The hayfield was last cut in August 2009 and would have been possibly waist-high by mid-October 2009," a January police statement said.


On the October night Harrington went missing, she had left her friends to use the restroom during the concert, police said. When she did not return, her friends called her cell phone at 8:48 p.m. She told them she was outside the arena and could not get back in because of its policy, police said, but she told them not to worry about her and she would find a ride home.


There are restrooms inside the arena, police said, and authorities do not know how or why Harrington got outside. Witnesses who saw her outside the arena said she did not appear to be with anyone, police said.
About 9:30 p.m., witnesses reported seeing a person matching Harrington's description walking on a nearby bridge, police said. No further sightings were reported.


Harrington's purse, with her identification and cell phone inside, was found the following day in an overflow parking lot near the arena, police said. A friend had driven Harrington's car to the concert, she said, and still had the car keys when they became separated.


Police are asking anyone with information on the case to call 434-709-1685.


The family will hold a Mass for Harrington on Friday in Roanoke, Virginia.
"We are grief stricken by her death but also lifted by the knowledge that Morgan Dana Harrington was precious to so many and will not be forgotten," her family wrote Monday on their Web site dedicated to Harrington. "She mattered, to us all."








http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/04/...ath/index.html

[Bailey]

Friday, February 05, 2010

Investigators say Morgan Harrington's killer is familiar with the terrain where she was found, and they hope residents of the area will be able to come up with more tips.

By Rex Bowman | rex.bowman@roanoke.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Morgan Harrington's killer unwittingly offered a clue to his identity when he chose to leave her in a remote hayfield of an Albemarle County farm, according to state police investigators. They now say they believe he is someone familiar with the rural terrain.


This aerial photo shows the area state police were investigating a week ago, after Morgan Harrington's body was found.
The streams, fences and rugged landscape of Anchorage Farm, where the 20-year-old Roanoke County woman's body was found last week, would have deterred anyone who did not know the farm or surrounding land, said state police Lt. Joe Rader on Thursday.

"We don't believe those are challenges someone unfamiliar with the area would confront," Rader said, adding that the body's location is the "most significant" aspect of the investigation so far.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon in which he expressed confidence that investigators would solve the case, Rader said the person who left Harrington's body in waist-high grass on the farm passed up "more convenient and accessible" locations.

"Investigators believe the person may have traveled, worked, recreated, visited or periodically passed through the farm or nearby area," Rader said. "You could not have just walked in there without having to be able to negotiate things. You had to be familiar with the layout."

So important is the location to the investigation that police have set up a new tip line, 434-709-1685, specifically for residents of the area to report anything notable or out of the ordinary they might have seen or heard. Other callers are still being urged to use the original tip line, 434-352-3467.

Harrington, a student at Virginia Tech, disappeared Oct. 17 after leaving the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, where she had gone with friends to hear the rock band Metallica. She was last seen south of the arena, trying to hitch a ride on the Copeley Road bridge.

The owner of Anchorage Farm, David Bass, found Harrington's skeletal remains Jan. 26 while riding a tractor across his 742-acre farm, which is in the rural North Garden area of Charlottesville, about 10 miles south of where the young woman was last seen. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond has ruled her death a homicide.

On Thursday, Rader said criminal profilers, both in and outside Virginia, have helped investigators come to six conclusions:

* The person responsible for Harrington's death was familiar with the farm or the immediately surrounding area.

* "Past experience" at the farm may have "inclined" the person to come there with Harrington during what was likely a time of great stress.

* Residents of the area "through no fault of their own" know the person, or know someone who passed through at a crucial time.

* The person has "specific knowledge" of the area and is comfortable there.

* The person chose the farm site instead of other areas considered less risky, such as the side of a road.

* "This particular location would have been a high-risk location unless you're familiar with that area," Rader said.

State police said the discovery of Harrington's body has generated tips, but investigators hope for more clues from residents who might have previously considered information they have too inconsequential to report.

"We will solve this," Rader said. "It's really going to be important that we listen to people who know the area."

Harrington's parents have scheduled a Mass at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Roanoke for 3:30 p.m. today, followed by a celebration of her life at the Hotel Roanoke. The public relations firm helping the Harringtons get information to the media said the Mass will take place even in bad weather.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/235505

[Bailey]

Morgan Harrington's family held her memorial service at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Roanoke.

Friends and family gather to remember Morgan Harrington: 'She was not a perfect child, but she was an original'
Hundreds gathered to share their grief and celebrate the life of Morgan Harrington.

Saturday, February 06, 2010
By Rex Bowman


The friends and family of Morgan Harrington gathered at St. Andrew's Catholic Church on Friday to memorialize the zesty young woman known to her parents as "our child of light."

Seeking comfort in the somber cadences of Catholic prayer, more than 500 people braved snow and treacherous roads to pay tribute to the Roanoke County woman. Sharing the grief were friends of Harrington's from Northside High School, her classmates from Virginia Tech and strangers who never knew her but who followed the story of Harrington's disappearance and death in the media.

"She stood out in a crowd, not just because she was so beautiful with her long blond hair and her sparkling blue eyes, but because of something much deeper within her," said Father Steve McNally of the Church of the Transfiguration in Fincastle, who delivered the homily during the memorial Mass.

Harrington, 20, vanished from a Metallica concert in Charlottesville on Oct. 17. Her skeletal remains were found Jan. 26 in a hayfield in Albemarle County, 10 miles south of where she was last seen.

In her brief life, she was known for her passion for travel, fashion and music (from Jerry Garcia and the Beatles to Metallica); her hug-happy relationships with her friends and family; and the delight she took from working -- and playing -- with children. She aspired to be a teacher.

"I always said she was beautiful on the inside and out, and she truly was," her father, Dan Harrington, told those in the pews of St. Andrew's. "Morgan was an original. ... She was not a perfect child, but she was an original."

Following the memorial Mass, the family hosted a celebration of Harrington's life in a ballroom of Hotel Roanoke.

As a machine blew bubbles into the air, throngs watched a slide show of pictures of Harrington and gathered at a table where her belongings were displayed. The items included stiletto heels and cowboy boots, a red sequin dress, her passport, makeup kits and a blow dryer, sundry bracelets, baubles and an essay on the beach she had written in elementary school. (She received an A minus after misspelling "television.")

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/235623

[Bailey]

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tech sends safety notification to students
Morgan Harrington's parents asked Tech and UVa to send the notice, which listed safety tips.

By Tonia Moxley | The Roanoke Times

In an e-mail sent Wednesday afternoon, Virginia Tech officials asked students to take precautions for their personal safety after last month's discovery of 20-year-old Morgan Harrington's remains on a farm outside Charlottesville.

Harrington, a Tech student from Roanoke County, disappeared Oct. 17 after leaving her friends at a Metallica concert at John Paul Jones arena at the University of Virginia.

Harrington was last seen trying to hitch a ride on the Copeley Road bridge in Charlottesville. Her skeletal remains were found 10 miles away in an isolated field in Albemarle County.

According to police, she had been drinking the night she went missing.

Police continue to investigate her death, which has been ruled a homicide.

The safety notification was sent from Tech Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Spencer on Wednesday and gave a long list of general safety tips.

Among them, the e-mail suggested students avoid walking alone at night and use the campus SafeRide program or the Blacksburg Transit bus system. It also emphasized that students who choose to drink at parties should make safety plans with friends to avoid dangerous situations.

"Remember that alcohol use can dull judgment and lead to a false sense of security," the e-mail stated.

Harrington's parents, Dan and Gil Harrington, suggested the notifications be sent out to students at both Tech and UVa, Spencer said.

Harrington's brother, Alex, is an alumnus of UVa.

"We didn't want Morgan to go out by herself alone," Dan Harrington is quoted in the e-mail as saying. "There are so many things that if we could change, we would have a different outcome."

UVa officials sent out a similar campus notice last week.

"We felt it would appropriate to do something parallel here at Virginia Tech," Spencer said.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/236162

[Bailey]

FBI Asks Bicyclists Help With Harrington Case

Posted: Feb 11, 2010 4:57 PM CST Updated: Feb 11, 2010 5:24 PM CST
Reported by Keith McGilvery
See Bio / Email


The effort to draw out anyone who saw anything suspicious around the southern Albemarle county farm where Morgan Harrington's body was found is growing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now asking Charlottesville bicyclists to search their memories, especially if they ride any of the popular Red Hill Road training routes.

An email is being circulated to members of the Charlottesville biking community asking them to help with the Morgan Harrington case. In it, John Lawler, the owner of Charlottesville Bike and Tri recounts a conversation he had with an FBI agent based here.

Lawler says Special Agent Lynne Stopford asked for his help in identifying a group of cyclists who ride in the area and park on Red Hill Road just east of Route 29 South. He says the agent is trying to find out if they remember seeing anything unusual about the time Morgan disappeared.

Harrington's body was found on Anchorage Farm, not far from the intersection of Red Hill Road and Route 29. Heather Higgins is a bike group organizer who's trying to spread the word about the police interest. Higgins says, "Cyclists are out in parts of the county people don't see very often and seeing things in a different way than motorists do."

Higgins and her team have reached out to more than 15 bicycling groups across Charlottesville to try and collect new leads in the case. Higgins notes that while they area has been searched before, bicyclists travel the area at slower speeds than cars, and are in a unique position to see and hear things a driver may not.

The Virginia State Police say the FBI is working with them on the Harrington case and this is one facet of their search for more information about what may have happened on and around Anchorage Farm.






Fast Facts:

* Morgan Harrington is 20 years old. She was last seen wearing a black t-shirt with the tan letters that spelled "Pantera" across the front, a black mini skirt with black tights and knee high black boots.
* Physical Description: She has long blond hair and blue eyes, she is 5-feet-6 inches tall and weighs approximately 120 lbs
* Officially there is a $100,000 reward for information on Harrington. We're told state police and Metallica are working out the final details which would increase that reward by $50,000.
* The tip number is 434-352-3467.

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=11973045

[Bailey]

Posted: Feb 18, 2010 2:48 PM CST Updated: Feb 18, 2010 2:57 PM CST

Morgan Harrington's parents made an emotional visit to the Copeley Road Bridge Thursday. That's the last place their daughter was seen alive before she disappeared and was killed.

The Harringtons came to town to get an update from police on the investigation. While they were here, they updated the memorial on the bridge and they say they're going to keep coming back until Morgan's killer is found.

Dan and Gil Harrington cut three yellow ribbons off a pole on the bridge. Each ribbon represented a month that Morgan was missing. They left a black ribbon hanging that will stay until Morgan's killer is found and brought to justice.

Dan Harrington says State Police are still getting tips, but he hopes something will jog people's memory who live near Anchorage Farm, where Morgan's body was found.

A State Police spokeswoman says they still don't have the cause of death, and that the medical examiner is still working on trying to determine that.

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=12007259

[Bailey]

State tests Harrington remains
Forensic Science department begins toxicology analysis on body found last month; police officials hope results will provide further clues to ongoing investigation
Kate Colwell, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
February 22, 2010


Medical examiners are now analyzing the remains of Morgan Dana Harrington, the 20-year-old Virginia Tech student whose body was found Jan. 26 on Anchorage Farm, about 10 miles south of where she had last been seen on the Copeley Road Bridge.

The cause of Harrington’s death has yet to be determined, but the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond has submitted samples to the Department of Forensic Science for toxicology studies, said Steve Murman, the office’s district administrator. The results of these studies usually return after 8-12 weeks, he said. It will take five to six months before the medical examiner can then release the DNA analysis, Harrington’s parents said.

Though the information gained from these studies might not be conclusive, it still should contribute to the investigation.

“In all medical examiner cases, we try to obtain as much information as we can from third-party sources such as hospital medical records and police reports along with other specialized tests such as toxicology studies,” Murman said.

Although state police members continuously are receiving tips, they have not been able to verify any new information during the past two weeks.

“As far as state police is concerned, there’s nothing new to release related to the investigation,” State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said.

Police officers are looking specifically for people who know about the area around Anchorage Farm, said Dan Harrington, the father of the deceased.

“It’s not a place that anyone would know unless they’re familiar with that specific area,” he said.

Nevertheless, officials are looking at the case from all angles so that they can obtain as much information as they can, Murman said.

Anyone with information about Harrington’s disappearance should contact the Virginia State Police tip-line at (434)352-3467, officials said. Tips can be e-mailed to bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov, as well.

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/02...ngton-remains/