Morgan Patten ft. Steve & Renee Patten

In this very personal episode I speak to Morgan's parents Steve and Renee about who their daughter was, who she likely would have become and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her death. Nothing is what it seems and unfortunately you will have more questions than answers.

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Riddle Me That is a true crimepodcast that deals with adult themes. Some
episodes explore disturbing topics such as murder, abuse, sexual violence, drug abuse,
suicide, and self harm. Pleaselisten at your own risk. Theories
disgusting episodes may not be the opinionof the host. Welcome back to the

(00:31):
show. I'm Jules and this isRiddle Me That, True Crime. So
today I'm really fortunate to have withme Morgan Patton's parents, Steve and Renee.
Welcome to the show. Thank you, thank you, thank you for
inviting us. You're so welcome.So I wanted to hear a little bit
before we get into Morgan. Howdid the two of you meet? We

(00:53):
met in high school, actually thirtyyears ago, so you two are high
school sweethearts. You went on tohave Morgan. Do you want to talk
a little bit about the birth andthe pregnancy. Yeah, so it was
several years later. We weren't stillin high school where we had Morgan.
But yes, we married when Iwas twenty three and our name was twenty

(01:15):
one and then Morgan was born,so that was nineteen ninety. We get
married ninety four and Morgan was bornin October of nineteen ninety five, and
it was we were actually planning atrip to Alaska. We were actually going
to move to Alaska for at leasta year as an experiment. I had

(01:37):
lined up work in Alaska. ActuallyI had never been out of New England
other than when I was in theMarine Corps. But it was going to
be a big change for us asa couple. And then I came home
from work when they when they toldme that we were pregnant, and that
was another big change because that obviouslyaltered our plans to move to Alaska and

(02:00):
set us on a whole other,whole new life, which was a blessing.
And what was it like welcoming Morganinto the world. Amazing. She
was a pretty active baby when Iwas carrying her after eight o'clock at night,

(02:20):
so she was a little bit ofa night owl. And when I
was ready to have her, shewent right to the due date. But
she was very very small, veryvery small, and the ultrasounds that I
had prior to the birth and theywere getting a little bit concerned. And
I went into labor and I hadher and she was perfect, absolutely perfect.

(02:46):
She was say, she was fivepounds fifteen ounces, and then I
got very, very very sick,and they would let me go home,
and Steve walked with Morgan at thehospital around and round around first one to
change her diaper. Yeah, Reneegot sick almost immediately after Morgan was born.

(03:10):
And it was actually then that welearned that Morgan had had a twin
initially early on in the pregnancy,and the doctors were surprised that they hadn't
learned that throughout the pregnancy. Yeah, so it was after the pregnancy that
I don't know a better, easier, more pleasant way to describe it,

(03:30):
but the second placenta was actually wasrotting inside Renee's body and caused her of
the extremely ill I had to pass. Once I got past that, I
felt much better and realized that therewas another baby. At one point during
the pregnancy, I had thought Imissed Harry Morgan, and I hadn't missed.

(03:52):
No, they're still heartbeat, soand she was. I remember one
of the nurses telling me that therewas an angel in the room because had
I gone any longer with the birthor anything, anything had happened so unbelical

(04:12):
record would have severed and we bothwould have died. Sounded like an incredibly
harrowing experience. Like I read aboutit on your blog and it sounded like
you were both so incredibly blessed notonly to have Morgan, but to have
you Reinee pull through. It wasthen. The thing is, we didn't
know it at the time. Everythingjust seemed so perfect. Yeah, it

(04:34):
wasn't as scary then as it isnow to think about it. When the
doctors, in the nurses, theattendees in the delivery room that day explained
to us later on what had happened, it was then we realized that we
were extremely fortunate to leave that hospitalas a family. Wow, that's really

(04:54):
amazing and it must have been incrediblytraumatic. On top of that, finding
out that there was another baby thatdidn't come to full term. Absolutely,
and I remember was it the doctorHe said that it was it was just
a one in a million chance tohave Morgan. Morgan was truly you're one

(05:15):
in a million baby. Absolutely.I love that you both got to have
and spend so much time with thiswonderful little human. Do you want to
talk a little bit about what Morganwas like as a little girl? She
was she was I think Morgan wasborn an old soul. She just seemed
beyond her years. Her entire life, she was. She learned to read

(05:38):
when she was three, and shewas riding her bike without training wheels at
four. That was her mother's daygift to Renee. She woke me up
early and said, I let's getthose training wheels off my bike and I
want to show mom I can doit without training wheels. And after she
learned to read, up until throughher teenage years, we would have to

(05:58):
tell her to stop reading. Morgan'stime he started to eat dinner, it
was time to go to bed,You need to put the book down.
Would she read to my belly whenI was pregnant? She really, she
was like this little sponge that justwould she be in the room but had

(06:18):
not a lot to say. Hereyes always looks very wise, and she
was just taking everything in. Andthen the next thing you know, she's
she's writing a story or making upa story, or you know, making
a friend. She's really good atmaking friends. And I wanted to ask

(06:39):
you both because I also read thisand I thought it was really beautiful.
What was the origin of the nameMorgan. Well, when we chose the
name Morgan, we chose it becauseit was original within our families. It
seems like a strong name to us. It was original in our area.
We didn't necessarily want to give hera name where she would be every third

(07:00):
person she would meet in elementary schoolwould be another Morgan. As it turned
out, apparently a lot of otherpeople were liking that name around the same
time in nineteen ninety five. Becauseshe did go to high school with three
other Morgans, they were called theMorgans all through high school. But it
was later in her childhood that welearned that the name Morgan is of Welsh
origin and it means of the seaor sea borne by the sea, and

(07:27):
that was it really fit Morgan asan adult because we lived well fifty miles
away from the coast here in NewHampshire, and you know, at the
foothills of the mountains in western NewHampshire, that the ocean became as important
to her as the mountains. Shegrew up and she just thrived on the
seashore and that's where we feel closeto her now. When she was a

(07:47):
baby and I could put her inthe little baby backpack and we go hiking
all the time, like Carstarge mountainsin our backyard basically, and we go
hiking and I take her to theocean as I could, and you know,
it was just we love the mountainsin the ocean. Sounds really idyllic,
living right with the mountains in yourbackyard, and it obviously instilled this

(08:11):
appreciation for nature in Morgan. Sowhat type of young lady did she become
and what was her high school experiencelike she was? I think that's actually
when her desire to become an attorneystruck her, because as she started to
become a young adult in her teenageyears, she would if there were something

(08:33):
she would desire that Renee and Iwere opposed to, she would use her
writing skills to put together a fouror five page dissertation on why she felt
it was appropriate that we just sayyes, and she would present it to
us as if she were presenting toa journy. Yeah, she would just
have all written down in her notebook, and this is why I should go

(08:56):
to the dance, and I know, you know, I shouldn't have X
raysy whatever. Whatever she was introuble for it, there was usually nothing
big. It was just these littlelife lessons that you know, we were
teaching her, and she was.She was really good at making decisions because
she would get to a crossroad andin middle school or high school, and

(09:20):
she had a whiteboard in her room, and you know, I, you
know, we'd say, just thinkabout the consequences, the pros and cons.
You know, what's going to makethe better choice for you. And
she would use that whiteboard and writedown pros and cons and stuff like that.
She would just she thought things through, and she she cared deeply for

(09:45):
her friends. She certainly did verydeliberate with her actions and her choices.
She sounds like such a heart centeredperson. Did she have any pets growing
up? She and several. Sowe had seven dwarf goats. Oh my
gosh. Really we would dressed Morganup as snow white and she would be

(10:09):
snow white and the seven dwarf goats. That is literally the cutest thing.
She grew up with goats and dog. We had a husky for fourteen years,
and then a hound dog, andthen cats. We had cats,
donkeys, donkeys, and donkeys.She had one cat, Tigger, and
she would she didn't really play withher dolls. She would take Tigger and

(10:33):
stuff him in the stroller and heloved it. He thought he was something
else because Morgan made him so special. That's so cute. I just Morgan
struck me as the type of personthat I wouldn't wanted to be friends with,
and that somebody that would just loveanimals. When she was in high
school, was she involved in likeany team sports or anything like that.

(10:56):
Yes, soccer, for sure.She actually tried every sport that was available
at our high school. She triedtrack and field, she tried softball.
She actually played so we have ayouth sports organization here in town. When
she played baseball and then softball andsoccer as an elementary school student, and
then at day she could dance inJanassa. She didn't dance gymnastics, but

(11:20):
soccer was her passion, so that'swhere she settled in high school, and
she played indoor soccer through the winterand then soccer for the high school in
the fall. She was very goodat it. Didn't Morgan have an idea
of what type of law she wantedto practice when she finished law school.
She did, which is why shewas thrilled when she was accepted to the

(11:43):
Coastal Environmental Law Program at Roger Williams. It's very unique kind of self explanatory
coastal environmental law. Morgan, althoughshe had practiced all through her teenage years
as being a trial lawyer, that'sreally wasn't where her interest was. She
had earned her bachelor's degree in geosciencewith a focus on energy, and her

(12:03):
goal was to help solve the energyproblems or the energy crisis however you'd want
to describe it here in the USand all over the world. You know,
she had learned about algae farming andproducing oil from algae and generating electricity,
utilizing the natural tides, things ofthat nature, and that's what excited

(12:24):
her. She called me one dayand said, I want to have an
algae farm, and so, youknow, she wanted to have the law
degree to help with permitting and developmentand things of that nature. That was
really her passion. I'm from aforest industry family, and Morgan was the
first in my lineage to ever havea college degree and certainly the first ever
want to go on to law schools. So it became I was interested.

(12:48):
But it was tough to follow herconversations when she would go on a rant
about something such as algae oil that'sso funny. She sounds like such a
dress. Been a brilliant young woman. I mean, she was reading at
three like that just blew me away. I'm sure if she'd had the chance
and had the time on this earth, there's just no limit to what she

(13:09):
could have accomplished. I hold,how did we believe that? We both
do and everybody that knew her whenwe got Mary Morgan was born. I
mean, we didn't have a lot. We were beginning, you know,
but at the end of the day, we were fortunatest to have each other.
And I was fortunate enough to stayhome with Morgan, and there was

(13:30):
no career that could accommodate what Ihad with Morgan. I just I can't
imagine doing any other way for me. I got to stay home with her
until she went to preschool, andthen I sat outside the door of preschool
while she was in there for twohours. I can imagine it would be
so hard. It's your baby goingaway to school, and it's your only

(13:52):
child, and it would be hardto part with her and let her have
that independence. Oh and boys,she was independent. She really was to
really she, like I said,she took a lot in didn't have a
whole lot to say until she wasready, and then when she was ready,
it was important. She sounds veryintrospective. So do you want to

(14:13):
talk about her decision to get herfirst tattoo and what you both thought about
that. Well, I know thatI didn't know about the tattoo until it
was done. I didn't eat her, which is fine. I knowing Morgan
as well as we did, weknew that she wouldn't. We wanted to
run out and say, oh,I see something on a wall in a

(14:35):
tattoo shop and say, oh,that looks great, put that on my
armor or whatever. It meant alot to her, had a lot of
thought into it, and I rememberwhen she was home and I saw it
and I thought, oh, whatis that. She's like, oh,
by the way, and she explainedit, and everything was just all about
her. It was perfect. Itwas perfect. I was at work one

(14:56):
day and she had sent me atext message asking if I was familiar with
Robert Frost's poem Stopping by Woods ona snowy evening, And it was a
rather random, out of the bluequestion, but not unlike Morgan. I
said, well, I'm sure thatI am familiar with it, but I
don't know it by heart. I'mnot as familiar with it as I should
be, I guess, so shereplied, saying it's her new favorite poem

(15:20):
and reminded me that I should definitelyrefresh my memory with it. So I
did, and then the conversation nevercame up again. But line of the
poem, which is repeated twice,the last stanzas these woods are lovely,
dark and deep, but I havepromises to keep, and miles to go
before I sleep, and miles togo before I sleep. So Morgan had

(15:41):
gotten most words miles to go tattooedbetween her shoulder blades in her own handwriting,
and very small and appropriate. Andunderneath the words was Morgan's moon sign,
which is the travel moon. Andas she described it, it made
perfect sense. They had meant alot to her, because there was a

(16:02):
lot she wanted to accomplish in life. She was incredibly driven as a young
adult. There was just no stoppingher. She did love to travel,
but she also loved to set goalsand meet those goals, so all around
it just it seemed that she hadmade a wise decision. If she were
going to put anything on her body, permanently thrilled that it was that,

(16:22):
not something random and meaningless. It'sa really beautiful tattoo. I was struck
by how she really picked these thingsthat were very significant to her, like
you know, her moon sign andthis line from the Robert Frost poem.
And another thing that struck me wasthe relationship that you two had, because
you said that Morgan had suggested thatyou read this poem. Most parents,

(16:47):
when their adult child suggests that they'rejust like whatever, they shrug it off.
They're not going to actually go andlook up the poem and read it.
So I think that speaks so muchto the type of relationship that you
had with Morgan. Yeah, weboth did. We had that. We
had very different relationships with Morgan,especially as an adult, but both indescribable,
just remarkable. But one correction,she did not suggest that I read

(17:11):
the poem. It was more ofa demand. Oh okay. And looking
at pictures of Morgan, she looksso much like both of you, but
Renee especially, I really really sawRenee in Morgan's face. When Morgan was
born, she was a little tinyknee without a beard. Yes, and
then fortunately she did as she grewolder, she looked much more like Renee.

(17:36):
Both just incredibly beautiful women. Shekept the blue eyes, though,
which surprised us. You know,she was born with beautiful blue eyes,
and we thought that they would overthe next several months they would turn brown,
but well brown more dominant. ButI think if we look at our
families, it's the blue eyes andthe brown eyes are kind of right down
the middle. They would turn colorslike a mood ring exactly, yes,

(18:00):
exactly, because it was dependent onher mood. And sometimes they would turn
like an aqua marine, and orthey turned really dark, and they were
just beautiful, just just gorgeous.I saw that one photo of both of
you holding baby Morgan, and thena photo later of the three of you,
and I was just struck by,like, at this, you know,

(18:21):
probably a similar age, how muchyou and Morgan looked alike. Yes,
they were accused of being sisters manytimes. Oh, I'm sure you
love that. I did. Iwasn't complaining about it. Morty would kind
of just pull her eyes, butI think she liked it too. The
three of us were at dinner onenight, the three of us had gone

(18:41):
out to dinner. It was oneof those Japanese habachi restaurants. So we
were sitting with a group, mostof whom we did not know, but
everybody kind of gets comfortable and opensup conversation within the group, and everybody
there thought that it was just sosweet that these two young ladies had brought
their dad out to dinner. Sowe just went along with it. Okay,

(19:06):
that's exactly so funny. So whenMorgan was in high school, did
she have any serious boyfriends? Iguess she brought a few guys home because
we had I guess you would callthem very strict rules about her dating.
She was not allowed to go ondates until the suitor came and presented himself

(19:27):
to us so that we could layeyes on him him and interrogate him.
It just it's kind of how Igrew up. Nobody was allowed to take
me out until they came and actuallysat down at dinner with my parents,
and so it just kind of trickledon to Morgan and the way we weren't
to raise her, and so therewas Yeah, there was none of them

(19:49):
pull into the driveway and hound thehorn and she would run out. None
of that. Oh, I thinkthat's fair. Whether it was even a
friend that came to pick up Morgan. It was we wanted to make sure
that she wasn't running out the doorwhen somebody hunked the horn. So so
she had a few dates in highschool, and then her junior and senior
year she had a boyfriend for Iguess through a good share of those two

(20:14):
years. And they were still Ialmost said they still they're still good friends,
but they were, you know,up until lost Morgan. They remained
friends, and we're still friends withhis family as well. We're having dinner
with them tomorrow night, actually,But that was really her only serious boyfriend
in high school. What about whenshe met Phil, who would go on

(20:36):
to become her fiancee. So thatwas a that was a little a little
strange for us because they actually metonline to a dating app, which neither
an A or I were familiar with. I wouldn't say we were uncomfortable with
it, especially because this experience forMorgan was incredible. But I'd like to

(20:59):
add that when we met Phil andsaw him interact with Marian and Morton interact
with him, and I mean,it didn't really matter how they met.
To me, I feel like whatI saw is just I saw the rest
of her life. It didn't matterhow they met, no, because it
was the two of them together wasRenee has described it as epic, and

(21:22):
I think that's the best word todescribe it, like out of the notebook
type of chemistry. Oh, itwas incredible, Yes, it was absolutely
incredible. That must have been reallybeautiful seeing your only daughter being with this
man who's treating her properly, andthe chemistry between them is like palpable.
Absolutely, they were both incredibly excitedand we were excited for them, as

(21:48):
was all of our friends and family. You know, Morgan had a huge
support group here in New Hampshire evenafter she had moved to Massachusetts and Phil
was a marine, correct he wasnot when they met in a conversation one
night he had Phil learned very quicklythat Morgan was very driven, and she

(22:11):
flat out told him that this iswhat these are my goals in life and
you can either share them with meor I can leave you behind. And
he is the type of he's justas motivated as Morgan, but he maybe
not as I don't know how todescribe it. He needs every now and

(22:32):
that he needs a little prod.He knows what he wants to do,
but you know, he just sometimesneeds a little prodding. And he told
Morgan that he had wanted to jointhe Marine Corps out of high school and
he was going to join with afriend, but the friend backed out at
the last minute, so so didPhil. And he told her that he
will likely regret that for the restof his life. So that turned into

(22:56):
a conversation that well, it's nottoo late, you can still do that,
and she helped him. She wentto the very next day, she
went with Phil to a recruiter startedtalking about options. Wow, Morgan seems
like a really positive influence on anybody'slife who was lucky enough to have her
in it. I could not agreemore like it sounds like what she did

(23:21):
for Phil was I mean, soundslike Morgan almost came out of the womb
with direction, knowing what she wantedto do, and not everyone is blessed
with that kind of direction. Soit's good that she kind of tapped into
something with Phil and was really helpinghim be the best person that he could
possibly be. Absolutely, you know, I always envied that about Morgan,

(23:41):
what you just described, because shewas never absorbed with the instant gratification.
She she knew what she wanted,and whether it took fifteen minutes or ten
years of her life, it didn'tmatter. She just would make it happen.
She had already been accepted to RogerWilliams School of Law when she and
Phil had the conversation about him joiningthe Marine Corps, and she knew that

(24:04):
she had moved in with Phil,so she knew that in order for him
to fulfill that dream of his own, she would need to put off her
enrollment to Roger Williams for a year. But a year to her was what's
the big deal? So I'll gonext year. It seemed like she had
everything pretty well laid out. Imean, a year doesn't make a big

(24:25):
difference when you see this future withlike many, many decades. So she
just seems like a really, reallygood planner. And I just admire people
like that who have such clear directionand a path and they just know what
to do, and they just havethis incredible mental fortitude in order to stick
to their plan. Right, shecertainly had that. She had that,

(24:47):
and she helped many others with theproblem solving in their own lives, including
Phil, and together the plan thatthey put together. Was there again?
It was epic. Phil had actuallysigned up to be a Marine Corps reservist,
which would take him away for thespring. Actually, so from May
of twenty nineteen he would check intoParris Island recruit training in South Carolina,

(25:12):
and so he would be there forthirteen weeks and he would be graduating from
May. I'm sorry. It wasn'tMay, it was July. It was
July, I'm sorry, And thatwould have him graduating from Paris Island the
first week of October, which wasMorgan's birthday week, and then he would
be home for ten days and thenhe would attend I believe it was ten

(25:34):
weeks of training for his MOS orhis job job specific training in North Carolina,
and then he would be home justbefore Christmas and be back to work
at his career with Eversource, thepower company that he worked for and has
a great job with. And thenfrom there it was they would get married

(25:55):
and Phil could transfer with the powercompany off the island where they lived on
the following fall the fall of twentytwenty, and Morgan would attend Roger Williams
Law School and use his GI builtto help with the tuition it really was
a solid and an epic plan thatthey put together. Yeah, it sounds

(26:15):
like they had everything figured out.And did you say that you were also
in the Marine Corps. Yes,so you and Phil had that in common.
Yes, And that was something thatI never served as a combat marine.
I felt the call of duty outof high school. That was the
Gulf War era, you know.They were reservists and active duty soldiers leaving

(26:37):
their families and kids and being shippedover to Iraq. And here I was
a twenty year old working full timesingle like Brine and I were. We
weren't married then, and I'm like, this just doesn't seem right. I'm
perfectly fit to do this job.So I joined. I never served in
combat. I actually never deployed outof the United States. So it's not

(27:00):
something that it never made a hugemark on my life, and I never
made a big deal out of it, and I still don't. But Morgan
actually was incredibly proud of that.And I remember on my thirty fifth birthday,
she had gone to the town clerk'soffice here in the town we live
in and got the paperwork for meto get veteran plates to put on my

(27:22):
truck. And that was what shegave me for my thirty fifth birthday.
That's so sweet. You earned it, so just do it again. It
wasn't a suggestion, it was moreof a demand. Yeah, of course
your daughter is going to be proud, right, It's a big deal.
And doing a training to become amarine is no joke. They only accept
the best to the best. Shewas very proud of it. So this

(27:45):
is really difficult. And if you, either of you want to stop at
any time or anything, just pleaseplease let me know because I know it
can be really traumatic talking about thesethings. But can we speak about the
events of November twenty nineteen, she'sone of you. Want to take us
through the minutia of the day,including your experience with receiving the news about

(28:08):
Morgan, we can so it allseems like it was one day, but
it actually it was November eighth whenMorgan left to travel to North Carolina,
and November eighth, twenty nineteen,Phil had graduated from Paris Island, had
spent ten days home with Morgan,and then he was at Camp Geiger in

(28:32):
Jacksonville, North Carolina, at hismost training. It was at the School
of Infantry that weekend November eighth wasFriday, on Saturday, Sunday, Monday,
and Tuesday. Phil had those fourdays off from training. They were
celebrating Veterans Day and also the MarineCorps Birthday, which is November ten,
So he actually had those four daysoff, but with restrictions. He was

(28:55):
allowed off base from eight am tofive pm, but he still had to
check in and spend those nights inthe barracks with the rest of his platoon.
So Phil had asked Morgan if shewould come to Jacksonville, North Carolina
and spend some time with him.She jumped at the opportunity they had.
He had actually proposed to her fifteendays prior to that over the phone.

(29:18):
His initial plan was to get aring and do the whole drop to his
knee traditional proposal when he came homeat Christmas time, but he couldn't wait.
He got over zealous and just askedher to marry him on the phone
one night while he was there attraining, which in itself is a great
story. But so on November eighth, Morgan called me. I was at

(29:38):
work. She called me at fivethirty am and she was already sitting on
the ferry which would take her offof the island of Martha's Vineyard to the
mainland in Massachusetts, and then shewould get on a bus and ride the
bus for an hour to Logan airport. She spent thirteen hours that day traveling
to get to Jacksonville, North Carolina, and checked in with Renee and myself

(30:03):
every step of the way, youknow, every time she got off the
bus or got on a plane orgot off a plane, let us know
where she was. She had arrivedsafely, and I had sent her some
information that day about the kind ofthings that happened in military towns. Reminded
her to be incredibly careful and youdon't be wandering about without phil And again,

(30:25):
just like Morgan, these news storiesthat I was sending her, they
weren't suggested reading, they were demands, and I questioned her to make sure
that she was reading the material Isent her, and she did. She
read it all and reminded us thatyou know, she would had traveled before,
knew how to be safe. Weknew that she did. So we
got the message that she arrived inJacksonville. An uber driver had dropped her
off at the hotel she was stayingat which was we learned later on,

(30:49):
is not a very nice hotel.It's it's kind of dark and dingy and
outdated. She chose it because itwas the closest one to where Phil was
and she settled into her hotel,checked her emails, was very excited that
she had applied for a job atan energy company on Martha's Vineyard and they
wanted to interview her on Tuesday whenshe arrived back in Massachusetts. So she

(31:11):
was excited about that. She tooka quick shower and said that she was
going to get something to eat.We're texting back and forth, all three
of us were, and we suggestedthat she just get something delivered, but
she said there was an Applebee's restaurantthat shared a parking lot with her hotel,
so she felt comfortable walking across,just across the parking lot and getting
something to eat. So that's whatshe did, and that was so around

(31:33):
seven fifteen on November eighth. Shedidn't actually walk directly straight across the parking
lot. We saw later in thesurveillance video. She walked underneath every streetlight
to get two Applebee's, taking makingthe route. The walk about twice as
long as if she had just walkedthrough the dark parking lot and across the
little medium. But she said ata stool at the bar and ordered a

(31:55):
salad, and she ordered a beerand made some conversation with the bartender,
told him that she was there tosee her fiance and he was going to
be off duty at eight o'clock inthe morning, and just casual conversation,
answered the questions that he was asking, and continued texting with us as she
was eating her salad. And atsome point there were two Marine Corps police

(32:17):
officers who were in civilian clothes thatleft their seats on the opposite side of
a bar and took two seats besideMorgan, and they made some conversation with
her and offered to buy her adrink. She refused it, but the
bartender poured the drink anyway, Andwe have no idea of knowing whether she
drank it or not, but wecan assume that she did, I guess,

(32:37):
and either way it's later on thatevening one of those Marine Corps police
officers left his seat at the barand walked out the front door of Applebee's,
and Morgan left her seat and wentto the restroom, and that was
the last time anybody in Appleby's sawher. Somewhere about twenty minutes later,

(32:59):
at ten fifty one pm, shewas ejected from a truck being driven by
one of those marines, and theother marine was in the truck as well,
But she was ejected from that truckin Maysville, North Carolina, about
fifteen miles away from Applebee's. Thetruck had been traveling over ninety miles an
hour and left the road and strucka tree. The two marines both survived

(33:22):
and Morgan did not. Were thesemen drinking, yes, and they weren't
known to Morgan before in any capacity, correct, that's correct. So they
were just total strangers. And thenMorgan doesn't pay her bill, which to
my understanding and reading about Morgan,that doesn't sound like something that somebody who

(33:45):
is as ethical as she is wouldever do. No, because when Phil
was at boot camp, Morgan workeddouble shifts restaurant. She was just so
focused on Phil and school and herfuture. Sure, you know, she
knew what she wanted, and shewould have never ever walked out on a

(34:06):
bill, knowing how hard people workin restaurants, And because that's just the
right thing to do, like youjust she would never do that, and
she had money. She had moneywith her. It's you know, she
had a salad and a beer.It's fifteen eighteen dollars. She would have
had no problem paying her bill andprobably over tipping and then walking back to
her hotel arm where she would haverested for the night. Well, she'd

(34:28):
probably beat just laying awake waiting forPhil next day. But yes, I
mean, nobody saw what happened onceMorgan got up from her seat to go
to the restroom. After that,everything's a mystery. None of the staff
saw anything. They just saw thesetwo guys sidle up buy more than a

(34:49):
drink. It is it possible thatone of them could have potentially slipped something
in her drink. It's possible.Anything is possible, Absolutely anything is possible.
They did a toxology report, showednothing in our system. But even
the investigators down there said that thereare dozens of what they call club drugs,
synthetic drugs that are prevalent in thearea that are undetectable basic toxicology panels.

(35:16):
Only going a test for like thetypical drugs like oh Is, their
cocaine is their methamphetamine, is theirheroine, or any kind of opiates or
anything like that, or benzodiazepines.They're not going to test for all these
different club drugs which are constantly beingaltered at a molecular structure right at their
molecular structure in order to make themkind of go undetected, and so they're

(35:40):
still technically legal. So yeah,there could be any number of things that
could have been slipped to Morgan andthey just didn't test for it because they
need a very specific panel exactly exactly, because I mean, from the moment
how Morgan got into the truck,there's no way she would have said,
Okay, let's go for a ride. You know, they got her in

(36:01):
that truck somehow. And the factthat when they did the autopsy, they
tested under her fingernails and they foundthe DNA or which I'm assuming would be
the skin cells of both of thesemen. So hunter Wells make sure this
is factually correct, because they foundthey discovered DNA. As the way it's

(36:23):
worth it is, there are threecontributors to the DNA under her fingernails,
the most prevalent being Morgan obviously herfingers five percent of the DNA was identified
as contributor number two, identified asa male three percent being contributor number three,
and they could not identify a Ychromosome in that three percent at the

(36:46):
State Crime Lab. So it wasnever linked specifically to Hunter Wells and Charles
Cornwall, just two other contributors.That's interesting, So it could have just
been that there wasn't a large enoughsample in order for that. Don't you
conclusively tie it is that it withthe capabilities of the North Carolina State Crime

(37:06):
Lab. There are I wholeheartedly believethat there are private labs that we could
move further with, but the DistrictAttorney's office has told us that they do
not have enough probable cause to requestDNA samples from Hunter Wells and Charles Cornwall.
So we don't have anything to matchit to. So what do you
know about Hunter Wells and Charles Cornwall? Very little? Really a lot more

(37:30):
than we did even just a fewmonths ago. We know that they were
roommates, they were living off basetogether. We know that Hunter Wells he
was the driver. We know thathe grew up kind of a broken family.
He was raised by his grandfather,his mother and mother and father had
addiction issues, and we know thathe was married at the time and had

(37:53):
a daughter of his own. Firstphone call that he made from the crash
scene was to his wife. Weknow that he has reported to have been
a very aggressive driver. For whatthat's worth, really, we know very
little about them. Charles Cornwall.So Hunter Wells grew up in Sisterville,
Virginia, West Virginia. Sorry,and Charles Cornwall grew up in Livingston,

(38:15):
Montana, and we know less abouthim. He's also from a broken family,
and he's very good at flying underthe radar. It seems like he
always has been and continues to be. So we have a situation here where
Morgan has done something that is incrediblyuncharacteristic and it just doesn't seem to line

(38:37):
up with who she is because shecares about her future, her fiance Phil,
and she's doing constructive things to buildthat future. That doesn't line up
with somebody who has worked in theservice industry herself running out on a bill
and just jumping in a vehicle withthese two guys she just met. That

(38:57):
doesn't sound like Morgan. That isdefinitely not Morgan. So, based on
what you've learned about the situation andabout all of the evidence. What do
you both think was at play here? Like what is your best guess about
what happened? And obviously I'm justasking your opinion because they haven't been charged
with anything, but I'm interested toknow. So just a slight correction before

(39:22):
we get into that. So,the driver has been charged with felony death
by motor vehicle for evidence that wasfound at the crash scene, but what
happened prior to that is all stilla mystery. So he was charged with
Morgan's death because he was driving anexcess of ninety miles per hour impaired,
So he is facing that felony chargealong with a felony charge of serious bodily

(39:45):
injury because the other male passenger wasseriously injured in the crash. But honestly,
there are a couple of different scenariosthat we believe are likely. So
one of them involves the fact thatthere was a firearm found in the vehicle
at the crash site. So thetwo avenues that we believe are likely is

(40:05):
that she was either forced into thevehicle at Applebee's and was being taken so
that where the crash happened on whiteOak River Road in Maysville, North Carolina.
It's a dead end road that actuallyends at a forty thousand plus acre
forest owned by University of North Carolina. It's desolate, is absolutely nothing out
there. We believe that she waseither taken by force from Appleby's for nefarious

(40:30):
reasons and was likely not going tosurvive. What's going to happen to her
even if the accident hadn't occurred,or she was coerced into the truck,
which we believe is the less likelyscenario. There's nothing they could have told
her to convince her to get intothat truck. There's absolutely nothing they could

(40:52):
have told her to convince her todo that. I don't believe that for
a second. She was either drudgeor maybe they step in or they just
dragged her into the truck. Eitherway, we believe that it was her
actions, her defending herself that resultedin the crash out there on White Oak

(41:12):
River Road. Just a quick question, was her seat belt on? Or
was she in the cab of thetruck or was she in the bed of
the truck. She was in thecab of the truck. There's been different
scenarios laid out to assess to theseating arrangement of what the seating arrangement was
in the truck. When the driverwas questioned the night of the crash,
he said that he was the onlyone in the front seat of the truck.

(41:34):
It so it was a four door, full four door truck with two
full seats, and he said thathe was the only one in the front
seat of the truck. Morgan wasin positioned in the middle of the rear
seat unrestrained, so no seat belton, and Charles Cornwall was in the
right rear seat with no seat belton. It seems like Morgan, being
the person that she was, ifshe were to get into a vehicle willingly,

(41:58):
she would put on her seatbelt.So it would make sense if she
was fighting for her life or tryingto get up for where she was that
she could take off a seatbelt,But just being there unrestrained without a seatbelt,
it just doesn't sound like she wasthere willingly. Exactly, yeah,
exactly. When Morgan started driving,her standing role in her vehicle was the

(42:21):
vehicle does not move until everybody isseatbelted, And you're absolutely right. It
would have been impossible for her todefend herself with a seatbelt on, and
we believe that's exactly what she wasdoing when she was found at the crash
scene. And I'm sorry if thisis too graphic. It's hard to say
her belt was buckled, but thezipper in her jeans was unzipped and the

(42:43):
crotch of her jeans had been cutopen. That does not happen from a
crash. You're absolutely right, Sosome kind of forcible sexual encounter is very
easily what one could deduce was theobjective of these two man. That's certainly
our belief. You just don't cuta pair of jeans open. There's just

(43:07):
no reason for unless you have somekind of some kind of mode of that
is nepharius. You don't cut thegenes of another human. That doesn't sound
like that's consensual on any level.No, No, it certainly does not.
No. No, And I justI agree. You know, and

(43:29):
the fact that wherever they were going, whether it were to a person's house
that they knew, or out intothe dark woods which is at the end
of that road, or to ednykind of sex ring, or I mean,
who knows, but wherever they weretaking her when they when they took

(43:51):
her they knew she was never gonnaI believe they knew she was never going
to be found again or a livefound alive again. And this creates such
unique challenges for you as parents andfor investigators because they've charged was a cornwall
who was driving. I'm sorry,nose Hunter Wells was driving. Wells was

(44:14):
driving, So they've charged Wells,so it's a little easier to find the
evidence for that. But figuring outwhy Morgan was there, how they got
into this crash, and what theseguys were up to, why there was
this DNA under her fingers, andwhy her jeans were cut open, becomes
a lot more difficult because Morgan can'tspeak for Morgan because unfortunately she's deceased exactly

(44:38):
And it's been a frustrating twenty ninemonths now just trying to I was screaming
at the top of our lungs thatwas not willingly in that truck on White
Oak River Road. But I understandthe perspective of the District Attorney's office and
the Onslo County Sheriff's Department saying thatthey can't prove that she was kidnapped,

(44:59):
But I have no appreciation for that. At the same time, because they
really haven't tried many more stunts tocham. Yes. In fact, Charles
Cornwall, the passenger in the truck, who, as we've heard, in
the back seat of the truck withMorgan, he's not been questioned in person.
After all this time, after allthis time, did you lawyer up

(45:22):
really quickly? He did not,So he spent twenty two days in the
hospital, and he got out ofthe hospital and claimed that he suffered from
a traumatic brain injury. So hewas spoken to via telephone. He claimed
that he suffered a traumatic brain injuryand he couldn't remember anything, and all
of the investigators have just taken hisword for it that he suffered a traumatic

(45:44):
brain injury, and they said,well, we're not going to get anything
from it. But nobody has satdown in person with him, aside from
our private investigator who traveled to Montanato sit down with him. Nobody with
a badge has sat down across atable from Charles Cornwall to ask him any
questions. And once the District Attorney'soffice received his medical records, the head

(46:06):
injury was the least of their concern. At the hospital, he had some
liver damage and his spleen was severedor was torn however it was worded.
But he suffered a concussion. Itwasn't an open head injury, or that
wasn't their concern in treating him.Memory can be such a difficult thing to
write, because when somebody loses theirmemory, how can you prove that they

(46:29):
haven't? You can't, right,you're going and relying on what they're telling
you. Yes, it is extremely, extremely difficult. I believe that his
memory is intact. We sent aprivate investigator to Montana and he agreed to
sit down with him. During thatmeeting, he claimed that he could not
remember. He didn't even remember.Morgan had no idea why they were in

(46:52):
the truck. But there are othersubjects that came up in the conversation that
made me believe that he remembers everything. That's really interesting, And was that
the impression of the private investigator thathe definitely knows more than he's saying.
Yes, he was being kind ofevasive. Absolutely, And I thought it

(47:14):
was really interesting I read this onyour blog that these two men could give
very little information about Morgan. Thepeople at Applebee's seem to have more information
about her. Absolutely, the driverknew her when he was questioned at Naval
hospital later in the night of thecrash, or actually early the next morning.
All he knew that her name wasMorgan and she was from New Hampshire.

(47:37):
That's all he knew about her,and not like, hey, we
were going to party and have somedrinks. Did he have an excuse that
he'd made up or something that waslike this is why she's in the vehicle.
Yeah, So he said that theywere going target shooting. What,
yes, at ten thirty at night, Okay, ten miles outside of town

(48:00):
in the dark with strange men,but strange men, Yes, yeah,
that's going to happen Morgan who walkedliterally under every light so that she wasn't
in any dark corner, so nothingbad could happen to her. And then
we're to believe that she was goingto go target shooting with strangers like that
just I just can't believe that thatwould happen. Well, so Charles Cornwall,

(48:22):
when he was questioned by our privateinvestigator, didn't even believe that story,
which I thought was interesting. Hesaid, that doesn't make any sense
that we were going shooting. Hesaid he couldn't remember what they were doing.
But he said, it doesn't makeany sense that we were going shooting,
like at ten thirty at night.It just really doesn't make any sense.
You're going to pick up a girlat a bar and you're going to

(48:42):
take her target shooting. It waslike a horrible cover story. It's sweets,
But so Hunter Wells has told severaldifferent versions of the story. So
fine, that was the so it'sImmediately after he made that statement, he
got an attorney and the lee invokedhis right to remain silent. He has
not spoken since except to other peoplethat we've we have heard his tales that

(49:07):
he has told. So actually,on the night of the crash, I
had mentioned that he called his wifefrom the scene of the crash and he
told her that he had hit anothervehicle, and he believed at that time
that he had killed a woman andthe other vehicle. So that was the
first line that he told he thensince then he has told others that he
was driving in the rain and hydroplaned, but it hadn't rained in two days

(49:30):
in eastern North Carolina. Shifting narrativesare typically a problem when somebody's trying to
remember actual things that happened, likelittle things might change as they remember it,
but the basic details are going tostay the same. So when somebody's
got a different story for everybody,you've got to wonder if it's definitely based

(49:50):
in fact, because it doesn't soundlike it. Yeah, and he certainly
has showed no remorse to what happened, you know, he said. Morgan
was killed on November eight. Hewas arrested November tenth for the felony death
by motor vehicle charge, and theMarine Corps got rid of him as quickly
as they possibly could. So sometimeduring the first week of January, he

(50:13):
decided it was time to celebrate methrew a big party at his house because
he was leaving the Marine Corps goinghome to West Virginia. So it seems
callous. I just don't think hehas a conscience. I mean, maybe
against the advice of his or whatit would probably be against the advice of
an attorney to reach out to youand express how story you are before the

(50:34):
court case had gone through, becauseI guess that would be admitting fault or
guilt and it could be used againsthim. But you feel like when you're
responsible for the death of somebody's child, it's the right thing to do,
to reach out and say you're sorry. Well, I can tell you I
agree with you wholeheartedly that any attorneywould advise him against doing that. I

(50:55):
can also tell you that if Iwere responsible for somebody's death, I would
not That's advice that I would nottake from an attorney or anyone else.
Yeah, I agree, I don'tthink it was. It would be something
I could go to sleep at nightthinking about without trying to make amends exactly.

(51:15):
I would have to at least.There would be no way to explain
it that would offer any peace,but I would have to try. So
where does the investigation go from here? So at this point, the honestlou
County District Attorney's office is adamant thatthey are pursuing the felody death by motor
vehicle charge, only they're working outa schedule trial for that. So we've

(51:37):
exhausted immense resources trying to get themto look into this further why I was
Morgan in the truck, And withbudgetary restrictions and time restrictions and the backlog
and the courts due to the COVIDpandemic, they're not willing to do so
so at this point we've met withour two senators from the Hampshire, Senator

(51:58):
Jean Sheheen and Senator Maggie Hassan,and we've asked for assistance from their staff
to look into the federal aspects ofthis case. We're not happy with the
way that the United States Marine Corpshandled this matter, nor are we happy
with the fact that Naval Criminal InvestigativeServices was not involved in the investigation.
It was determined by the Marine Corpsthat both of these two were on duty

(52:22):
when this crash happened, even thoughthey were out in civilian clothes in a
bar drinking. It was determined thatthey were on duty. What does that
mean, like they were supposed tobe working. So in the Marine Corps,
the only time you're not on dutyis if you're on leave. You
had leave approved from your command inyour back home wherever home is, then

(52:44):
you're technically off duty. They wereon liberty status, which means they had
the same basically vacation time that Philhad. But when you're on liberty status,
you have to remain within a certainperimeter of the base, in this
case Camp Lejune, So they wereon liberty status they were within the liberty
boundaries, so technically they were onduty. It's kind of like an on

(53:07):
call situation. If you have ajob where you have on call hours over
a weekend or night, if you'rea doctor and you're on call for a
shift, it's very similar to that, I guess a good way to describe
it. Okay, that makes sense. It makes sense also that the Marine
Corps dropped them pretty quickly, becauseI wouldn't think they would want to be

(53:27):
close to the type of accusations thatare being made and the type of criminal
charges that are going to be levied. Yes, it's actually disturbing to me
the way that they were processed outso quickly. I don't think I've ever
seen active duty marines removed from serviceso quickly and sent home. I understand
the desire to They're walking a thinline. And at Jacksonville, North Carolina,

(53:52):
where this happened, there's fifty thousandcivilion residents in Jacksonville, and then
there's fifty three or five thousand Marinesattached to Camp Le June, and I'm
sure that there are issues where they'retrying to maintain the relationship between the Jacksonville
City proper, and the Marines whomay tend to wander outside the gate and

(54:15):
get in trouble, but they're alsoin our minds. They need to be
held accountable on both sides of thegate for what they've done, and neither
side seems interested in pursuing it.We have a through a Foyer request,
we got what they call a lineof duty investigation which was done on Charles

(54:35):
Cornwall. He was actually underage atthe time of the crash, so there
was a line of duty slash misconductinvestigation that was done regarding his activities the
night of November eighth, twenty nineteen, and he was interviewed over the phone.
Again, they didn't talk to himin person, but he was interviewed
over the phone by his own lieutenant, which seems to me like it's a

(54:57):
conflict of interest where they were.They work together every day, so it
seems like you would get somebody elseoutside of the chain of command to do
this interview. But he lied.Off the top of my head, I
can pick out at least three timesduring that interview where he lied to his
lieutenant, And I can prove thatbeyond the shadow of a doubt to anybody
that will listen to me, Butso far the command at Camp Lejune refuses

(55:20):
to listen to me. Just theresponse I keep getting is there's nothing we
can do about it, which iswhy we've enlisted the help of our senators.
It's got to be so difficult anytimethere's military involved. It seems like
I guess it's just any large institution. At the core, that institution wants
to protect itself, so they seemto like shut down and shut down to

(55:44):
all outsiders exactly now. You know, I'm sure you're familiar with the story
of Vanessagienne at Fort Hood in Texas. No, it's unfortunate that what happened
to her is happened that many otherssituations like that. But the only reason
we all know her name is becauseher family stood at the gate of forth

(56:05):
Hood. You know, they werefortunate that they lived within driving distance of
Forthood. They stood at that gateevery day holding signs until a local reporter
decided to stop and see what wasgoing on and find out why they were
there every day. And then itturned to everybody in the country heard the
story that summer. Yeah, andI've covered also the case of Levina Len

(56:27):
Johnson as well, and as muchas politicians got involved and they demanded this
and that, it was like you, it's like you're meeting with a brick
wall, because they just it's likeself preservation mode. And I know there's
good things about these institutions, butthis is the really dark side where families
seem to get shut out, butthe ones that are the loudest do seem

(56:50):
to get a lot of traction,and not everybody is in a position to
be able to do that. SoI really do applaud you both for getting
out there and keeping Morgan's story outthere and telling people about this wonderful human
being that graced this earth. Andshe was taken far too soon, and
the circumstances surrounding what happened to herare so so suspicious. Yes, I

(57:15):
don't know what else we could do. You know, she was all we
had. She was our only childand the only child that we could have.
We learned that after she was bornwe did not have another opportunity.
We were at a point in ourlives, all three of us, Renee
and I, all four of us, Renee and I, Morgan and Phil.

(57:37):
We were just watching something magic,something beautiful, happened. Morgan was
an adult, and she was adultingvery well. She and Phil had this
epic relationship and it was all takenaway in a fraction of a second.
And what do we have left.We have to fight for Morgan's legacy.

(57:58):
I'm so sorry for the loss thatyou two suffer. The guy I can
just tell how much Morgan meant toboth of you and how traumatic this is
truly being well, it's nothing thatwe would wish on any human being.
I can tell you that what doesthe fight for justice from Morgan moving forward

(58:19):
look like to both of you?Well, I want to make sure that
Charles Cornwall and Hunter Wells are heldaccountable first and foremost. I want to
you know, I think about thisall day every day, and I have
a lot of thoughts. Putting itinto words is a little more difficult,
but I would like to. So, going back to what we were just
speaking about, Vanessa Gain, therewas legislation passed just in two twenty one,

(58:44):
just last year which offers military personnelwho are encounter sexual harassment or sexual
misconduct allows them further protections. That'sgreat in a case like hers. When
she was Army enlisted serving at fordHood. But there's I really feel like
there's more to it. It's unfinishedbusiness in situations like that, because these

(59:04):
guys were targeting a civilian outside ofthe gate, and I just there needs
to be more education in their training. I don't know if this is making
any sense, because it makes sensetotal sense to me. It's they're taught
to be I was in their shoes. I know what the Marine Corps training
is like. They are twenty yearsold and twenty two years old at the

(59:28):
time Underwells and Charles Cornwall, andthey're taught that they're invincible, because that's
the mentality of a battlefield marine,that you're absolutely invincible. But when you're
in town and you're not fighting awar, there has to be some ethics
involved in this training. You justcan't act like that. Not only are

(59:49):
we not going to protect you,but we're going to You're going to be
punished severely. But they weren't.They're not being punished. You know,
the Marine Corps just said, allright, done with you, will put
our efforts somewhere else. So youthink it's a systemic problem that needs to
be corrected, I do. Ido. And now so there's another story

(01:00:12):
out of Jacksonville, North Carolina,at Camp Lea June that barely anybody heard
about because it was kept, youknow, it was kind of swept under
the rug. In the same yeartwenty nineteen, January of twenty nineteen,
there was a former Marine who wasserving at Camp Lea June. He was
arrested for running a meth lab atthe Triangle Motor Lodge in Jacksonville, North
Carolina. And after he was arrested, as a result of the investigation,

(01:00:35):
it was discovered that he was runninga sex trafficking ring. And in May
of two twenty in a federal case, he pled guilty to drugging and trafficking
three hundred women. Oh my godin that area. And the federal investigators
in their press conference said that thereal number is closer to six hundred.

(01:00:58):
So that's large. That is huge. And the problem is there's a market.
Shikes, I read about something likethat at Fort Hood, but it
was nowhere near that scale. No, this is at Campell, June,
North Carolina, Jacksonville, North Carolina. Wow, that's a major issue.
Yeah, Anslo County where Jacksonville is, you know, is the county seat

(01:01:22):
and where Campell June is ranks eleventhin the country for human trafficking out of
every county in the United States.Yikes. And the reason is there's a
market. You definitely don't need supplyunless there's demand. Yes, So I
want to end this on a positivenote. I want you both, if

(01:01:45):
you can think off the top ofyour head, I want you each to
share your favorite memory of Morgan.I'll start as I say, this is
about a million of them running throughmy head right now, so I don't
know if I gotta pick one.I had a job back in Well,
I have to. There's a prestory. I coached Morgan's baseball team her

(01:02:06):
when she was you know in Tball and rookie ball where the coach pitches
many years ago, and Morgan wouldget nervous in front of the other players
and in front of parents and wouldhave this lazy like I'm gonna swing with
that like a girl, because that'swhat I'm supposed to do. And I'm
like, wring when we practice athome, you're knocking the ball out into

(01:02:28):
the woods. What's what's going on? And she just simply explained to me
that she would get nervous in frontof people and just couldn't perform. So
I told her, I said,all right, so next time we're in
a game or at a practice andyou're up to that, I'm gonna say
something that will you know, relaxyou make you feel like you're at home
or we're just practicing in the backyard. There's a stone pile of stones in

(01:02:52):
the back of our yard out here, and so and I pitched the ball
to Morgan. I said, allright, Morgan, I want you to
hit it to the rock pile.We were on a baseball field and there
was no rock pile, but shesmiled and it worked with her. She
just got her out of her openedher up, and got her more comfortable
and just relaxed her. That wouldhave been two thousand and three, four

(01:03:15):
somewhere in that era. In twofourteen, I had taken a job with
a company that represents the forest productsindustry here in New Hampshire, and in
the spring of that year I hadto lead a group of guys to Washington,
DC and meet with all of ourcollected officials and with the US Forest
Service and talk about issues that we'restruggling with here in the Northeast in New

(01:03:39):
Hampshire and I was nervous. Iwas very well prepared for the trip and
making sure everybody knew what their roleswere. But Morgan asked me the night
before I went on the plane ifI was nervous, and I said,
yeah, of course I'm nervous.I'm good at Washington, DC to meet
with people who we see on TV. You know, it's a little unnervous.

(01:04:00):
So when I left the next morningand I got on the plane and
I was reviewing my notes, Ifound that Morgan had talked a note into
my binder, and when I openedit up, I said, Dad,
I know you're going to do greatto swing for the rock pile. It's
so cute. Yes, and ithelped. It must be nice having a

(01:04:24):
kid who's like looking out for you. It sounds so adult and goes back
to that Morgan being an old soul. Yes, yes it does. I
honestly, I can't even begin topick a favorite. I can just say
that. I mean, from themoment I knew I was pregnant, I

(01:04:45):
knew this was my goal for therest of my life. Was Morgan,
And there is nothing else to compareit to. She's She gave me every
good memory I have as a asa little girl. She she would just

(01:05:09):
be so spontaneous and funny and adventurous, and we love to hype together and
all those memories, and you know, preparing her for school and being there
for her when she called me,when after she moved away, and when

(01:05:30):
I would go down and visit her, and just everything, every single thing.
Right, She's made me who Iam, and she's helped a lot
of people. And her short life, she's she made her mark on the

(01:05:51):
world. She wasn't done. Shemade me me complete for sure. Well,
you both are such wonderful people.And I feel like I know Morgan
at this point from reading everything abouther and from hearing you both speak about
her. Sounds like she really andtruly made a mark on every single person

(01:06:15):
that she met in a positive way. She did that, she did that,
she had a lot left to giveto Well, I want to thank
you both so much for taking thetime to talk to me and share Morgan's
story with me and my listeners.Is there anything like okay, before we
go? Do you want to talkabout Morgan's miles to go? So we've
adopted what Morgan chose as her lifemotto, Rightfully so we've adopted that as

(01:06:40):
I guess our it motivates us andwe both have her words in her handwriting
tattooed on our arms and the onlything I ever found that I wanted written
on me for the rest of mylife. We have miles to go still
in this investigation, we need toknow what happened, and beyond that,
to carry on Morgan's legacy. Wehave a million and one ideas that we

(01:07:02):
want to bring forth to make sureMorgan has never forgotten. I don't think
that, at least in this community, Morgan will ever be forgotten. We've
been surrounded by a lot of strong, helpful people, for sure. We
have some long term ideas of settingup a scholarship fund at Roger Williams University,
where Morgan was so excited to attendand never had the opportunity to like,

(01:07:26):
to help some other people that wouldlike to follow her chosen path,
and it's all we have miles togo before we sleep. I love that
you incorporated the Robert Frost line thatwas part of Morgan's tattoo, and you
made that your mission. I thinkthat's a really, really beautiful tie in,
and I'm sure that Morgan is lookingdown on you right now, and

(01:07:47):
she's really proud of you both,I hope. So I never wanted to
let her down and certainly never do. Still she deserves it. You both
are so so brave and I reallycommend every thing that you're doing. Is
there anything that the listeners can doto help? Well, you know,
it never hurts to know. Wehave a line of contact open now between

(01:08:09):
with our senators here in New Hampshire, which took a while to let them
know that we were serious about thisand get them to pay attention to the
matter. But we do have thoselines of communication open now. But it
certainly doesn't hurt for anybody to calltheir own state representatives and say, is
it really the path that we're travelingnow really is a federal issue. We
want to not only get to thebottom of this, but we want to

(01:08:32):
try to help solve the problem sosomething like this can't happen to another family.
So yes, making a call tostate representative, state senators, dropping
Morgan's name, saying listen to yourcolleagues in New Hampshire are working on this.
If anybody is in a state wherethere's a senator on the armed Services
Committee. That's a great contact.That's really where we're at at this point.

(01:08:55):
We feel like we've exhausted our effortsat the state level and certainly at
the county level in North Carolina.What if somebody has information about what happened
or either Cornwall or Wells, whoshould they reach out to? So at
this point, the point of contactthere would still be the Onslow County District
Attorney's Office or the Onslow County Sheriff'sDepartment. The Oslow County Sheriff's Department still

(01:09:17):
has a criminal case open regarding Morgan'shomicide. Well, thank you both so
much for taking the time. Ireally appreciate it, and I will link
Morgan's miles to go in the shownotes in case anyone wants to check out
the website. You can read theblog, see all the photos that we've
been referencing, and they can alsoreach out to you both that way.

(01:09:41):
Correct, Absolutely, Yes, that'scorrect, Yes, And I really appreciate
you letting us talk about Morgan andfor you taking an interest in Morgan.
Yeah. I really think that there'ssomething strange going on here and that we
haven't quite got all of the information, and so in pushing for this new
legislation. I think you're helping familiesin the future not have to be in

(01:10:08):
a predicament like you are and nothaving these answers when you're trying to do
it at a federal level and changinglegislation, like I know how much work
that takes, so I really applaudall of your efforts. Well, we're
never giving up, and I knowmore you would never give up on me,
and I will never give up onher. I want to thank everybody

(01:10:29):
for listening, and if you enjoyedthis episode and you're interested in joining the
Patreon, I will leave the linksin the show notes below. So I
want to thank my editor Alisa,who goes by the name of Smile,
and I'll link her music in theshow notes as well. Until next time,
stay safe and remember accept nothing,question everything.