Morgan Harrington, a 20-year-old VA Tech college student and a small group of close friends bought their tickets for the October 17th Metallica concert at the University of Virginia (UVA) over six months ago. Morgan spent the morning before the concert picking out her outfit to wear that night, finally settling on a black mini skirt, black tights, knee high black boots and a black Pantera t-shirt. She then met up with her friends and was off to see the concert she had waited almost half a year to attend.

When she walked into the large, $131 million dollar John Paul Jones Arena at UVA, she had her purse, her ever present cell phone and her “golden ticket” for the concert. Warm up bands played before Metallica took the stage, and while thousands of others enjoyed the music, Morgan decided to make a bathroom run to one of the 18 different women’s restrooms within the complex. At about 8:30 PM (40 minutes before Metallica took to the stage) she left her friends behind, walked from her reserved seat and somehow wound up walking out of the arena in her search for a restroom. One report indicates she was told that by arena officials that should she exit the arena, she could not return, but nonetheless she would soon call one of her friends seated in the arena, indicating she was outside, could not get back in, and would find her own way home. This was her last known contact with family or friends, but these same friends somehow failed to let her parents know they had lost touch with her, and it would be another 12 hours before her father would realize his daughter was missing and call authorities, a critical time period in any missing person investigation. This is not to blame her friends; she is 20 and obviously responsible for herself, but what did her friends think had happened to her?

A missing person investigation was initiated by authorities and soon Morgan’s purse and her ever present cell phone would be located in a parking lot separate from the one Morgan and her friends had parked in. Her phone had the battery removed, something state police would say could have been an accident, but with so many high profile missing person’s cases in the news, there are few who wouldn’t know that when the battery is removed from a cell phone, law enforcement’s ability to trace the phone by the “pings” hitting off nearby cellular towers is defeated. But if she was kidnapped, did her abductors miss seeing her purse fall to the pavement as they struggled to force her into a car or van, or were these items just left to point law enforcement in a different direction; perhaps a red herring? We just don’t know.

Since her disappearance, sightings of Morgan have been reported in both the local Virginia area and across the country, even as far away as New Mexico. It was to New Mexico that Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called “runaway bride,” fled in April 2005 when she faked her own kidnapping to escape her wedding day. Many will also remember Audrey Seiler, the then 20-year-old University of Wisconsin student who in April 2004 faked her own kidnapping to get the attention of her otherwise inattentive boyfriend. And then there was 22-year-old Furqan Muhammad-Harron, the Canadian college student who faked his kidnapping, and just last month state police stopped a car on the NY State Thruway after drivers reported seeing a woman in a van with duct tape across her mouth holding a sign that said “Help me! I’ve been kidnapped.” This proved to be nothing but a college prank when troopers who were not laughing stopped the potential kidnap vehicle. None of this is to suggest that Morgan was cut from the same emotional cloth as Jennifer or Audrey before her, but without overt evidence of a kidnapping, investigators must pursue a two-track investigation that considers the possibility that she was a victim of unknown others, or, in the remote, a “victim” of herself. Morgan’s family and friends believe she was abducted and that is the current working theory; but if kidnapped, who did it and where in the world is Morgan Harrington?

All of the usual investigative aids appear to have been of little help to police and the FBI in their search for Morgan. A review of the images on all surveillance cameras surrounding the arena parking lot has failed to provide an picture of her, while a grainy image of someone thought possibly to be Morgan, someone standing near the stage during the concert, has not been positively identified as the missing coed with her father noting the woman in the picture, unlike his daughter, was not wearing tights. The so-called eyewitness sightings have also proven to be of little help. While some actually saw Morgan and her friends enter the concert arena, reports of her being involved in an altercation with a number of unidentified men outside of the arena has not been verified, and recent sightings on the UVA campus and across the local area have failed to locate the young woman. A search of a suspect vehicle in the parking lot of a local motel by bloodhounds also failed to provide a trail to the missing person. As in most cases, a reward has been posted, one now totaling $150,000, representing funds put up by Morgan’s parents, her father’s associates, and a $50,000 contribution by Metallica. While history has shown such rewards to be of little help, we all know that it only takes one person with some shred of information on the missing woman to help locate her and, after all, it allows others to “help” in the challenging search.

Posters with Morgan’s smiling face can be found across Virginia, something like the “milk carton kids” who have been missing for years whose parents, like Dan and Gil Harrington, go to bed every night hoping beyond hope that they will awake and find their daughter’s disappearance to be a very bad dream they somehow shared together, one that every morning is, unfortunately, far too real.

Initial theories concerning Morgan’s disappearance suggested that perhaps she had been slipped a date rape drug and been led away by her abductor; or perhaps she tried to get into a rear entrance to the arena and became the victim of some unknown predator, groupie or roadie; or maybe she had had an accident and simply not yet been found; or could she have simply needed a “time out” in her life and took it this way, now sitting in some motel or friend’s residence trying to find a way to come back while preserving her dignity. But would she willingly let her parents grieve in such a terrible manner? Again “no” say family and friends alike.

Dr. and Mrs. Harrington know too well that missing Florida 7-year-old Somer Thompson was found murdered after she disappeared two weeks ago, but they, like so many other frightened parents, cling to the story of Elizabeth Smart or Jaycee Dugard, believing beyond belief that their child could be the recipient of a miracle recovery, either days, months, or even years later. These are the parents who never change their home address or their cell phone number, and who leave the emotional porch light turned on every night, hoping beyond hope, like Beth Holloway Twitty, mother of still missing Natalee Holloway continues to do night after night after night since her daughter disappeared in Aruba on May 30, 2005.

While investigators and friends alike continue their quest to find the missing college student, Morgan’s mother points out the fact that Halloween is approaching and she fears for the children of other parents when they take to the neighborhoods across America on October 31. But while the investigation continues, there are lessons to be learned from this case to include the following:

Like Tom Cruise learned in the movie “Top Gun,” you never leave your wingman, and in the case of young and old alike, when you have a friend accompany you, you are responsible for each other. When you walk home from school, across campus, or go to the rest room at a concert, if at all possible go with a friend for if alone, some will see you as a potential victim.

Never drink from anything but a sealed container. Many believe that Natalee Holloway may have been slipped a date rape drug that contributed to her feared demise.

Yell, scream, fight and run from any potential abductor. No matter what your kidnapper says, make as much noise and attract as much attention to your plight as you can.

If forced into the front seat of your assaliant's vehicle, jump over the seat and try to escape from a rear door. Grab the keys to your kidnapper’s vehicle and throw them out the window, or jam on the brakes, or throw the gear shift into reverse, or otherwise cause an accident that could ultimately save your life.

UPDATE -

During a press conference Wednesday morning (10/28), Virginia State Police released a detailed timeline of events and places where Morgan Harrington may have been seen October 17.

Lt. Joe Rader says, "We know we do not have all the information...that will help resolve this case."

Rader says between 8:20 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., witnesses saw someone matching Harrington's description at several locations outside the John Paul Jones arena.

Rader says from 8:30 p.m. to 8:48 p.m., a person matching Harrington's description was seen outside the arena.

At 8:48 p.m., Harrington had a phone conversation with a friend telling them she was outside the arena. Harrington told her friends she would try to get a ride ride home from friends in Charlottesville.

From 8:48 p.m. to 9 p.m., Rader says more witnesses saw Harrington outside the arena. He says there is no credible information saying she reentered the arena.

From 9 p.m. to 9:10 p.m., Rader says someone appearing to be Harrington, who was carrying a black purse, was walking through the University Hall area. He says no one can confirm whether or not she was with someone.

He adds someone matching Harrington's description was confirmed to be in the Lannigan Field parking area between 9:10 p.m. and 9:20 p.m.

Rader says, at about 9:20 p.m., the witnesses who identified her left the area. He says there is no information that Harrington left with any of those witnesses.

From 9:20 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Rader says witnesses saw someone appearing to be Harrington on a nearby bridge. Rader says this is the last confirmed sighting.

"Somewhere out there lies...the vital line that we need," says Rader.

Investigators have subsequently indicated that eye witnesses who saw Morgan outside the arena after 8:30 PM claim that she had some type of facial injury, one not consistent with an assault but more consistent with a fall or other type of accidental injury.

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For more information on escaping a kidnapper or other matters of personal and family safety, to include a free copy of our DVD “Protecting Children from Predators,” see www.LiveSecure.org.