Morgan Harrington, a 20 year old Virginia Tech student, has been missing since October 17. The last time anyone saw or heard from her was at a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, Virginia at around 9 p.m. The Virginia police are investigating her disappearance, and her parents are offering a $100,000 reward for information, and they‘ve set up a Find Morgan site. Metallica heard about the situation, and graciously added $50,000 to the reward money. Now that Metallica has gotten involved, this local missing person case is a national story.
Metallica even put this message on their website last Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned about the disappearance of 20 year old Virginia Tech student Morgan Dana Harrington, who was last seen while attending our concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA, on Saturday night. Morgan has blonde hair and blue eyes, is 5’6″, 120 lbs., and was wearing a black “Pantera” T-shirt, black skirt, and black boots. She was not carrying I.D. or a cell phone. Morgan was separated from her friends shortly before 9pm at the venue. Police have been searching the area since Monday. We encourage anyone who has any information regarding Morgan’s disappearance to please come forward. Additionally, if you or anyone you know shot video footage or took photos of the concert or audience, please check to see if there is anyone in your photos who might resemble Morgan.” That’s so smart, asking people to go through their own personal footage of the concert to see if they can trace Morgan through any kind of digital record.
In a case that is gathering national attention, Metallica has added $50,000 to a $100,000 reward being offered by the parents of a missing woman last seen at one of the heavy metal band’s concerts.
Dressed in black boots, a black skirt and a black Pantera T-shirt, Morgan Harrington, 20, a student at Virginia Tech University, was with friends, waiting for the band to take to the stage of the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., on Oct. 17. Just before 9 p.m., she excused herself to go to the bathroom, then called her pals to say the staff was refusing to let her back inside and that she would make her way home.
That was the last anyone has heard from the 5’6″, 120-lb., blue-eyed, blonde student.
Speaking on Tuesday’s Today show, her mother, Gil, and her father, Dan, said their energy was directed toward finding their daughter, not delving into despair. The Morgans have posted the reward for information leading to Morgan’s safe return, or to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for her disappearance.
There is a Help Find Morgan Web Site, as well as a telephone tip line, (434) 352-3467.
Virginia State Police e-mail is bci-appomattox@vsp.virginia.gov – while other tips may be sent to: info@findmorgan.com
[From People]
I began writing this story without knowing the particulars, just because I’ve had some affection for Metallica ever since I watched the documentary Some Kind of Monster, in which the band was trying to work through their personal and professional issues by hiring a band psychologist to do group therapy. They were so funny in the documentary – I mean, it never occurred to me that these tough metal guys would be kind of neurotic family men who were just trying to make it through one more album, one more tour. Now that I know more about the whole situation with the missing girl, I do have to say that this is all happening really close to where I live in Virginia, so if anyone has any information about this girl, please contact the police at the numbers listed in the People article, or go to the Find Morgan site.
Why were the bathrooms outside of the security point? That is unusual. Also, typically at these venues, you get your hand stamped when going in, which guarantees you re-entry. Why wouldn’t security let her back into the concert?
That’s horrible; I hope she is okay, but it doesn’t sound good.
On a much lighter note, if you liked that documentary, you should absolutely check out _Anvil: the Story of Anvil_ which is a similar portrait of a heavy metal band. It ultimately offers in incredibly poignant portrait of the people involved.
I hope she’s found alive and well.
Is there any word of an investigation of why the staff wouldn’t let her back into the venue? All the concerts I’ve attended had bathrooms on the inside, or either stamped people’s hands so they could come back in to see the show. I hope she didn’t hitchhike, and wonder why she didn’t just hang around until it was over. You can still hear the music from the outside; yes that would be horribly boring, but at least she could reconnect with her friends.
It said that she called her friends, yet the Metallica notice says she didn’t have a cell phone. That should be followed up as well. Maybe there’s security footage if she had to use a payphone somewhere, or if it were a cellphone, maybe it’s the person who knows where she is.
Very sad situation.
I don’t buy that “no reentry after using the bathroom” bit.
How did she call her friends if she didn’t have a cell phone?
Sounds like her friends are lying to me.
What a horrible, scary story. I hope with Metallica throwing their weight behind this she can be found quickly (and alive). Unfortunately, worry about your children doesn’t end when they reach adulthood. It’s just a random, scary world when they go out.
BTW, also saw and enjoyed “Some Kind of Monster”. I’m not a metal fan, but I had new respect for the band after the documentary. They’re obviously family men, so it’s not surprising they’re helping in this situation.
It’s sad and I hate to be a downer, but most likely she has died. Cases of missing persons usually go cold after 48 hours, unless they have a lead.
I have been a fan of Metallica -as people – since the mid 90’s. In interviews, they always struck me as good guys who didn’t take themselves too seriously (except Lars, oh the ego on that guy. Still, he’s funny)
So I was not surprised to see them reach out like this and help draw attention to the matter.
The only criticism is directed at the promoters and venue managers- because I doubt the band would even had heard of any sort of incident with a fan at a concert if someone hadn’t locked this girl out of the concert venue in the first place.
I hate to jadedly believe that the management and lawyers were concerned about the venue/promoter liability (as well as the band reputation) and that is why they told the Band about it.
That said, I hav eNO DOUBT of the Band’s intentions- I am SURE that once Metallica members heard about it, they jumped at the chance to bring the story into he national spotlight and use their celebrity to launch an nation wide search.
I just wish they would find that girl, safe and sound. and soon.
What is wrong with this world, where you cannot go to school, the mall or a concert without some sick S.O.B snatching you up and doing God knows what! I find it odd that no one from the concert venue saw what happened to this girl.
If she was making her way home, I hope to God she didn’t get a ride from a “kindly” stranger. That is always the kiss of death.
I hope they find her alive and well!
Don’t mean to debase them or anything, but the girl’s parents are shelling out 100,000 dollars and Metallica only comes up with half that sum?! I mean, really, that’s kinda sorta cheap…
I go to school in Richmond, VA and a few of my friends knew Morgan or went to High School with her, so this is an issue that really hits close to home and hurts very deeply. I hope that Morgan can be found alive and well and am keeping her and her family in my thoughts and prayers on the daily.
Her friends aren’t lying, at least not about the call, I saw this on the Today show and they checked her phone records and that part is true. All that they have found of the girl is her purse and cell phone…she no longer has either of those…
I agree with most on this site.
Something in the water just ain’t clean.
I have never gone to a concert where I had to leave to go to the bathroom. If that did happen, and security denied me access to a concert I paid for (and lets be honest, concerts are not cheap anymore), I would be raising hell to get back in till I did. And, lastly, the phone call. If she didn’t have a cell phone, or ID, I doubt she had money to use a pay-phone. She must have borrowed someones phone, or the story just isn’t true….Lost of loose ends here…I’m not buying any of it…
Hell, maybe she ran away?? Maybe she doesn’t want to be found…
Sad and scary. I REALLY hope she did not try and catch a ride. She’s young, cute, blond…a mixture for disater in this effed up world…
This girl is a relative of an old friend of mine. I am praying she is found safe and sound, but I know the chances are slimming with each passing day.
It’s great that the band is trying to help and getting attention on the case, and that it’s gotten national air time.
I’ve always thought that morning news programs should set aside 15 seconds each morning before a commercial break and feature a missing child or person. They reach a wide national audience, and maybe it would help find some people or at least get some information.
It does sound very suspicious – bathrooms outside the venue, being barred from re-entry, giving up and going home alone…wonder if the guy who grabbed her forced her to make that call and give that alibi and then threw away her purse and phone. Horrible situation. I agree with Firestarter, what kind of world is this that you can’t go anywhere these days??
If anyone has footage from the concert, Metallica would like to sue the crap out of you.
Trillion- That was priceless! Hahahaha!
yeah the part of security not letting her back in if bathrooms were outside doesn’t add up. i hope she ends up like a balloon boy and not as another body found in a ditch=\ she’s so young and pretty..
i have never heard of a venue where the bathrooms are outside security…lots of people must get stuck outside at this place, yes? or just this girl?security cameras caught no trace of her?if her purse was found outside then wouldn’t that mean she would have had her ticket with her for re-entry? furthermore, if i were at a concert & my friend called to say she was stuck outside i would never let her leave alone. something sounds wrong with this story.
This whole story sounds a bit off. If I had gone to a concert with friends and one of them got stuck outside, I would try to do something about it…not just hang up, shrug my shoulders and continue to watch the concert. Letting her walk home alone?!?! Doesn’t make sense to me at all. Those friends are hiding something…
Cool they got involved then – though it doesn’t sound good at this point, I hope she’s found alive and unharmed.
They’re offering $150k and no one’s come forward with her location? Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that she’s been killed and whoever did it is long gone and doesn’t want to be found.
What’s going on with Virginia Tech? People get gunned down there, or there are students from there that are killed off campus…I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but there’s a lot of death hanging around that school.
Yes wouldn’t everyone who had to use the bathroom be unable to get back in? Unless she lost her wristband, ticket, etc.
Sounds like maybe she argued with her friends and left, or maybe she OD’d or passed out from alcohol poisoning and died. I want those friends to take a lie detector test.
Hi guys – I’ve visited this site just about everyday for YEARS, never posted but feel like I had to post today. This is a really sad situation. I live near VA Tech and Morgan is a student here. I’ll give a little more info but I am in agreement with most of you that something ‘isn’t right’ or just not being reported at this time. She met up with friends at JMU (about 3 hr away from the concert) and went to the show with them. She went outside for some reason (I have not heard it was to go to the bathroom though) and phoned her friends inside around 8:30pm and told them she couldn’t get back in. The arena here has a policy that once you leave, you cannot get back in (this is normal for this area.) She told them she would wait til after the concert for them or find a way back to JMU on her own. That was the last they heard from her. Her purse and cell was found in the parking lot area and that is pretty much all that has been released from police. It’s been 10 days now. I just can’t imagine her getting into a car with someone she did not know so that is my theory: someone that knew her took her and threw the items out. Both her parents are in the medical field, her dad is a prominent doctor in the area. The FBI are now involved along with the police. And Metallica has really stepped up. I have great fondness for them eventhough I lost partial hearing from one of their concerts :). Anyway, please keep this girl in your prayers, this was so random, it could happen to any of us. (sorry so long!)
I loved Metallica before, but now I love them even MORE!
Yeah I hope she is found safe!
Wow, that clears up a lot. Thanks, CJ24. Didn’t know her purse and cell phone were left at the scene. 🙁
Now, I really hope that Morgan is found safe and sound. Let this stand as a warning though. Case in point:
~ A friend of mine, in the middle of the day, saw a preppy, clean cut, well spoken male looking lost in a busy shopping strip mall, near our work in a nice part of town. The guy asked him for a ride home because his car had broken down, and he even motioned towards the car. My friend obliged. Long story short, the guy tried to get him lost going down a lot of turns/roads, and when he stopped to make a turn, the guy beat him almost to death with a flashlight. Broke his palate, among other things. My friend said the guy was the most unassuming-looking person you would ever have seen. Looks don’t matter. Their intent does.
~ A really good self-defense program is called Master Tsai’s Protect Yourself, and his Protect Yourself Against Weapons. Anyone can learn the techniques quickly, and it doesn’t matter what size or condition you are – you can do them because it’s not like learning judo or anything like that. Look the tapes up, because, imo, they’re invaluable. Master Tsai says he teaches police forces his techniques, and yes, it is the one Danny Bonaduce pimped for, but it works. All people, but especially women, need to practice what they would do if ever surprise attacked. If not Master Tsai’s tapes, learn it from somewhere. Make it part of your muscle memory because mace and pepper spray don’t always work, and sometimes things happen too fast to shoot.
~ It seems that even in sweet Virginia towns, it might be best to never walk alone in crowded places like concert venues. Always be aware of your surroundings.
I so wish a friend had stayed outside with her, or she had done her business prior to going in at all. She, and her family and friends, are in my prayers.
I went to grad school @ UVA and donated money to the construction of the John Paul Jones Arena. You can not go to the bathroom & “find yourself outside” this girl left the bldg. She may not have known about the no readmittance policy but it is standard at large venues (Verizon Center, Madison Square Garden, etc)
I hope she is okay, but the idea that “she would find her way back to VT (about 2.5 hour drive) makes no sense.
Was she meeting someone & things went bad? This story has just rung odd since the beginning. As stated before, I do hope she is found safe. But this goes to show you really can never be too careful.
And the poster before was right, I would NEVER have allowed a friend to stand outside a venue or try & catch a ride. I would have gone & hung out with them to make they were okay. I like Metallica too, but it is only a concert
Aw Trillion you took the words right outta my mouth!!
I agree with those that say that this story has rung odd since the beginning. It sure has rung odd with me.
I’ve been following it since it happened. The girl was really really REALLY looking forward to this concert, for months ahead of time, had the tickets up on the fridge since April or something, her mother said. So why on earth would she be going outside the arena without her ticket during the middle or even towards the beginning of the concert? And if she got out there by mistake, like, she went through the wrong door or something, then why did she tell her friends that she would get a ride home with someone else? If she called them to tell them that, why would she not simply ask one of her friends to come outside with her stub so that she could get back in? Seems like basic logic to me…. It makes me wonder if she didn’t have this all planned for some bizarre (who knows why) reason…
Maybe she was meeting up with someone she may have met under shady circumstances, like myspace or something. Some kids these days trust everyone they meet on the internet… The more likely scenario is possibly someone overtook her and made her tell her friends she was leaving. The fact that her purse and cell phone were left behind points to some kind of abduction. Either way, it’s just odd. I hope the mystery gets solved, and I hope the outcome is positive.
Metallica forever!