Dark Downeast - The Suspicious Death of Morgan Patten Part 2 (North Carolina)

Episode Date: January 2, 2023

When Steve and Renee Patten learned that their daughter, Morgan Patten, was killed in a car accident far away from her home in New England, their immediate response was shock and confusion. Morgan’s final text to her parents said that she was heading to bed, but Morgan never made it back to the hotel. What happened to Morgan after her meal at the restaurant bar? How did she end up in a fatal car accident with two strangers 15 miles away from her hotel?In Part One of this two part series, you got to know Morgan through the eyes of her parents, you heard the love story of Morgan and “her Marine” and why she was in North Carolina on Veteran’s Day weekend in 2019. If you haven’t yet, listen to that episode first.In Part Two, we look at the evidence, because from the first moment Morgan’s parents heard the tragic news about their daughter, they questioned everything. What they’ve learned since, despite the conclusion reached by the District Attorney on her case, has them convinced their daughter was the target of something sinister.View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/morganpatten-part2 Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.Follow @darkdowneast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTokTo suggest a case visit darkdowneast.com/submit-case 

When Steve and Renee Patton learned that their daughter Morgan was killed in a car accident far away from her home in New England, their immediate response was shock and confusion. Morgan's final text to her parents said that she was heading to bed, but Morgan never made it back to the hotel. What happened to Morgan after her meal at the restaurant bar? How did she end up in a fatal car accident with two strangers 15 miles away from her hotel? In part one of this two-part series, you got to know Morgan through the eyes of her parents. You heard the love story of Morgan and her Marine, and why she was in North

Carolina on Veterans Day weekend in 2019. If you haven't yet, listen to that episode first. Because now, in part two, we look at the evidence. From the very first moment Morgan's parents heard the tragic news about their daughter, they questioned everything. What they've learned since, despite the conclusion reached by the district attorney on her case, has them convinced their daughter was the target of something sinister. I really, I want everybody to know the injustice of Morgan Patton's story, and I want people to be outraged. I'm Kylie Lowe, and with Stephen Rene Patton, this is Morgan Patton's Story, Part 2, on Dark Down East. Names used in this episode are public record. Opinions expressed by interviewees are their own.

If you have questions about the source material for this episode, please contact hello at darkdowneast.com. Thank you for listening. Morgan Patton left the home she shared with her fiancé Phil in Edgartown, Massachusetts, extra early to meet him in Jacksonville, North Carolina, on Friday, November 8th, 2019. He was with the School of Infantry at Camp Geiger, and Morgan hadn't seen him for months. But for Veterans Day weekend that year, he'd been granted a limited 96, giving him days off to spend with Morgan to celebrate their recent engagement. Because Phil was in a training setting and living at the barracks, Morgan couldn't stay with him, but she got a hotel room at the nearby Baymont Hotel.

She checked in that Friday night after a 13-hour day of travel. She texted her family, friends, and Phil all day long, keeping them up to date on her journey and plans for the evening. After taking a shower, she went to find something to eat. Though there were many options in the commercial area around the hotel, Morgan didn't want to venture far. She was tired from the trip, but also, she was cautious. Her parents reminded her that military towns have a reputation for being unsafe. She chose the closest option for dinner, the Applebee's, in the same parking lot as the hotel. She didn't even need to call an Uber to get there. She chatted via text message with her parents and fiancé throughout her meal. At 9.42pm, Morgan texted her parents, saying she

was going to bed. She was texting both of us as it was a group. The three of us were all in a group at that point. And she said that she was going to bed. And we assumed that she was back at the hotel. The next morning, they learned that this assumption was incorrect. It turns out that she was not back at the hotel. She was still at Applebee's. The crux of this case lies in the moments after Morgan told her parents she was heading to bed. There's a lot to learn from the investigative documents, accident reports, witness statements, polygraph tests, and other evidence. Steve and Renee obtain every piece of information they can through their lawyer and through Freedom of Information Act requests. They've shared the documentation with me to help tell Morgan's story. Tracing Morgan's movements on the night of Friday, November 8th, 2019, begins with security

footage from the hotel parking lot. If she had gone directly straight across the parking lot, it literally is 120 feet. But the video security footage from the hotel shows that she left her room and she walked underneath every streetlight on the edge of the parking lot. So it ended up being, you know, maybe 400 feet walking under the lights. But that was the path she chose instead of walking across the parking lot and through a little grassy island with some shrubs where it was, you know, a little dark. She went underneath every light. Stephen Rene told me Morgan was a cautious person, a planner. Her route to the restaurant, choosing a longer path to stay under the more well-lit areas,

seems to be proof of that. She sat at the bar and ordered a crispy chicken salad and a beer. The details of Morgan's time at Applebee's comes from two witness statements made by bartenders working that night. I won't use their names, but I will refer to them as Bartender A, who gave a statement in a recorded interview in August 2020, and Bartender B, who gave both a written statement on November 10, 2019, and a recorded interview in August of 2020, nearly a year later. According to Bartender A's statements to private investigator hired by the Pattons in August of 2020, she remembered that Morgan was sitting alone at the horseshoe-shaped bar drinking a beer. Also seated at the bar was a group of people on the corner, and on the other

side of the group were two men. Bartender A referred to them as the Cowboys. They were wearing button-down shirts and cowboy hats. Morgan kept to herself at the bar. The private investigator asked bartender A if it appeared Morgan was trying to socialize with anyone. She said, quote, she wasn't trying to socialize or engage. She was just chilling on her own. You can tell she was a loner. You know what I mean? End quote. You can picture Morgan. She was a people watcher. She just liked to, as Renee had said earlier, just sit quietly and just see what people are up to. And she was still texting with us and with Phil, with Phil's family. She was there for quite some time, and the bartender said that an hour later, she was still working on her beer.

Morgan was still seated at the bar with that beer she ordered for herself when the group seated at the corner of the bar finished up and left. At that point, bartender A says, quote, the cowboys moved down and then they turned and started having conversation with her because they thought she was by herself. It looked like, we've got to buy her a shot, end quote. Bartender A said in her statement that she could hear the two men chatting with Morgan, asking her questions. They offered her a shot. Bartender A said that at first, Morgan refused. From the transcript read verbatim, but, um, she did, like, refuse at first, Morgan refused. From the transcript read verbatim. But, um, she did, like, refuse at first because she was kind of like, uh, I don't know, you know, like, I don't know if I want this or

not or whatever. But then when those guys, they were like, oh, it's just, you know, one shot, you know, it's cool. Bartender A poured three shots of Jack Daniels, one for Morgan and one for each of the two men. She clocked out between 9 and 10 p.m., and by her assessment, Morgan and the two men weren't together. The investigator said in the interview with Bartender A, quote, just was no vibe there at all, end quote. Bartender A responded, quote, no, not even. So when they said that one girl ended up with them, it was hard to see why, end quote. There's another witness statement from that night at the Applebee's bar. Bartender B cut bartender A for the night and took over, though he'd actually been working since about 6 p.m., according to his written statement.

The investigator also spoke with Bartender B in a recorded interview about the night of November 8, 2019, a little less than a year later, in August 2020. Some of the information is conflicting between the two statements. Benefit of the doubt here, it could simply be the time that had passed between the two statements. Either way, this is bartender B's recollection of the night Morgan sat down at the Applebee's bar. Bartender B said that he served Morgan a beer after one of the men offered to buy her one. He said he asked Morgan first if after one of the men offered to buy her one. He said he asked Morgan first if it was okay, and according to him, quote, she was like, well, if he does that,

I would prefer a short than a tall, end quote. Later, the men also offered to buy Morgan a shot of Jack Daniels, and again, bartender B asked if it was okay to serve her one, and according to him, she said yes. That was in the written statement, two days after Morgan was at the bar. In his recorded interview about a year later, Bartender B described the interaction between Morgan and the two men as, quote, mutual conversation, and that they were quiet, chilled, and laid back, end quote. He also said that one of the guys offered to pay for Morgan's tab. In Bartender B's written statement given on November 10, 2019, he stated, verbatim,

After cashing out, the two men continued to sit for about 15 minutes. Shortly after, the girl went to the restroom, while one guy went out the front door, one guy still at the bar. When I went to grab more food out back, and came back out, they were gone. They refers to Morgan and the two men. According to both his original statement and the recorded interview almost a year later, another staff member handled cashing out the two men while Bartender B was out back. When he returned, seeing the three people gone, he checked the POS system and noticed Morgan's tab, unpaid. He alerted management to the issue.

But in his interview in August 2020, Bartender B does not have a recollection of Morgan going to the bathroom while one of the men waited for her. When asked about the series of events by the investigator, Bartender B says, quote, I wasn't even out here for that, end quote. It's hard to determine, without security footage or other information to verify, which version of Bartender B's statement is accurate. But you might be inclined to believe the first version, since the statement was given within 48 hours of it actually happening. Either way, Bartender B did not see Morgan leave. Neither did Bartender A. No one, at least no one on record at this point to my knowledge, saw Morgan leave the

restaurant. If we had witness statements, or better yet, security footage, of Morgan walking out of the Applebee's, it could answer a lot of questions. But we know Morgan left, and she did not make it back to her hotel, and she did not go to bed bed as she told her parents in that final text to them at 9.42pm. She was possibly in the company of one or two of the men who sat next to her at the bar when she left the restaurant and she somehow ended up in a truck driven by one of those men. She was in the back seat when it crashed. They were 15 miles outside of Jacksonville, North Carolina, in a small town called Maysville,

when the driver lost control of his 2002 Chevrolet Silverado truck. The accident report reads, verbatim, Vehicle 1 was traveling north on State Road 1331 at a high rate of speed. Vehicle 1 ran off the road to the right, overcorrected, and ran off the road to the left. Vehicle 1 struck a tree, telephone box, and mailbox. Vehicle 1 overturned and landed on a fence. Vehicle 1 came to a rest on its right side on the shoulder of State Road 1331 facing south. Steve shared images of the truck on the Miles for Morgan Facebook page.

It is twisted and bent, barely recognizable as a vehicle. A rescue officer who responded to the scene wrote in his statement that the debris field around the truck was about 70 to 75 yards. Another first responder at the scene wrote in a statement, Assessed situation with one patient partly under vehicle, second trapped in rear of vehicle with one injured and walking in circles repeatedly saying, I didn't mean to hurt anybody. The passenger still trapped in the rear of the vehicle was 20-year-old Charles Cornwall, a Camp Lejeune Marine. The person walking in circles when the first responders arrived was the driver, 22-year-old Hunter O'Neill Wells, also a Camp Lejeune Marine.

Cornwall was airlifted to Vidant Medical Trauma Center in Greenville, North Carolina, with critical traumatic injuries, while the driver was transported to Camp Lejeune Medical Trauma Center without life-threatening injuries. Morgan was a Jane Doe at the crash scene, as no identification was found on her person or at the crash site. She'd later be identified through her cell phone and hotel records. She did not have a pulse when first responders arrived. The names of the two men in the car with Morgan were unfamiliar to Steve and Renee Patton. Morgan didn't know these guys. From the

second they arrived in Jacksonville, North Carolina to figure out what the hell was going on, Morgan's parents raised their concerns that something was off. We had dozens of questions by the time we arrived in Jacksonville, and it appeared as though we had caught their attention early on with these questions. It was those questions that would ultimately encourage investigators to take a closer look at the circumstances leading to Morgan Patton's death. An autopsy was ordered, and police wanted to speak with the two surviving witnesses of the crash, the driver and passenger. As part of the investigation, Officer Taylor Stokes went to the hospital to speak with the driver, Hunter Wells. Trooper Taylor Stokes was one of the officers at the crash scene.

She left the scene and traveled to Naval Hospital to interview him, mostly to try to identify the Jane Doe that was there beside the road. And the only information that he gave her that night was that they were going shooting. Her name was Morgan. She was from New Hampshire. And he said that she had been in town about a week, which was not true. She had been in town about four hours at that point. Going shooting. We'll return to that piece of information later. While at the hospital, Officer Stokes observed that Wells had a bloody face and arms, odor of alcohol, and red glassy eyes. The officer administered an alcohol screening test with a breathalyzer device. Hunter blew at a.06 at 12.57 a.m., about two hours after the crash. At 1.07 a.m., a second breathalyzer test yielded the same.06 result.

Using retrograde extrapolation, police determined that Hunter Wells was above the legal limit of.08 when he crashed his truck. From the DWI report for driver Hunter Wells, quote, Driver admitted to having one beer and then said, I don't drink and drive. Beer cans were everywhere at the collision scene. First responder at the scene stated Driver said,

I didn't mean to hurt anyone. The bartender at Applebee's was interviewed and remembers serving Driver two beers and one shot of liquor, end quote. Hunter Wells was arrested upon his release from the hospital and charged with death by motor vehicle, serious injury by motor vehicle, DWI, careless and reckless driving, as well as other moving violations. Meanwhile, the other passenger, Charles Cornwall, remained in the hospital. He suffered serious injuries, among them a broken tibia, fibula, and pelvis, a torn diaphragm, and ruptured pancreas. His spleen had to be removed. After he was released from the hospital,

he required extensive and ongoing treatment, including speech, occupational, and physical therapy. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury, which impacted his memory. Large portions of his memories, entire days and weeks, are just gone. Charles Cornwall was medically retired from the Marine Corps following the crash. Charles Cornwall, the passenger who, as we've been told, was in the back seat with Morgan, claims still over three years later that he has no memory of the entire day. And actually, in some cases, he says there are several weeks that he can't remember surrounding the crash. Charles Cornwall has not been charged with any crimes or violations as it relates to the accident or Morgan Patton's death. However, he is obviously a crucial witness to the series of events leading to the crash, or at least he could be, if not for memory loss. He voluntarily submitted to a

polygraph test on August 27th, 2021, and the results were analyzed by Roderick F. Jordan, a certified polygraph examiner, from the report verbatim. The examinee stated he does not remember anything about the day of the accident. He has difficulty clearly remembering much of his life before the accident. Most of his memories are fragmented and out of order, even things about his friends and activities in high school. He only remembered pieces of his military experience. He does not remember ever meeting Miss Patton. Except for the photos that he has seen, he has no recollection of what she looked like. When asked if he ever touched or kissed her, he answered no and then repeated that he did not remember anything about her.

He has no memory of being at Applebee's restaurant that night, or how he got there. The polygraph examiner summarized that Charles did remember the driver, Hunter Wells, and had a vague memory of Wells' house and staying there occasionally. He told the examiner he had not spoken to Wells since the accident, except for a text Wells sent him, though he couldn't remember the content of the message or if he responded. A comment from the examiner, quote, At times, during the data collection phase of the exam, it appeared the examinee's physiology was being intentionally distorted, end quote.

The examiner noted that Cornwall did not adhere to the test preparation, to arrive well-rested after having something to eat and avoiding alcohol for 24 hours before the exam. From the report, quote, In the pre-test interview, he stated he had two or less hours of sleep, he had not had anything to eat since the night before, and had a beer with dinner the night before. Later in the interview, he acknowledged that he had received and read the instructions. His intentional disregard for the instructions could have added to the problems of collecting usable data.

End quote. The results of the polygraph examination of Charles Cornwall were considered inconclusive. But before the polygraph exam, about a year prior to it, in October 2020, Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Fountain interviewed Charles Cornwall as a witness in the investigation into Hunter Wells. She asked about his life before and after the accident, about the accident itself, and what he remembers about Hunter Wells. ADA Fountain provided a summary of that interview to the attorney of Stephen Rene Patton. In that summary of the interview, Cornwall said that he used to stay at Wells' house off base because Cornwall didn't like living in the barracks. After he was released from the hospital, Cornwall went back to Wells' house to collect some of his things.

Sometime after that, Cornwall again went back to the house and walked in on a party. Reading from the interview summary directly, Cornwall stated that the defendant said something to the effect of, I saved your life, you owe me. Cornwall asked the defendant who Morgan was. The defendant told Cornwall that he was hooking up with Morgan. He also told Cornwall that he was in the front seat. Cornwall stated that he has never hooked up with a girl before. Cornwall stated that the defendant seemed to tell two different versions of what happened that night, but Cornwall was having trouble remembering or articulating what. Cornwall did not stay long at the defendant's because he got upset. He was upset that the

defendant was partying after what had happened, and he stated that he did not feel like the defendant was remorseful for what had happened, and that he was trying to shift blame onto others, namely him, Cornwall, by talking about him hooking up with Morgan. There are many elements to understand and consider in Morgan's case. Let's start with the two statements from the Applebee's bartenders who were working on the night of November 8th, 2019 and who had interactions with Morgan. We know that when Morgan sent that text that she was going to bed, that she wasn't actually back at her hotel yet. Our thought is she was actually in the restroom because according to the bartender, she did get up and go to the restroom. And that was the last time she was seen when she left her seat and went to the restroom. After that, nobody else in Appleby's saw her. She never returned to her seat, never paid her tab.

All three of them just disappeared after that point when Morgan went to the restroom. Both bartenders say that Morgan was chatting with the two men who sat beside her at the bar. But upon hearing that Morgan was later in a car accident with the same two guys, bartender A says that it was hard to see why Morgan would have laughed with the two cowboys, that there was no vibe. The other bartender says it was a mutual conversation between the three of them.

Was Morgan one to make friends with strangers at a bar? She would not have been rude to them if they approached her and started communicating. She would not have been. She was just, just wasn't her nature. No, but she would have. I can just, I can imagine her politely telling them, listen, I'm here to spend the weekend with my fiance and that's all. So thank you, but no thanks. She was a planner. She was cautious. She thought things through.

She was in Jacksonville to see Phil, and that was the only reason she was there. And then there's the detail that Morgan left without paying her tab. Would Morgan ever walk out on a tab and stiff the bartender? No. No. When she was down on Cape Cod, she worked her summers as a assistant dockmaster at Hyannis Marina, a job that she absolutely loved. But the marina closed for the winters. So she worked her winters several years in a row as a waitress. And Morgan was a

perpetual over-tipper. She knew what it took to get the job done, and she would not have walked out on a $18 salad and beer tab. That would not have happened. No way. Morgan was determined to have been riding in the back seat and not wearing a seatbelt. Steve and Renee told me that this would have been out of character for Morgan, who was always adamant about wearing a seatbelt. Steve and Renee told me that this would have been out of character for Morgan, who was always adamant about wearing a seatbelt and making everyone else buckle up in any car she was in too. The high rate of speed that the truck was traveling also would have made

Morgan uncomfortable enough to speak up. They had already estimated the speed of the vehicle to be traveling over 80 miles an hour and Morgan would not. If she were in a vehicle with somebody, with anybody, traveling at a high rate of speed, she would make it very clear either you slow down and drive more appropriately or let me out here. She was not a daredevil. Among the many red flags and out-of-character behavior is the very important detail that Morgan Patton did not know the men in the truck. It just did not make any sense to Steve and Renee that their daughter would ever voluntarily get into a vehicle with two strangers strangers in a strange town. They told us that Morgan just had too much to drink and she made a bad decision and it's nothing but an unfortunate DWI fatality. And there's nothing further from the truth.

Steve and Renee do not subscribe to the theory that the district attorney's office is working with, that Morgan had too much to drink and made a bad decision and it was all a tragic accident. Did Morgan have a lot to drink? Too much? Enough to be impaired? According to both bartenders, Morgan was drinking a beer she ordered for herself when the two men sat down next to her and eventually offered her at least one drink, if not two, including a shot of Jack Daniels. The statements vary there. But because of the circumstances, an autopsy was ordered, as well as a toxicology report that included an ethanol screen. Morgan's blood was tested for several substances, including benzodiazepines, cocaine metabolite, ethanol aka alcohol, gabapentin, and opioids. The only substance detected was ethanol

at 130 mg per deciliter, which is about a 0.13 blood alcohol level. This BAC level is often accompanied by blurred vision, loss of coordination and balance, and potential dysphoria, that is, anxiety or restlessness. However, the toxicology report also tested Morgan's vitreous humor, that's the gelatinous fluid of the eye. According to a 2020 study titled Ethanol Determination in Postmortem Samples, Correlation Between Blood and Vitreous Humor Concentration, although blood is usually used for alcohol analysis in postmortem cases, it could suffer alterations, putrefaction, and microbial contaminations. As an alternative to whole blood,

vitreous humor has been successfully used in medical legal studies. So, Morgan's ethanol level in her vitreous humor, the VAC, was 20 mg per deciliter, significantly less than the blood alcohol concentration level. The medical examiner did not initially interpret these results in the final report, just simply stated the levels. Steve asked Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Fountain about the drastic difference between the two concentrations, and she then asked the medical examiner about it. According to Steve, Fountain told him there was something wonky with the results and so they'd have to assume the level was somewhere

between 0.02 and 0.13, a very broad range. It's important to note that the autopsy was performed 60 hours after Morgan died. The natural process of decomposition produces ethanol in the body. All we know for sure is that Morgan consumed some amount of alcohol prior to the accident, which is not disputed by anyone. She ordered herself a beer and may have consumed more, according to witness statements. Whether the amount of alcohol she drank was enough to impair her judgment, we don't know. But Steve and Renee said it would have been way out of character for Morgan to get to that point. Morgan had a hard and fast rule. Even if she

was sitting in her own house having a drink, she always had a water with it. And she wouldn't have another drink until the water was gone. She was more responsible than I am, certainly. In addition to the autopsy and toxicology screen, a rape kit was also ordered as part of the investigation. There was no evidence of sexual assault found. However, DNA from three contributors was discovered under Morgan's fingernail clippings. Steve and Renee feel it's another piece of evidence that tells a different story than the one the district attorney's office is working with. Morgan was a fighter. If she was in danger, she would fight with every ounce of her being to get out of that situation. There was DNA under her nail scrapings. North Carolina Crime Lab has tested,

as we've been told, to the best of their ability to determine everything they can about that DNA. We know that there are three contributors to the DNA found under her fingernails, the most obvious one being Morgan. The other two, they were able to determine one is definitely a male, and the other, they said the sample is too small to even determine whether it's male or not. And there's another piece of evidence that presents a big concerning question mark in the case. Yet another detail that Steve and Renee feel doesn't add up to Morgan having too much to drink and making a bad decision. There was a firearm found at the crash site. We were told that they were going shooting. And there was a firearm found at the crash, but that didn't make any sense either.

Who's going shooting at 11 o'clock at night? Three people with one firearm and what was described to us as a handful of mixed caliber ammunition. Not even all of that handful was for that gun that was found in the crash. None of it made any sense. In Charles Cornwall's polygraph examination, he was asked about the firearm found at the scene of the accident. From the report, verbatim,

Regarding the firearm recovered from the truck, he knew it was his. He recalled purchasing it in South Carolina. It was a Marlin 3030. He kept it at Wells' house because it was such a nuisance checking it in and out when he would enter or leave the base. He had no idea why it was in the truck the night of the accident. There was a reason there was a firearm in the truck. I don't believe that they were going shooting. Nobody believes that they were going shooting. Even the prosecutor, everybody at the district attorney's office, they all have the North Carolina Highway Patrol,

they've all shaken their head at that, just saying that makes no sense. Where were they going shooting and who goes shooting at 1130 at night? There was a reason that firearm was in the truck. They are sure that for Morgan to end up in a truck with two men she didn't know, something else must have been at play. Morgan's parents fear that their daughter could have been abducted, forced into that truck against her will. We believe that Morgan would never get in that vehicle or any vehicle with any strangers for any reason. I mean, we really don't know what happened, but I believe that it was sinister from the beginning.

I feel like she was pegged in the situation, and they had a plan, and she couldn't get out of it, and somehow they got her in that vehicle and did God knows what. And then, you know, had they not crashed, I don't know. I don't even know if we'd know where Morgan was right now. Steve and Renee are vocal about all of the inconsistencies and concerns and out-of-character elements presented in their daughter's case. From day one, they've raised their fears that Morgan was possibly abducted, and that's why she was in the truck with two men she didn't know. However, in a letter from District Attorney Ernie Lee in North Carolina to Steve Patton, DA LeeA. Lee states that the evidence does not support a charge of kidnapping. From the letter, dated February 23, 2022, there is insufficient evidence with the evidence before this office to charge either Hunter Wells or Charles Cornwall with kidnapping

of your daughter. Based on my review of the evidence, I believe Hunter Wells is responsible for the death of your daughter due to criminal conduct in which he engaged while operating a vehicle. The defendant has been indicted for those offenses. That is the case for which our office should concentrate its efforts. The longer we wait to prosecute that case, the more difficult a conviction will be to secure. Since November of 2019, Steve and Renee have poured every spare ounce of energy they have into seeking truth and justice for Morgan. They've stayed in touch with the investigating and prosecuting agencies in her case, and have made additional trips to North Carolina for in-person meetings when they are able. Authorities seemed very responsive every time we were in Jacksonville. But then as soon as we left and we were back home, the response to emails sometimes took weeks. Our phone calls went unreturned for weeks. That's been a huge hindrance on us getting

justice is just the geography. The geography, too, may be the reason why Morgan Patton's death and the circumstances surrounding it have not received much attention in North Carolina. She wasn't a local. Morgan does not have the support of a community around her down there, a New England girl whose life was lost in a state far away from home. Steve also believes that there's something else at play here. It's an allegation he makes knowing full well the weight of his words, and the scrutiny he may face for saying it out loud. Some of the key points tell me that this is a Marine Corps cover-up, and I hate to say that because I'm a Marine and Phil is a Marine. We are a military family. Renee's father

served in the Army and her grandfather in the Marines. We support our armed forces. We support police. Always have, and we will continue to do so. But there are people that have names at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that have tried to pretend that none of this ever happened and Morgan never existed. And that's unacceptable. When I first spoke with Steve and Renee Patton, they were preparing for a big meeting, the next step in their efforts to seek justice for their daughter.

We have a meeting with Senator Gene Shaheen, our senior senator here in New Hampshire, who is a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. And we would like a federal organization to take over this investigation and start from the very beginning. Steve texted me after the release of part one of Morgan's story on Dark Down East with an update on their meeting with Senator Shaheen. He told me, quote, Senator Shaheen's office has drafted a letter requesting that Naval Criminal Investigative Service, NCIS, assume jurisdiction on Morgan's homicide investigation and investigate the cover-up by 2nd Marine Law Enforcement Battalion. There's a phrase that has become the mantra for Morgan's parents in their fight for answers. Miles to go.

I asked Steve the origin of that phrase and why they chose it. Morgan had actually chose it as a mantra for herself when she was still alive. She sent me a text message at work one day and asked if I was familiar with Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. And of course, what New England kid didn't grow up reading Robert Frost, you know? So I told her that I was familiar with it, but it wasn't in the forefront of my memory. And her order to me was, was well you need to reread it it's become my new favorite and so I did I of course I did I followed her instructions and I re-familiarized myself with stopping by woods on a snowy evening and learned sometime after that that it truly had become

Morgan's it had a lot of meaning to her, especially the last two lines. I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep. Morgan took that on. It meant everything to her because she wanted to travel the world. So physically, she had miles to go. Education was very important to her. She knew that law school would be tough, but she knew that she had miles to go. Education was very important to her. She knew that law school would be tough, but she knew that she had miles to go in her education, in her social and personal life. She was not afraid to grow and learn,

develop new relationships and adapt accordingly. It just, that's what it meant to her. She got a cute little tattoo in between her shoulder blades with her moon sign, the October moon, the travel moon. And underneath, in roughly her own handwriting style, it says miles to go. The meaning of it to her became incredibly important to us very soon after Morgan was killed, because the way that she had adopted that phrase, we felt it very important that we do the same, and we still use it. In fact, it's tattooed on both of us at this point, on our left forearms. We have miles to go to get justice for Morgan,

to get the truth about what happened to Morgan, and hopefully make some changes so that it's a lot more difficult for anything like this to happen to somebody else. Morgan, her name literally means by the sea. When she lived on the Cape, she worked at the Hyannis Marina. And I mean, she met people from all over, all over the world, you know, and she made friends and she, she made an imprint in a short amount of time there. And they always remember Morgan. And it's a place I like to go to visit the ocean and be with her.

Steve and I are just astonished of this human being that we raised. She's like, made it easy and kind of, you know, Mom, Dad, it's not a big deal. To us, she was a big deal. To a lot of people, she was a big deal. She was a big deal. And a lot of people, she was a big deal. She was a big deal. And that's what everybody should know. Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. For updates in Morgan's case and to learn more about her,

please visit morgansmilestogo.com and the Facebook page in her honor, Miles for Morgan. Sources for this episode include original investigative documents obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests completed by Steve Patton and shared with me. Additional sources cited and referenced for this episode are listed at darkdowneast.com. Please follow Dark Down East on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening right now. The best way to support this show is to please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode or any episode with your friends.

Thank you for supporting this show and allowing me to do what I do. I'm honored to use this platform for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones, and for those who are still searching for answers in cold missing persons and homicide cases. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Lowe, and this is Dark Down East.