TRUTH
This picture was taken around October 10, 2010 when Dave and I went with Jennifer Morgan, Owen Bright and Natalie Bright to the Pumpkin Patch in Gardner, Kansas. This is the last picture I have of Jennifer before she died. I remember how she gave it to me. She dropped Owen off one morning and she said that Natalie had given it to her that morning and told her that "she didn't want it" so maybe Jennifer's mother wanted the "ugly thing".
Natalie Bright kept the goading and taunting up until the last minute. I remember when Jennifer gave me the picture, she was crying. The only thing wrong with this picture is the unflattering pose by me. Jennifer and Owen Bright were two of the most beautiful people ever. Priceless. My kid and her kid, mom and son. A little less than a month, our baby was dead and Natalie Bright had no intention of letting us see Owen Bright.
The day after she died was Thanksgiving. I don't remember how Dave and I got through that day. It's a blank. Whether we ate or watched TV is also a blank. Somehow we lived through it and woke up Friday morning November 26, 2010.
We realized there would be a service for Jennifer and we did not have any appropriate clothes. It shouldn't have been important but it was to us to show proper respect for Jennifer and to make her proud. I sent Dave to the mall with a list of what I wanted him to buy and he had to buy a suit, shoes etc. This was Friday the day after Thanksgiving. I knew he would be gone a long time as this was the busiest shopping day of the year.
I called my sister, Connie Russell whom I hadn't had a connection for quite some time because of other family dynamics. I told her Dave was going to buy us clothes and I didn't want to be alone and asked if she could come to the house. She did and brought my nieces Amy Hiesberger and Wendy Macrorie who I had also not had a connection with, except for Jennifer telling me about them whenever she would see them.
We sat and talked for hours about Jennifer and the last 3 years of her life and all the time before Natalie Bright came into the picture. They were extremely comforting to me and it was sorta like the years we weren't in contact faded away. At least, that's what I thought. I haven't asked them since that day what they felt about it. I don't know if I could have made it through that day without their company.
Dave got home late and had done a wonderful job picking out clothes for me at Dillard's. He bought me a black sweater, skirt, dark hose and a beautiful pair of heels. He bought himself a suit and shoes. Dave is like that. When there is a crisis, I want to run and hide. He always takes care of everything. When he came in he took a good look at me and said "do you realize your shirt is wrong-side-out and your flannel pants are on backward"? Truth be told, I had on two different socks and hadn't combed my hair either. My family didn't comment even if they did notice. They had brought soups and bread from Panera which reminded me I hadn't eaten since Tuesday. My family left after a while and Dave and I were alone again and totally bereft. We watched some TV that night and did eat some of the soup.
Turns out Natalie Bright or her mother called Dave's cell phone while he was gone and asked if we wanted to come and see Jennif'er's body at the funeral home. She was at Penwell-Gable Funeral Home in Olathe. I didn't want to see her that way, after all that was not her in spirit. Natalie Bright also called several other people. One of which was my ex-husband of over 30 years. Yes, the one who wanted nothing to do with my daughter during her growing up years and after. Not until he realized Jennifer was a cop and was on TV during a case she was working on, then and only then did he express any interest in her or her son Owen Bright's life. Natalie Bright and her mother, Gail Fagen thought it would be funny if they appointed him as my liaison to the funeral arrangements. I was told by my niece Amy that Natalie Bright had spent an hour alone with Jennifer's body according to Natalie Bright's mother Gail Fagen. Please remember, Natalie Bright and her mother Gail Fagen were under the impression they were going to inherit a sizable amount of money from Jennifer. I will explain in more detail later.
Saturday, November 27, 2010. As usual, Dave and I were getting through the day with coffee and cleaning the kitchen. Around 12:00 pm. Natalie Bright's mother Gail Fagen called to tell us they were going to plan Jennifer's service in little over an hour and asked if we wanted to be a part of it. I told her we definitely wanted to come. I specifically asked her if they could keep my grandson, Owen Bright awake and not put him down for his nap so we could see him before this meeting. She said "of course".
We had less than an hour to shower, dress and drive to Olathe to Jennifer's house. When we got there we respectfully knocked and rang the doorbell. Gail Fagen answered the door. I asked where Owen was and she said, "he is upstairs down for his nap with Natalie Bright laying down with him". I told her I really wanted to see him and again she said, "I will go upstairs and see if Natalie will allow it". After a while we were told "Natalie said we could have 5 minutes to see him and then we would have to leave". Dave and I went upstairs and opened his bedroom door to a pitch black room. I turned on the light to see Natalie Bright forcing Owen to lay on the bed. The minute he saw us he took my hand and started showing me his toys. He gave me a big sloppy kiss and hug. I asked him if he knew who Dave was and he said, it's "Boppa". Of course we were not allowed to be left alone with him. Natalie would not leave, so we got barely 5 minutes and the minute we were ushered out by Gail Fagen, Owen started to scream and cry and did not stop. Finally, Natalie Bright came downstairs and sent her brother Danny Bright into his room. Owen never stopped crying.
This is the child that I took care of from the minute he was born to this day. I am sure he wondered where his mother, grandmother and grandfather were during these horrible days. To prove Natalie Bright's hateful personality, she later on put Jennifer's house up for sale. She took Owen out of his school, got rid of his dog, brought her girlfriend Sarah Tackett into Jennifer's house to live and naturally, we never got to see him again except at Jennifer's service. What a wonderful mother Natalie Bright is!!!
This "planning meeting" was a total farce. Attendees were, Gayla Rapp, the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff's Department chaplain, Jill Schultze (Jennifer's childhood friend) Gail Fagen and Natalie Bright. Danny Bright didn't show his face again. He was upstairs with Owen. There was a City of Olathe Police Department liaison that appeared for a while to consult with Natalie Bright and Gail Fagen at one point in time, but did not address us at any time.
During the meeting Natalie Bright burst out with her anguished voice, "oh why did Jenny do this, I can't believe she would leave Owen". Very calmly I said, "she did it because of the way she was being treated and because you were leaving her and taking Owen". Complete silence. Natalie Bright then burst off the sofa where she was engulfed by Gayla Rapp and Gail Fagen, and ran to the garage screaming "I don't have to listen to this". Well, she asked and I answered. I was extremely tired of her and her family acting like they were so hurt that Jennifer was dead. They could barely stifle their victory.
Just in case, nobody figured this out yet, Natalie Bright was with Jennifer Morgan a little more or less than 3 years and some odd months. Nine months of that time Jennifer was pregnant and miserable. This was a perfect con job. You will find out just how perfect they thought it was until they got their wake-up call.
During the rest of the meeting after Natalie was comforted by Gayla Rapp and cajoled into sitting through the rest of the "planning" of the service for Jennifer they decided Gayla Rapp would tell stories about Jennifer (whom she had never met) and several speakers to be determined later would conduct a celebration of life with a picture slide show and music playing by an organ player. The only thing I said was "no organ player, Jennifer would hate that". So they settled on Jill Schultze putting some of Jennifer's favorite songs playing in the background at the service.
Later on I found out from Captain Greg O'Halloran that in Jennifer's personnel file she requested what she wanted at her service in case she died on the job or otherwise. She wanted to be cremated, (which I knew). She wanted no chaplain, no dress blues from the Department, no speakers and basically no "celebration of life". However, Natalie Bright and her mother Gail Fagen did not honor any of those wishes. Totally the opposite. The College Church of the Nazarene was booked for a full fledged "circus". That's why earlier I said, we should have planned and taken care of the service. It would not have been a total slap in the face to Jennifer's wishes.
Jennifer's service was planned for the following Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 6 days after her death. This is how it went.
Detective Bill Wall with the City of Olathe, Kansas Police Department, who was supposedly Jennifer's long time friend and turned on her on the last day she was at the Department, was one of the speakers at the service. He gets up in front of the auditorium and screams "SUICIDE was not who Jenny was". Without any warning, I heard these words from this turncoat who was so worried that Sarah Tackett was unhappy with the situation at work that he told Jennifer not to come to his office to talk anymore because it made dear Sarah Tackett uncomfortable. The next speaker was Steve James. I don't remember what he said. It must have be innocuous or I would have remembered. Next was Chief of the City of Olathe, Kansas Police Department, Steve Menke. Praised Jennifer for her work and time at the Department. Short and sweet and totally unsentimental. Again, the whole drama was a theatrical moment for Natalie Bright and Gail Fagen. All the officers from various Police Departments and the Sheriff's Department filed through the family line and gave their condolences. Natalie Bright shown like a bright star of a comedy of errors. All the while thinking, she couldn't wait to get to the City of Olathe, Kansas Police Department's Human Resources Department to claim her prizes. That was either Monday, November 29, 2010 before the service or Wednesday, December 1, the day after the service.
She thought she had a home run. Instead, later on, as you will learn from my blog she got served a strike.
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