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Harrington, Alexis Murphy families meet in Albermarle

Save the Next Girl founders encourage safety, education for University students

The families of Morgan Harrington and Alexis Murphy, two young women who have tragically gone missing from the surrounding areas, met this weekend in Albemarle County to exchange support and hope for the safe return of Murphy to her family. Harrington’s body was found three months after she disappeared in 2009 after coming to Charlottesville for a Metallica concert, and Murphy went missing earlier this summer and has yet to be found

“We’re part of a small kind of hideous club of people who have experienced kind of one of the ultimate devastations,” said Gil Harrington, Morgan’s mother. “Not just by the loss of a child, but the robbery of a child. I think that’s a tough one to navigate. We wanted to show solidarity and love and compassion for them.”

The meeting, also intended to help publicize the ongoing search efforts for Alexis Murphy, was coordinated through Gil Harrington’s Help Save the Next Girl foundation. The foundation is a national non-profit that works to warn young women about “predatory dangers,” according to its website.

“Girls hear this information from birth, but hearing it from peers can be really helpful,” Harrington said. “College kids often think that because everyone is there for the same reason, everyone is their friend. That’s a great thing to some extent because it’s a great place to grow and learn, but they forget about the periphery.”

Help Save the Next Girl also provides services to other families with abducted children, including non-copyrighted templates for flyers, as well as advice on becoming active on social media early and often.

Alexis Murphy, a 17-year-old Shipman resident, disappeared on Aug. 3. Her car was recovered three days later at the Carmike 6 movie theater in Albemarle County and the FBI recovered Murphy’s phone Sept. 3, according to NBC29 reports.

Although six weeks have passed since Murphy’s disappearance, the case remains an active investigation. “We never stop looking,” Nelson County Sheriff Stephen Campbell said.

The FBI is leading the investigation into Murphy’s disappearance, and authorities arrested 48-year-old Randy Allen Taylor as part of the investigation on Aug. 11. Taylor waived his right to a preliminary trial and will face a grand jury Sept. 24, according to a WJLA report.

Harrington said students could take simple steps could do a lot to help make sure they are safe.

“Be safe, be smart, be guarded,” she said. “Don’t walk across that bridge at night with your headphones in, like I see every time I visit Charlottesville.”

For more information, see NBC 29
http://www.nbc29.com/story/23433560/families-of-alexis-murphy-morgan-harrington-meet-share-grief

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