Updated/edited Dec 28, 2013, 10:20AM
I have a lot of time to think, imagine things, reminisce and think about those whose lives were interrupted or ended. I am a "commuter", someone who drives to work where it takes over 3 and 1/2 hours a day, M - F to get there. I have a lot of time to think.
I think about Brianna Maitland and I still hurt that nothing much on the surface came to light after weeks that turned into years, in search of and talking to people, comparing ideas and notes, to find her. The same can be said about Maura Murray who vanished shortly prior to Brianna on Feb. 09, 2004. Again nothing solid, and it goes without saying, law enforcement authorities, state government officials all but stymied the fact these women disappeared by refusing to cooperate in many cases with the families.
It should be noted that I as much as the next person understands families can be involved in missing person's cases. The question is are these those "such cases"? My opinion is no, they are not. I lost track of how long I lived weekends with the Maitlands late 2004 and 2005. I grew to respect both Brianna's Mother and Father. I met her brother, a little older than Brianna. Decent guy. It's possible each of us was wondering the same same thing... were you involved?
With the Murray's situation it was a slam dunk! Nothing implicated the family.
With Brianna it was more difficult. I'm not sure if I told you about how I got involved... long story, short, saw the news article describing a teen that vanished under mysterious circumstances. Photo's provided courtesy a group of three out of state skiers vacationing in the area, who saw Brianna's car backed into the old abandoned farmhouse and thought it was so odd they stopped and took some pictures. We have given them the title - "The World Travelers". Without those pictures critical sceneage would have been lost or never found.
I read where the police suspected she staged the accident, ran away because she owed a lot of money to drug dealers. On the seat of her car police find her contact lenses, two uncashed paychecks and medicine she needs. The police consider her of "questionable character due to drug use".
That riled me! Then I read her car keys were missing. Presumed lost at the sight of her accident. As a guy with 20+ years experience with a metal detector I called the family. "Are you a voyeur", her father asked me? I was so scared calling I couldn't laugh. "No", I answered, "I not a voyeur, I just called to help."
So suspicion were there from the get go. After a few weekends with the Maitlands any suspicions I had were checked off as this is a family truly in grief. Scared and horrified at the possibilities! Even the police took personal evidence from the Maitland family to be tested in their lab. The family is as much victimized by this as their daughter and sister is.
***
I'm thinking about Abigail Hernandez also, who disappeared walking home from school the afternoon of October 9, 2013. 15 years old. I was asked (can't say who) if I thought there might be a connection, with Brianna or Maura Murray? Other than some unknown person never considered before, the idea of moving from VT., 100 miles away to Conway NH was remote. I rather doubted it. Her mother received a letter from her according to the FBI a moth later. You can read about it here (ABC News Link):
I have a lot of time to think, imagine things, reminisce and think about those whose lives were interrupted or ended. I am a "commuter", someone who drives to work where it takes over 3 and 1/2 hours a day, M - F to get there. I have a lot of time to think.
I think about Brianna Maitland and I still hurt that nothing much on the surface came to light after weeks that turned into years, in search of and talking to people, comparing ideas and notes, to find her. The same can be said about Maura Murray who vanished shortly prior to Brianna on Feb. 09, 2004. Again nothing solid, and it goes without saying, law enforcement authorities, state government officials all but stymied the fact these women disappeared by refusing to cooperate in many cases with the families.
It should be noted that I as much as the next person understands families can be involved in missing person's cases. The question is are these those "such cases"? My opinion is no, they are not. I lost track of how long I lived weekends with the Maitlands late 2004 and 2005. I grew to respect both Brianna's Mother and Father. I met her brother, a little older than Brianna. Decent guy. It's possible each of us was wondering the same same thing... were you involved?
With the Murray's situation it was a slam dunk! Nothing implicated the family.
With Brianna it was more difficult. I'm not sure if I told you about how I got involved... long story, short, saw the news article describing a teen that vanished under mysterious circumstances. Photo's provided courtesy a group of three out of state skiers vacationing in the area, who saw Brianna's car backed into the old abandoned farmhouse and thought it was so odd they stopped and took some pictures. We have given them the title - "The World Travelers". Without those pictures critical sceneage would have been lost or never found.
I read where the police suspected she staged the accident, ran away because she owed a lot of money to drug dealers. On the seat of her car police find her contact lenses, two uncashed paychecks and medicine she needs. The police consider her of "questionable character due to drug use".
That riled me! Then I read her car keys were missing. Presumed lost at the sight of her accident. As a guy with 20+ years experience with a metal detector I called the family. "Are you a voyeur", her father asked me? I was so scared calling I couldn't laugh. "No", I answered, "I not a voyeur, I just called to help."
So suspicion were there from the get go. After a few weekends with the Maitlands any suspicions I had were checked off as this is a family truly in grief. Scared and horrified at the possibilities! Even the police took personal evidence from the Maitland family to be tested in their lab. The family is as much victimized by this as their daughter and sister is.
***
I'm thinking about Abigail Hernandez also, who disappeared walking home from school the afternoon of October 9, 2013. 15 years old. I was asked (can't say who) if I thought there might be a connection, with Brianna or Maura Murray? Other than some unknown person never considered before, the idea of moving from VT., 100 miles away to Conway NH was remote. I rather doubted it. Her mother received a letter from her according to the FBI a moth later. You can read about it here (ABC News Link):
I'm as baffled as the rest of you. I originally thought a school-mate was involved, but that appears not even a possibility at this time. Yes, I wonder why a community isn't advised and assisting, but then if they were it's doubtful we'd know it.
***
There was, Connie McCallister - a 16 yo Wisconsin resident. That is until 9 years later she turned up asking for help to get her out of Mexico. She'd apparently gone off with her older boyfriend on a joyride that took her hundreds of miles from home.
Connie McCallister
LINK; PEOPLE.COM: "For nine years, family and friends of a Wisconsin teen who vanished in 2004 worried about her fate, and whether they would ever hear from or see her again. In September, they learned that Connie McCallister, now 26, is alive and living in Mexico – and after speaking with a missionary who contacted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, McCallister is seeking help to finally come home."
It's the comments section to her sudden return that floor me. One person hoped she was put in jail for many years for the suffering she put her family through. I have to wonder, what was her family like?
***
And finally, I fell upon a stake, well not really, but sort of when I happened upon this CrimeLibrary.com story about "The Making of a Vampire". "Richard Trenton Chase, a serial killer who had a thing for blood. He also had a fear of disintegrating."
The reason his story struck me was the oh so 70's tilt towards "drugs caused him to behave as he did". Particularly marijuana the story implied as he'd been "arrested" a few times for it. The story meanders through psychotropic meds for psychosis, to LSD, to a blatant admission he should have been institutionalized. But no one took responsibility for that reason. Although he'd been diagnosed several times by the professionals he was free to kill. It's a story I should be revisited, given our modern day understanding of drugs and society.
You can read the story here at Crime Library:
Richard Trenton Chase
BY Katherine Ramsland:
"Born May 23, 1950, he liked to set fires as a child and to torment animals. He had a sister, four years younger, and his father was a strict disciplinarian who bickered constantly with his wife. By the time Richard was ten, he was killing cats. As a teenager, he drank and smoked dope, getting into trouble several times but showing no shame over it."
The problem I see with this tragic story is Richard was mentally ill; doctors knew it, family and friends knew it. It was the job of doctors to monitor him. Which makes me wonder if we all shouldn't be monitored, 24/7?
The NSA thinks so. Sending an e-mail to family, friend or gov't official was deemed to be not protected by privacy laws. Snail mail is. You can look it up - I'm simply remembering things I learned in 2013. While one federal judge calls the NSA spying into human communications, called it "Orwellian" in scope, another federal judge just ruled that it's perfectly legal to collect communications people make via technology.
Technology it appears have opened our personal lives to extreme exposure.
So as my heart shrinks, my body becomes more exposed, my mind more scrutinized, I can only say, if you look at federal governance for the past 43 years, you'd see a very weird array of policy, much of it directed at personal liberty, with the exception, Roe vs Wade and abortion. But that's hardly a ruling to celebrate. Roe vs Wade was about personal freedom and a basic human right. That's it.
No, the issues to consider, in my opinion are, what have our government done to pass constitutionally sound laws and regulations?
And it's blinding... 2013 was... Gay marriage reform; legal marijuana, in one country, - Uraguay, and two states, CO and WA, also one city, Portland, ME. That's progress!
Now if only we could ween politicians/lawmakers away from their focus on drugs, and more into harm reduction, 2014 might very well prove to be a bunker-buster year for humanity.
I'm hoping. The alternative is that our hearts begin to dry up and we all die.
***
Oh, and the modern day prophet that proclaimed the world would end died recently. You can read about him here: Harold Camping - NPR
Have a safe, very good New Year! No Hurt!!!
