BRIANNA MAITLAND - MISSING 14 YEARS. THE STORY AND VARIOUS THEORIES.

Beginning with some background for those who may have heard of this case for the first time.

 Brianna Maitland, from Montgomery Vermont,  was 17 years of age and disappeared under mysterious circumstances, a bizarre accident, on the night of March 19, 2004. The time is estimated to have been around 11:35 PM.  Something happened at an old abandoned farmhouse called the Dutchburn Place as Brianna was driving home from work that night.

Google Earth: Dutchburn farmhouse

Google Earth: Elevation

Close-up Accident; photo by World Travellers

Accident from afar; photo by World Travellers

Accident, Close-up; photo by World Travellers

Recently I was contacted by a co-host of a show called Crawlspace, asking for an open dialogue regarding Brianna's disappearance. I have published numerous posts about Brianna which the co-host referenced, making me something of a expert. 

I'm not an expert, I assure you. 

In late fall of 2004 I was at work and was browsing the news and saw the story. There were two things that caught my attention: 1) the fact that VSP (Vermont State Police) considered her a drug addict, who owed money to drug dealers, had an accident and ran away; 2) her car keys were missing. 

In a few days it will have been 14 years that Brianna disappeared under suspicious circumstances. I was 50 at the time, and my hobby was metal detecting - yeah, that thing you see some people waving across the sand at the beach. My experience was not at the beaches, but rather woods, fields and ghost-towns. I also had an interest in "true crime" and empathy for the victims. I've been told I have the ability to see into mysteries as I have the ability for being objective. 

I found her parent's phone number online and called, offered my services metal detecting to find her car keys which were considered important in the case. I never did find the keys, though I did find a couple quarters, a dime or two at the scene where her drivers door would have opened. 

A theory is that she backed into the farmhouse by accident, trying to avoid being abducted and worse. That she had fore-warnings about going to work that night from earlier in the day when she went to the mall with her mother. That she left a note for her housemate that she "would be home later". The note wasn't something that Brianna would normally write. So why did she write it?

What do I know that others don't? 

Plenty it seems and a word of warning to others out there wishing they were involved in a real life crime sleuthing into a victim's past. 

The phone call I made that day, whereby I met Brianna's family, turned into a meal at a local tavern with her father, Bruce. That was around the early part of November 2004, several months after she vanished. Her father was in his early 40's, and completely distraught over the events surrounding his daughter's disappearance. He was upset with the attitude held by the VSP. They wouldn't help him. They insisted she ran away for the drug reason I'd read about in the news which honestly, made me upset also. There was no proof  behind their assumptions. 

Bruce had no choice but to fight the battle to learn the truth by himself. As we talked he became interested in my ability to listen and the amiable way in which I discussed things with him. He asked me if I was interested in helping him, to talk with her friends, talk with the PI that had offered his services for free. I said, "sure, I'll help". 

Regarding the earlier warning I had for others interested in becoming a part of something like this is, careful what you wish for! 

At least two years I spent travelling 3 hours to go to her parent's house, staying there on weekends, going out searching for any trace of what happened to her, talking with friends and those less friendly. When I wasn't in Vermont I was in New Hampshire making phone calls. There was the family website and Monday night forum where people chimed in regarding ideas, opinions and information that might be helpful. When I first joined much of the discussion revolved around Brianna's drug use, an obsession with it really, that she overdosed, got in over her head buying crack, and essentially she made a victim of herself, was responsible for what happened. 

I didn't see it that way at all and considered the whole drug angle a red herring and still do. Gradually by offering alternative ideas to the group the topic changed and she was finally seen as the victim of others. There was even a change of authority at VSP and the new officer in charge was more inclined to help and have an open mind. Yet despite all our efforts nothing led to either a brick wall or more nothing. Everything stayed a theory. Rumors couldn't be proven one way or the other. The possibilities simply seemed to keep expanding with nothing solid to go by.

Four years into it, with another PI working the case, the family moved away and the case went cold. A possible sighting of Brianna took the headlines for awhile, that she was photographed at a casino in Atlantic City. The sighting was officially termed erroneous within a year. I became a guest-writer in a Blog operated by a person also interested in the case, whom I knew from the family website, who happened to be a retired police officer. In 2009 I started my own Blog. 

Which brings me back to a co-host of a show called Crawlspace contacting me, wishing to talk. Initially all I had to say was more of the same old thing. 

But it got me thinking. Got me thinking about the fight Brianna had had three weeks previously that heavily figured into initial suspicions. A fight where two girls beat Brianna up quite badly. About how her and a friend went to the police to file charges, which were dropped when Brianna failed to appear at a hear. About how bizzare an accident it was where she disappeared, so bizarre as to be nothing like a drunk driver going off the road, which is what the initial investigation suggested. The co-host also made a statement suggesting someone with "hot-blooded vengeance" in mind abducted her.

One cannot get away from the obvious fact that whatever happened to Brianna was done by someone who was very upset with her, or opens up one other possibility, however unlikely it might be.

I have spent a lot of time going over the possibilities in my mind. I have considered the possibility she was abducted by those wanting to traffick her, that during her abduction she was given crack and overdosed. Or she lived and was actually sold into slavery. I've been over the fact that two uncashed pay-checks were left in her car, that any money she had the drug dealers would want. 

The co-host asked me at one point if I had any epiphanies now nearly 14 years later, and at first I didn't. 

It's a known fact Brianna liked marijuana, so do I and although we are told there is a connection between marijuana and hard drugs like crack, I've never been interested in the hard stuff, and friends haven't been either. Then I received this e-mail from NORML (National Organization for Marijuana Reform)  that rather got me thinking with a whole different perspective:

"Vancouver, Canada: Cannabis use is associated with slower rates of injection initiation among at-risk youth, according to longitudinal data published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.

Canadian researchers assessed drug use progression in a cohort of 481 street-involved youth over a ten-year period.

Authors reported: "[W]e observed a high rate of injection initiation among at-risk street-involved youth. Our results indicate that periods of frequent cannabis use were associated with slower rates of initiation: daily cannabis use was associated with a 34 percent decrease in the hazard rate of injection initiation."

They concluded: "[F]requent cannabis use was negatively associated with injection initiation. ... Given the expansion of cannabis legalization throughout North America, it is encouraging that cannabis use was associated with slower time to initiation of injection drug use in this cohort. This finding challenges the view of cannabis as a gateway substance that precipitates the progression to using harder and more addictive drugs."

A 2017 study published by several of the same researchers previously reported that cannabis use was associated with reduced consumption of crack cocaine in a cohort of polydrug users.

For more information, contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the study, "Cannabis use is associated with lower rates of initiation of injection drug use among street-involved youth: A longitudinal analysis," appears in Drug and Alcohol Review."

What if...? 

At the time there was a lot of crack related activity in the area, largely due to persons in the area from New York City. One of those persons was a boyfriend of Brianna's according to her roomate whom I spoke with on numerous occasions. It's also a fact that Brianna didn't hide her interests in marijuana, even had a marijuana trinket leaf hanging from the rear-view mirror of her car. She had been to crack parties according to her friends. 

 Photo by World Travellers. Closeup by BobKat

Photo by BobKat

At the same time according to reliable sources of mine there at the time there was a large presence of the DEA, the Vermont Drug Task Force with assistance from the US Border Patrol. My source was recording the license plate numbers of every person visiting their establishment. Including mine.

It is acknowledged that Brianna had a heart of gold, she loved people and was willing to help others. 

In 2005 Bruce (Brianna's father) and I had what we thought was a scheduled meeting with someone who potentially had information to share about her. That person wasn't at home, but another person was outside the house when Bruce and I drove into the driveway. His nick-name was John-Boy. 

I got out of Bruce's truck while Bruce stayed inside at the ready for anything, which we'd come to expect. We got a lot more than we anticipated. I walked up to the stranger nick-named John-Boy and he asked me what I wanted. I told him we had a scheduled appointment with the person we were there to see. "About what?" He asked. 

"Brianna Maitland", I answered. 

To summarize, he went ballistic on me cursing Brianna and telling me for about 10 minutes, culminating his rage with the statement, "the fucking bitch got what was coming to her and you can tell her father that", at which point Bruce yelled out the window, "I am her father, consider it message received".

After 14 years it came to me. The thought of "hot blooded vengeance". What would make someone so angry and hostile to another human being? "She got what was coming to her..." But what did she do? Steal someone's boyfriend or girlfriend? Happened all the time. Owed drug money? No, I don't buy that either. But what if? What if Brianna was working undercover as an informant? Now that would bring out the kind of rage I witnessed coming from Lil' John. Maybe someone simply spread a rumor and group paranoia took hold. Afterall, she did go with a friend to VSP to file charges against her ex-friend.

Or, the Feds staged the accident and put her into a witness protection program - we can dream; but it's unlikely as we know, "she got what she deserved".

It also occured to me at that time, recently, no wonder nothing has ever been found out about why and what happened to her. Maybe Brianna did the one good thing (I too am concerned about the crack/opiate epidemic) that got her shunned, which would explain why no one will talk. Except for one person with an anger management problem.

It's just a theory, which to me now would explain a lot, if true.

MERCY AMONG MEN

Oddly, I'd never heard, or remember hearing the term, "Mercy Among Men" before.

We had an overnight snowstorm this past Sunday and I woke up to about 8 inches of snow. Although the day warmed up to about 40, I was none too happy about having to snow-blow. But around 1PM I got out there.

I had finished clearing in front of the mailbox across the street, had crossed the street to begin my driveway, a truck started to go by, then slowed and stopped. The driver backed up so I was at his door, an older man, likely my age, about 60.

He was interested in buying a house in my area, the general area of my town I live in. I have some idea of what the houses on my road are worth, as I bought mine a few years ago. He had $75,000 and needed a house yesterday. He asked if the half acre across the street with a condemned house and a long, mobile home looking like shed was for sale. I told him I doubted it - the owners were planning on building a house there in the future.

I gave him the phone number of the realtor who helped me buy my house.

At some point he pulled the truck off the road and got out to talk. I wasn't comfortable talking to this stranger but the chat so far had gone well, and was when I asked him why he needed a house now? Did he not have a home? I mean his truck was new, with a plow, and he didn't look too unwell-off, especially having $75k in cash to buy a house. I was intrigued, though nervous.

He shook his head slightly recalling things and said, "I can't stay where I live".

That took me by surprise. "Why", I asked.

"Long story", he replied. "Tourettes". 

"What?"

To summarize, he claimed to have Tourettes syndrome. I asked if he meant he has sudden out-bursts of speech, as I had worked with a man with the condition. He shook his head again. "No stereotypes", he said. "It is different for everyone who has it."

He said it was caused by a brain injury, though I didn't ask for specifics. I was surprised when he said symptoms (were not necessarily blurting things) could be as mild as anxiety or depression, or as serious as being bi-polar, manic, or with schizophrenia.

He had been in a grocery store, had heard of a new diet of certain nuts and vegetables. He said he was talking with the produce manager and that before he knew it he'd gotten too excited, his brain reated and his legs fell out from under him. Firemen were shopping and next thing he knew he was in an ambulance hooked up to IV's receiving Nacann. The fire chief was present and his condition had been determined to be a drug overdose.

He claims he tried to explain his condition, but the chief wasn't going to buy it. He became angry, fueled by whatever his Tourettes was doing. He pulled off the IV's and was bound.

Needless to say, he was bitter that things had gone so poorly and felt he could not live in the area any longer and had decided he wanted to move to Maine.

I asked, but can't you work things out with the fire chief, the town? He said no, he had hoped for "mercy among men", but there was none.

Now it was my turn to shake my head, and I said, well, "mercy among men" seems to be a thing of the past". He said not at all, I can show you how easy mercy among men can be. He walked to his truck and got a new teddy bear out of it. "This is for you", he said, "a gesture of mercy among men". He asked if he could plow my drive-way as a thank-you for my help, I said sure and he left. I gave the teddy bear to my neighbor's daughter.

The whole thing, the timing was rather good, as I was struggling with a fairly long time friend who got upset with me for a minor disagreement, who wanted nothing more to do with me. Mercy among men. And it got me thinking more. Mercy among humankind - stopping the hurt.

Recently there was the shooting in Parkland Florida, at the Marjory Douglas HS. I've been thinking a lot about the mass killings for the past few years, and why. What is different now than back in the 60's when I was in high school? Then realized, countries have been committed genocide and there was Hitler, the Holocaust, and the KKK and the world seems to seeth with hate, prejudice, domination and greed.

I thought of the missing person cases I'd helped with, written about on my blog, Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray. The thought that comes to my mind is we lack the ability to show mercy, as not doing the above mentioned heinous acts shows mercy. Easy for me to say as I feel I lack the gene, if it is a gene that causes such lack of respect for others, and a show of mercy.

I strongly believe we need to learn not to be naive, or overnight start trusting strangers or stop what we're doing to make the planet safer to live in. But I think perhaps sometimes all it takes is a gift teddy bear. Listening to others and having empathy. If only someone pent on destruction or mayhem would instead buy a teddy bear and give it to whoever is in charge, and admit, I want to hurt you, but I'm giving you this teddy bear as an example of mercy among men.

THE SAFE PLACE FOR MARIJUANA HAS BECOME OUR HOME; LEGALISED MARIJUANA. Part One

As of this reading 8 states have legalized the use of marijuana for adults, age 21 or older; 30 states have some variation of legalised medical marijuana. Since this may be confusing for some people my hope is to clarify what it all entails.

First, what is marijuana, briefly what's it's history, where does it come from, is it a manufactured drug or is it a plant that grows naturally??

Marijuana is a plant. It is not manufactured despite claims otherwise. Some consider it an herb, but technically it doesn't fall within that classification; it is not Rosemary, basil or thyme. It is more like a dandelion. A weed. It has a variation that's called hemp that was used for thousands of years to make rope. During those thousands of years other strains were used for medical purposes that could include simple stress reduction. The world depended on hemp until the end of WW2. At that time synthetic ropes hit the market making hemp obsolete. Problem is, we all know the difference between organic and synthetic.

Marijuana can be classified as 4 different plant species.

1) Cannabis sativa
2) Cannabis indica
3) Cannabis ruderalis
4) Hemp, any variation of the above, usually the male plant as the female generally contains THC 'Hyperlink to more about THC': LEAFLY.COM. The THC isn't desirable in hemp; tall, lanky and ropey plants are. So hemp is bred to grow like that.

More can be found about the above here: http://www.ilovegrowingmarijuana.com/types-of-marijuana/

It comes from nearly everywhere. It does favor certain environments, that I need not go into. It is grown in "housed structures", more on that in a bit.

Humans have used it for many purposes for thousands of years. Several of those purposes were medical use.

Technically I don't see how it can be considered a manufactured drug as it grows in the ground. There are those who say their God put it on the earth. However the US federal government has believed for at least 75 years that it is made from concrete. Meaning it comes from nothing, is nothing and is extremely dangerous. President Nixon hated the stuff and defied his own Blue Ribbon Committee he hand picked to study marijuana in the late 60's: Shafer Committee. Pres. Ronald Reagan described use of marijuana as being like "setting off a nuclear bomb in your head".  President Jimmy Carter legalised it in 1978... (look it up :) Last less than a day before the DEA filed some sort of law-suit over turning it.

Fast forward to 2017. Happy 420, because 8 states have now legalised adult use of marijuana and 30 for medical use, according to my latest updates from NORML.

Specifics of the details of the law are mixed, where some states have finalized the regulations while others are still undergoing development. I live in Maine and our governor just vetoed the regulations for 2018 approved by the House and Senate. Won't get my vote. However medical use of marijuana in Maine goes back to the early 2000's. And new conditions like PTSD get added each year it seems.

One of the more frustrating sorts of regulations is when a state legalizes medical marijuana but with strict conditions. Like you can't grow your own, can't buy the plant or buds, can't buy edibles (candy, cookies or brownies), only pen sized vaporizers. Or they legalize CBD oil, which contains no THC. For some plain CBD works well, especially for pain. But it's been found that a blend of CBD and THC actually increases the efficacy of the product.

But what if you're here, reading all this and the real question you have is "how could this happen??"

"How could marijuana be legalized or even beneficial for anything? The federal government lists it as a Schedule One drug, which dictates it has "no medical uses and it is extremely addictive. The way the federal government, the DOJ sees it is obviously the research being quoted by so many so-called professionals must be bogus and a lie!"

Ironically, the federal government secured a patent on THC for medical benefits it can provide.  patent # 6630507 - a link available HERE. If marijuana has zero medical benefit and THC is derived from it isn't that a contradiction? Doesn't that raise the spectre of hypocrisy? And what king of government governs based on hypocrisy? A dictatorship does, just like ol' England. A tyrannical government and do we really want to go there?

None of the propaganda fed to us for the past 75+ years has had any real scientific basis. It is only true that if you burn something like a cigarette or a joint that the heat from the burning ember is not good for you. It should also be noted that there is no comparison between the "tars" in tobacco, compared to the "tars" in marijuana. Their chemical make-up is completely different.

In the 15+ years that marijuana has been legal to buy and use in various states people are not jumping out of windows, eating people's faces or laughing like a total lunatic. Crime rates including major crimes like murder have gone down in states that have legalized.The black market has all but disappeared in states where it's legal.

Persons that use marijuana are not going to go berserk. Recently, in the news for the start of 2018 is Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Jeff has decided to rescind the Cole Memorandum which essentially provided for the the Justice Department to accept Article 10 of the Bill of Rights and let states regulate marijuana, as they are doing, without federal interference. AG Sessions declared he intends to begin a 2nd War on Pot.

Why? The answer in perhaps another post. Will this potentially severely impact legal marijuana in this country after all this time? We may see headlines where the feds raid and seize and arrest people at a marijuana grow facility in California. But that will be it. There are far more pressing problems in this country than going after state legal marijuana facilities.

To conclude, use of marijuana does not impact intelligence, make people stupid or cause maniacal behavior. We can accept the fact that 75+ years of propaganda leading us to believe otherwise is going to take some time to accept. Those using marijuana actually are benefiting and they are using a plant to do so, not a manufactured narcotic.

THINGS CAN BE GOOD OR MAYBE NOT... Also WINTER STORM STELLA, LIVE FROM MAINE

I begin sadly with news that my partner, Kramer the cat, pictured at the top of my blog, a Maine Coon cat, passed away February 28, 2017. He was around 16 - 18 years of age. R.I.P. Kramer.

I have a new cat now I adopted from a local humane society. His name is Henry, 7 years old, 10.5 pounds, and although all black, looks very much like predominately Maine Coon cat too. 

Moving forwards...

Winter isn't over in Maine. Yeah, I live in Maine, same state as Stephen King. Yes, there's something strange about my town. Let's just say at present it's a good strange.

Winter storm Stella is more than a storm, it's a blizzard. From what I have found out, it is centered over MA, DC, NH, much of PA NY, and ME. It's 6PM and there's probably about 15"  with drifts as high as 3 feet or more. It's supposed to continue throughout the night, into tomorrow.

My whole office of 20 worked from home today. Works for me and the company.

My friend down the road, if there is a road, went out to snow-blow. The temperature is 26 degrees, humidity 99%. Winds around 40mph and higher. Not the day to work on a snow-blower. He'd made it through 3 major storms this winter, and now this.

Another friend, a member of a FaceBook club, espied a found relic, dog-tags from the civil war, in the form of a coin. A quote from my other friend, identifies the Civil War soldier: "William W. McClary served in the New Hampshire Volenteer Militia in the Civil War , Died in 1864 at 17 years 1 month , he is buried in Alexandria , NH ..." Which just happens to be a stones throw from my friend's house. It's going up for bid on E-Bay -starting bid, $999. My friend is upset as he believes it should be donated to the Historic society. Anyone who buys is encouraged to donate it to the Alexandria Historic Society in NH.

My new cat must be part vampire, and the rest is Maine Coon cat. That would explain him sleeping all day, and here it is, 6:20, still not up. Waiting for me to feed him. And rolls around at night chasing his pet mice.

Oh, and marijuana is legal for adults in Maine now. Then again, there's so much more...