BRIANNA MAITLAND - MISSING 15 YEARS - THE "SYMPATHIZER'S" THEORY

15 years have passed since Brianna Maitland, 17 years old, vanished under mysterious circumstances on the night of March 19, 2004, in Montgomery Vermont. She had been working at a nearby restaurant until about 11:30 that night when she'd left to go home (she'd left her housemate a note, earlier that day, saying she'd be home after work). Her car was found the next morning crashed into the side of an old, abandoned farmhouse. The following pictures exist thanks to the curious eyes of three visitors to the area who had been skiing, were driving by the house around 7 AM and saw the car and thought it looked very unusual.

Published courtesy of "World Travellers"

Published courtesy of "World Travellers"

The police had seen the car also, with varied accounts of when that was. In the early morning hours a news-crew took photos and collected video of the scene. The video showed the driver's side of the car; of interest is the fact that early (and for a couple of years) on the family wasn't aware that video existed of that side of the car.

NBC Local News (VT)

The police returned and and did a cursory inspection of the scene, noting the license plate (registered to Brianna's mother), and had the car towed to a garage, where it sat for a few days. The police did not follow up with the registered owner of the car, although their theory at the time was said to have been, that the driver was drunk, spun off the road into the farmhouse. 

That was the theory, but the scenes above seemed not to look anything like that of a drunk driver having an accident, in my opinion and that of others.

My role in all of this was unexpected and I generally recount this as people like to know how I got involved in all of this and how I know what I know. 

I recall it was November of that year that I was at work over a hundred miles away, browsing the news on the internet, when I saw her story. The police at the time had chalked up Brianna's disappearance as drug related, strongly suggesting Brianna was fine and had run away. They described her to be of "questionable character" which upset me - bit premature to state that I felt. And why had police jumped so eagerly to a theory that it was drug related?  Nothing in the article suggested such a thing and a young woman was missing. Her car keys were missing.

I looked up her parent's phone number and called, something I'd never done before. I offered my services to try to find those keys. With over twenty years experience metal detecting (as a hobby), I offered to see if I could find the car keys, which I never did. However, after my search ended on that cold, rainy day, her father invited me to a local tavern where we could sit down and talk, have something to eat and drink. Brianna's father, encouraged by my communication skills asked me if I would talk to her people, like her friends, persons who felt they had information, and work with a PI/profiler from Texas. I was 50 years old at the time.

Of all the "True Crime" cases I'd ever read about this missing person case was the most bizarre and convoluted ever. One of the worst aspects were the rumors that spread almost immediately, of which I've written about in previous posts. They all mostly involved the people who knew Brianna, some of whom were friends. One such rumor was a confession made to one of Brianna's friends stating that "he had watched the life drain out of Brianna". The person was questioned and I was told denied ever saying it. One can watch the interview with Brianna's friend, Katie Manning, here on CrawlSpace:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=tightropetb&p=brianna+maitland+youtube+crawlspace#id=1&vid=b5502cf73ca9dcd19a7713b5ee4baf2f&action=view

Chloe, CrawlSpaces' psychological profiler, also has a Blog I would highly recommend:
https://chloefromcrawlspace.blogspot.com/2019/01/missing-in-vermont-18-parking-lot-story.html#comment-form

In my last post about Brianna which you can find here: https://bobkatlair.blogspot.com/2018/03/ I pose and review various theories, some of them are my own. It's no surprise that one of the earliest theories focused on a friend of Brianna's, a girl named Kealie, who grew upset with Brianna while at a party three weeks earlier. Apparently Brianna was flirting with her boyfriend. The consequence of which was that as Brianna left with her ex-boyfriend James, Kealie followed her out into the parking lot and beat her up pretty bad - Brianna didn't fight back and her explanation was that "Kealie was a friend".

Brianna after the fight

It was little wonder that Kealie became a person of interest undergoing intense interrogation and scrutiny; in addition Brianna had gone with a friend to the police to file charges against Keallie, something that in this post - "The Sympathizer's Theory", has significant importance. Eventually police allegedly clear Keallie from having any involvement.

My theory suggests we paid far too much attention on Kealie while ignoring others present at the party. For Kealie's part, yeah she beat Brianna up pretty badly. She admits that and showed remorse. It's others that were at the party that night that concern me. Did one or more of them feel Brianna deserved it?

Based on interviews with her friends it was clear Brianna was actually the "new girl in town". Yes she had grown up in the area, however she went to a school that didn't include many of the people she would befriend in 2004. Brianna changed high schools near her senior year and began to meet some of these people. She met more people after moving out of her parent's house, moving closer to Montgomery VT. However, though she had time to date the boyfriend she was with when the fight happened, she broke up with him and for a short time moved away from the area. 

Weeks before she disappeared, and shortly before the fight she moved again, got the job at the Black Lantern restaurant in Montgomery VT. She was back! And it would turn out this would make some people unhappy. Brianna thought she finally found a life, with friends after being isolated as she saw it for so long. That new life included sex, drugs, rock & roll, literally. Along with marijuana, which Brianna was not shy to admit she loved, there were harder drugs, like crack cocaine. Information varies as to just how involved she became with these harder drugs, however it may have provided a medium for what ultimately happened to her. That and the fact that in a small town, relationships and friendships could change often, resulting in feelings of resentment and jealousy. As a result there were those who likely didn't much like Brianna.

Persons who likely were at the party three weeks previously when Kealie beat up Brianna. Of those persons there were those who likely sided with Brianna, and those who didn't. Perhaps those who didn't were annoyed that Brianna didn't lift a finger to defend herself. To them it may have been just one more thing that annoyed them about Brianna. I call these person(s) "the sympathizers", who sided with Keallie.

It's a sad fact that where there are serious drugs being passed around, people are paranoid. Anyone involved is expected to avoid the police - for any reason. Brianna violated this unwritten rule by filing charges against Keallie, which it's likely certain persons found out about before she disappeared. As the saying goes, "a rat is a rat". It's my theory, person(s) at the party three weeks earlier felt motive enough to cause Brianna's disappearance.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON???

I remember back in the 1960's being with my grandmother who at the time must have been in her 50's; a Beatles song was playing and she was freaking out - " Crazy", she said. " What's wrong with the younger generation"?

What??

I'm 64 and to this day I have no idea why the Beatles freaked out my grandmother. If it was their long hair it wasn't even long in the early 1960's, and the music, was it that crazy?

Fast-forwards to 2018...

1) A 20 year old goes semi-naked to a pancake house and shoots several people dead. Why? As this person put it, he was " involuntarily celibate". Meaning he wasn't able to find a person who wanted to have sex with him. Sorry guy, but that's not a benefit without a price - it's more like magic.

2) Another shooting - the person claimed he wanted to go to jail. Yeah, so the guy shot people?? Well, I guess that's not too strange as we all know the story of the person that just wanted to feel the life drain out of another person. Well, the feelings count, but are misplaced; at least unlike poachers killing off elephants, rhinos and other endangered animals, who have zero feeling, Mr. or Ms. drain the life had an orgasm... much like rape, when you feel you're involuntarily celibate, only in this case you have a god-complex. Ever heard of respect for others?

3) Serial killer says - "I didn't kill people, I eradicated losers that only wanted drugs, marijuana, and to me that is sick, so I killed them. Ended their suffering".

More god complex. Like President Trump and his constant attacks on the media and "FAKE NEWS".

Just curious Mr Trump... what sort of news would you prefer? Separating immigrant children from their parents? How about executing all immigrants because to you they are all terrorists and that is the FAKE NEWS you are spreading that is riling up the rednecks and skin-heads. Yeah, you have quite the sense of reality and good luck to you, not. As you said, you have the money and the power... "I can do anything I want with any woman". Oh, and now an Executive Order eliminating the 14th Amendment. Hey, what a guy? What planet are you from??

Side-tracked, sorry.

4) Adolescents concoct a plan to arm themselves and go in Rambo style to shoot as many people as they can.

5) Man is upset that his girlfriend dumped him so he uses a motor vehicle to mow down as many people as he can along sidewalks.

6) Police shoot unarmed civilians and claim self-defence. The victims are Black.

The list goes on, like a sick song.

Meanwhile our planet is dying. We're currently experiencing the 6th Great Mass Extinction event... 60% of animal diversity has died out since only 1970. Makes me sad as the 1970's were good years and at the time we could have created the structures to contain and prevent global warming, but we didn't. Corporations bought off the politicians with fake stories - their own FAKE NEWS.

It's not limited to the extinction of mammals which is expected to be around an 80% loss - we're nearly there and the end will come quickly... though maybe 100 years is a FAKE estimate.

Storms, typhoons and hurricanes are getting worse. Fact or Fake news?

The planet is changing for the worse due to human behavior. Fact or Fake News.

It's about the planet itself, all of life and how disrespectful so many people are, myself included, I grew up to take advantage of my God given right to dominate the planet, and enslave myself to the system to survive. Wow... all that FAKE NEWS out of Washington sans Jimmy Carter, I admit, it was effective. Between Watergate, the Kent State Massacre, the insane War on Drugs that actually may have worked if Nixon hadn't ignored the recommendations of his Blue Ribbon Committee on Drugs, aka the Shaffer Committee. But he did. He had his own agenda.

Deforestation, the death of the oceans, coral, plastic pollution.

Years ago I visited Ackley PA. Fossil hunting. 100,000 years ago or so, +or - 10 million years, the ocean extended to South Dakota. Likely prior to the Ice Age. All that water eventually got sucked up into the Ice age or later in glaciers.  And now we are releasing it. Killing the planet. Our attention diverted to an immigrant caravan. Yeah...while President Trump dances around like a naked clown.

Death laughs on my shoulder while my angel taunts me from my other shoulder. Seriously people... the world is in danger. The recent violence shouldn't be a surprise. More than ever people grow up institutionalized in schools and a society that over protects and controls it's children. I know that is true as it was different growing up in the 1950's. I and many others like me survived. We formed our own baseball and football teems. We went off into the world and rode our bikes anywhere we chose.

We were controlled even then, but not like today. It is very likely everything about you and your children are known to the state you live in. All this while the planet dies.

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.