Found Deceased MT - Rita Maze, 47, Wolf Creek, 6 Sept 2016 #1

[Ragamuffin]

I have a horrible feeling that Rita and the 6'5" man were romantically linked at some point (in the past/currently?) and she was not under duress at the time he used her card. After that is up for interpretation.

 

[seventeenseconds]

I wonder where her card is now?


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[Inthedetails]

I don't see the need for an elaborate scheme to have someone innocent of murder use her card. What's the point?

Do you mean, what's the point of him using her card if he's innocent? My guess would be so she could create a record of someone using her card to "prove" her story. IDK if that is what happened, but that could be the point of an innocent man using her card.

Perhaps she offered to buy him and his family a meal. Perhaps she asked him to make the purchase for her while she stayed in the car. ??

jmo

 

[blue22]

I don't see the need for an elaborate scheme to have someone innocent of murder use her card. What's the point?

If this was all planned...she would need a "suspect" using a "stolen" card on camera. It's not really elaborate, more creating a suspect or diversion.She couldn't say someone kidnapped her, if she was on camera using her card. Basically, she created a situation to fit her narrative. (If that's what happened here.)

 

[seventeenseconds]

I totally think foul play here. But I've been fooled before. Prayers for her family.


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[Gardener1850]

If he's a car-jacker in possession of a stolen card, wouldn't he purchase more than $25 worth of gas-station food?

jmo

It's possible if he tried to spend more than $25 he would need her pin number. Some credit card/debit cards allow small purchases without a pin.

 

[ninij9]

I don't see the need for an elaborate scheme to have someone innocent of murder use her card. What's the point?

I agree BayouBelle, I can't see someone trying to frame an innocent man for their OWN suicide, however all is not what it seems to be in this case (of course it's all my opinion), I'm suddenly feeling hinky of the fact that I'm hearing that some family members were out on the road driving up and down searching (it's what I would do for certain, BUT, BUT, BUT).

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[BayouBelle_LA]

If this was all planned...she would need a "suspect" using a "stolen" card on camera. It's not really elaborate, more creating a suspect or diversion.She couldn't say someone kidnapped her, if she was on camera using her card. Basically, she created a situation to fit her narrative. (If that's what happened here.)

I don't see her wanting to implicate an innocent man of kidnapping and murder. Her story to her family would be enough in my opinion if she were trying to cover her suicide. She had $50 in cash she could have used for food either with her making the purchase or the man. No need to use the card.

 

[bluesneakers]

Do you mean, what's the point of him using her card if he's innocent? My guess would be so she could create a record of someone using her card to "prove" her story. IDK if that is what happened, but that could be the point of an innocent man using her card.

Perhaps she offered to buy him and his family a meal. Perhaps she asked him to make the purchase for her while she stayed in the car. ??

jmo

If a carjacker went in and used his victim's card to buy convenience store food while she was still in the trunk of the car my mind will be blown. Although we've seen criminals do a lot of stupid things...

Now I really want to know who used the card earlier in the day.

 

[Inthedetails]

I totally think foul play here. But I've been fooled before. Prayers for her family.


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Anything is possible, but I'm still thinking suicide.

So the story is this guy is attacks Rita at a rest stop in the middle of the day. How did he get there? On foot?

And then the carjacker, who mysteriously appeared at a reststop without a car then leaves the stolen car at a remote place outside of Seattle and walks away? The police arrived five minutes after the gunshots. Where did the guy go? Doesn't seem very convenient for him.

And what was the motivation to shoot her? He didn't take her purse, ipad, or gun - just opened the trunk and shot her without the cop hearing any sounds other than gunshots when he was on the phone?

Just the beginning and the ending of the story have unbelievable aspects.

And then there is the middle. The guy is in a stolen car with a woman in the truck with a phone. Even if he didn't know she had a phone, wasn't he worried someone would wonder where she is and call the police? The police then would be looking for the car. He doesn't seem concerned that he could be pulled over at any time but kept the car for hours and hours, traveling on major highways and stopping at a store that had cameras and used her card?

It's possible it's a true story.....but.....I'm thinking it's not true.

jmopinion, subject to change.

 

[blue22]

I don't see her wanting to implicate an innocent man of kidnapping and murder. Her story to her family would be enough in my opinion if she were trying to cover her suicide. She had $50 in cash she could have used for food either with her making the purchase or the man. No need to use the card.

This is completely JMO, but I'm not convinced suicide was originally part of the plan. I am leaning in the direction that she said someone took her and it spiraled and perhaps she thought she couldn't come back from that. People faking an abduction or taking off happens, most of us have followed stories here. If she did intend from the beginning to commit suicide, well...things people do rarely make sense when they are in that kind of space.

As for the card, I do think she would need that to be used instead of the cash. There is no paper trail with cash, and no "proof" this person was using anything belonging to her.

 

[Inthedetails]

Okay, I came up with one scenario that might work to make this story true.

What if the attacker thought he killed Rita when he hit her over the head and he assumed she was dead in the trunk all day. When he checked that night - maybe he heard her phone ring when the cops called her - she wasn't dead, so he shot her.

I don't think this is what happened, but it's an idea.

jmo

 

[Gardener1850]

Do you mean, what's the point of him using her card if he's innocent? My guess would be so she could create a record of someone using her card to "prove" her story. IDK if that is what happened, but that could be the point of an innocent man using her card.

Perhaps she offered to buy him and his family a meal. Perhaps she asked him to make the purchase for her while she stayed in the car. ??

jmo

Here's where the "suicide disguised as murder" theory falls apart for me: IF Rita was aware enough that LE would check surveillance video, then she would likely also be aware of other forms of evidence that had to fit her story--like fingerprints, gunshot residue, the wound to her head, etc. We have almost zero info about the forensics of this case so far. What would make someone think they could fool police by sending in an innocent decoy to use her card but NOT consider other details that had to look right? A lot of people have called into doubt whether a criminal would leave the car the way it was found--with purse and Ipad still in it. Few have questioned if a person trying to stage a murder to look like suicide would leave the car that way. If I were staging such a scene I would toss my purse by the side of the road or in a lake somewhere for one thing*.

*Disclaimer: I don't ever plan on doing such a thing since I have watched enough criminal investigations to know it would be impossible to fake things convincingly enough.

 

[bluesneakers]

Anything is possible, but I'm still thinking suicide.

So the story is this guy is attacks Rita at a rest stop in the middle of the day. How did he get there? On foot?

And then the carjacker, who mysteriously appeared at a reststop without a car then leaves the stolen car at a remote place outside of Seattle and walks away? The police arrived five minutes after the gunshots. Where did the guy go? Doesn't seem very convenient for him.

And what was the motivation to shoot her? He didn't take her purse, ipad, or gun - just opened the trunk and shot her without the cop hearing any sounds other than gunshots when he was on the phone?

Just the beginning and the ending of the story have unbelievable aspects.

And then there is the middle. The guy is in a stolen car with a woman in the truck with a phone. Even if he didn't know she had a phone, wasn't he worried someone would wonder where she is and call the police? The police then would be looking for the car. He doesn't seem concerned that he could be pulled over at any time but kept the car for hours and hours, traveling on major highways and stopping at a store that had cameras and used her card?

It's possible it's a true story.....but.....I'm thinking it's not true.

jmopinion, subject to change.

How would he have known exactly where and when to stop, shoot her and make his escape?

 

[jjenny]

Maybe she gave the description of the person who used her card. As in - he used her card and when she called her husband that's the description she gave. If someone else had used her card she would have given her husband that description.

According the the timeline with the DM's article the card was used at 9:55 and she called her husband at 10:25.

How would she know who used her card?

 

[jjenny]

Here's where the "suicide disguised as murder" theory falls apart for me: IF Rita was aware enough that LE would check surveillance video, then she would likely also be aware of other forms of evidence that had to fit her story--like fingerprints, gunshot residue, the wound to her head, etc. We have almost zero info about the forensics of this case so far. What would make someone think they could fool police by sending in an innocent decoy to use her card but NOT consider other details that had to look right? A lot of people have called into doubt whether a criminal would leave the car the way it was found--with purse and Ipad still in it. Few have questioned if a person trying to stage a murder to look like suicide would leave the car that way. If I were staging such a scene I would toss my purse by the side of the road or in a lake somewhere for one thing*.

*Disclaimer: I don't ever plan on doing such a thing since I have watched enough criminal investigations to know it would be impossible to fake things convincingly enough.

By the same token, why would somebody kidnap her, drive her in the trunk of the car for hours, not even take her cash, and then kill her? It would be a very unusual crime to say the least.

 

[bluesneakers]

How would she know who used her card?

She gave it to him or asked him to use it for her.

 

[jjenny]

It's possible if he tried to spend more than $25 he would need her pin number. Some credit card/debit cards allow small purchases without a pin.

One doesn't need a pin number with a credit card.

 

[McFluffy]

It's possible if he tried to spend more than $25 he would need her pin number. Some credit card/debit cards allow small purchases without a pin.

yes, at most big gas stations in the modwest, you can purchse up to $25 on your card in the store area without your PIN

 

[blue22]

Here's where the "suicide disguised as murder" theory falls apart for me: IF Rita was aware enough that LE would check surveillance video, then she would likely also be aware of other forms of evidence that had to fit her story--like fingerprints, gunshot residue, the wound to her head, etc. We have almost zero info about the forensics of this case so far. What would make someone think they could fool police by sending in an innocent decoy to use her card but NOT consider other details that had to look right? A lot of people have called into doubt whether a criminal would leave the car the way it was found--with purse and Ipad still in it. Few have questioned if a person trying to stage a murder to look like suicide would leave the car that way. If I were staging such a scene I would toss my purse by the side of the road or in a lake somewhere for one thing*.

*Disclaimer: I don't ever plan on doing such a thing since I have watched enough criminal investigations to know it would be impossible to fake things convincingly enough.

That's assuming she really thought it through. If she was in such a dark mental place, that she really did this...I'm not sure she would have space for that logic. It seems to me, her thoughts were to create a suspect and the rest was a complete impulsive mess. JMO