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

[Gardener1850]

Here are more details about what time she called family and also says she kept the gun in her car: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-woman-phoned-her-family-but-it-was-too-late/

On Tuesday, she had traveled about 100 miles south to Helena to visit family members.

On the way back to Great Falls, she filled her car with gas, then stopped at a rest area south of Craig, about 50 miles from her house, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton told the Great Falls Tribune. Maze typically kept a gun in the car for safety.

Her family heard from her just before 11:30 a.m., Dutton told the Tribune. Nothing seemed amiss during that call; but then Maze went silent for hours, Dutton said.

She was reported missing about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

About two hours later, Rita Maze called again.

“I told her that I loved her, and my dad told her that he loved her — and she said that she loved us,” Rochelle Maze told NBC affiliate KREM.

“And then the phone shut off.”

It sounds as if she only made one 10 minute call while being abducted at about 10:30 PM.

 

[bluesneakers]

I'm sure they thought he was her kidnapper, but he was arrested yesterday evening.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_db966b51-0c8a-549c-9a46-978cd37c0c4c.html

Looking on google maps, the rest stop was just a pull out alongside the highway and clearly visible from the highway in both directions, not remote at all.

It happened in 2015.

 

[Inthedetails]

I'm sure they thought he was her kidnapper, but he was arrested yesterday evening.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_db966b51-0c8a-549c-9a46-978cd37c0c4c.html

Looking on google maps, the rest stop was just a pull out alongside the highway and clearly visible from the highway in both directions, not remote at all.

Okay, I'm confused. Is the criminal on the run a suspect in Rita's case or not?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

This report from CNN makes it sound as though she made only one call from the boot of the car:

As her kidnapper drove toward Washington state, Montana resident Rita Maze called her husband from the trunk of her car, where her captor locked her, authorities say.

During the phone call Tuesday night, Maze said her abductor ambushed her at a rest stop that afternoon on her way home to Great Falls, CNN affiliate KXLY reported.

She talked to her husband and police officers briefly as authorities tracked her phone using signals from cell towers.

Shortly after midnight early Wednesday, about two hours after her call, police found her body in her black Pontiac Grand Prix in Spokane, Washington -- about 350 miles away from her hometown.

BBM

[video=cnn;us/2016/09/08/montana-woman-abducted-calls-husband-from-trunk-pkg.kxly]http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/08/us/montana-abducted-woman-calls-husband/index.html[/video]

It seems strange that although she clearly had her phone with her throughout she did not apparently attempt to call anyone until around 11 hours after she had been kidnapped. Unless of course she'd made earlier efforts which did not get through because of signal blackspots.

Could her attacker have locked the boot/trunk from the outside in such a way as to override any release handle from inside?

 

[epiphany]

Yes, this changes everything.

jmo

IF so, what a freak unexpected horrific encounter!

 

[Gardener1850]

It happened in 2015.

Wow, so exactly a year ago. If nothing else this shows there is a pattern of that happening in the area.

 

[Inthedetails]

IF so, what a freak unexpected horrific encounter!

Yet, the unexpected encounter with a murderer on the run makes more sense to me than a random carjacker at a rest stop.

Not sure what to believe! I hope LE announces something soon.

And sincere condolences to the family. It's awful to lose a loved one, and it is especially painful when it's because of violence. My heart goes out to them.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

though being caught for carjacking isn't as bad as being caught for murder.

Especially in a federal murder case in which the death penalty will almost certainly be on the table.

 

[epiphany]

Perp could have been on the run, on the move, from neighboring states or areas prior to this abduction and carjacking.

 

[Gardener1850]

Okay, I'm confused. Is the criminal on the run a suspect in Rita's case or not?

Yes, he is still on the run. The person arrested story was from last year but many of us (me included) misread because it happened the same days last year.

 

[Satchie]

It happened in 2015.

Yes! My mistake. But I do think it was that kind of scenario.

 

[bluesneakers]

Okay, I'm confused. Is the criminal on the run a suspect in Rita's case or not?

No. He was arrested in 2015. I found it while searching for carjacking and murder in Montana. I thought it was interesting since the carjacking took place while he was on the run and wanted for murder - I hadn't considered that possibility in Rita's case. But if there's already a POI maybe it's because they were already looking for someone? I don't know about that part, just maybe the person at the rest stop was wanted or a fugitive or something. He could have waited there for a car and opportunity.

 

[TTF14]

This report from CNN makes it sound as though she made only one call from the boot of the car:



BBM

[video=cnn;us/2016/09/08/montana-woman-abducted-calls-husband-from-trunk-pkg.kxly]http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/08/us/montana-abducted-woman-calls-husband/index.html[/video]

It seems strange that although she clearly had her phone with her throughout she did not apparently attempt to call anyone until around 11 hours after she had been kidnapped. Unless of course she'd made earlier efforts which did not get through because of signal blackspots.

Could her attacker have locked the boot/trunk from the outside in such a way as to override any release handle from inside?

Also, from this article: http://www.krem.com/news/local/spok...-contacted-her-family-one-last-time/315275049 It's unclear to me if the daughter actually heard her mother's voice, or if she was just in the room. It is also unclear to me if the police actually talked to her. Articles say they did, but I have not seen a direct quote from LE saying they did. If she did not actually talk to her mother, but only heard about what was being said on the other end, and LE did not talk to her, this changes things for me. Changes things more in the direction of an elaborately planned hit, or just a plain old acquaintance murder.

ETA: Also, I assume the autopsy will show time of death.

 

[Gardener1850]

This report from CNN makes it sound as though she made only one call from the boot of the car:



BBM

[video=cnn;us/2016/09/08/montana-woman-abducted-calls-husband-from-trunk-pkg.kxly]http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/08/us/montana-abducted-woman-calls-husband/index.html[/video]

It seems strange that although she clearly had her phone with her throughout she did not apparently attempt to call anyone until around 11 hours after she had been kidnapped. Unless of course she'd made earlier efforts which did not get through because of signal blackspots.

Could her attacker have locked the boot/trunk from the outside in such a way as to override any release handle from inside?

Besides the signal dropping issues, she might have been in and out of consciousness and never recovered enough to call again.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Looking on google maps, the rest stop was just a pull out alongside the highway and clearly visible from the highway in both directions, not remote at all.

Not exactly remote, but depending on the traffic at the time it could have been quiet enough for there to be no passing drivers to see anything. I suspect it would only take a minute or two for a large man (per her description) to overpower her and put her in the trunk, and then there would only be a man standing by a car so nothing that looked out of the ordinary.

 

[epiphany]

I wonder if he had been dropped off at the rest stop by hitching a ride, but did not feel he could overpower that driver as he could in Rita's situation

 

[MelmothTheLost]

ETA: Also, I assume the autopsy will show time of death.

Timing wise it may not tell us much more than we already know. She was alive around 10pm and found dead shortly after midnight. An autopsy carried out today would probably not be able to narrow the TOD any more than the existing 2 hour window.

 

[Inthedetails]

Not exactly remote, but depending on the traffic at the time it could have been quiet enough for there to be no passing drivers to see anything. I suspect it would only take a minute or two for a large man (per her description) to overpower her and put her in the trunk, and then there would only be a man standing by a car so nothing that looked out of the ordinary.

The murder suspect on the run is a big man, capable of putting her in the trunk.

I think this is a very strong possibility that she encountered this barefoot perp on the run.

jmo

 

[Satchie]

Not exactly remote, but depending on the traffic at the time it could have been quiet enough for there to be no passing drivers to see anything. I suspect it would only take a minute or two for a large man (per her description) to overpower her and put her in the trunk, and then there would only be a man standing by a car so nothing that looked out of the ordinary.

Yes, I agree. I meant not remote in the sense of a scary place to pull over during a morning drive.

 

[cvaldez1975]

I think she may have been unconscious for part of that time.

Thinking about this further.

According to this route planner:

http://www.theaa.com/route