VT VT - Roberta Martin, 82, neigh went to check on her and didn't find her at home, suspicious, Enosburgh, Franklin County, 16 Jul 2024

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I think we'll hear about murder charges as soon as tomorrow. We know they executed a search warrant on that nearby house, and Roberta being found away from her home indicates to me that someone was trying to put distance between themselves and the crime. There's no reason for a random perpetrator to remove her from the scene, and every reason for someone who knew her to do that. That's also why someone known to her would kill her in the first place, especially if they were stealing from her.

I think they know who did this.
 
I suppose we’ll hear something once the ME formally confirms the cause and manner of death. While we wait, a couple of scenarios run through my mind:
Allegedly there were signs of a break in and some duct tape was found in and around RM’s house. I wonder if RM awakened to someone breaking in and came face to face with the perpetrator. If they tied her up using the tape, perhaps she broke loose and ran outside to flee them and became confused/lost in the dark. She may even have had a heart attack.
If she knew the person, she may have run to the woods to hide.
If it was a neighbor who was involved and knew that RM had seen them, she may have been killed so she couldn’t report him to the police.
I hope whatever happened, that RM did not suffer. RIP
 
swanniee11 said:
Why attack her to begin with? If he/she were going to take stuff then also take her out, could be a handful. Are we talking more than 1 person? Who's carrying what? I can't imagine carrying out a TV or something. This is so upsetting. IMO
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RM seemed fine during her 11:30 pm phone call. She was not answering her phone by the next morning. So, presuming the incident occurred sometime in the middle of the night, RM may have been awakened by the perpetrator(s).
I have not seen it confirmed that anything was taken from the home. Was this some sick sexual pervert? (Although there are some sexual predators who prey on the elderly, it would be very unusual for them to take the victim from the home.) Or, there was never any intention to injure or take RM from her home, but she confronted the person breaking in and ran from the house or she recognized the individual so she was taken from the house and killed.
 
OldCop said:
RM seemed fine during her 11:30 pm phone call. She was not answering her phone by the next morning. So, presuming the incident occurred sometime in the middle of the night, RM may have been awakened by the perpetrator(s).
I have not seen it confirmed that anything was taken from the home. Was this some sick sexual pervert? (Although there are some sexual predators who prey on the elderly, it would be very unusual for them to take the victim from the home.) Or, there was never any intention to injure or take RM from her home, but she confronted the person breaking in and ran from the house or she recognized the individual so she was taken from the house and killed.
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My hunch is that the body was moved because the perp didn't want to admit to him/herself (or face the public scorn) how an awful, horrible act it was to kill a little old lady at home alone. A hardened criminal wouldn't care or want to put the time and physical effort into moving a body - why bother moving the body when it was obvious to LE when they entered the house that something suspicious happened? It was an effort to hide the heinousness of the crime more than it was to hide crime itself.

I think the perp is someone who has some shame and/or pride involved, imo. That could be someone Roberta knew, or it could be someone who isn't comfortable being a criminal and can't face what s/he did, or someone who is protecting his/her reputation locally.

Complete speculation on my part, just guessing.

jmopinion at the moment
 
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Something I noted from where the crime scene investigation vehicles were parked on Sunday, per the video in this article: Police find human remains believed to be that of missing Franklin County, VT woman

It seems that she may have been found in the woods right around this area: 44°50'53.3"N 72°44'28.9"W

Notably, it’s very close to a popular campground which also happens to sit on a popular network of ATV trails that are maintained by local clubs. From the looks of it, the neighbor seems to be big into the sport, news videos from his property showed a few ATVs.

It looks like this particular pinpoint on Sand Hill road has access to a few different trails leading into the woods, and is also particularly private. There aren’t any homes within eyesight or ear shot.
 
Inthedetails said:
My hunch is that the body was moved because the perp didn't want to admit to him/herself (or face the public scorn) how an awful, horrible act it was to kill a little old lady at home alone. A hardened criminal wouldn't care or want to put the time and physical effort into moving a body - why bother moving the body when it was obvious to LE when they entered the house that something suspicious happened? It was an effort to hide the heinousness of the crime more than it was to hide crime itself.

I think the perp is someone who has some shame and/or pride involved, imo. That could be someone Roberta knew, or it could be someone who isn't comfortable being a criminal and can't face what s/he did, or someone who is protecting his/her reputation locally.

Complete speculation on my part, just guessing.

jmopinion at the moment
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Good thoughts. Something I’m thinking about is whether an “accident” occurred, perhaps someone familiar broke in to take money and expected the home to be empty, and in a panic things escalated and he/she felt they needed to remove her to cover it up. Perhaps she even had a heart attack.

When I think about it, some of the details almost make it feel excessively staged to look like a kidnapping? AC left outside on the deck, door wide open, duct tape left behind. Almost reminds me of a poorly thought out scheme a la the movie Fargo. The home is fairly private, quiet road and far away from neighbors. They had ample time to clean up the scene presumably. I get not closing the door is to prevent more prints, but they left also left duct tape and the whole ac behind. One would think a criminal would want to leave as a few clues as possible and also buy themselves as much time as they can. Just putting back the ac and closing the door could have given them an extra day.

Seems they wanted it to be immediately obvious that something was wrong. No ransom request, nothing of value taken. She wasn’t taken to a very remote location for more nefarious acts, she was found somewhere fairly public, near trails and a popular campground. Presumably all happened very quickly. Very odd, just seems like some other criminal act went wrong and escalated.
 
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duckcat said:
Something I noted from where the crime scene investigation vehicles were parked on Sunday, per the video in this article: Police find human remains believed to be that of missing Franklin County, VT woman

It seems that she may have been found in the woods right around this area: 44°50'53.3"N 72°44'28.9"W

Notably, it’s very close to a popular campground which also happens to sit on a popular network of ATV trails that are maintained by local clubs. From the looks of it, the neighbor seems to be big into the sport, news videos from his property showed a few ATVs.

It looks like this particular pinpoint on Sand Hill road has access to a few different trails leading into the woods, and is also particularly private. There aren’t any homes within eyesight or ear shot.
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Good job identifying the location of the emergency vehicles.

I noticed there is also a significant drop-off on the north side of the road and a body dumped there would be relatively well-hidden for a little while.

Originally when I heard that her body was found close to her house, I pictured it as being a bit closer and had visions of Roberta 'escaping' and running away into the dark. But this theory isn't at all likely based on where her body was found. These seems more like a place where her body was 'dumped' by the killer.

So why hide the body even though it was clear a crime had been committed? I presume it was to hide specific physical evidence that might help identify the perpetrator. e.g. possible DNA evidence, physical evidence of the manner of death, duct tape, etc.
 
Snoopster said:
Good job identifying the location of the emergency vehicles.

I noticed there is also a significant drop-off on the north side of the road and a body dumped there would be relatively well-hidden for a little while.

Originally when I heard that her body was found close to her house, I pictured it as being a bit closer and had visions of Roberta 'escaping' and running away into the dark. But this theory isn't at all likely based on where her body was found. These seems more like a place where her body was 'dumped' by the killer.

So why hide the body even though it was clear a crime had been committed? I presume it was to hide specific physical evidence that might help identify the perpetrator. e.g. possible DNA evidence, physical evidence of the manner of death, duct tape, etc.
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Yes, I agree. This particular location may also provide more “reasonable doubt” for a perp. It’s near a popular network of atv trails, so anyone using the trails in the past week could be questioned. It’s near a campground with a revolving door of visitors.

The ATV trail network seems significant to me, seems like a very discrete and easy way to move someone, especially at night. Hidden, and quiet, designed to be far away from homes because of the noise. At the same time, campers/joggers/walkers hearing ATVs in the distance would be insignificant to them.

Tracks would be almost impossible to follow or use as evidence, at this point in the season the whole area is covered in different tire tracks and mud. From Tuesday night to Sunday morning, 100s of different vehicles were probably on the trails.
 
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