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

[Canadian4]

I guess an autopsy would find an injury to the back of her head?

 

[Gardener1850]

Tillicum said she believes that that gun ejects casings to the right....if so, and someone shot her, it seems like the casings would not have been in the trunk......all depends on trajectory, I guess. JMO

Any insight on why one casing would end up by her right arm and the other by her left arm? Would it be possible to hold the gun in such a way that the casings coming out the right side bounced off the roof of the trunk? (assuming the trunk was closed) I'm trying to picture how she would have to be positioned in the trunk for that to happen.

 

[cady]

No idea of her position....I picture her on her side, but no proof of that, just theatre of the mind! If right handed, she would be on her left side originally...but who knows...JMO

 

[Tillicum]

Any insight on why one casing would end up by her right arm and the other by her left arm? Would it be possible to hold the gun in such a way that the casings coming out the right side bounced off the roof of the trunk? (assuming the trunk was closed) I'm trying to picture how she would have to be positioned in the trunk for that to happen.

I'm so confused by everything we've read I hate to suggest anything. For all we know one of the casings could've been there for months. We don't know which end of the trunk her head was at. We don't know if she was facing up or down or left or right.

 

[blue22]

I guess an autopsy would find an injury to the back of her head?

If she was struck, yes. If there is an injury, I imagine they are trying to figure out if it was self inflicted, or by another person.

 

[cady]

I'm so confused by everything we've read I hate to suggest anything. For all we know one of the casings could've been there for months. We don't know which end of the trunk her head was at. We don't know if she was facing up or down or left or right.

Yeah.....GRRRR. A shooter could have collected the casings and thrown them in the trunk with the gun, too. We have no good info. JMO

 

[SpanishInquisition]

I guess an autopsy would find an injury to the back of her head?

One of my thoughts has been that the blood by the car was from a self-induced injury. If she was trying to stage the scene, she might not have wanted to self-injure herself until the end.

 

[Inthedetails]

I'm so confused by everything we've read I hate to suggest anything. For all we know one of the casings could've been there for months. We don't know which end of the trunk her head was at. We don't know if she was facing up or down or left or right.

The LE officer stated he heard two shots while on the phone.

 

[TTF14]

If she was struck, yes. If there is an injury, I imagine they are trying to figure out if it was self inflicted, or by another person.

I can't imagine a person thinking to make sure they had a head wound to cover up a suicide, but not thinking to stage any kind of theft of money or property.

But, I also can't imagine a kidnapper not taking any of her belongings, either.

There HAS to be some video of that car somewhere that will show who was behind the wheel. It was driving for quite a long time that day.

 

[Gardener1850]

Yeah.....GRRRR. A shooter could have collected the casings and thrown them in the trunk with the gun, too. We have no good info. JMO

We can only HOPE he was dumb enough to leave his fingerprints somewhere, if there was someone else involved. I don't think he would have had time to find shell casing in the dark though unless Rita was killed before the call where the gunshots were heard. He could have killed her prior to driving to the truck depot and then answered the phone and fired a gun to make it seem like she was shot then. I wonder how many rounds were still in the clip? We have only heard about 2 spent casings and one round still in the chamber. So that leaves 4 in the magazine IF it wasn't fired someplace else (assuming she had standard 7 bullet magazine and no extender). .

 

[Tillicum]

The LE officer stated he heard two shots while on the phone.

I thought they just said "shots", did they give the number? What if she was trying to get away when the trunk was opened and the first shot missed but the second shot didn't and she fell back down in the trunk?

 

[TTF14]

We can only HOPE he was dumb enough to leave his fingerprints somewhere, if there was someone else involved. I don't think he would have had time to find shell casing in the dark though unless Rita was killed before the call where the gunshots were heard. He could have killed her prior to driving to the truck depot and then answered the phone and fired a gun to make it seem like she was shot then. I wonder how many rounds were still in the clip? We have only heard about 2 spent casings and one round still in the chamber. So that leaves 4 in the magazine IF it wasn't fired someplace else (assuming she had standard 7 bullet magazine and no extender). .

BBM. What could possibly be the motive for that, though?

I don't know if this is a suicide or murder (although I THINK suicide at this point), but one theory I cannot get behind at all is a murder purposefully staged to look like a suicide.

 

[Gardener1850]

The LE officer stated he heard two shots while on the phone.

I need to go back and re-read but did it actually say "two". I thought it just said "shots" plural and we have come up with it being at least 2 because there were 2 casings found in the trunk.

 

[blue22]

I can't imagine a person thinking to make sure they had a head wound to cover up a suicide, but not thinking to stage any kind of theft of money or property.

But, I also can't imagine a kidnapper not taking any of her belongings, either.

There HAS to be some video of that car somewhere that will show who was behind the wheel. It was driving for quite a long time that day.

That's what is so confounding. NEITHER scenario makes any sense to me. I would think there is footage, or maybe even reliable witnesses somewhere a long the way. I hope so, for the sake of the investigation.

 

[Gardener1850]

BBM. What could possibly be the motive for that, though?

I don't know if this is a suicide or murder (although I THINK suicide at this point), but one theory I cannot get behind at all is a murder purposefully staged to look like a suicide.

I can't really figure out anyone's motive for anything in this story no matter how it is told--as murder without robbery OR as suicide staged to look like a kidnapping. The only thing I can think of for this scenario is if it was PERSONAL somehow and the perp wanted the cops to get there and find the body at that time and that place.

 

[cady]

Was the debit or credit card still with her possessions ? jmo

 

[Tillicum]

IMO this is either suicide or someone wanted Rita out of the way. I can't see this being random.

 

[Gardener1850]

Was the debit or credit card still with her possessions ? jmo

It hasn't been mentioned whether it was or not.

 

[TTF14]

Was the debit or credit card still with her possessions ? jmo

We don't know, but as someone has already pointed out, if it is in her wallet, it's highly unlikely a kidnapper/robber would return her card to her wallet after using it. Makes zero sense unless we have an anal retentive neat freak criminal on our hands.

 

[blue22]

I can't really figure out anyone's motive for anything in this story no matter how it is told--as murder without robbery OR as suicide staged to look like a kidnapping. The only thing I can think of for this scenario is if it was PERSONAL somehow and the perp wanted the cops to get there and find the body at that time and that place.

I agree. Whether it was suicide or murder...it was deeply personal and complicated.

IMO, of course.