On Sunday, August 15, 2021 at 4:43 p.m., I received the following message from the email fsm.sb@protonmail.com:
Dear James,
I’ve written to you a few times, you have never responded.
I have told you I found Maura some years ago (no longer her name), after making sure it was her, we talked for a while, I’ve never bothered her again since in person. I have sent a few emails through our proton accounts. Her biggest wish is to be left alone. She made mistakes, some serious, and she ran. Maura speaks fluent French, she still drinks cherry coke though a red licorice straw.
[Paragraph concerning specific motive removed]
Let sleeping dogs lie James, you won’t find her. It took me 5 years of searching to track her down, looking in the places you ignored.
M
At first, I believed this was certainly a troll, out to cause more confusion and chaos. Over the last year, a troll using a protonmail account has been harassing those close to Maura Murray’s case, going so far as to send pictures of Maggie Freleng with her head decapitated and threatening the life of prosecutor Jeffery Strelzin.
If this is real, give me some piece I can verify. Or a photo or something. Otherwise, I have to assume this is a troll, I wrote back. I received a reply quickly:
The night Maura vanished, there was a very short call, this was a mistake, the person calling was supposed to call the other number, he came up from Boston using 93, called from near Concord; The reason people don’t get which way she went is they presume she went towards the bus drivers house, the car that picked her up, was coming from the other direction on 112, they went back the way Maura came, then headed off onto the main highway 91 (via 302) North. Everyone presumes she went in the direction her car was pointing. She didn’t. She ran a very short way towards the bus drivers house because the red suv stopped short of her car. That’s it!!
I’m kinda’ pleased you think this is a troll. I also believe that if something doesn’t fit into your way of thinking, you discount it. You’re your own worst enemy.
M
I replied: You still haven’t given me anything that can’t be found in the papers online. Give me one thing that’s not known.
The next message contained a narrative about how Maura disappeared and who helped her. The story that developed began with the claim that Maura had been driving her car during a break from work Thursday night and hit Petrit Vasi while on the phone with someone. That person told her to keep driving. When they learned Vasi was in a coma, a conspiracy began to take the car to New Hampshire and stage a small accident so that the car could be fixed up there, away from UMass police looking for a vehicle with front-end damage.
Still, there was nothing yet that could not be found online. So I kept pushing for more, specific info that only Maura might know.
What did Sharon rausch mean when she said “Joseph” was comforted by Harry on the other side of shredded navy? I asked.
This was a reference to a strange riddle that Sharon Rausch once put in an article when asked what she’d say to Maura if she were still alive: “PS – Thought that you would want to know: ‘Joseph’ is comforted with ‘Harry’ on the opposite side of shredded navy – I know you get it :-)” Joseph, we later learned, was a stuffed monkey that Maura had received as a gift.
“M” replied: Because they slept in blue tissue paper, side by side. Joseph in that text wasn’t the pet, it was Bill, Harry was comforting Bill.. that’s all you’re getting.. But usually, Joseph, and Harry slept side by side in blue tissue paper, it was shredded by the monkey’s after being put in large pieces. I will say one more thing; although the monkey’s weren’t real, they were. It was role play of them having babies together; Joseph was Bill’s boy, and Bill in a way to Maura, and him.. It’s complicated.
I kept pushing for more info. M then told a story about something that allegedly happened to Bill Rausch in 2002 that only family would know.
By this time, it became apparent to me that the person using the email account was trying to suggest that they were, in fact, Maura Murray, herself. And I began sharing the emails with law enforcement in New Hampshire.
I also wonder about that call to the child counselor in Weymouth, I wrote. In the days leading up to her disappearance, Maura placed a call to the home of a woman who investigated child abuse in Massachusetts.
M replied: You must be confused, it was Maryland the original call was made to. the rest I don’t want to talk about, you know why.
Me: What’s in Maryland?
M: It doesn’t matter, you’ve obviously only got some if any of the story. I have a question for you; are you in love with Maura? Why won’t you let her go?
Me: I feel a responsibility to cover the stories of the other victims that came out of this story. The people bill attacked. The people Wahl threatened. The people Erinn victimized. If I knew Maura was alive and well I’d take the website down. She wouldn’t get in trouble. And man I’d love to hear her story.
M: The victims that cam out of this story although they have my sympathy, the people involved would’ve found another avenue to perpetrate their wills, and ways on.
Me: Let me get a lawyer to help you.
M: I can’t Mr Renner, I know I won’t be charged for the Vasi thing as the statute of limitations has passed, and I was never a suspect, or charged. What can change my life upside down is having to leave the country I call home now. In April 2024 I have to renew my id; the system has changed somewhat, I won’t be able to fool it anymore, I’m panicking to be honest. People want me found, people don’t want me found, some want me found for their own fame, I just want to be left to enjoy the life I have. Please Mr Renner, stop looking…
Me: I really want to believe. Can you tell me where you stayed the night you disappeared.
M: Newport VT; I want to know what you think of me; do you think I am a sociopath?
Me: If this is Maura I would say no. I think she’s a survivor.
M: I’m not a survivor, I did it with blind luck, and meeting the right people at the right time. The start off money helped me a lot, and bought my new name. The rest is just learning from mistakes, and listening to conversations.
Me: Can you tell me how the vasi thing went down?
M: I went for a break, or more to speak with ***. I was on the cell phone, ****. I had been crying then I wasn’t paying attention, and next thing he’s there. He hit the front of the car, went over the hood, and kind of bounced on it, then as I hit the breaks, he fell to the ground to the right. It was terrifying. **** screamed at me to carry on driving, I was in shock, it took a while for it to sink in. **** ended the call because he didn’t want to be “involved”. That’s it. I sat shaking at work with my thoughts about what had happened. So, I finally broke down, and was taken back to my dorm by my supervisor.
I then asked this person if they could name one of the young men involved in the group sex party that took place at the UMass poolhouse. One of the men there was investigated as a possible suspect for a time. I have never released the names of the men involved. The person responded with the first name of one of the men. A lucky guess? Perhaps.
Me: Would you consider meeting?
M: Sorry, at this time no.. but if you’d asked me a year ago if I’d be talking to the man who believes I’m a sociopath, I’d have said no. So…
The conversation eventually came to an end, after this person said they were told by a friend to end it.
M: All the money in the world couldn’t change my life back to what it was, inside the family I had. The good thing about being where I’ve been for so long is how forward thinking people are/were, bitcoin has been very kind to many of us here, from the beginning. I live close (not literally) to some of the biggest crypto mining organizations in the world. I have all I need. The only worry I have is 2024. I really need to go now Mr Renner; I hope I’ve helped clear your head a little, and solve some of the mysteries that have bothered you for so long. Sorry it couldn’t have been more dramatic.
There is a lot more in these conversation that I am not sharing publicly. They went on at great length about how Maura left and why, including who she was running from. But if they are true, they should remain private. And if this is another hoax, the people involved should not be disparaged.
I’ve heard from New Hampshire prosecutors several times since sharing these emails. They are actively trying to find the sender of these messages. They asked me to hold off on publishing for a couple weeks so that this person was not alerted to what they’re doing behind the scenes. Unfortunately, Julie Murray made it public last Friday.
Looking back through our conversation, I noted that “M” said that she’d written me before and that one other person had found her, already.
“One person did find me back in 2012, he just walked up to me, and said “hello Maura”, we talked for a while, and he promised to leave me be, he was a British guy, ex intelligence or something. He’d been looking for me for only 3 months, told me he tried talking to you but you ignored him in the beginning, so he went it alone. He was a decent guy, and kept his word as far as I know. I did move just in case.”
So I dove back through my old emails. The first thing I found was a message from “M” that came in through my Globaleaks secure tips account. So that part checked out.
Then, I found this email from a Dr. Wayne Miller, from November 13, 2013, which, if all this is true, may be what they were talking about. Dr. Miller is not British, but may have sounded “proper” in person or on the phone:
Attn: James Renner Hope this Web Site still works. I am: National Cold Case Missing Persons (on the internet) I am: also a N.J. Licensed P.I. I have been quietly working on Maura’s case & in fact spoke to a person who said she was Maura in very plain/clear English on 3/11/11. She said she had been a Nursing Student at U of Mass. She quickly caught on that I was perhaps a P.I. on her trail and hung up. I placed my phone call to a Sherbrooke, Canada address (that I have), the phone ws disconnected the next day.
As you may know, there have been sightings of someone who looks like Maura Murray connected to Sherbrooke, Canada, for years. Here’s the thing. That email came in just as I was switching email accounts and I had been organizing messages into different folders. I apparently parked that email in the Maura Murray folder and never replied. So that bit checked out too.
Unfortunately, Dr. Miller died earlier this year.
The protonmail account has since been deleted.
“We are working to identify the source,” says prosecutor Jeffery Strelzin.
Look, I know how this sounds. And I agree, this was most likely a troll. I mean, take a look at all they’ve been up to in the past year.
If this is Maura Murray, I would implore her to make contact through an attorney who can keep your name and location confidential, while still providing proof of life to authorities. Because, whether this is a troll or not, law enforcement is currently doing everything they can to identify the sender. And this time I believe they will.
I wonder if a lot of her answers were written in French first, then translate by some translation site because the English is very off, it seems as if that the person who was emailing did not learn English as a first language.
Could this be someone that has her against her will.
I believe maura is dead. There is definitely a troll or trolls out there. I dont think anyone can go into hiding this long. She s dead. End of story.
The 2024 immigration changes don’t sound like Canada. It sounds like she’s in England instead. If the French speaking part is true then south east is most likely. Fits with the Bitcoin angle too.
Troll
Troll
Troll
jmho
Ok.
So I live in Canada.. And I’m trying to figure out what is happening in 2024 concerning ID’s. Nothing found thus far. Maybe more digital ID’s.!?
But here in Ontatio (and other provinces), you can go up to 10 years without having to renew your Drivers license and health cards. (In person). It needs to be renewed every 5 years, but if you got your picture taken 5 years prior, you can renew online and no new picture taken. But at the 2nd renew, it needs to be done in person.
MM could have got good ID in 2004 through a special “underground service” Weather it be a womans group or even the black market (lots of biker gangs in Quebec, Ontatio etc) that deal in these exact things.
So continuing… 2004 to 2014 (10 year gap) Renew or new ID in 2014 to 2024 — time to renew and do the whole thing over again. 20th anniversary!
And just a quick reminder… Quebec is not the only French speaking place in eastern Canada. Ontario the next biggest. (Places like Ottawa, Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Belleville) all have a large amount of French speaking. (And lots of cash jobs along the 401) Also the maritimes. New Brunswick!! NS!
Canada is very welcoming. People, for the most part.. Will open their homes for someone who needs help. Especially a woman running from something.
Another place(s) that would be very easy for her to go.. Is first nation reserves. They would sympathize with a woman who was on the run from evil. Big time!! Easy to work cash jobs on the reserves without the government breathing down your back. And the people would be VERY protective of her.
Just throwing some things out there.
I will look more into what is happening in 2024 in terms of ID. If anything. Or it could be as simple as renewal time.
These emails seem quite more than a troll. It feels different imo
Cheers
Also from Ontario. Agree with you. 2024 doesn’t mean much on its own, it’s more dependent on when that specific PRIOR piece of ID had expired. So, for instance, Ontario Driver’s License needs to be renewed every five years. Canadian Passports (regular) span 10 years.
…no one informed this person that there’s something in the air…a virus.
Now, with COVID passports and Canada wanting to integrate these new digital IDs (drivers license, etc)…all legal and vaccinated Canadian residents will possess these in the near future (sooner than 2024). This is very new, um, news–no concrete rollout timeline has been established yet. Anyone can find out CARD expiration dates by simply researching about renewal dates of various issued-ID.
However, with this new integrated vaccine passport, this throws everything I wrote above up in the air. This person is clearly not up to date on what is going on in the world. In Ontario and Quebec, for example, they are not bothering with new photos due to COVID and reusing old photos until further notice. Even insurance plate stickers are not being updated. I would expect much of the same is going on elsewhere in the (developed) world.
Nevertheless, if I was this [Troll]–and was intentionally missing–why divulge so much information and why now? I sure as hell wouldn’t. If I was this [Troll], even with statue limitations, I’d stay hidden. I mean, why risk it? What are the penalties for knowingly wasting police resources all these years? Whoever else knows “M” is alive…they all get implicated too.
Like all the other trolls in the case, it ultimately comes back to the narrative they’re trying to push and intentionally crap all over and derail theories via way too elaborate hoaxes. Trolls trying to derail trolls. I guess this one is pushing the Vasi angle.
Something seems off.
There’s no French spoken in the south east of England. French fits much better with Canada.
I know it’s weir but the 2024 thing about ID make me think about something…
First of all, I’m french so sorry if you are looking about any information on Canada.
In 2014 we had a new law about IDs. Every IDs can be used now for 15 years instead of 10. Maura could have a new ID in 2009 in France.
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F32303
Here is the french government’s website if you need further information
If the writer is indeed Maura (and I hope it is– I want to believe she’s alive and happy), I hope they do contact an attorney and establish proof of life so that people can move on. If there’s no Maura Murray mystery to be solved any longer, the time and resources that have been put into looking for, or figuring out what happened to, her can be reallocated toward looking for someone else.
Apparently human bone fragments have been found near Loon Mt. Certainly a long shot– unclear when more information is coming.
My gut tells me “M” would never refer to you as Mr Renner. What you’ve got here, JR, is more proof “Maura’s people in the know” want ” M ” to stay safe/hidden. And the zillion dollar question is from whom. But its someone with long arms & big teeth. With A LOT of backing.
I always felt MM was still alive somewhere and didn’t want to be found. Ever. The theory that Maura hit Petrit Vasi that night was very possible. Imagine the sheer state of panic for a nursing student after such an incident. Just ditch the car and disappear. Start over somewhere where no one would even think to look. Erase any memory of the life before. In her mind she felt she had too many bad screw-ups already. She didn’t want anyone to ever know she was involved. Too painful.
What if anything does Fred say about this?? He could at least speak to whether it sounds like it could be his daughter, through the writing style. Keep us posted. There isn’t really anything here that isn’t included on the internet, that somebody couldn’t have woven into a story; that being said, it does have a lot of points I hadnt thought of, that might make the events more plausible. Unless the info that you kept private contained something that isn’t common knowledge, but there is no way to know that for us.
I’d love to think my girl Maura is alive somewhere, excited to turn 40, seeing the world and drinking her favorite little weird beverages 😅 but sadly I believe she met her demise that evening, or shortly thereafter. Thanks for your work, Mr. Renner 🙂
Just want to say…..
The cryto angle sounds suspicious, like it’s too modern. BTC launched in 2009. Somebody who was in on it extremely early would have been about 2011 or probably a little later. “She” alludes to knowing people who got her in on it, and now she’s wealthy. What an unbelievable stroke of luck. You disappear in 2004 with no usable identity, little money, no familiar contacts, etc., and somehow end up eluding detection the whole time, obtain fake documents, and stumble into some people who years later got you set for life off of something called cryptocurrency. Too far-fetched.
Let’s just hope the family get some closure. Speculation can cause considerable heartache
I don’t believe Maura is alive, but it is interesting to speculate on the significance of 2024 ID expiry. Canadian passports used to be 5 years in duration, now you can get a 10 year passport. They are indeed pretty secure documents now so let’s assume you have to get one by applying for it with the required info. If you have assumed the identity of a (deceased) Canadian matching your age and gender, gotten that birth certificate, then drivers licence, health card blah blah blah….you have become that person. You can have your picture taken no problem. A smart motivated person could have gone through this “becoming Marie Mareille” process during the five years 2004-2009. The thing is, you didn’t need a passport to cross the Canada-US border until 2009. So lots of Canadians and border-crossing Americans got them then, cause it became a routine document to have, not just for your big Eurotrip or wherever. My whole family got new Cdn passports in 2009. So I got a 5-year passport in 2009, and when renewal time came up in 2014, the 10-yr passport was available. That is why the 2024 date resonates with me, I’ll be renewing then too.
Having a passport as your primary ID is actually a good privacy device, cause although it is numbered and registered, it doesn’t reveal your current address like a drivers licence does. And crossing the border with it is very routine. And … if you have life and family on both sides of the border, (again, speaking from experience) you’re pretty motivated to arrange to do that.
I suspect this timeline is the hint M was implying, but I don’t believe M is for real.
When Abbie Hoffman was a fugitive for eight years, he lived in upstate New York, but he liked to go to Canada frequently—in his new identity as Barry Freed, he claimed he crossed the border a hundred times, never got caught. The main requirement: Chutzpah. (No passport needed then.)
Brilliant. Keep up this important work JR. Thank you.
JR,
I will have to re-read your information on the Vasi accident. Just perusing that information, wasn’t there glass pieces/shards found at that scene? I think all glass on vehicles is tempered or safety with safety being on the windshield and tempered (which breaks in small pieces) everywhere else.
That being said, looking at M’s car, unless she was able to get a glass repair person out to replace side windows or a front windshield (which I don’t think would break in a fashion where shards would fly off), I don’t think her car was in that accident.
Another item I find odd is that the place where “M” and this supposed Boston person met seems a bit odd to me. The sharp turn before “The Moose Rack” area is perfect to stage an accident but close to houses? Were Maura and “Boston” so familiar with that road (Hwy 112) they both new that sharp turn would be their meet place and very few persons would be around at that time of day? With no cell service, they met at the same precise moment? It’s certainly plausible but odd seeing there are other more remote places they could meet out of the way of people being around.
Maybe there is other information you are withholding that would make this “M” actually Maura though. You obviously have more data than I.
Does make for a fascinating entry though. Maybe there is some truth mixed in with speculation?
Cheers.