Ahead of his trial on sex abuse charges, Bill Rausch has taken to social media again, promoting an interview with Kate Markopoulos (Maura Murray’s friend from UMass) and trolling people on Reddit. As he continues to grow louder, his victims remain quiet, waiting for the courts. It’s important to know what has already been said in open court. Here was what his last victim said in court in November, when seeking a protection order.
“In 2017, he hit me across the face and chipped my tooth. I believe with one of the rings he was wearing.”
“There would be welts on my backside. From hitting.”
“There were a couple times he would choke me and call me Maura. Maura Murray is his former ex-girlfriend, she went missing in 2004 and has never been found.”
“He had always said he wasn’t involved [in Maura’s disappearance] so I believed that, but then those sort of things were alarming as to why, you know, he would bring it up… that he was referencing her in those moments of violence.”
Court: “Was he saying anything else in those moments of violence?”
Victim: “You’re a bitch, you’re a whore, you’re a cunt.”
“I got calls and voicemails from him from an unknown number that I believe must have been his desk phone in Somalia.”
“After he made entry into my apartment, I was very frightened. I was physically shaking, my heart was pounding. I called the domestic violence hotline because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do at that point.”
Reading from a letter Bill sent her: “I went from thinking I would ask you to marry me to being dumped via Watsapp. I don’t understand why you quit something so special. I’d equally do anything to have you back although I’m not crazy enough to think that’s even possible given your ability to ignore me when I’ve needed and wanted you most.”
When asked why she contacted James Renner: “I wanted him to know that I was being stalked because I thought I was going to go missing and he, I wanted somebody else to know.”
One particularly disturbing detail was how he began to exert influence on this woman’s finances. In Bill’s words: “We came up with goals. I put 10. And I listed out five I thought were good for her. And I said, you do the next five. And then we worked on a budget. You know how financial empowerment is. Especially for people who haven’t had it in the past. It’s exciting to see them become financially empowered.”
Later, the victim mentions texting Erinn Larkin for help and advice: “I don’t know what’s happening but I feel very unsafe.” Instead, Erinn supported Bill in court.
From the Judge’s closing remarks. “I don’t view this as a close case. I don’t think this is a close case in any way. I do find… that there’s good cause to believe that the respondent committed the crime of stalking.”
“It’s beyond obvious in these circumstances that that kind of behavior would cause a reasonable person to be emotionally upset, at a minimum, and almost certainly afraid as well.”
“You know, it’s interesting. We all hear a lot about narcissism these days, but this may be another example of it.”
“He put his own interests so far before hers that it’s hard to accept these protestations of love and innocence.”
He ordered Bill to take 22 domestic violence classes. “I think he needs it. His lack of awareness is, to me, striking. I think the most important thing for Mr. Rausch to learn is for him to start focusing on other people rather than just on himself.”
I knew about the allegations about Rausch from women who had worked with him at his previous job, but I took a break from social media and wasn’t aware about a girlfriend bringing stalking charges against him. This is very serious and gives a glimpse of a very frightening side to Rausch. I need to catch up on details.
Bill’s pinned Tweet is a photo of Maura with Bill standing on one side of her and Fred on the other side. I can’t help but see a woman trapped by her abusers. I think it’s unlikely that either one of them had anything to do with her disappearance but I do think she had a reason to run.
Bill Rausch was almost completely silent on the Maura Murray case for 15 years.
All of a sudden – after the abuse case against him – he’s all over Reddit, posting left, right and centre about it. It has a distinct air of PR about it.
Exactly. Always the big general statements of positivity, never an answer to the simplest and most obvious probative questions on the substance of the case. If he wants to tell people to go blow, fine. But don’t act like the problem is with the people asking.