True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

Author:James Renner [Renner, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250089021
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2016-05-24T07:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-SIX

112dirtbag

On February 8, 2012, the eighth anniversary of Maura’s disappearance, I got a call from one of my Irregulars as I was watching TV with my family. The man’s name was Lance Reenstierna, a videographer from Boston who has his own company called Lucky Quarter Productions. “You gotta see this clip that just went up on YouTube,” he said.

Lance had a Google alert set for any new posts related to Maura Murray. Apparently, someone had used Maura’s name in the metadata of a short video that had been uploaded to YouTube that day from an account named “112dirtbag.” I pulled it up. The video is silent. It’s a single image on slow zoom: a pink ski lift ticket for Bretton Woods Mountain Resort, dated February 11, 2004. The Bretton slopes are north of Haverhill a bit, over by Mount Washington. The ticket is part of an “adult lodging package” purchased two days after Maura’s accident.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I said. Was someone suggesting that Maura had gone skiing? Was this some kind of evidence?

Lance called me again, a few minutes later. His voice was different this time. He sounded frightened. “A new video just went up from the same account,” he said.

I watched it while Lance stayed on the phone with me.

Slow dissolve into the face of an older man peering into the camera. His head is bald on top, the hair cropped short and gray on the sides. Large ears. He wears glasses and the lenses reflect the blue square of a computer screen. The man appears to be missing several teeth. Behind him is a concrete wall, barely lit. He is laughing. A chuckle that becomes a cackle. And then he stops. And smiles. A piano plays a melancholy tune in the background, Chopin’s Waltz No. 3 (op. 34 no. 2). Fade to black. Words appear onscreen: Happy Anniversary.

“What the hell?” I said.

“Who is that man?”

“I have no idea.”

I felt goose bumps break out over my skin. The hair on the back of my neck bristled. I could feel my heart beating in my chest. Was a killer reaching out over YouTube to taunt investigators on the anniversary of Maura’s disappearance? I decided to not say anything to Julie until I had more information. Every time I drive into the White Mountains, I have to assure her that I’m never in any real danger. I sent the link to law enforcement. Then I embedded the video on my blog. Who was this man? I asked. Did anyone know?

A short time later, 112dirtbag removed both videos and deleted his account. Luckily, Lance had already grabbed copies. I uploaded the two videos to my YouTube account and reposted. Whoever 112dirtbag was, he was having second thoughts about his confession, if that’s what this was. He must have gotten spooked when he saw the view count climbing and tried to go to ground. My Irregulars now had a common target. Soon, they were working together to uncover the identity of 112dirtbag.

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