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

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Gardener1850

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*Abducted from a Wolf Creek, MT rest stop on Tuesday Sept 6
*Called her husband and pleaded for help but was unable to give her location
*Found dead in a car in Spokane County Wed morning Sept 7
*Police working on a photo of POI
rita%20LAKANA_1473276697780_5959129_ver1.0.jpg

Sheriff Dutton told KRTV that Maze contacted her husband with a cellphone but was unable to give specifics on her location or abduction. Dutton said Maze told them she had been hit over the head at a rest stop on Interstate 15 and taken late Tuesday morning.

Family told KREM 2 that Maze said on the phone call she thought they had been driving for a long time and kept saying "help me." Maze's daughter said she got to tell her mother she loved her one last time before the call disconnected.

Officials said Maze had been in Helena to visit family and was on her way home to Great Falls when she stopped at the rest area.
http://www.krem.com/news/local/spok...rms-dead-female-in-car-near-airport/314996824

Her body was discovered by Spokane County Sheriff's deputies at about 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

She had reportedly been in Helena to visit family and was on her way home to Great Falls when she stopped at the rest area.
The suspect in the case has not yet been identified, but authorities plan to release a photo of a "person of interest" later today.

http://www.krtv.com/story/33039883/great-falls-woman-identified-as-murder-victim-found-near-spokane
 
This is such an awful story - my heart breaks for her and her family. It sounds like Rita did everything she possibly could do to try and save herself. The phone calls between her and the family must have been heartwrenching. She was in that trunk a long time while driving to Spokane - she must have been absolutely terrified. RIP Rita.
 
Assuming the car in which she was found was the perp's ?

I've become more leery of traveling alone at night .. this is partly why !

My utmost condolences to her family.

So sorry, Rita --from the articles it appears you were greatly loved and will be missed ! Rest gently. :(
 
Assuming the car in which she was found was the perp's ?(

She was found in her own car, although she wasn't sure when she called her family. I think it was a carjacking, the perp had committed a crime or for some other reason was wanting to get away, and sadly, took her with him instead of leaving her. A shocking crime in an area I wouldn't think of as being at all dangerous.
 
Her family must have felt so helpless when she called! This is a real life nightmare.

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk
 
Also wondering if when she stopped at the rest area if she and the perp were the only ones, and she saw something and the perp freaked out ?
and if it was a carjacking-- did the murderer leave his/her own car at the rest area ? (There might be more evidence then)
 
Also wondering if when she stopped at the rest area if she and the perp were the only ones, and she saw something and the perp freaked out ?
and if it was a carjacking-- did the murderer leave his/her own car at the rest area ? (There might be more evidence then)

Could have been a panhandler. I see them all the time standing at rest stops with signs claiming their car broke down on the highway and they need money to get it fixed/towed so they can get home. There is no car usually--they either walked or got dropped off there by someone. It's illegal to do that but the police have to catch them. Whatever happened, I hope surveillance cameras at the rest stop caught it on tape. Police said they would have a POI photo up soon so hopefully they have something on tape.
 
Truly horrifying! I can't tell you how many times I've stopped at rest areas while on my own....but it's a lot. So scary.
 
How awful. I wonder why someone abducted her. Just to kill someone? Maybe someone on drugs acting irrational and paranoid?
 
Assuming the car in which she was found was the perp's ?

I've become more leery of traveling alone at night .. this is partly why !

My utmost condolences to her family.

So sorry, Rita --from the articles it appears you were greatly loved and will be missed ! Rest gently. :(

you best be leery about traveling during the day also as Rita was abducted late Tuesday morning- broad daylight.
 
Picture here where it says it may be the rest stop from where she was kidnapped.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/st...ed-montana-woman-found-dead-spokane/89960296/

By 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, police had located her body. The cause of death has not been released.

“She traveled with a gun, and she knew he had her gun, and she was terrified,” Rochelle said. “He kept her in the trunk for 12 hours.”

Rochelle said her mom was hysterical, and she was hard to understand. She didn’t even know if there was more than one kidnapper.
 
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/story/33043888/timeline-leading-to-alleged-abduction

She stopped for fuel at a Holiday gas station around 11 a.m.

Sheriff Dutton said Maze could have reached the rest stop South of Wolf Creek at about noon.

Maze's family reported her missing to the Lewis and Clark county sheriff's office at about 8:20 p.m. on Tuesday.

Then, between 10 and 10:30 p.m., Dutton said Maze called her husband on her cell phone from the trunk her car. The husband gave Helena police her cell phone number and they were able to make contact with Maze shortly before her death.
 
Or this may be the rest stop and says it happened at 11 am.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_3b5c603c-a57a-553d-baa9-53b3d61b30e3.html

Rita Maze, 47, told an officer by phone that a man had kidnapped her at a rest stop on Interstate 15 near Wolf Creek around 11 a.m. Tuesday after striking her on the head and forcing her into the trunk, said Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton.

snip

Authorities were looking at surveillance video from a convenience store, and they plan to release a photograph of a person of interest, Dutton said. Information about that person had not been released as of Wednesday evening.
 
omg! :no: so sad for her family. i cant fathom what it was like in the trunk and not knowing whats going to happen next. you always hear cases about rest stops like this but think it cant happen to you, but then this happens. RIP Rita :rose:
 
This is a horrible and scary story. Montana is such a beautiful state and I would feel totally safe stopping at a rest area in BROAD DAYLIGHT. What in the heck was the point in killing her? Take the car and be done with it.

Couple of things I find curious. Why would he let her keep her cell phone in the trunk? If I was the guy, that would be the first thing I'd get rid of. Even though her car is older, I thought most (all?) cars had some type of emergency latch in the trunk so somebody could escape. Was she tied up?

Did it say how she was killed?
 
This is a horrible and scary story. Montana is such a beautiful state and I would feel totally safe stopping at a rest area in BROAD DAYLIGHT. What in the heck was the point in killing her? Take the car and be done with it.

Couple of things I find curious. Why would he let her keep her cell phone in the trunk? If I was the guy, that would be the first thing I'd get rid of. Even though her car is older, I thought most (all?) cars had some type of emergency latch in the trunk so somebody could escape. Was she tied up?

Did it say how she was killed?

It didn't say how she was killed. I thought it was strange too about the cell phone being with her. If the perp hit her over the head, did he throw her purse in the trunk with her? Was she knocked out from 11-noon until the call 10 or 11 hours later?

As for emergency latches, don't know what year her car was.
https://www.cars.com/articles/2012/09/emergency-trunk-release-lever-saves-lives/

For the 2002 model year, all cars were required to feature a standard glow-in-the-dark trunk-release lever, which opens the compartment from the inside in the event of an emergency. Since the mandate, no children have died in the trunk of a car equipped with the lever, but accidental trunk entrapment in older cars has killed at least 22 children since 2002, according to safety watchdog and advocacy group Kids and Cars.
 
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