Murray Family asks True Crime Community to Refocus on Maura
Over the past 16+ years, we have been blessed with a community of people that have joined together, united in their dedication to finding Maura, who approach their efforts with the best and most genuine intentions. The kindness and generosity of the vast majority of people involved in our search efforts is both humbling and astonishing.
Unfortunately, we have also experienced firsthand, the ugly side of true crime. Since Maura disappeared, my family and those truly trying to help have been revictimized, threatened and harassed incessantly. Reputable people have declined to help for fear of becoming the subject of the latest blog post. Retaining legal counsel should not be a prerequisite for volunteering to help on a missing persons case.
The outspoken minority have used our tragedy as a source of income, with motives more rooted in maintaining relevance than actually finding our loved one. Because this income is based upon relevance, this minority pushes narratives, promotes controversy, and chooses to shift focus onto people and circumstances that in no way aid our search efforts, and through the distractions they create are harmful to our cause. These tactics, which prey upon those who are emotionally invested in this case and desperate for answers, cause far too many members of this community to lose focus on the one thing that is most important and brought us together in the first place - Maura.
As the spokespersons for my family, Kurtis and I strive to conduct ourselves with dignity and respect; however, we cannot remain silent, thereby giving tacit approval, of the bullying and misrepresentation of the truth by those who stand to gain financially from our family’s tragedy and those willing to help.
While we will not attempt to police the internet, we are making a plea to the community to shift focus back on Maura and trust in our judgement as no one is more dedicated to the truth and finding answers than our family. She is why we are here and together we believe we can find her.