A little over a year ago, I had the first of several conversations with Bill Rausch, who spoke to me on the condition that I only use the info he gave me for my book. He told me a couple stories about Maura and their time together and provided a few new bits of information, such as how he was told the party at Sara Alfieri's place happened off-campus and how Maura told him she was looking for a used car.
I became interested in learning more about Bill recently when I was provided with information that caused me to question his character. When I spoke to him, again, he lied to me, before walking back on some of his statements, which raised some red flags for me.
I asked him, then, if he was at Fort Sill when Maura disappeared. He said at that time he was an officer with Charlie Battery in the field, helping with basic training at Fort Sill. He said he was often out of cell phone range. He provided me with two people who could verify he was there. Neither of those men would talk to me.
Last week I (along with Lance and Tim, who run a podcast about the case) were provided with cell phone records for both Bill and Maura for the month around the time she disappeared. The source of these documents will remain unnamed.
Having reviewed the documents, it is clear to me that Bill was nowhere near the White Mountains on February 9th. What follows is a timeline of interesting calls by Bill and Maura in the days leading up to her accident on Route 112.
Bill Rausch Phone Calls* please note, Bill Rausch's phone calls are 1 hr behind Maura’s and Eastern Standard Time.
Thursday, February 5
- 11:07 p.m. There is an incoming call for 7 mins - this is Maura calling from her desk at Melville Hall, the night she became inconsolable at work and had to be sent home.
For the next couple days, Maura and Bill trade short calls.
Sunday, February 8
- 4:38 a.m. Bill receives an incoming call for 11 mins (Fred has said before that this was Maura using his cell phone to call Bill after her late-night crash in Hadley, which happened after she left Sara Alfieri's party)
- Bill calls Fred’s cell phone back at 4:49 a.m. They speak for another five minutes. This appears to be the last time Bill speaks directly to Maura before her disappearance, except for a brief text.
- 2:49 p.m. Bill calls Maura's cell
- 2:50 p.m. Bill calls a UMass dorm, probably Maura's
- 2:56 p.m. Bill calls his parents home in Ohio and speaks for 29 mins
Monday, February 9 (the day Maura disappears)
- 1:18 p.m. Bill calls Kate Markopoulos's cell after trying to reach Maura all morning.
- 1:18 p.m. Bill tries Kate’s dorm room.
- 1:19 p.m. Bill calls Maura’s cell 3 times in five minutes
- Bill calls a Durham, NC number
- Bill calls several Fort Sill numbers and checks his voicemail. These calls continue through the time Maura gets into the accident in Haverhill, New Hampshire. The fact that Bill is making calls means he is not near the White Mountains, as there was no cell phone service in that region. Given the number of calls to base numbers at Fort Sill, it is logical to conclude he was, in fact, on or near base.
- at 7 p.m. (probably 8 p.m. EST) Bill speaks West Point professor, Bob McDonald, for 34 mins. - I have spoken to Bob, who says the conversation had nothing to do with Maura Murray.
- Bill tries to call Maura, again.
- 7:48 Bill calls his father and speaks for 10 mins
- Bill checks voicemail
- 7:59 Bill calls his dad and speaks again for 11 mins
A FLURRY of calls begins at 9:14, as Bill tries again to reach Maura on her cell phone
- 9:16 Bill calls a young woman from Ohio, "N"
- 9:17 Bill calls another young woman from Ohio "C"
- 9:20 Bill makes a call to an unknown Mansfield, OH number.
- 9:22 Bill calls a young woman named Amber
- 9:22 Bill calls another number used by Amber
- 9:23 Bill calls a relative of Amber
I received an email from Amber, today. She says "Maura was like family." But she will say no more.
Tuesday, February 10
- Bill tries Maura’s cell
- 4:48 p.m. Bill calls Kate Markopoulos’s dorm
- 4:49 p.m. Bill calls Kate’s cell (the calls are 1-2 mins, probably just leaving messages)
- 4:51 checks vmail
- 5:25 incoming call for 18 mins (This may be where he learns Maura is missing)
- 6:18 Bill calls to home in Ohio for 10 mins
- 6:28 Bill calls Kate’s dorm for 6 mins
- 6:57 Bill tries Maura cell
- 6:59 Bill calls Holiday Inn's general number
- 7:04 Bill calls the Holiday Inn Express in North Conway and speaks for 2 mins
- 7:12 Bill tries Maura's cell
- 7:21 Bill calls Tim Carpenter and Kathleen Murray
- 7:35 Bill calls AAA and speaks for 9 mins
- 7:45 Bill tries Maura's cell
- 7:47 Bill calls Fred for 8 mins
- 8:02 Bill calls his dad for 12 mins
- 8:32 Bill calls Haverhill Police Department
- 8:34 Bill calls 877-253-6575?
- 9:08 Bill calls Fred
** Bill is up for the rest of the night.
- Bill tries to call Maura at 1:21 a.m
- Bill calls a Columbus number at 2:43 a.m.
- Bill checks vmail at 4:47 am.
- lots of calls to Murray family, beginning again at 5 a.m.
A couple things worth noting about the following days
- Bill continues to check in on Maura’s number till the end of bill
- Bill calls Kate Markopoulos a bunch of times on Feb 19, trying to reach her. These calls stop after he calls Sara Alfieri's phone.
Maura Murray Phone Calls
Wednesday, February 4
- Maura calls many family members around 10:28. Julie, then Kathleen, then home.
- Around midnight, she calls Dominos. 5 min call. Then there's a second call to Dominos, ten minutes later for 3 min.
Thursday, February 5 (the night of Maura's breakdown)
- 9:56 p.m. incoming call from ?
- 10:10 p.m. call to Kathleen for 28 mins
- 12:07 a.m. call to Bill for 7 mins
* she is found by her supervisor in a catatonic state and sent to her dorm room
- 3:40 a.m. call to Dominos
Friday, February 6
* No phone calls until 6:13 p.m.
- 10:02 p.m. Maura makes a 10 min call to the Fort Sill field artillery brigade.
- Maura calls Bill at 2:53 a.m. for 2 mins
Saturday, February 7 (the night of the party at Sara Alfieri's place)
- 3:21 p.m. Maura calls Julie
- 4:13 Maura calls Reliance Auto, a used car store
- 8:54 Maura calls Kate Markopoulos's cell
- 8:55 call to Kate dorm
- 8:56 checking vmail
- 8:59 Maura calls a Springfield MA number (413-627-6927) – which is no longer in service
- 8:59 Maura calls the Umass residential voice messaging system
- 9:01 call to Kate
* Maura makes no further calls for nearly 24 hours. Members of the family have said that she lost or left her phone at Sara's.
* That night she wrecks her father's car in Hadley, on the way to his motel at 3 in the morning. The question becomes, how were the police alerted of the accident if Maura did not make the call?
Sunday, February 8
- 8:26 p.m. Maura checks vmail
- 11:26 p.m. Maura calls Fred
* Monday, February 9
- 12:55 Maura calls Linda Salamone to inquire about a condo that has two bedrooms.
- Maura then makes 2 calls to the UMass student message number, at 1:13 p.m. She left a message with someone before she left!
- 2:05 Maura calls to Stowe, VT visitors info line for 1 minute
- 2:18 Maura calls Bill (1 minute)
- Maura checks her voicemail at 4:37 p.m. * This is the last action on her bill. That means she never made another call and never picked up when people tried to call her.
When police entered her dorm at UMass they found her belongings packed neatly into boxes. On top of the boxes was an email from Bill to her which she printed out and left. The email was about Bill cheating on her.
A few weeks ago, on Lance and Tim's podcast, I said that Maura was at her best when she was with Bill Rausch. I was wrong. I was very wrong about that.
Years ago, Cecil Smith, the former chief of police of Haverhill, said something strange to me. He said that whatever happened to Maura was Bill's fault, even if it was an accident. “It was her scumbag boyfriend that made her want to drive up here,” he said. “He came out in the news and was all, ‘We loved her.’ Well, fuck you. He was cheating on her. If it was a suicide, it was because of what he was doing to her. But if it was a suicide, where’s the body?"
