Oh Boy. Missing Maura Murray Goes Down the Rabbit Hole.

Firstly, I love what Lance & Tim have done with the 'Missing Maura Murray' podcast. It has helped bring so much attention to the case. Their new episode is an interview with "Witness A" - real name Karen McNamara. Karen is the key witness to the biggest conspiracy theory that John "Wolfman""TruthSeeker""Mellencamp" Smith has been pushing for many years, with the blessing of Fred Murray -- namely that Haverhill Police were responsible for Maura Murray's death and have been covering it up for 12 years. Karen claims she saw a police SUV "nose-to-nose" with Maura's case that night.

[sigh]

I have not written about Karen before because I do not find her report credible. And the theory that police were somehow responsible for Maura's disappearance is both ridiculous and potentially dangerous to the actual investigation.

I'm not going to go into Karen's past. But she's been through it. She has an agenda to be a part of a heroic resolution to the case of a family who has lost their child. I feel for her. But I do not believe her.

Her interview is not conducted by Lance or Tim but by two other people, John Smith (who believes that government vehicles are keeping tabs on his every move) and a man named Alex Clogston, known on forums as "Alex C."

I've spoken to Alex C. He offered an exclusive interview with Witness A to me a few months ago. I turned him down because he sounded manic and delusional on the phone. In fact, I had to hang up on him. Alex C says it wasn't him I spoke to on the phone. And I have to give him the benefit of the doubt there. It sure sounded like him. But I cannot say for sure if it was him or "Armchair Detective" or "Mike Goonies" or "Cold" or even "Alden Olson" who I spoke to. With all the anonymous avatars, it is impossible to tell who is who anymore.

I think it's a good thing that Lance & Tim have distanced themselves a bit from this interview. And remember, what they set out to do was not to solve the case but to document the obsessive minds who believe they could. This is the dark side of that project.