According to the new witness who came forward this week, saying she saw Maura with two friends at Butson's Supermarket an hour before she disappeared, Fred Murray has known about the sighting from the beginning. And he tried to get the video before the authorities could properly track it down.
I remember **** talking in the break room about Fred on how Fred was demanding camera footage of the store. **** told him there was none. Butson's didn't own cameras at that time. Fred totally flipped out, not sure if Fred was escorted out or left on his own. **** told us if anyone questions us while we were on clock to have them talk to him ****.While Butson's did not have cameras, the bank branch inside the store did, and one of their cameras captured the aisle Maura and her friends walked down.
Fred took this tip very seriously. So why is it the first time anyone else has heard of it?
I think back to one of the first conversations I had with the woman who runs the Facebook page devoted to Maura's disappearance, Helena Dwyer-Murray. At the time I was trying to find a contact number for Sara Alfieri, one of Maura's friends, who partied with her the weekend before her disappearance. She told me that Sara would never talk to me or any other reporter, that she'd told the real story to Fred and was asked never to repeat it.
True to her word, when I finally did find Sara in Boston, the first thing she said to me was, "How did you find me?" before promptly slamming the door.
Kate Markopoulos, a NY resident, was also close to Maura and has been less than forthcoming about the details of those last few days. Members of the track team at UMass said she disappeared for several days around the time Maura went missing.
The cashier has also provided an important detail about the identity of one of the girls but I'll leave the cold case unit to use that as they will.
** One little fix. Sara did talk to a reporter. Once, shortly after the incident. When pressed for answers, she replied: "I don't want to get my friend in trouble."