***Originally published in October 2018***
Erinn Larkin is not a journalist - she's a political finance officer for Artistotle International (though, when we met she introduced herself simply as "Bernie Sanders' treasurer" though I can find not a single article identifying her as such). She says this often, especially as she interviews people related to the Maura Murray case. But if you're going to act like a journalist, you need to understand some basic rules of journalism, and the big one is defamation, which often comes in the form of libel.Libel is publishing of false statements that can damage a person's reputation.
On July 14, Erinn Larkin published this interview with a man named Guy Paradee who once worked as a private investigator. Here are some clips I'd like to point out. This is Guy talking.
13:40
"I thought he [Rick Forcier] marked the spot where he had dumped her [Maura Murray's] body. Our feeling is that when Forcier grabbed her at his house she was certainly alive for awhile." The psychic confirmed this. "At some point in time he killed her and then moved her body at least once if not twice. There was speculation that he had her in a van by the pond. Someone had seen his van there. Maybe she didn't get out of the van. She was alive for awhile, he killed her, and moved her out of the house."
16:00
"She started walking. I think she walked away and Forcier may have seen her. He certainly had contact with her. He was able to overtake her and get her under his control."
18:00
"He admitted having contact with her. He said she wanted to have sex with me. She was walking by... he admitted to that. I kind of believe he said it on television. He definitely told the police. Without a doubt it happened."
This is defamation.
Forcier never said he had contact with Maura. He never said this to media. He never said this in private. I spoke to his ex-wife and she confirms this as well. It is apparently something Guy made up after speaking to a number of psychics. *insert eye roll*
The thing about libel that gets journalists in trouble is that they are on the hook for libel if they publish someone's comments. So not only could Rick Forcier sue Guy Paradee for claiming he's a murderer, but he could (and should) sue Erinn Larkin for publishing it. If you publish someone's false claims you are as guilty of libel in the eyes of the law as they are.
And these claims by Guy Paradee are laughable. A suspect told the media he had sex with the victim? And nobody thought it was a big deal? What?
But it gets better. Guy Paradee is a terrible, terrible source and two minutes of research would have revealed this.
Guy Paradee's private eye license was taken away by the state of Vermont in 2016 for his shady practices.
In response to Erinn Larkin's interview, Associate Attorney General, Jeffery Strelzin said, "We wil not be commenting on Mr. Paradee's many claims, based in part on speculation and upon reliance on alleged psychics."
But what shocked me the most was how Erinn Larkin, who works for the most liberal people in D.C., went to bat for this guy, after seeing his racist and despicable social media posts. Here are a couple classics from his Facebook page.
A little more background on Erinn Larkin, for those unfamiliar. Erinn was on the track team at UMass and told me that Kate Markopoulos (Maura Murray's best friend at UMass, a person who has never fully cooperated with investigators) was her "big" or "mentor" on the team. I met Erinn in person at CrimeCon in 2017. We met at a bar in part to iron out some issues she had with me. She was visibly shaking when we began (whether from nerves, or some fear, I don't know). But after a couple drinks she relaxed a bit. She told me she was skiing at Bretton Woods the week Maura went missing and suffered an injury there. Bretton Woods is in New Hampshire, a twenty minute drive from Bartlett, where Fred Murray believes his daughter was driving.
I'm not sure what is happening with Erinn Larkin at the moment. Recently, she posted a map to my house online. I always kept my address unlisted because I have children. She also posted the names of my siblings and their addresses as well (Why? I have no idea. Some weird attempt at intimidation, I guess).
But what is most sickening is how she has tried at every turn to downplay the allegations of sexual assault against Bill Rausch, writing some of them off as, "one-night stands." It is clear her agenda is to add misinformation to the case. For what reason, I do not know.