Sometime yesterday, the first responding officer to Maura Murray's accident committed suicide.
Cecil Smith was the former chief of police for the little town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, where Maura went missing in 2004. I had the opportunity to meet him several years ago. We spoke at his house and he showed me the green energy generator he was building. I found him to be extremely nice, caring, and truthful, one of the most sincere individuals I've met during the course of my research.
I've kept his secret for years - that he was suffering from a form of neurodegenerative disease that was stealing his memory.
Over the years, I've watched the toxic, conspiratorial side of the Maura Murray fandom turn Cecil into a suspect or co-conspirator to Maura's alleged murder. This has to do with the outlandish theory of some police SUV seen nose-to-nose with Maura's car that some believe brought harm to the young woman. These people are the anti-vaxxers of this case, grown ups playing some kind of Dungeons and Dragons role play with real people's lives.
After Smith appeared on the Oxygen special, these trolls pointed out how his answers seemed to be evasive. At the time, I could not publicly explain this and neither could the producers of the program but we all knew it was dementia. That, too, is why the AG was there to watch the interview.
The most vocal proponent to this theory, the person who made Cecil Smith synonymous with suspicion was an elections campaign compliance officer at Aristotle International named Erinn Larkin. She just never let up and suggested time and again on her podcast and blog that he knew more than he was saying, that he had to be lying. Earlier this year, Erinn Larkin posted a map to my house online and the names of my siblings and their addresses, too. She made it clear that she would continue threatening me and my family until I took my blog down. Erinn Larkin is the same person who committed defamation by having a guest on her podcast who literally said Rick Forcier killed Maura Murray
Eventually, I just ignored Erinn Larkin because I knew that her escalating behavior would eventually lead to trouble. And now Cecil Smith has taken his life. Did he do so because she made him the center of so much speculation and suspicion? Or was it one of a hundred factors behind his decision? Regardless, he spent the last months of his life reading about how people suspected he helped murder a girl.
I explained to Erinn Larkin on the phone that Cecil Smith was suffering from dementia and that that was why he seemed to stumble on his answers. She chose not to believe me and continued her attacks. His family should sue her for her role in the decision he made.
The worst part about all this is that this tragedy is only fuel for delusional people like Erinn Larkin. They will say he didn't commit suicide because of the harassment. Or his disease. He did it because he was hiding the truth.
Yuck.