The Maura Murray/Betty Lee Connection

What are the chances of Maura Murray running into a random killer?

That question perhaps is the most common response to those who vehemently feel that Maura was not murdered. They point out the improbability of her simply crossing paths with a murder. The short time frame in which she disappeared is noted and many disregard this possibility simply because it just isn't likely. She was seen one minute and gone the next. What are the odds?

Meet Betty Lee, 36 year old New Mexico native and mother of 5. She was found brutally murdered in a remote area on June 9, 2000. Investigators were able to piece together her last known whereabouts and begin to get an idea of where Betty was prior to her murder. The night before she joined two female friends at a bar. They spent the evening drinking and socializing, but by the end of the night Betty began feeling left out. Her two friends met two males at the bar and decided they were going to leave the bar with them. Betty, upset by this, pleaded with her friends not to leave as she had no ride home. The two females left with the men anyway. She was left there alone after a night of drinking, emotional and with no way back home.

Betty walked a short distance to a nearby convenience store to use the pay phone. The store clerk stated to police she witnessed a woman at the phone booth, crying. When she looked again a few minutes later, she was gone.

The police eventually tied her murder to Robert Fry, who has killed before. He was sentenced to death, and is currently awaiting execution in a New Mexico jail.

How this fits in with Maura Murray's case, isn't the murder itself, rather the circumstances leading up to it. Investigators say Betty Lee attempted to call her brother, a police officer to pick her up but wasn't able to reach him. Upset and crying and still without a ride, she hung the phone up and stepped out of the phone booth. Almost instantly, Robert Fry and his friend Les Engh pull up in their car and offer Betty a ride. Maybe because her guard was down after drinking that night, or because she felt she had no other options, Betty accepted the ride and they drove off. Fry eventually stopped the car and attempted to rape her. Betty fought back and was stabbed numerous times and beat to death with a sledgehammer, her body left in a desolate area.

So, we have two women who had been drinking. Both without transportation to their destination, alone and out of options. What likely drew Fry and Engh to Betty Lee was the fact she was alone, vulnerable and crying. While Maura may not have been crying, she was still alone and vulnerable.

With Betty Lee, this would still be an unsolved case if it wasn't for one single piece of evidence.

On the night of her murder, police found a cell phone laying on the ground in the same area of her body. It belonged to a tow truck driver who admitted he was there that night, towing a car that got stuck in rough terrain. The driver said cell service was poor in the area and after receiving a call and being unable to hear the caller, his wife, he angrily threw the phone on the ground, leaving it there. He was in fact towing Robert Fry's car that night after it got stuck. After the police made that connection, the case was quickly solved. However without that key evidence, this could have very well ended up as another cold case.

That night, Robert Fry acted under the guise of a good Samaritan, pretending he wanted to help Betty Lee by offering a ride. Instead, he tried to rape her and then brutally killed her. Betty was last seen at a pay phone, there one minute and gone the next. 

I think it's very possible Maura may have met a similar fate. However, unlike Betty Lee's case, we have no key piece of evidence to tie everything together. And so the mystery of Maura Murray continues...

Smith & Wesson Shield 45 is HERE!

It's official. The long awaited Shield chambered in 45 caliber is now happening. Here's with Smith & Wesson had to say:

This small and slim concealed carry handgun is just a tad larger than the 9 and 40 caliber variants and comes with one standard 6 round and one 7 round extended magazine with a suggested retail price of $479. The Shield line up from S&W has been extremely popular, and for good reason, it's a great series of guns. With a new 45 caliber option, things just got better!

Review: Fenix CL05 Emergency Light

The nice folks over at Fenix sent out a satisfaction survey for their customers via email earlier this year. If you registered your Fenix light online to ensure your warranty is effective, you likely received one of these surveys. I gladly filled mine out, sent it back and thought that was that. Little did I know, everyone who entered had a chance to win a TK35, PD35 Tac, E20 or a CL05, for a total of 70 free lights being given away to folks all around the world. So I was quite surprised to get an email from Fenix corporate saying I won a free CL05.

The winners list, courtesy of FenixLight.com

Of course, winning one of their full sized lights, like the TK35, would have been awesome but I can't complain. I knew very little about the CL05 but it seemed like a handy little lamp so I claimed my prize and waited for the authorized US Fenix vendor to ship it to me. About 2 weeks later it arrived in the mail, in all its purple glory.

Fenix markets this as the CL05 Liplight, since the size closely matches a tube of lipstick. It runs on a single AAA battery, boasts 7 modes and can be attached to your keychain, backpack or anywhere you need light. Modes are controlled via twisting the base.

For a single AAA battery, the run times are pretty good and like most Fenix lights, it's waterproof and impact resistant.

After using it for a few months, I found it to be a pretty cool little light. It's a good addition to a keychain. Moonlight is a nice soft light for reading in low light conditions. High mode bumps up the output to 8 lumens, making it easier to navigate in the dark and search small areas, like your car, if need be. The red and green modes make for great personal beacons, even more so when flashing. SOS is a nice touch for emergencies as well. In additional to keychain use, you could clip it to a backpack when hiking, use it in conjunction with your car lights if you break down at night, increase your visibility while bike riding at night etc. This light would make a neat beacon for night dog walks or even trick or treating with the kids. The possibilities are endless, and all it takes is a single AAA battery.

The one complaint I have is the color choices. I wish we had black or slate gray to choose from. It is a very cool light in function, but the styling of it, to me, is quite feminine. Maybe Fenix will address this in the future but the "Liplight" tag and the colors don't exactly seem to fit the typical EDC crowd that they seem to be marketing this to.

In the end, the light is functional and quite handy and I do use it from time to time. I definitely appreciate it as a free gift from Fenix but, the colors aren't really my style. For the most part, the CL05 is clipped to my wife's keys where it serves as a useful lamp for short walks in the dark or searching around a dark car. Though, I still bring it along for night activities when a personal beacon might come in handy. Overall, the colors might not be the best but still a useful light nonetheless. Thanks Fenix!

Your car NEEDS an emergency bag!

Bug out bag. Get home bag. SHTF bag. 

 Whatever you want to call it, the idea remains the same - a bag filled with essential supplies to help you no matter what type of emergency you might face. I make long road trips frequently, so the idea started with a cheap modest store bought roadside emergency kit. It had a basic assortment of items ranging from jumper cables, minor first aid products and a few tools. The more time I spent on the road the more time I had to reflect on what I might need to add to my bag. What started as a very basic emergency kit for my car has evolved into something bigger.

I started to ask myself, what if it's raining? So I added a poncho. What if it's dark? I added a flashlight. What if I need to make a repair? I added tools. The different scenarios I could possibly face were numerous. Accidents, severe weather, mechanical problems...maybe even zombies. OK, maybe not zombies but, you get the idea. In my attempt to prepare for almost anything, I was constantly adding supplies and constantly reevaluating my needs and what I might be facing on the open road, in a parking lot or even in my drive way. Before I knew it, I needed a bigger bag. And then a second bag.

My little roadside assistance bag was a good start, but I needed to cover more bases. When I'm traveling, first and foremost I need my car to work. Tools and items for repair are a must. Accidents happen, and I need to deal with that accordingly. So I expanded on my first aid a bit. What if my car breaks down? Not every thing I can fix, so I may have to plan for that as well. And...If I am stranded, possibly alone, I need the means to defend myself, if necessary. That means an extra gun or two.

With all these considerations, I think I've assembled a pretty good assortment of items that are stored away in my car's trunk. Let's take a look at what sits in my trunk in case of emergency.

Bag 1 (Auto Repair)
I've dedicated this bag specifically to car related items to cover most things short of a catastrophic failure.

• Stanley 72 pc tool set
• Misc wrenches and screwdrivers not found with the set 
• Gorilla Tape
• Electrical Tape
• Spare Fuse Set
• 2 quarts Mobil 5W40 oil
• Zip ties
• Jumer Cables
• Can of Fix-a-flat
• 12v mini air compressor
• 1 bottle brake fluid
• Bungee cords
• 1 pair Mechanix gloves
• Spyderco Bug knife
• Magnetic mechanic light
• 1 bottle antifreeze
• Rain poncho

Bag 2 (Emergency Gear)
This bag covers a variety of gear for travel emergencies.

• First Aid kit (containing bandages, gauze, OTC pain relievers, antibacterial ointment etc)
• ThruNite Archer 2A with 2 spare AA Energizer Lithium batteries
• Ka-Bar Dozier knife
• Lifestraw water filtration device
• 2 Clif bars
• 1 bag Trail Mix
• Smith & Wesson Shield 9mm with 2 magazines
• Emergency thermal blanket
• Magnesium fire starter
• Small spool of 550 paracord
• Compass
• Anker powercore mini 3350 mAh USB power bank
• Waterproof matches
• Off bug repellent wipes
• Victorinox Swiss Army Fieldmaster knife
• Misc sized rags
• Fiskars 14 inch hatchet 
• $50 cash

There's obviously lots of things to consider here, such as being stranded for an extended time in a desolate area. I could still expand on the possibility of having to set up an impromptu camp site, but for now what I have takes up a fair amount of trunk space in my average sedan. Having usable space left over is important as well. But for the long road ahead, I think I'm well covered.

The Disappearance of Brittanee Drexel

The case of Brittanee Drexel has always resonated with me for a few reasons. She was only 17 at the time of her disappearance, a young and vulnerable age. For her parents this had to be an absolute nightmare. They never granted her permission to travel from NY to SC for spring break so for them to be notified that she was missing in the Myrtle Beach area must have been devastating, as she wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place. It was your classic case of teenage rebellion. She left to have a good time and deal with the consequences of her parents when she returned. But she never made it home.

It was late April in 2009. Brittanee was a 17 year old high school junior living in Rochester, NY. She asked her mother to go to Myrtle Beach for spring break but her mother said no. Instead they agreed she could stay with a friend locally. In spite of what her mother said, Brittanee went against her wishes and embarked on a road trip to South Carolina with her friends. During her trip, she spoke to her mother frequently but instead of telling her she was in SC she lied and said she was still in NY. It has been said the trip wasn't particularly enjoyable for her. She wasn't getting along with her friends at the time and was often confiding in her boyfriend back in NY during her time there.

Brittanee was last seen on April 25, 2009 at around 8:30 pm. Security cameras captured her entering and then leaving the Blue Water Resort hotel at that time. Afterwards, she walked to visit friends at another nearby hotel. A traffic camera spots her after leaving her friend's hotel. By about 9 pm that night she sent a text message to her boyfriend in NY. After that, all communication from her cell phone abruptly stopped. No further calls or text messages came from Brittanee's phone. The traffic camera she initially walked passed should have captured her image as she walked back, but she never did. She was gone, never to be seen again.

Years later, the case remains unsolved. Searches have yielded nothing as to her whereabouts, though a pair of sunglasses that may have belonged to her were found in a swampy area south of Myrtle Beach.

Based on her cell phone pings, at approximately 9:30 that night her phone hits a tower in Surfside Beach, 7 miles south of Myrtle Beach. By Midnight her phone pings a tower in Georgetown County, which is 50 miles south of the Myrtle Beach Hotel she was staying at. After that her cell phone did not communicate with any other towers, as it was either turned off or the battery died.

In terms of Brittanee's disappearance, there's a few trains of thought as to what happened. Initially, one of her friends from Rochester, NY, that went with her to SC, was considered a person of interest. He and some other friends in the group abruptly checked out of their hotel around 1 am the following morning and headed back to NY. Alternatively, it is believed Brittanee may have simply been abducted by a stranger(s). Though, her mother on the other hand, thinks it might be a case of human trafficking.

Other than following the cell phone trail, we don't have a lot to go on here. However, there are a few things that stand out to me. First, the sudden loss of communication is telling. Around 9 pm, when she sent her last text message, something undoubtedly happened that rendered her unable to use her cell. No calls made or even a simple text message of "help". She couldn't access her phone, yet it remained on for about 3 more hours, making contact with several towers. That very much seems to suggest she was going about her business and was taken by surprise. If she perhaps met a group of strangers, decided to hang out with them and left by car, you would think at the first moment she felt uneasy, she would send a text indicating it. It doesn't seem like it was a slow culmination of danger, rather she immediately was in trouble and had no way of communicating it.

Being a young girl staying in Myrtle Beach, it is very likely she met new people and I do think it is a possibility she may have simply met a bad group of people. But, going back to the abrupt lack of cell use, I tend to think she would have at the very least sent a text indicating she felt uneasy with any new people she met. We know she was walking from hotel to hotel, in a relatively busy area, yet she still managed to vanish. She didn't make it back to her hotel and presumably there are no unaccounted for incoming calls from other people who might be involved (unless police are withholding that info). So it doesn't seem like she had a planned meeting with anyone.

To me it seems unlikely she voluntarily went off with someone, without telling anyone. But - it is is not impossible. She was having a bad time there, she wasn't really getting along with friends and maybe that could have been the catalyst to take a chance and venture off with some new people she may have met while walking home. She went there for fun, and perhaps a chance for fun presented itself while she was heading back to the hotel. Maybe a car full of younger guys invited her to a party and against her best judgement she got in the car and joined them.

However, in the case of Brittanee Drexel I tend to believe she was abducted against her will. The area is generally busy and one would think an abduction on a busy street would be seen by others, right? We don't know her exact path of travel but she didn't necessarily have to travel on a busy street. In fact she could have used side streets, cut through dark parking lots and managed to avoid busy areas with more pedestrians. I keep coming back to the fact she so quickly lost contact with everyone and that leads me to think she was quickly taken by surprise and forced into a vehicle. Based on the timeline of her phone, it seems very possible she could have been taken to Surfside Beach and was subsequently murdered there. After that she was transported south to a more remote area to be disposed of. Likely her
phone was either destroyed or the battery simply died at that point, but that general area seems likely to be where she was taken to hide the crime that was committed.

Sure, it is possible maybe her friends were involved. Maybe she met some seedy characters while at Myrtle Beach. For me, the most likely scenario is that she was seen walking at night, a petite girl, all alone in a desolate area off the main strip and viewed as an easy target. Unfortunately for Brittanee, she never made it back to her hotel.