“If anyone ever asked her for anything at all, from money to anything, she would give them the shirt off of her back”, Rochelle Maze said.
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When Maze didn’t come home on time and her family was unable to reach her, they became concerned for her safety.
The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Maze died of the single gunshot wound, but said further investigation was needed to determine whether the death was a homicide. She had traveled up to 500 miles, mostly along Interstate 90, and spent as many as 12 hours in the trunk.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Maze spoke to family members and a Helena police officer by cellphone. But by the time they used cellphone tower information and Spokane County officers found her auto near Spokane International Airport early Wednesday, Maze was dead. Was she abducted, murdered or something else?
“I told her that I loved her”, Rochelle said.
When Montana woman Rita Maze described her attacker to her family, she said that he was a large man, roughly six-feet, five-inches tall, either Native American or African-American, and wearing a black hoodie. The reason the picture was not released is because the person of interest was eliminated through investigative work, said Leo Dutton, Lewis and Clark County sheriff. Police say Maze’s husband able to contact her again on her cell phone and told police she was saying she’d been kidnapped. Rita Maze was an aide, a crosswalk attendant and a cook at schools in Great Falls. According to her daughter, Rochelle Maze, the first purchase was made at 4:16 p.m. Tuesday in Kingston, Idaho, and the second was made at 9:55 p.m.in Ritzville. She was the “lunch lady” at Morningside Elementary from 2005 to 2009.
She and her mother had also been planning to soon go dress shopping for her wedding next spring, but now “she’s just going to miss a lot”. She is survived by her husband, her daughter, her son Michael and his two daughters. He and his wife have two daughters.
CCTV footage from both stations is being examined, investigators said. “No way. My mom does not make enemies”. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
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