Montana woman found in trunk died from gunshot wound

That’s still a big question everyone has after a Great Falls woman was found dead in her trunk near the Spokane International Airport.

“I believe she was abducted”, Rochelle Maze said Thursday. She told her husband and daughter she loved them.

Bob Maze told the police that he had last spoken to his wife at around 11:30 that morning and hadn’t heard from her since.

Rochelle says her mother was a loving person and there were no family problems.

Right now, the family of Rita Maze is simply trying to come to terms with her tragic, senseless death. The Spokane Sheriff told KHQ they aren’t ruling out anything whether it be kidnapping, homicide, or self-inflicted. 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 also said her mother’s credit card was used twice in the time she was missing.

During her phone call, Maze had told her husband she was anxious the abductor might find the gun, a 9mm Ruger, that she kept in her purse.

“We know where the body was located; we know where she started out”, he told the newspaper.

Rita Maze’s horrific ordeal reportedly began late Tuesday morning at a rest stop along Interstate 15 near Wolf Creek, Montana.

The Spokane County medical examiner’s office said Thursday that a single gunshot wound to the chest and abdomen killed 47-year-old Rita Maze.

Using mobile phone towers, investigators were able to pinpoint the car’s location to a auto park near Spokane International Airport, where the vehicle and Ms Maze’s body were discovered.

Though officials were pursuing a person of interest who was seen on surveillance footage, Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton said the individual has been ruled out. She was the “lunch lady” at Morningside Elementary from 2005 to 2009. Her family had reported her missing from Montana hours before.

Rita Maze also is survived by a son, Michael, 25, who is in the military and stationed in Germany.

CCTV footage from both stations is being examined, investigators said. “No way. My mom does not make enemies. There’s an outpouring in this community that you would not believe”, she said.

The FBI is leading the investigation alongside officials from the Helena area and Spokane County.

The Maze family has invited the public to a candlelight vigil at Gibson Park on Saturday.