Does anyone know if there have been any updates for the Chad Mauer murder case?

Just to refresh your memories, Chad Mauer was a 19 year old from Madison Wisconson who was found dead in his car while it was parked in a garage. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. No one knows why he was in Chicago, because he was supposed to be at a bike shop where he worked. It was theorized that maybe he was selling drugs (which was unlike him) and a drug deal might have gone bad.

Originally posted by UMfan77
Does anyone know if there have been any updates for the Chad Mauer murder case?

Just to refresh your memories, Chad Mauer was a 19 year old from Madison Wisconson who was found dead in his car while it was parked in a garage. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. No one knows why he was in Chicago, because he was supposed to be at a bike shop where he worked. It was theorized that maybe he was selling drugs (which was unlike him) and a drug deal might have gone bad.

Even when intermixed with the first-run segments on Lifetime, there was still no update on the case. So, more likely than not, the case is still unsolved. :(

http://pomc.com/chadmaurer.cfm

The Parents of Murdered Children web site has a profile of Chad Lee Maurer (the actual spelling of his last name). Although it was very obvious that Maurer was murdered, the Chicago police deemed it a suicide. Eventually, however, they changed the nature of his death to "undetermined."

I find it very eery that the day he disappeared (Saturday, May 19, 1990) was the same day I turned 18.

:( :eek:

I just watched this segment again the other day. UM has never been known for great acting but this one takes the cake I believe. When Chad's parents are looking at his body in the funeral home, a person (I think it was the funeral director). says they received some of chad's clothing and it was soiled. then he says "Yes, would you like to see it?" The guy sounds like he is reading his lines because he says them so flatly. The way he says them is almost comical (which is really bad becaus ethere is nothing comical about this murder). Has anyone else picked up on this?

Anyone else think Chad was a teen model or did catalogs? - Some of his stuff seems very professional like he had a portfolio...

You're right, a lot of his pictures did look professional. Did anyone notice that while the mom was being interviewed, there were pictures of Chad hanging all over the wall behind her?

The actor who portrayed Chad resembled him very much. Maybe it was the hairstyle.

I too was watching this one just a couple of days ago.

I looked over at my wife and said, "I think its odd when the parents play themselves in the recreations." She concurred and added that it "creeps her out". When she said that I immediately realized that I too got the creeps from it.

It has always seemed so odd, so undefinably weird, to me that these people could do that. I'm baffled as to how they can do things like recreate the last conversation they ever had with their beloved son with some actor they probably met that morning! In the case of the Maurers, its obvious they love their son with all their hearts. There's no doubt about that. I have got to believe they're only participating in the show at all for the publicity it gives their son's tragic death and hopefully it will open new avenues of interest and detection. But to watch Mr. Maurer pretend like he's going through Chad's "soiled" clothes that he was wearing when he mysteriously died and to hear him struggle with the lines, "Oh no...oh no Chad" is recondite beyond measure.

I can just imagine the scene where Chad Maurer's father waves goodbye to the actor driving off...and then hear a director yell "CUT!! Okay, Mr. Maurer...now I need a bit more from you. Remember...this is your son. Who you love. He's going off to die in a mysterious manner...but you don't know that yet. Yet...you have this odd feeling..."


Now this is only regarding the parents who act in the segments with the actors posing as their dead children. The Sally & Shane segment also weirded me out watching Pat's pleading late-night heart to heart with her daughter recreated for the cameras. It just doesn't sit well with me.

The one and only time I felt like the family was in it as some sort of acting gig or doing it so they could maybe get "noticed" was the case of Adam Hecht. The energy and gusto with which his mom went at the scene with "Tony" just screamed "wannabe actress" to me. Maybe she wasn't trying to pad a resume or anything but it sure seemed like she went into it with the attitude of "I'm gonna be the best damned me there is!" . I wouldn't be surprised if she started improving on set or asked for another shot because she couldn't get into character.

It always got to me when the dad was looking at Chad in the funeral home. He could see the bruises and the skinned knuckles and he knew it wasn't suicide.

It was so hard to watch when he said, "Oh, boy... What happened, Chad? What happened?"

That just tears your heart to see a guy looking at his dead son who was said to have committed suicide and knowing it was probably murder. Ugh.

Finally a picture of yourself Todd...excellent! :lol:

Yeah, it's like a dream come true! :D

Big thanks to you for Volume 11, and Wiseguy for giving me tips on screen captures. The synergy here is awesome!

Yeah, Chad Mauer, well the acting isnt the best in some of those segments, but I think the parents were allowed to portray themselves but not forced into doing it. I actually thought Chad's parents did a pretty good job in the segment, I think there was at least some real emotions on their parts as they were reliving the experience. The guy that was playing the funeral home director was bad though with his line reading, unless that guy was the real life funeral home director I dont know.

Also in the segment we get to see the Chicago Police Department at more of their usual worst. Chicago PD arguably the most or certainly one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. They leave a car like that unattended in an unlocked garage overnight and big surprise the jacket gets stolen and the Chicago PD detective acted like he was so amazed it got stolen, what a joke!

I've always wondered if there is some sort of cover up with this case. Something isn't right here as far as the investigation goes especially with the jacket.

Well, police corruption in my opinion is a very likely possibility in this case. I do not feel that the detective from Dane County, Wisconsin sheriff's department was in on it. However the Chicago PD is another matter. I mean they tried to write off Chad's death as a suicide despite him having suffered an obvious beating.

Then they leave the car in the unlocked garage instead of taking it to an impound lot and they dont keep the evidence guarded so the jacket is "lost". I am not sure if it was lost or stolen but I agree with you DD that something about the investigation on the Chicago PD's end of this stinks, something is just not right.

I am sure Chicago PD probably thought that Chad's parents would just accept the suicide ruling and go away and leave the case alone. Chicago PD bungled it pretty good or purposely covered it up. The Dane County detective in my opinion, seemed skeptical that the Chicago cops just lost the jacket.

Of course Chicago PD is easily one of the most if not the most corrupt police departments in the country. They have a lot of sleaze bags for cops because they have trouble recruiting decent individuals, probably the only police department that is maybe more corrupt than Chicago is the Los Angeles Police Department.

I always had to think that maybe Chad got mixed up with the wrong people in an honest attempt to make some extra money. Sounded like he was fairly naive and could have been an easy target.

As to the photos a lot of them looked like high school senior types of photos.

Agree 100% with the naive part but I think by reading some of the stuff Crystaldawn I believe has posted about Chad's friends they were basically gangsta wannabes. They probably liked the music, the style, the language but really were just wannabes (think Jesse James Hollywood only a decade earlier LOL) - Uh apparently after Mauer was murdered his friends tagged certain areas around Madison with tributes to him. Doesn't really sound like your "all american boy next door to me".

I think Chad got himself in a little too deep here as you said thinking he could make some quick money and get out. I don't think he was a part of the "drug scene" or had any desire to become an active member of that scene (such as becoming a dealer or a pusher or whatever) but I think Chad thought he could handle himself in this type of situation with people who were pretty dangerous folk and ended up getting himself snakebit.

I do feel bad for his parents of course but this was one case where I can't really feel bad for the victim as much as I'd like to. Chad really walked into his own demise here.

I always had to think that maybe Chad got mixed up with the wrong people in an honest attempt to make some extra money. Sounded like he was fairly naive and could have been an easy target.

As to the photos a lot of them looked like high school senior types of photos.


Yeah, love that feathered combed hair. That was straight out of The Karate Kid. But yeah, this is one of those where I always felt I was missing something. I could never figure out how the boss didn't know Chad wasn't at work. The area he was from isn't that large, so someone knows something.

But to watch Mr. Maurer pretend like he's going through Chad's "soiled" clothes that he was wearing when he mysteriously died and to hear him struggle with the lines, "Oh no...oh no Chad" is recondite beyond measure.


My guess is that this was a very calculated move on the part of Chad's parents. They know that there are people watching who know what happened, and they're trying to tug at the heartstrings of potential informants. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it worked.

I think the murder probably involved Chicago PD drug informants and/or suppliers. Not to rub salt in the wounds of Chad's family (I feel very bad for them), but it always strikes me as odd that since Chad looks like the all- American boy, he's considered an outsider who just got mixed up in the drug scene, but if he was an inner-city black kid, he'd probably be considered a hardened criminal. Either way, he didn't deserve to die.

Yeah, Chad Mauer, well the acting isnt the best in some of those segments, but I think the parents were allowed to portray themselves but not forced into doing it. I actually thought Chad's parents did a pretty good job in the segment, I think there was at least some real emotions on their parts as they were reliving the experience. The guy that was playing the funeral home director was bad though with his line reading, unless that guy was the real life funeral home director I dont know.

Also in the segment we get to see the Chicago Police Department at more of their usual worst. Chicago PD arguably the most or certainly one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. They leave a car like that unattended in an unlocked garage overnight and big surprise the jacket gets stolen and the Chicago PD detective acted like he was so amazed it got stolen, what a joke!
is this a real murder case? it looks like everyone is talking about modeling and all that obviously he was murdered has anyone tried to figure out this case? instead of talking about acting guys??

Hmmm....

1) Chad Maurer had probably done what he was doing in Chicago before as the area that he was found in would be very difficult for an outsider (this was before GPS) to have located w/o prior knowledge, a good map or a guide.

2) I'm surprised that after the death was reclassified that the detectives wouldn't have wanted to take another look at the forensics in his vehicle to see if there was an indication of this being a homicide.

3) I lived SW Chicago for about four years. I'm surprised that a vehicle could run in garage for the hours that it would take to run out of gas (if that's what happened) w/o attracting attention. In fact, I'm surprised that the care didn't have additional problems from running unattended and causing smoke or even a fire.

People in Chicago are quite nosy and I'm surprised that a running vehicle in a garage didn't attract more attention.

4) I don't believe that the vandalism in Madison had anything to do w/ Maurer's death. Even if there was a link to Maurer's disappearance and the people who committed the vandalism, the idea would be to not to call attention to yourself and make that link seem reasonable to the police.I wonder if the store owner even did it himself in an effort to attract publicity to his business.

5) If this was a case of police corruption, I would lean toward incompetence rather than actual criminal acts. The Chicago PD is a large organizations and unfortunately, keeping yourself employed is usually the main occupation of people in large organizations. Doing a high quality job isn't seen as being necessary by most and, in fact, can result in those who do being punished for doing it.

Chad Maurer, IMHO, picked a bad place to go, a bad place to be killed and a bad group of police officers if the case was ever going to be solved.

Who's Chad Mauer? I've never heard of him

he's a handsome young man that was found murdered in his car but the police claims it was suicide then they changed his death to undetermined so that's chad maurer.

I can't believe you were so young, Chad. May the person who killed you get caught

So here is an interesting article from 1991 on the Chad Maurer case. I've highlighted the portions which should be of significant interest to the readers of this forum as they fill in some holes that were either not explained on the UM segment or in some cases altered for reasons unknown.
============================
First Ruled Suicide, Now A Puzzle
Police Revise View Of Wisconsin Teen`s 1990 Death
December 11, 1991|By Robert Blau.

With his mop of bleached blond hair and surfer physique, Chad Maurer cut a striking figure tooling around his hometown of Madison, Wis., behind the wheel of a yellow Mustang, hunched over a racing bike or balanced atop a skateboard.

But when Maurer`s body was found in an unlocked garage on Chicago`s South Side in May 1990, there was nothing at all striking about his death to the police who found him.

The ignition of his Mustang was engaged, the battery was dead, and the gasoline meter read empty. The initial police reports said Maurer, 19, had died of carbon monoxide poisoning, another teenage suicide.

The case might have ended there. But after a bombardment of inquiries from Maurer`s relatives, Wisconsin politicians and the media, Chicago police have revised their view of the death. Detectives now officially list the cause as ``undetermined.``

They also admit that mistakes were made in the early phases of investigating what has become one of the more disturbing and baffling police cases here in years.

``We can`t make a determination based on the information we have whether it was a homicide, a suicide or an accident,`` said Sgt. John Ridges, who is heading the Maurer investigation for the Wentworth Area violent crimes unit.

``To say it is a homicide, you have to say someone forced him into that garage with gas masks or at gunpoint, and we can`t say that.``

So far, there have been few clues about what happened to Maurer after he borrowed $20 from his father on the Saturday before his death, then headed toward the bicycle shop where he worked.

Friends and relatives described Maurer as an energetic, outgoing teen who spent much of his free time snow boarding, skateboarding and mountain biking. However, life after high school posed some problems for him. When he lost his job, he had to sell a motorcycle and a television set to finance his weekend getaways to the Wisconsin slopes. And he smoked too much marijuana, his mother said.

But by the time his body was discovered on May 21, 1990, in a garage in the 3300 block of South Michigan Avenue, Maurer`s spirits and resolve had improved, relatives said.

He had found the job at the bike shop and was planning to move to Boulder, Colo., at the end of May to compete in snow boarding and cycling and, perhaps, attend college, they said.

There have been no shortage of theories explaining why Maurer never showed up at work on the afternoon of May 19, traveling instead to Chicago that weekend. But investigators have been unable to substantiate any of them. ``Each day I buy a different theory. It depends on the mood I`m in,``said Dolly Maurer, Chad`s mother.

There`s the theory that Chad Maurer was a courier for a Chicago-Madison narcotics ring; that he came to the city looking for gay sex; that he was here to buy drugs for himself and met foul play; that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, a victim of random violence; and that he was, in fact, depressed and suicidal.

One suburban youngster has reported that Maurer skateboarded from time to time at Oak Street Beach, but police have not been able to confirm he was there during the weekend of his death.

``I really can`t tell you what happened to my kid,`` Dolly Maurer said.

``But I think suicide is out of the question.``

Others who knew Chad Maurer agree.

``I think he was on the run from something,`` said George Godfrey, owner of the Village Pedaler, the Monona, Wis., bike shop where Maurer worked.

``It was unlike him to leave without saying anything. The next thing we heard, he turns up in Chicago dead. He was a good kid. He was an honest kid. A good racer.``

Although early police reports discounted the possibility of foul play, evidence gathered in the weeks and months after Maurer`s death, much of it by investigators in Wisconsin, indicate it is a distinct possibility.

Chicago forensic and police records say that Maurer`s body showed no sign of trauma. But a review of the body by the Dane County, Wis., coroner found severe bruises on the knuckles and hands, indicating he had been in a fight.

``The medical examiner`s report in Chicago did not note some of the injuries we discovered,`` said Capt. Joe Topp of the Dane County Sheriff`s Department.

Roy Dames, chief administrator for the Cook County medical examiner, defends his office`s handling of Maurer`s autopsy, saying the cause of death has always been listed as undetermined.

``The pathologist handled the case perfectly,`` Dames said. ``There`s no question Maurer was involved in a fight. However, it had nothing to do with the cause of death. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Should someone investigate where he got the marks? Probably.``

The police investigation has been complicated by several factors, including the loss of physical evidence. A windbreaker shown in photographs taken by evidence technicians, and which Maurer`s parents insist did not belong to their son, was lost by Chicago police.

``We just can`t account for the jacket,`` Ridges said.

In addition, the Maurers say, investigators from Chicago and Madison have yet to examine a window of their son`s car that appears to be smudged with bloody fingerprints.

``It probably could have been done better,`` Ridges said of the investigation. ``There were some problems. But the Kennedy assassination could have been handled better, too.

``It had the earmarks of a suicide,`` he added. ``The ignition was on, the battery dead, the gas tank empty. The problem was, the victim didn`t fit the suicide victim profile. If he was going to commit suicide, why would he drive 150 miles to do it?``

There is one point on which Maurer`s relatives and Chicago Police agree.

``Something happened up in Madison that caused him to come here,`` Ridges said. ``If we had that, we`d have a starting point. . . . We`re running out of ideas.``
==============================
Some real solid stuff in this article. First off it provides a link between drug activity and Chad Maurer. According to his mother, Chad "smoked too much marijuana". Where did this marijuana come from? Was Chad on the south side of Chicago on the night he died attempting to buy marijuana and this was a case of a dope deal gone bad?

There is obviously also the question of some shoddy police work in preserving the crime scene as per the UM segment we already knew about the lost jacket and now can add bloody fingerprints to the mix. Has testing ever been done on Chad's vehicle to determining whether the blood on the vehicle is his or that of his attackers?

I must admit I laughed at the "he smoked too much" marijuana line. It's like she's saying it was o.k. for him to use some drugs, but too much was a bad thing. It just seems like a really non-chalant thing for her to say, which would be something if that's what led to his death. The police sounded pretty non-chalant themselves in this article. I wouldn't know, I've never used any sort of drugs, but would he have to travel across state lines to get some? Seems a little implausible there.

that's the first i've heard of the gay sex angle.

I always had to think that maybe Chad got mixed up with the wrong people in an honest attempt to make some extra money. Sounded like he was fairly naive and could have been an easy target.

As to the photos a lot of them looked like high school senior types of photos.
why? why? why must this happen to such innocent people??? why??!!! chad maurer you rest in peace i am so sorry for what happened to you and all the other victims that hasn't done a single thing to deserve death. if only life could give some of the innocent a second life and not give death all the time but peace to him and his family.

why? why? why must this happen to such innocent people??? why??!!! chad maurer you rest in peace i am so sorry for what happened to you and all the other victims that hasn't done a single thing to deserve death. if only life could give some of the innocent a second life and not give death all the time but peace to him and his family.

I'm still here reading this because it's such a tragic thing. The 1991 article did give some more direction to our theories. The marijuana angle, while interesting, probably doesn't say much, but I can see the money problems and how that could result in Chad being convinced to do something to make some quick cash to finance his activities and possibly to attend school.

Let's say Chad was either naive and innocent, and/or a wannabe gangster type. He would be overpowered by the more experienced people...kind of like the scenario they showed on the re-enactment.

I'm going to guess based on lifestyles that the people who killed him are likely dead themselves (people in the drug world do not tend to live long lives) or can't even remember what they did.

Here is another article I found that has a little bit more information, including that he used LSD.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=886&dat=19920301&id=3iYOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=q30DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7142,35711

It also goes into more detail about the wounds found on his body, and a few more other things.

Interesting article. Was it ever mentioned what type of residence the garage where Chad was found in belonged to? Was it a house? Did people live there, or was it abandoned?

I must admit I laughed at the "he smoked too much" marijuana line. It's like she's saying it was o.k. for him to use some drugs, but too much was a bad thing. It just seems like a really non-chalant thing for her to say, which would be something if that's what led to his death. The police sounded pretty non-chalant themselves in this article. I wouldn't know, I've never used any sort of drugs, but would he have to travel across state lines to get some? Seems a little implausible there.

that's the first i've heard of the gay sex angle.


I laughed at this also. It is okay to smoke some marijuana but he smoked too much. WOW Unsolved Mysteries showed him as a sweet innocent naive child who never did anything wrong. These articles show a whole different side. Sounds like the drug delivery theory was probably what happened here. He still didn't deserve to die though. How Sad.

I just rewatched this one,and I find it hard to beleive the bike shop owner really thought he was there.Add to that the vandalism/shot that occurred immediately after Chad's death,and it sounds like someone was sending a clear message to the owner.Perhaps Chad's job there was nothing more than a cover for what he was really doing (involved in drugs).Certainly it seems that way.JMO.

I just rewatched this one,and I find it hard to beleive the bike shop owner really thought he was there.Add to that the vandalism/shot that occurred immediately after Chad's death,and it sounds like someone was sending a clear message to the owner.Perhaps Chad's job there was nothing more than a cover for what he was really doing (involved in drugs).Certainly it seems that way.JMO.

I just watched the case on YT to jog my memory. You bring up a very good point, the shop was vandalize after the owner made a comment about the case. That's a very big clue, I wish the police would look more into it.

My opinion. He may have helped sell drugs. Either in his neighbourhood or the neighbourhood where his body was found. Police wouldn't suspect an all American kid to be selling drugs. Maybe the buyers or rival drug dealers murdered him or ripped him off for stepping into their neighbourhood aka their territory.

I don't want to jump to conclusions my theory is likely not even right at all. His poor family deserves answers I hope they get them some day.

The more I think about it, the more I really think that Chad was mixed up in the drug scene. There is NO way he would have ended up dying the way he did if he was not caught up in it. Perhaps it was a case of him simply knowing too much. But, any way you slice it, he was involved somehow.

I must admit I laughed at the "he smoked too much" marijuana line. It's like she's saying it was o.k. for him to use some drugs, but too much was a bad thing. It just seems like a really non-chalant thing for her to say, which would be something if that's what led to his death. The police sounded pretty non-chalant themselves in this article. I wouldn't know, I've never used any sort of drugs, but would he have to travel across state lines to get some? Seems a little implausible there.

that's the first i've heard of the gay sex angle.

Chicago PD detectives made a point that almost all murders in the Southside involve drugs one way or the other. Chad Mauer was some white kid from Wisconsin who winded up in the Southside for whatever reason. Those are some very rough neighborhoods. It almost certainly had something to do with drugs or drug running.

The gay sex angle shouldn't be surprising. He was really concerned for his physical appearances in an atypical way for a male, and his hair might have been dyed bleach blonde. I got a gay vibe upon first seeing his picture. That doesn't mean he was gay, but others sensing that besides me says a lot.

LAPD doesn't have a corruption problem as much as a brutality problem. That LAPD has a corruption problem is an overblown media myth because, for whatever reason, the press prefers to stick to LAPD as opposed to Chicago PD, where their treatment of minorities would make even LAPD cringe.

I've always thought Chad Maurer's death was related to drugs--whether he was acting as a mule or purchasing the drugs himself in Chicago. There was a history of personal drug use, and if you're using, you almost certainly are buying from someone or are hanging around with people who buy. Or, you yourself are selling. It's the only thing that makes sense given what we know about Chad's background. By all accounts, he seemed like a nice guy and seemed to have nice parents--I especially liked Dolly Maurer. But it seems he was mixed up in some risky stuff, and unfortunately, he met with terrible consequences. And to top it off, his case was handled by an overburdened agency that has its own problems with corruption to boot, as Francium pointed out.

I never had the slightest inkling Chad might have been looking for a gay encounter, and I think the theory is tenuous at best. It's impossible to ascertain from photographs what one's sexual orientation is.

I've always thought Chad Maurer's death was related to drugs--whether he was acting as a mule or purchasing the drugs himself in Chicago. There was a history of personal drug use, and if you're using, you almost certainly are buying from someone or are hanging around with people who buy. Or, you yourself are selling. It's the only thing that makes sense given what we know about Chad's background. By all accounts, he seemed like a nice guy and seemed to have nice parents--I especially liked Dolly Maurer. But it seems he was mixed up in some risky stuff, and unfortunately, he met with terrible consequences. And to top it off, his case was handled by an overburdened agency that has its own problems with corruption to boot, as Francium pointed out.

I never had the slightest inkling Chad might have been looking for a gay encounter, and I think the theory is tenuous at best. It's impossible to ascertain from photographs what one's sexual orientation is.

Well, I'm not saying he's gay, but I do know his hair style would get him hit on a lot, especially in that time.

The problem with the homosexual angle is that no guy from Wisconsin would go to Chicago to troll for homosexual encounters. Homosexual circles have always existed in the closet, and no one would have to try too hard in any medium-sized (~100k) or greater town to find it.

But in terms of methodology, it's important, given how little is known, to infer on stock types. His hair style would give him a lot of attention from gays, and most guys who are straight wouldn't be looking for that in the 80s.

The homosexual subculture between then and now are substantially different. You had to "look" a certain way then to have any encounter unless you were completely out the closet, which was uncommon then.

I say drugs.

This case is such a mystery since there's no explanation of why he was there. Very hard to solve but hopefully someone talks one day that knows something.

One thing that always baffled me about this case was that he disappeared in the middle of his shift. He was on lunch break and never went back. Even if he was selling drugs, I really don't think he would abandon his job like that, especially since he was trying to save up money. I have to wonder if he was abducted.

Drugs remain a possibility, but I don't think there was ever any concrete evidence he was selling them. Just that there were some dealers in his complex that were from the south side of Chicago.

I can't believe the Chicago Police Department thought this was suicide. Yeah, damaged knuckles and bloody t-shirt, that points to suicide.

I found the pictures where he was spread out in the car amongst the front part of the car and the backseat to be unnerving.

One thing that always baffled me about this case was that he disappeared in the middle of his shift. He was on lunch break and never went back. Even if he was selling drugs, I really don't think he would abandon his job like that, especially since he was trying to save up money. I have to wonder if he was abducted.

Are you thinking that someone abducted Chad from work and directed him to drive to Chicago? I find it curious that the bike shop was vandalized shortly thereafter--after Chad's boss made comments to the media no less, IIRC.

Are you thinking that someone abducted Chad from work and directed him to drive to Chicago? I find it curious that the bike shop was vandalized shortly thereafter--after Chad's boss made comments to the media no less, IIRC.

Yeah. I know drugs keep getting mentioned a lot, and it was raised several times in the segment. But outside of him smoking pot occasionally (and he was hardly the only teen that did), there wasn't any indication he was selling or dealing on any level. I think a likely scenario was that he accumulated a debt, was unable to pay it off and retaliation was sought. The fact that the assailants knew where the bike shop was and knew that he was employed there make me believe abduction is highly probable.

Yeah. I know drugs keep getting mentioned a lot, and it was raised several times in the segment. But outside of him smoking pot occasionally (and he was hardly the only teen that did), there wasn't any indication he was selling or dealing on any level. I think a likely scenario was that he accumulated a debt, was unable to pay it off and retaliation was sought. The fact that the assailants knew where the bike shop was and knew that he was employed there make me believe abduction is highly probable.

I could go with that. It makes sense in light of the fact that he disappeared in the middle of work.

One thing that always baffled me about this case was that he disappeared in the middle of his shift. He was on lunch break and never went back. Even if he was selling drugs, I really don't think he would abandon his job like that, especially since he was trying to save up money. I have to wonder if he was abducted.

Drugs remain a possibility, but I don't think there was ever any concrete evidence he was selling them. Just that there were some dealers in his complex that were from the south side of Chicago.


I think the abduction angle is possible although it would've had to have been done in a stealth manner in so not to draw attention from the customers at the store that day. Perhaps they lured him out to the parking lot who knows? Has it ever been established that Mauer made it back to work that day after taking his lunch break? It's always a possibility that he was using work as a cover story so that he could connect with whomever the people he was meeting with in Chicago?

One potentially interesting angle (although admittedly it would be very difficult to gain any helpful information from this angle) is that Mauer asked his father for gas money before leaving the house ostensibly to head back to work. It would be interesting to know exactly how low on gas Chad's vehicle was before he had gas pumped into it. I know personally that if I'm going on a long journey I usually fill up my tank with gas before heading out. If Chad was simply planning on heading back to the bike shop...well that wouldn't exactly be a long journey would it? But again this would be a very difficult lead to follow up on but interesting nonetheless.

What has always lead me to believe that drugs were a mitigating factor in the death of Chad Mauer is that one of his friends came forward in the days after his death and informed his mother that her son had to his knowledge twice run drugs to Milwaukee in 1989 and was paid for his services.

Now thinking back to my own adolescence, teenagers generally don't tend to inform on each other for nothing and the fact that Dolly Mauer didn't learn about this information until after her son's death seems to support that claim. The fact that this friend of Chad's decided to come forward with this information in the days following his death tells me we probably have an informant telling the truth here, in hopes that it might have helped to solve the case. Also remember that this friend claimed he was only personally aware of two drug runs Chad was involved in. That in no way means there weren't more than just those two occasions that Chad was involved in these activities.

There is just too much A-B-C correlation here for me to ignore. Chad was by his own mother's account a recreational user of drugs (marijuana and acid). As wiseguy mentioned there is hardly anything unique about that situation. But there is something to be said about moving from "point A" (recreational drug user) to "point B" (drug trafficker). That isn't necessarily a step a lot of people take knowing the risks involved (legal and otherwise) and yet these were activities that Chad was allegedly involved in. I'll even submit at this point the possibility that the reason Chad may have been trafficking in drugs was not so that he could save up money but instead was doing so as a means of paying off a drug debt or maybe as a means of making his own drug habit more affordable?

One other thing that has always disturbed me about this case is the report that after Chad's death, his friends allegedly paid tribute to him by tagging I believe a bridge in his honor. Again this doesn't strike me as normal adolescent behavior and makes me wonder about lifestyle choices for lack of a better term.

PS: Something else I've also considered is that assuming Chad Mauer had a drug habit/problem and was needing to find ways of feeding this habit on a regular basis...

Suppose in trafficking these drugs (assuming what he was trafficking was marijuana) that Chad was skimming a bit of the merchandise off the top for his own use? That would certainly provide the motivation for the people who were employing Mauer (for lack of a better term) to want to do away with him.

The segment stated that Chad's father had went to the area where Chad worked because he needed something from the hardware store, and noticed Chad's vehicle wasn't parked in the lot. Dolly went into the bike shop and asked for Chad and the manager said Chad wasn't there. Chad was not seen by his parents or boss after that.

I can't believe the Chicago Police Department thought this was suicide. Yeah, damaged knuckles and bloody t-shirt, that points to suicide.

I found the pictures where he was spread out in the car amongst the front part of the car and the backseat to be unnerving.

Sadly, I don't think cops _believe_ it was a suicide. I think for overworked bureaucracies with a lot of cases, especially in some ****hole like the South Side of Chicago, cops tend to take the path of least resistance for murders, i.e. if it looks to be ambiguous between a murder or suicide, then they'll side with suicide and justify it in their minds with a tunnel vision-like confirmation bias just so they can focus on fewer cases (not out of laziness but simply having too much on their plates) and pad up their statistics with open cases relative to closed cases. In many big cities, cops are known for padding their statistics on violent crimes simply by "blaming the victim" in rape cases, for example, just so they won't have to take up another case and also justify further police spending to argue that cutting spending will lead to crime resurging, when in actuality, crime is probably somewhat constant but they're just padding stats.

As a general rule, I don't like bureaucratic structures in the public sector like cops, military, and teachers. In a way, they would all rather get nice raises for working minimal hours for the sake of the "public good." But one thing about cops that I find interesting is their understanding of justifying a police budget is much more ingrained culturally than with military (who are often too dumb to know any better) and teachers that their paychecks directly depend on the continuation of conflict, e.g. "the war on drugs," or they won't get paid. It's pretty crooked and parasitic.

CPD probably called this a suicide just to say "closed" in the books. At that stage, every cop should be critical and look for gaps between suicide or murder just because experience shows ambiguity. Made worse is that the public is powerless, with few exceptions, to reopen investigations with a motivated team of detectives.

Sadly, I don't think cops _believe_ it was a suicide. I think for overworked bureaucracies with a lot of cases, especially in some ****hole like the South Side of Chicago, cops tend to take the path of least resistance for murders, i.e. if it looks to be ambiguous between a murder or suicide, then they'll side with suicide and justify it in their minds with a tunnel vision-like confirmation bias just so they can focus on fewer cases (not out of laziness but simply having too much on their plates) and pad up their statistics with open cases relative to closed cases. In many big cities, cops are known for padding their statistics on violent crimes simply by "blaming the victim" in rape cases, for example, just so they won't have to take up another case and also justify further police spending to argue that cutting spending will lead to crime resurging, when in actuality, crime is probably somewhat constant but they're just padding stats.

As a general rule, I don't like bureaucratic structures in the public sector like cops, military, and teachers. In a way, they would all rather get nice raises for working minimal hours for the sake of the "public good." But one thing about cops that I find interesting is their understanding of justifying a police budget is much more ingrained culturally than with military (who are often too dumb to know any better) and teachers that their paychecks directly depend on the continuation of conflict, e.g. "the war on drugs," or they won't get paid. It's pretty crooked and parasitic.

CPD probably called this a suicide just to say "closed" in the books. At that stage, every cop should be critical and look for gaps between suicide or murder just because experience shows ambiguity. Made worse is that the public is powerless, with few exceptions, to reopen investigations with a motivated team of detectives.

ooooh boy.

ooooh boy.

Hey, I'll give Matt C one thing: he actually served in the Canadian Army before he decided he knew anything about the military, let alone denigrate it.

Military worship is bizarre. No one blasted "teh trO0ps." An awful lot of my friends from the Korean War to present are military. It's amazing how many are bitter or dumbfounded when they realize they put their general health on the line for a government that lied to the public about the realities of geopolitical issues around the world or when Washington fumbled with policies in relation to occupation or with state-sanctioned enemies while casting out their own men doing the fighting. None of this is controversial, and people on this board in particular should understand the dynamic between the nobility and foolhardiness of serving such flaky characters.

But concerning the initial point I made, there's nothing controversial or strange about it. If you want to be employed in a combat regiment, you need wars to justify your job. The US Government isn't going to pay some sergeant more than $2000 per month, along with benefits and pensions, to sit around an office during peacetime when they instead could choose not to resign him and instead hire a private for a third of a sergeant's pay to do the exact job. Now think about that. How is that not "too dumb to know any better"?

I'm not anti-military by any means, and I'm not just saying that. It's basically an observation of a political class that exploits a usually poor or working class segment of the population with boot camp propaganda that "X is an evil group, and they are different as a human than you" when such propaganda is only possible when those trainees never read a book about the very people the government tells them to hate. It's actually sad when you think about it, and an untold number of lives get ruined through pain medication, combat wounds, or death serving interests of a government that, contrary to their feel-good rhetoric, treat them like expendable pawns. Those who confuse "Suport R Tro0ps" with being a lemming only fuel this nonsense and thus are indirectly responsible for ultimately exploitative institutions like military. Full Metal Jacket thematically makes that point clear with people like Pvt. Pyles.

Military is necessary only because of the security dilemma and the fact that Great Powers start **** around the world for no reason whatsoever except that it's the invisible hand to international relations, and militaries need gullible people to carry out those tasks for the sake of a game that is driven by insecurity and immaturity, but must exist only because Great Powers cannot act in any other way. Why? - because Great Powers lie, cheat, and steal, and institutions like the UN can't prevent those traits on most security issues that are at least medium-risk.

And don't presume anything about my relation with military. I'm a military intellectual and like to fight. That doesn't mean I have to have a rose-colored view about institutions that are causal in getting guys faces blown off. (In fact, most military people I know are candid in saying military institutions turn people to lemmings, which is a global view anyway from those on the inside.) The difference between me and most people is I can look at a wounded combat soldier without guilt, since I know the reality of the world. Most just turn a blind eye to such wounded types, pretend they don't exist, and carry on with Fox News propaganda from chimps like Sean Hannity, who fails to realize just how patronizing he comes across to most combat soldiers anyway.

Besides, I'm historically cynical of the pro-military propaganda that goes on nowadays. The only reason why people say that crap, besides the marketing gimmick that comes with it, is there's no draft. Many Americans resented the military during Vietnam even though it was the Johnson Administration, not the military (political over military, again), who escalated the conflict to make a draft necessary.

Historically, countries have had a real mistrust of military institutions, especially Great Powers, since they often caused problems that drug everyone else in the country into a slaughterhouse, or simply made life uncomfortable (an issue Americans have never truly experienced outside of her own revolution and the American Civil War, I might add, relatively speaking). Militaries tend to be popular when they're winning, unpopular when they're losing and have drug everyone else into the conflict with conscription or through colonial conquests (unless it's for the sake of national glory or defense of the homeland territory), and have been seen as having too much power for its own good - or as politicians in multiple countries have said, "Military questions are too important to be carried out by military generals."

Lesson for the day...

So Chad Mauer ended up dead because he was a pro military, dope selling, draft dodging, political agitating, pot smoking, congressman bribing, blood thirsty, government hating, fox news watching, muscle car enthusiast, elitist, tree hugging, combat loving, military hating, bike riding, political propagandist, pro-big government, marxist, socialist, tea party, capitalist, racist, closet homosexual?

Makes total sense now. :rolleyes:

So Chad Mauer ended up dead because he was a pro military, dope selling, draft dodging, political agitating, pot smoking, congressman bribing, blood thirsty, government hating, fox news watching, muscle car enthusiast, elitist, tree hugging, combat loving, military hating, bike riding, political propagandist, pro-big government, marxist, socialist, tea party, capitalist, racist, closet homosexual?

Makes total sense now. :rolleyes:

Not a serious reply obviously. The point I made initially is that police departments for the sake of PR and to focus on more clear cut cases have an interest in calling ambiguous circumstances like what surrounded Mauer's death a suicide. Obvious corollaries to that, where public sector bureaucratic interests triumph over the private citizens they're supposed to serve, are also found in education and military to justify their own existence. Cops have no jobs when there is no crime, and cops can justify continual soaking of tax dollars by saying "See, we cleaned up the city!" NYPD is notorious, for example, for fudging their crime statistics. Educators justify continued spending for failed test scores, even though the emphasis on test scores is largely the reason for the failings in public education. (No one reads anything serious, even in the university system, and no one is learning to think on their own.) Military can't justify its existence without some external enemy, most of which are made up or agitated by the very people who employ military forces around the world. None of this is controversial. It's human nature, in fact.

Concerning Mauer, it was probably drugs. White boys who look gay don't hang out in that part of Chicago unless they're involved with drugs. The hypothesis that he went there to troll for gay sex doesn't hold water, because anyone who is gay at that time knew where to look if they wanted to get laid badly enough.

Military worship is bizarre. No one blasted "teh trO0ps." An awful lot of my friends from the Korean War to present are military. It's amazing how many are bitter or dumbfounded when they realize they put their general health on the line for a government that lied to the public about the realities of geopolitical issues around the world or when Washington fumbled with policies in relation to occupation or with state-sanctioned enemies while casting out their own men doing the fighting. None of this is controversial, and people on this board in particular should understand the dynamic between the nobility and foolhardiness of serving such flaky characters.

But concerning the initial point I made, there's nothing controversial or strange about it. If you want to be employed in a combat regiment, you need wars to justify your job. The US Government isn't going to pay some sergeant more than $2000 per month, along with benefits and pensions, to sit around an office during peacetime when they instead could choose not to resign him and instead hire a private for a third of a sergeant's pay to do the exact job. Now think about that. How is that not "too dumb to know any better"?

I'm not anti-military by any means, and I'm not just saying that. It's basically an observation of a political class that exploits a usually poor or working class segment of the population with boot camp propaganda that "X is an evil group, and they are different as a human than you" when such propaganda is only possible when those trainees never read a book about the very people the government tells them to hate. It's actually sad when you think about it, and an untold number of lives get ruined through pain medication, combat wounds, or death serving interests of a government that, contrary to their feel-good rhetoric, treat them like expendable pawns. Those who confuse "Suport R Tro0ps" with being a lemming only fuel this nonsense and thus are indirectly responsible for ultimately exploitative institutions like military. Full Metal Jacket thematically makes that point clear with people like Pvt. Pyles.

Military is necessary only because of the security dilemma and the fact that Great Powers start **** around the world for no reason whatsoever except that it's the invisible hand to international relations, and militaries need gullible people to carry out those tasks for the sake of a game that is driven by insecurity and immaturity, but must exist only because Great Powers cannot act in any other way. Why? - because Great Powers lie, cheat, and steal, and institutions like the UN can't prevent those traits on most security issues that are at least medium-risk.

And don't presume anything about my relation with military. I'm a military intellectual and like to fight. That doesn't mean I have to have a rose-colored view about institutions that are causal in getting guys faces blown off. (In fact, most military people I know are candid in saying military institutions turn people to lemmings, which is a global view anyway from those on the inside.) The difference between me and most people is I can look at a wounded combat soldier without guilt, since I know the reality of the world. Most just turn a blind eye to such wounded types, pretend they don't exist, and carry on with Fox News propaganda from chimps like Sean Hannity, who fails to realize just how patronizing he comes across to most combat soldiers anyway.

Besides, I'm historically cynical of the pro-military propaganda that goes on nowadays. The only reason why people say that crap, besides the marketing gimmick that comes with it, is there's no draft. Many Americans resented the military during Vietnam even though it was the Johnson Administration, not the military (political over military, again), who escalated the conflict to make a draft necessary.

Historically, countries have had a real mistrust of military institutions, especially Great Powers, since they often caused problems that drug everyone else in the country into a slaughterhouse, or simply made life uncomfortable (an issue Americans have never truly experienced outside of her own revolution and the American Civil War, I might add, relatively speaking). Militaries tend to be popular when they're winning, unpopular when they're losing and have drug everyone else into the conflict with conscription or through colonial conquests (unless it's for the sake of national glory or defense of the homeland territory), and have been seen as having too much power for its own good - or as politicians in multiple countries have said, "Military questions are too important to be carried out by military generals."

Lesson for the day...

Please further my lesson, if you don't mind, by enlightening me on what branch(es) of service you were or are in.

Besides, I'm historically cynical of the pro-military propaganda that goes on nowadays. The only reason why people say that crap, besides the marketing gimmick that comes with it, is there's no draft. Many Americans resented the military during Vietnam even though it was the Johnson Administration, not the military (political over military, again), who escalated the conflict to make a draft necessary.



That is not the only reason people say "that crap." On the contrary, many people support military personnel BECAUSE of the stuff that went on after Viet Nam. No matter how much I object to a war, and trust me, I do, I will not allow my friends to be treated the way my parents' friends were when they came home from Nam. There is a very conscious effort to separate the support of veterans from support of the war so that we NEVER, EVER treat a group of returning people who served their country, in many cases involuntarily, nobly and bravely in less than noble situations.

I always thought the Maurer case was so mysterious when I was younger. While it still is very odd, there seem to be a lot of very persistent rumors it was somehow related to drugs.

Here's a 2010 article from a Madison, WI newspaper:

http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49417

This 20 year old case remains unsolved. One of Chad’s friends later informed Darla that Chad had driven to Milwaukee a couple times as part of drug deals. After a local Crime Stoppers segment aired, an anonymous tipper indicated Chad’s death was the result of a drug deal with people from his apartment complex in Madison. These people had previously resided on Chicago’s South Side, but this drug related murder scenario was never proven.

Terrific post, Francium.

Actually, since the 1991 Gulf war "support the troops" and "support the war" have become indivisible. That's what happens when we rely on bumper stickers.

Terrific post, Francium.

Actually, since the 1991 Gulf war "support the troops" and "support the war" have become indivisible. That's what happens when we rely on bumper stickers.


Maybe where you live. Certainly not where I live. Of course, I tend not to rely on the backside of cars for my political decisions.

Meanwhile, back at the hall of justice, we were discussing what happened to Chad, not some vast jingoistic conspiracy.

Oh, and his haircut makes him gay? No. That haircut made him trendy. Gay, bi or het, it doesn't matter, this wasn't some sort of sex crime.

As a gay man, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hit on a guy who shared a haircut with The Karate Kid's Johnny.

As a gay man, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hit on a guy who shared a haircut with The Karate Kid's Johnny.


You sir, have just won the internets for the evening.

But, NPH might disagree with you, since Barney Stinson loved Johnny. :)

I have to admit I've looked at missing persons photos more than once and thought to myself, god, if I go missing, I hope it's not during an embarrassing hair stage. Shallow, I know, but especially if I had run away, I'd be mortified if my 80s hair was all over the internet.

As a gay man, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hit on a guy who shared a haircut with The Karate Kid's Johnny.

As a heterosexual female, I woukd have found him attractive back in 1991 or so, when that picture was taken. He was a good looking kid. But I agree. His haircut does not dictate his sexual orientation.

I also lean towards the drug angle. With his history, it makes the most sense. Such a sad story.

Shallow, I know, but especially if I had run away, I'd be mortified if my 80s hair was all over the internet.

I was rocking coke-bottle thick glasses, acne, and an Afro back in the time when Chad went missing. I have literally destroyed most pictures if me during this time. I wholeheartedly echo your sentiments.

I was rocking coke-bottle thick glasses, acne, and an Afro back in the time when Chad went missing. I have literally destroyed most pictures if me during this time. I wholeheartedly echo your sentiments.
When I first watched UM I had a mullet perm. I wanted to be a guitar wizard like jimmy page. Unfortunately my mom or dad didn't stop me they encouraged it.

As far as chad this was always a strange case. I think he got set up and robbed. His hair was in style for that time. Sometimes people get too harsh with their opinion.

Please further my lesson, if you don't mind, by enlightening me on what branch(es) of service you were or are in.
Haha no response...I guess Im to dumb to understand the lesson for that day.

Haha no response...I guess Im to dumb to understand the lesson for that day.

;)

As a heterosexual female, I woukd have found him attractive back in 1991 or so, when that picture was taken. He was a good looking kid. But I agree. His haircut does not dictate his sexual orientation.

I also lean towards the drug angle. With his history, it makes the most sense. Such a sad story.

He certainly is a hot piece of arse.

Just watched this one on season 4 - I hadn't seen the opening of the segment in several years, so the whole lunch break part was new to me.
I think Chad had a friend or acquaintance stop by the shop - maybe they came to the back door and ask him if he could give them a ride to Chicago. Maybe they offered him enough money where he couldn't refuse. Maybe he owed someone a favor. Who knows.
I can assure you, Chad did not have to head all the way to Chicago to score some dope for his own personal use. In my college days in Madison I smelled it on the streets a lot. It's not difficult to get. I'm guessing he might have been helping or working for a dealer.
I read in an article link in another thread that Chad was from the east side of Madison. East side is definitely a more working class blue collar side of town. More crime on that side of town too. I could see where Chad would be wanting to make some cash quick.
I really doubt there was any corruption from the Chicago police regarding the handling of the case. South side drug killing? Probably happened so often that they were too understaffed to really investigate. Dime a dozen case.

I really doubt there was any corruption from the Chicago police regarding the handling of the case. South side drug killing? Probably happened so often that they were too understaffed to really investigate. Dime a dozen case.

I went to college in Chicago n lived in the city for 10 years. I have relatives and friends in the CPD. I'm not going to say there isn't any corruption in the cpd, but I don't believe it's relevant in Chad's case. I remember when this happened and it was very big news here in Chicago. The white Wisconsin kid murdered on the south side of Chicago really played big in the media. There was actually a lot of pressure on the police to get this solved. It's my belief that the drug angle is the correct angle, the exact circumstances is anyone's guess

What has always lead me to believe that drugs were a mitigating factor in the death of Chad Mauer is that one of his friends came forward in the days after his death and informed his mother that her son had to his knowledge twice run drugs to Milwaukee in 1989 and was paid for his services.

I keep going back to that after reading the article. In 1989, Chad would have been in high school or just finishing high school. And for him to make two separate 80 mile trips to Milwaukee to deliver drugs for some cash, who's to say he couldn't have been attempting the same thing by driving 140 miles to Chicago? Maybe whomever was supposed to pay him in Chicago killed him instead?

He probably wanted his parents to think he was going back to work but took the trip instead. I have a hard time believing he was somehow abducted while driving to work...(although that fate happened to Oliver Munson.)...and was then driven three hours to where he would eventually be killed, when he could have been killed much closer to home.

He probably wanted his parents to think he was going back to work but took the trip instead. I have a hard time believing he was somehow abducted while driving to work...(although that fate happened to Oliver Munson.)...and was then driven three hours to where he would eventually be killed, when he could have been killed much closer to home.

I agree with this. I think he got caught up with drugs and either he left to make the trip to Chicago because he saw quick money or he got forced into it. I do not think he was abducted and driven to Chicago. I think he was probably a good kid who made some poor life choices and got killed because of it.

This is random, but I remember being in Madison several years ago and in the paper one of the days there was a memorial to Chad in the obituaries from his parents on the anniversary of his death. It was weird to see his picture there. I still feel so bad for his parents about this. They seemed like good people.

Another thing I just noticed seeing this on Amazon: Chad was just driving to work but asked his dad for gas money. Sure, he could have been that low on gas and he needed it. But he was in a big hurry and needed to get back to work right away. Maybe he needed gas money because he knew he had to drive to Chicago...

Chad was clearly involved in a drug deal that went bad. NO question about it



Too bad parents seemed to
Be in denial

Terrific post, Francium.

It was spectacular, one of the best I've ever seen on this forum.

Chad resembled several of those adult film actors, gay and straight. Also he gave me Blue Lagoon vibes.

But as it has been said, a hairstyle does not indicate sexual orientation. That's like saying DazzlerSparkler drinks blood because she loves red lipstick.

I went to college in Chicago n lived in the city for 10 years. I have relatives and friends in the CPD. I'm not going to say there isn't any corruption in the cpd, but I don't believe it's relevant in Chad's case. I remember when this happened and it was very big news here in Chicago. The white Wisconsin kid murdered on the south side of Chicago really played big in the media. There was actually a lot of pressure on the police to get this solved. It's my belief that the drug angle is the correct angle, the exact circumstances is anyone's guess

This has always been my belief too - it had something to do with drugs, though specifically how will probably never be known. Could probably chalk Chad's skinned knuckles and soiled (bloody?) clothes vs ruling of suicide up to police incompetence (or sloppiness/laziness) too.

Was pretty sad watching his parents in the reenactment though :(

Seems like he got involved with the wrong people. But a few questions remain.

1)Was the whole needing money to get to Colorado thing a hoax or a cover for a drug debt?

2) Why weren't more of his friends interviewed or investigated I am sure they knew more.

He probably got involved with some violent black teens in the south side of Chicago. Maybe he did something to piss them off? The segment never really mentions but was he found on an abandoned property? Did somebody live there or was it just a vacated residence?

One of the articles linked earlier in this thread mentions that police still haven't ruled out his death as an accident, but go no further than that. I'd be curious as to what scenario they think could've happened that would lead them to not rule it out.

To me it seems like that day he probably had the trip planned and didn't plan on being at work since he needed gas money, I could be wrong though.

How many miles is it from where he lived to where he was found?

Also I've never really felt there was police cover up in this case. It seems there wasn't much to go on except they knew where he was found, how he died etc but had no information of why he was there. Missing some key information

To me it seems like that day he probably had the trip planned and didn't plan on being at work since he needed gas money, I could be wrong though.

How many miles is it from where he lived to where he was found?

It's approximately 140 miles from Madison to Chicago. I agree that he probably had the trip planned and wanted his parents to THINK he was actually going back to work.

The only thing that would go against that theory is the fact that he never told his boss he wouldn't be coming back to work after his lunch break. Eventually, his cover would HAVE to be blown. But in the reenactment, the boss doesn't even notice Chad is gone until his parents come to the store looking for him. It was like...

"Where's Chad?"

and the boss replies...

"I don't know. He better be here."

:confused: Huh? Either that was made up dialogue for a quick reenactment scene or Chad's boss wasn't the brightest dude on the planet.

It was spectacular, one of the best I've ever seen on this forum.

Seriously. That was one hell of a “mic drop” post if I’ve ever saw one. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

Robin Warder recently covered the Chad Mauer case on his podcast "The Trail Went Cold" (and if you haven't checked it out yet, you should because it's just that good!). Robin brought up some familiar narratives regarding this case and some interesting points that had been left out of the "Unsolved Mysteries" segment, but widely discussed in this thread and it brought to my mind a scenario that might be a little bit different then the one that was speculated about on "Unsolved Mysteries".

To begin with I think there is credible evidence that Chad Mauer was involved to some degree in the local drug scene prior to his death. The fact that his friends came out and admitted to his parents in the wake of his passing that he was involved in some type of drug transaction to me at least is significant. I am only just slightly older than Chad Mauer and maybe it's different today, but back when I was growing up friends didn't rat friends out to their parents for nothing. So to have Chad's friends come up to John and Dolly Mauer after his passing and inform them of details regarding their son's involvement with the drug scene to me speaks of these kids wanting to make sure that Chad's parents knew that their son did not commit suicide in a garage on the south side of Chicago. So to me that makes their statement very much credible and therefore likely truthful.

The next point is one that Robin didn't elaborate on much in his podcast, perhaps because there isn't really any definitive way of ascertaining it's veracity. But one significant moment in the "Unsolved Mysteries" recreation of the timeline, is when investigator Bongiovanni is seen speaking with Chad's former boss at the bike shop. The bike shop manager relates an instance presumably regarding Chad's time on the job where "something or someone spooked him". Now what I found interesting in Robin's podcast is that there was the revelation that Chad Mauer had not been employed at the bike shop for all that long at the time of his passing. He had been working there I believe a couple of days so given that and the manager's comments, a likely scenario is that someone associated with the local drug scene must've walked into the bike shop while Chad was working and Chad had legitimate reason to be afraid of this person. Now why would he be afraid of this person?

I think to tie things together you need to go back into a lot of what we have learned about Chad Mauer through the various news articles that have come out on his case. We know that according to his mother that he smoked at least a significant amount of marijuana. The way Dolly Mauer put it, it doesn't seem like marijuana was a casual libation of her son's, although that is not to suggest either that he was an addict of any type. But it does seem like having access to marijuana was important to him and as Robin brought up in his podcast it does send up some red flags when you hear about Chad having to sell off his personal belongings. The narrative that has been put out there is that Chad was looking for money for some of his athletic interests but as anyone can tell you a preference for marijuana is not going to do anything to enhance the wallet of your average teenager. Another red flag that comes up is these stories about Chad Mauer allegedly doing favors for people involved with the local drug scene whether it was being used as a runner or whatnot. Was this something he was doing of his own volition to make money on the side or was he doing this perhaps to pay off some type of debt?

This is essentially what I'm getting here because while the narrative that has been put out there has Chad Mauer going to the south side of Chicago in effort to transport drugs that ended in tragedy, it could've just as easily been a different scenario. You have an individual from the local drug scene show up at the bike shop shortly before Chad takes his ill fated trip to Chicago, Chad is clearly afraid of this guy, potentially because he owes him a debt for drugs. Shortly thereafter perhaps, Chad either makes the decision to or is more than likely told to go to the south side of Chicago to settle up and walks into a trap. Perhaps Chad thought he could handle himself in this situation or maybe thought that he was going to encounter one person or a particular person and ended up likely being confronted by not only this individual but a whole gang of his running mates who demanded money from Chad. Chad not exactly being flush of cash (given he had to ask his dad to cover him for twenty dollars for gasoline) may have gotten himself into a situation where he couldn't pay these people or reneged on promises to pay these people and they beat him unconscious and then allowed him die of carbon monoxide poisoning in that garage.

To me at least that makes a great of sense of you take together the concept of Chad not having access to money, having a preference for marijuana, allegedly participating in some very high risk behavior where he was trafficking drugs where the penalty for him being caught would've been extremely significant, to the story told by him former employer that perhaps in the days leading up to his death that he felt scared of something or someone and then ending up dead in southside housing project two days later? To me there doesn't seem to be many coincidences. It just seems like a well connected chain of events.

Chad was probably running some serious stuff between Chicago and Milwaukee to either pay off debts or earn money to go and be a ski bum in Colorado. Stuff like pounds of marijuana, bricks of cocaine, or bags of heroin. My idle speculation would be that there was a fight over payments. Chad expected to be paid $x or for the debt to be wiped clean, whoever was having him make the trips didn't want to do that or pay him at all and a fight ensued. They probably didn't intend to asphyxiate him, they just dumped him in a running car after knocking him out and left.

Unfortunately whoever did it probably isn't alive after thirty years in the south side of Chicago drug trafficking scene.

When I first watched UM I had a mullet perm. I wanted to be a guitar wizard like jimmy page. Unfortunately my mom or dad didn't stop me they encouraged it.

As far as chad this was always a strange case. I think he got set up and robbed. His hair was in style for that time. Sometimes people get too harsh with their opinion.



Is there a hairstyle thread on this forum for UM? It could go a long way.

BTW, I also think Chad Maurer's deathw as related to drugs in some way.

Chad was probably running some serious stuff between Chicago and Milwaukee to either pay off debts or earn money to go and be a ski bum in Colorado. Stuff like pounds of marijuana, bricks of cocaine, or bags of heroin. My idle speculation would be that there was a fight over payments. Chad expected to be paid $x or for the debt to be wiped clean, whoever was having him make the trips didn't want to do that or pay him at all and a fight ensued. They probably didn't intend to asphyxiate him, they just dumped him in a running car after knocking him out and left.

Unfortunately whoever did it probably isn't alive after thirty years in the south side of Chicago drug trafficking scene.

The only reason this story has any life is because the coroner conducted a lazy autopsy. If he or she did their job Chad’s death would have been immediately classified as a homicide and investigated as such. Then probably concluded as another run of the mill Chicago drug murder.

Is there a hairstyle thread on this forum for UM? It could go a long way.

You are probably right. I encourage you to start one. :)

http://pomc.com/chadmaurer.cfm

The Parents of Murdered Children web site has a profile of Chad Lee Maurer (the actual spelling of his last name). Although it was very obvious that Maurer was murdered, the Chicago police deemed it a suicide. Eventually, however, they changed the nature of his death to "undetermined."

I find it very eery that the day he disappeared (Saturday, May 19, 1990) was the same day I turned 18.

:( :eek:

In a few days, it'll be the 30th anniversary of Chad Maurer's murder. Very creepy indeed and sad they still don't have a true resolution.

I live in Madison and have tried to find Chad's old bike shop—"Village Pedler"—a couple times when I am on that side of town. The GPS just led me to a gas station every time. The bike shop is closed down but it be neat to find the old building.

I agree with the theory Chad was killed in a drug deal that went the wrong way.

Chad's segment is not only memorable to me because of the location but because of the parents taking on their roles in the segment and what scenes they had to act in.

Recently saw the Chad Mauer segment (S04). I definitely don't believe he committed suicide; it's obvious he was murdered. Hopefully they'll eventually catch those who did this. However, given that it's been 30+ years - that seems unlikely at this point.

I definitely agree that drugs were involved with his death. Here was a middle-class kid who worked at a bike shop, and probably wanted to make some quick, easy cash since he had a lot of big plans (college in CO, sports equipment, etc.). He may not have been a user of hard drugs, but was probably dealing/distributing/transporting (or involved in some other way) - which somehow led to his death.

When I first saw this segment & saw where his body was found, I immediately thought of the drug angle - even before the show mentioned this.

In many UM cases where someone is murdered, the person is completely innocent & may be in the wrong place at the wrong time, etc. However, in this case I think CM was playing with fire, and unfortunately got burned. He definitely didn't deserve what happened to him. But, at the same time he wasn't an innocent kid who was killed while minding his own business.

Recently saw the Chad Mauer segment (S04). I definitely don't believe he committed suicide; it's obvious he was murdered. Hopefully they'll eventually catch those who did this. However, given that it's been 30+ years - that seems unlikely at this point.


Given where it happened (Chicago's South Side), the likely perpetrators are probably long since dead themselves.

Yea he was definitely involved in things he shouldn't have been involved in. That said, he did not deserve to die and I hope his killers are captured.

I live in Madison and have tried to find Chad's old bike shop—"Village Pedler"—a couple times when I am on that side of town. The GPS just led me to a gas station every time. The bike shop is closed down but it be neat to find the old building.

I know this is over a year old, but the bike shop was located at 5511 Monona Drive in Monona, WI.

As for the murder, the connection between the people at Chad's apartment complex to the southside of Chicago should have been taken more seriously, IMO. There would be no reason whatsoever for Chad to have traveled roughly (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/5511+Monona+Drive,+Monona,+WI/41.833625,-87.622648/@42.4493203,-89.5957812,281690m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x880653d46b0ac869:0xf5683e64e2b164cd!2m2!1d-89.3264735!2d43.0598603!1m0!3e0) two and a half hours to buy drugs. The apartment complex connection should have been investigated deeper, but it seems like law enforcement didn't take it seriously because they didn't believe Chad was involved with drugs.

I know this is over a year old, but the bike shop was located at 5511 Monona Drive in Monona, WI.

Looks like it's a pizza place today. But the makeup of the building and the gas station right across the street match up with what we saw in the reenactment.

It is interesting that one of the articles states that Chad may have been on the South Side of Chicago looking for gay sex.

I'm sure a good looking kid like Chad didn't have to drive 150 miles in seek of gay sex unless he was looking for a certain demographic. Now Chad was into a lifestyle that his parents were not happy about.

I think Chad was just a very naive wannabe like someone mentioned earlier in the thread. I think he and his friends partied hard and liked to do drugs and wanted to be a part of something and make some money.

What bothers me is the jacket. Chad's mother said the jacket found next to him did not belong to him. That leads me to believe that Chad was probably accompanied by someone on that trip to Chicago and that the jacket belonged to him.

Now if the new neighbors in the complex were from the South side of Chicago it is a great likelihood they were black. Whoever it was probably didn't have a car and was using Chad to make the drug run and promised him money with no intentions of paying him?

The drug deal gone bad part is probably the most logical explanation however the drugs are going in the wrong direction. No one was bringing drugs from Wisconsin to Chicago that makes no sense. Chicago is full of drugs. I believe Chad and an acquaintance went to Chicago to buy drugs to bring back to Wisconsin and Chad was double crossed/robbed.

Once he got there and blew Chad off Chad probably got angry and a fight ensued and the passenger and his friends beat Chad up and knocked him unconscious. They put him in that garage and left the car running on purpose to kill him. Chad walked right into a setup.

The passenger probably did his own drug deal and found a ride back to Wisconsin.

I believe the passenger or one of the people who helped put Chad in the garage tipped the police off because they wanted the body to be found as soon as possible.

If Chad was really about that life he would have had a pistol on him and probably wouldn't have went alone but with some friends of his own instead of a new acquaintance.

I think Chad was used as an easy mark they knew he needed/wanted money and they sold him on making the trip because he had been known to make trips like that before.

UM and Chad's parents did a good job of presenting Chad as an "all American boy" but we clearly see Chad was a troubled 21 year old who really didn't have much going for him but drugging it with his friends, partying and doing some odd jobs to save money for his personal interests.

I don't think Chad had any intentions of moving to Colorado for college like his parents claimed he was looking to party and indulge in his pleasures whatever they may have been.

All I know is that a white boy on the south side of Chicago is either a corpse or a crackhead. Even in 1990 Chicago was in the height of the crack epidemic and very dangerous.

Chad was no innocent but he didn't deserve what he got he trusted the wrong person trying to make some quick cash. He was killed because of what he knew.

Regardless of whether he was driving to Chicago to drop off drugs or pick up drugs, this was an impossible mission to accomplish without getting busted. As we’ve established, it’s a 140 mile drive to get from Madison to Chicago. That’s a 2 ½ hour car drive there, a 2 ½ hour car drive back home and however long it would take to do the transaction. Let’s say for the sake of argument that would take 30 minutes. That would make it a 5 ½ hour window where his boss would surely notice he never came back from his lunch break. As a result, the boss would have called Chad’s parents (had they not gone to the bike shop first) and his cover would have been blown long before he had even reached Chicago. He had to have known as soon as he left his parent’s house that he was going to be fired from his job and have a lie ready to tell his parents where he was all day.

Making the trip at that time on that day made zero sense, unless he was held at gun point and forced to drive for 140 miles (highly doubtful). Or if he owed someone money and felt he had to make the trip in order to save his life, like another poster said. According to the friend who came forward, Chad had made a couple trips to Milwaukee before to drop drugs off for money. Maybe this trip to Chicago would have involved much more money than his previous jobs and he felt the risk was worth the reward.

Regardless of whether he was driving to Chicago to drop off drugs or pick up drugs, this was an impossible mission to accomplish without getting busted. As we’ve established, it’s a 140 mile drive to get from Madison to Chicago. That’s a 2 ½ hour car drive there, a 2 ½ hour car drive back home and however long it would take to do the transaction. Let’s say for the sake of argument that would take 30 minutes. That would make it a 5 ½ hour window where his boss would surely notice he never came back from his lunch break. As a result, the boss would have called Chad’s parents (had they not gone to the bike shop first) and his cover would have been blown long before he had even reached Chicago. He had to have known as soon as he left his parent’s house that he was going to be fired from his job and have a lie ready to tell his parents where he was all day.

Making the trip at that time on that day made zero sense, unless he was held at gun point and forced to drive for 140 miles (highly doubtful). Or if he owed someone money and felt he had to make the trip in order to save his life, like another poster said. According to the friend who came forward, Chad had made a couple trips to Milwaukee before to drop drugs off for money. Maybe this trip to Chicago would have involved much more money than his previous jobs and he felt the risk was worth the reward.

So you think it is more likely that he left work to make a quick drug deal in the local area and then was attacked/murdered there and then driven to Chicago to be placed in a different jurisdiction to confuse authorities? no surprise that chicago struggled with the investigation.

Is there a hairstyle thread on this forum for UM? It could go a long way.

BTW, I also think Chad Maurer's deathw as related to drugs in some way.

I'm only seeing this post now lol. Idk if there is a hair thread. There is a thread about best wigs from UM. The topic got mentioned in the latest behind the scenes/best of UM production that was a recent release.

I wonder if it would have made a difference if Chad's parents pushed harder on the drug angle from the beginning. I'll have to go back and watch the segment because I feel like they portrayed chad as not being involved in drugs. 21 years old is a vulnerable age for poor decision making.

Given where it happened (Chicago's South Side), the likely perpetrators are probably long since dead themselves.

I wonder if the perpetrator was local to Madison where Chad lived, yet had some type of connection to Chicago and knew where to abandon Chad and his vehicle in a way that the investigation would be more difficult. If we think about this way it could be possible that the perpetrator does not live in Chicago, but very well could be dead or incarcerated given the amount of time that has passed. they could be out there still though.

It could also be possible that a drug dealer killed Chad because Chad owed them money or Chad was seen as someone who could threaten someone in some way. it could have been a way for a drug dealer to make a statement. Any conduit between Chicago and Madison would involve major transactions. It's doubtful that Chad would have been involved in that type of trafficking.

So you think it is more likely that he left work to make a quick drug deal in the local area and then was attacked/murdered there and then driven to Chicago to be placed in a different jurisdiction to confuse authorities? no surprise that chicago struggled with the investigation.

No. I have no idea. I'm just trying to figure out why at that time he chose to make the trip to Chicago. The two separate trips to Milwaukee were successful without his parents knowing. Driving to Chicago at that time was a doomed trip at that particular moment even if he hadn't gotten killed. He still would have been found out or need a very convincing lie as to where he could have been for a nearly 6 hour window. Why not wait until a non-workday where it would have been much easier to pull off without his parents and boss knowing?

Just trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

No. I have no idea. I'm just trying to figure out why at that time he chose to make the trip to Chicago. The two separate trips to Milwaukee were successful without his parents knowing. Driving to Chicago at that time was a doomed trip at that particular moment even if he hadn't gotten killed. He still would have been found out or need a very convincing lie as to where he could have been for a nearly 6 hour window. Why not wait until a non-workday where it would have been much easier to pull off without his parents and boss knowing?

Just trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

gotcha. I don't recall the Milwaukee trips. that sheds a little light that maybe he was emboldened by that to go to Chicago. it doesn't seem likely that someone would voluntarily go to the Chicago south side for a drug deal unless they were extremely naive or ignorant of that location and its danger.

The only thing that I can think of is that he thought he could leave during his work shift and be back in time for his parents not to notice. they saw his car was gone, but to go in the store and confront the boss shows that they were concerned for Chad, perhaps had good reason to check up on him based on prior events. I wonder if Chad got permission to leave work that day as opposed to just leaving without permission...IDK. he might of just dipped out thinking it wasn't a big deal and could give his boss an excuse later that would be accepted.