Chad Maurer

[NDAlum2003]

Very little about this case is on the Net, but I found this one at http://www.tcfatlanta.org/daily111205.html.

This Long Journey called Grief

This joumey called grief is definitely a long one, full of twists and turns.

Our only child --- Chad Maurer, age 19 --- mysteriously died on May 21, 1990. The case is UNSOLVED. We have had three different profilers involved in Chad's death, each with his own theory and facts to back up what they felt happened ... accidental, murder, and suicide.

Last month I received a card from a couple in Wisconsin whose son was also found murdered in Chicago. They paid for a billboard on the interstate with his picture and asked for information about his death. Someone was arrested a year ago and they hope to have a trial next summer.

Then I received a call from Gillian regarding NPR - a new organization founded to help people in Cold Cases such as Chad's, The drawback is that the police dept. has to ask for their help. We have jurisdiction problems in Chad's death. He was found in Chicago, but the Dane County Sheriff's Dept. has done all the investigating. So after 13 year --- my mind and body is still whirling and I am back to not being able the `think straight.' I worked on Chad's case, writing letters, interviews and documenting every phone call and anything said regarding Chad. I did this for four years, until it wore me down. I could not work and make money plus work on Chad's case too.

As Barb Seth said in the last newsletter, time helps to heal. In my case walking, working onChad's case, writing articles about Chad, corresponding with other Alive Alone (a TCF newsletter for parents who have lost their only child or all their children) parents, sending cards to bereaved people on the loved ones anniversary death and birth day helped heal me. I feel Chad is always with me and also watching over my husband John when he BMX races.

Last week we were invited to a wedding. I do not know how it is for you bereaved parents; but going to 'happy events' (especially ones we will never have the chance to do with Chad), is one of the hardest things to endure. I decided I would try the wedding, if I felt ok, I would then go to the reception. Well I ended up having a really good time --- first wedding I enjoyed and didn't feel depressed after.

Today is a different story, another wedding and reception and my heart and soul tells me I cannot do it. I have found I need to listen to my heart even more since Chad's death. John calls us the `Walking Wounded". Chad paid the ultimate price --- his life. This is how I feel today. I sit here and watch it rain and the birds and squirrels feeding. In nature I can get lost along with my beautiful memories of Chad.

Then I did something to help me through the day. I wrote my clients to quit buying me gifts and donate to the three organizations, which have helped us through Chad's death. It felt good to verbalize what is important to me and helps --- objects do not help. I also sent Chad's story to Alive Alone along with his photo and $100 to be put in their May 2004 newsletter (some newsletter .'sell 'pages).

It is doing things `In Memory of Chad' that keeps me going. Sometime in the first year, we put a mayonnaise jar at Chad's grave with a pen and paper inside. The day after Chad's first anniversary, we found over 25 notes and personals to Chad in the jar. Ever since then, there has been a mayo jar at his grave from March through November. After 13 years his friends still visit and leave notes. Last week there were three notes to Chad. These young people had their best friend killed by her boyfriend. It makes no difference whether they knew Chad; they found comfort leaving notes at his grave.

We have heard that some people stop at Chad's grave just to read the notes, to know they are not alone in their grief feelings. How this helps John and I, I cannot even begin to explain. We heard that when Chad was alive, he was one of the teen other teens turned to --- now in death, too Chad helps.

Dolly Maurer, T'CF Madison, WI


~reprinted from Madison Area TCF Newsletter Nov/Dec 2003

[wiseguy182]

I feel so sorry for Chad's family, he seemed like such a good kid. It's been a while since I've seen this segment, but I remember thinking it was a random act of violence as Chad didn't appear to be into anything bad. Such a sad case Kind of bizarre how he wound up in Chicago being that he lived in Wisconsin. This is actually my top request should CrystalDawn do a voulme 3 of UM favorites.

[NDAlum2003]

It definitely was a sad case. I thought that the police's hypothesis was correct and that maybe something else was involved. Putting myself in Chad's shoes, I always wondered if he had actually been offered money to do something (to him likely a large amount) and then someone reneged on that promise. Thinking he would report it, they killed him. It's really sad when good kids wind up victims.

[greatgarrett2]

What was puzzling to me was that he wound up in the derelict neighborhood. And, who's garage was he in, was it abandoned?

It might be likely that someone or organization who did him in might have had connections with the South Side of Chicago, apparently notorious for crime and the like. It makes you wonder if he did get mixed up in some shady deals.

As wiseguy said, Why Chicago? Were there some connections there to Chad?

[DarkDante]

This is hard for me to write especially given Dolly Maurer's heartfelt and sincere feelings about the loss of her son but while I feel bad for Chad's parents, I've always felt this is one case where there was a direct casual connection between the victim's actions and his fate.

Chad was a young man in my mind who was very naive about a great deal of things. I have no doubt in my mind that he was involved (on some level whether minor or significant) in the pipeline of drug activity described in the UM segment. He thought that perhaps he could dip his toes in the water and then get out before it got too serious but when drug activity is present this is rarely the case.

Being that he was a middle class clean cut kid (from what I could see) stepping into a drug/gang related culture in the southside of Chicago, I think whomever killed Chad really "saw him coming" so to speak and he was a real easy mark. I'm sure Chad thought that when he "did the job" for the folks that these people he was dealing with would deal with him honorably but as in many cases (as someone a bit older, more mature or worldly than Chad would've known) this is usually not what happens in the drug culture.

So yes Chad didn't deserve to die but I can't with a clear conscience grieve for him as much as I do for say Ives & Henry because it was Maurer's actions that got him "snakebit" - he didn't deserve to die but he was the one who entered the snakepit in the first place.

[wiseguy182]

I believe Chad probably knew his killer(s) in some fashion. While it's been awhile since I've seen the segment, I do recall a window being broke at the bike shop where Chad worked, earlier in the day he died I believe. This could suggest that Chad knew who it was and that they were using this as some type of warning.

I'm wondering what the motive was. If the drug theories are correct, perhaps Chad stated a desire to get out of the business, but they convinced him to do one last transaction, and decided to off him for fear of him snitching.

[DarkDante]

^ I think it could be something as simple as what the detective said that Chad showed up in Chicago expecting payment for his "work" and the gang members instead just beat him down and killed him. This is all very common as I mentioned within the drug culture.

[compulsive dvd]

I always found it amazing in the reenactment that Chad's boss didn't know he wasn't at work. In a large store, people know when someone didn't show. In a bike shop this small, I can't imagine why the guy didn't call Chad's residence. And what did he say to get the window broken in the shop?

[unsolvedfan4life]

Originally Posted by compulsive dvd

I always found it amazing in the reenactment that Chad's boss didn't know he wasn't at work. In a large store, people know when someone didn't show. In a bike shop this small, I can't imagine why the guy didn't call Chad's residence. And what did he say to get the window broken in the shop?

In the re-creation the bike shope owner George was saying "someone or so something spooked him."

On a lighter note, a classic quote. "George, is Chad here?" "Well, he better be, he might be in the back with a customer." That part did not make sense since the shop was kind of small. Very sad case though.

[NDAlum2003]

I think the vandalism is definitely related. More than likely we'll never know the full story but I think some of the theories presented on here and on UM are probably good educated guesses based on circumstances.

[NDAlum2003]

I'm dragging this back from the archives but this article on Chad's parents is great. They're keeping his memory alive and both mom and dad are doing well.

http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstat...ures/73016.php

[mozartpc27]

Originally Posted by SoftentheSilence

Living in D.C., I know of people who have traveled all the way to Boston (8 hr. drive!) to pick up weight.

I can see why Chad might have driven to Chicago, and not Milwaukee, for to buy his schwag (perhaps the part of Wisconsin he lived in was closer to Chicago, or equidistant), but why in heaven's name would someone living in D.C. have to drive more than 15 minutes to come up with a little chronic?

[DarkDante]

mozartpc posted this in another thread - I'm bumpin it here because I think it bears some commentary

I went a-searchin' for stuff about Chad Maurer, and the first artilce I found was this. In the article, this little detail which is not mentioned in the UM segment is briefly given:

Quote:
Chad's memory is kept alive at Rockford, too. Every year, the track holds a memorial race in his honor. The plaques have a photo of him racing. The early ones also carried a logo that friends designed in his honor after his death: a cross-boned smiley face, with pencil-thin X for eyes and a C attached to the top of the head. Chad's friends tagged it all over the East Side of Madison after his death. The cops mistakenly thought it was a gang thing.

Now, I don't want to go assuming things about people based on the behavior of their friends, but this strikes me as a little odd. The article itself describes what his friends did as "tagging" which is the polite word for "illegally spraypainting," and the logo, as described, is more than a little disturbing. If these are the types of things his friends would do as tribute, it becomes a little easier to understand how a "nice boy" like Chad was found on Chicago's south side. This is not to say that everyone who makes graffitti is necessarily a drug dealer, far from it.

But, as they say, where there's smoke, there's fire, and the fact that he turned up dead under suspiscious circumstances and had friends who evidently were attracted to elements of street culture lends credence to the idea that he may have been more heavily involved with that culture than people suspected...

It's always been clear from the segment that Chad must have been involved in something more dangerous than his parents suspected, of course.

Based on what mozartpc has stated above, it is plausible in my mind that Chad Maurer was not unlike Jesse James Hollywood and his buddies in that they dug the whole gangsta affliation but had really no idea what that entailed. They probably liked the trick cars, the rap music and the tough guy/rogue attitude as well as probably indulging in a little bit of pot. But beyond that they wouldn't know a real gangsta if they saw one.

I think Chad, got himself involved with some legitimate tough guys over on the south side of Chicago and just walked into a snake pit so to speak. Just someone who got in way over his head in something he didn't have any business being involved with in the first place.

[hostedbyrobertstack]

Bringing up an old one, but I'm not going to apologize, haha. I just watched htis one today and did some searching and found this news article from 1992. It looks as though chad had done LSD and pot previously, it also said that he had been paid twice to take a drug dealer to milwaukee. Interesting read...

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...&pg=7142,35711

[compulsive dvd]

check out the computer ad below that article. we've come a long way.