Maura Murray

James Renner wrote:

I've explained it before.
I use my blog as a generator of leads. I believe in "crowd-sourcing" clues and info in these unsolved cases. A "hive mind" of readers is always going to be smarter than one individual journalist. Yes, the Reddit post went up after I noticed how readers there helped generate leads in the Boston bombing case. I was very impressed by that.
There are lots of new tips coming in based on the posts I've put up in the last two weeks. In fact, I would not know the identity of the man from Maura's photo yet if not for my readers.
What isn't helpful are the posters on here who "know" certain information that may be helpful to the investigation but choose not to share it. These people I call "Gollums" and they show up in every cold case. I dealt with them during the Amy Mihaljevic book, too. It's creepy, really. They think by hanging on to their "precious" info, it makes them special somehow.

How well did that "hive mind" on Reddit help? Three innocent people were wrongly targeted and accused by the public. Mainstream media (The New York Post) picked it up and ran with it, plastering pictures of two of the three "BAG MEN" on their front page. One young man, a high school student and athlete, was fearful for his life by misguided vigilantes.

As for "Gollums", do you know if "these people" have not already shared their "precious" information with law enforcement but only CHOOSE not to share it with you or the general public for sake of their or their families own safety? Did you ever think of it that way? I don't think so. Your journalistic practices are borderline reckless endangerment.

Nothing good comes of limiting information.

I do believe the Reddit community helped resolve the situation in Boston sooner than would have been possible without it. As to the wrong people identified, they were never ID'd as if they were definitely the bomber. They were ID'd as people of interest, which they were. Reddit found them and they were able to be ruled out sooner that would have been possible.

I'll tell you this, as a father of two children, if anything ever happened to them I would release ALL info to the public. The more info, the more likely someone reading will notice a connection that may provide resolution.

James, I hope you will still interview RO. Her account seems credible to me, and she seemed certain that the plate of the truck she saw was from Mass. According to the news article I reposted a few pages back, LE wasn't able to investigate her tip at the time because she didn't get the plate number. Maybe she was wrong, but it would be nice to be able to put to rest whether the truck mentioned by Graves is the same truck RO saw, and whether or not the driver was investigated by LE.

James Renner wrote:

Nothing good comes of limiting information.
I do believe the Reddit community helped resolve the situation in Boston sooner than would have been possible without it. As to the wrong people identified, they were never ID'd as if they were definitely the bomber. They were ID'd as people of interest, which they were. Reddit found them and they were able to be ruled out sooner that would have been possible.

reputations are fragile and easily broken. the correction made in small print on the bottom of the back page, a now ancient model, doesn't fly; the damage is already done.
i guess until someone goes after you, it works to push the limits, boldy implicate and accuse in this crazy world.

In the Boston bomber case I would argue that the damage done was an acceptable result of finding the real bombers before they could do more damage.

James Renner wrote:

As to the wrong people identified, they were never ID'd as if they were definitely the bomber. They were ID'd as people of interest, which they were.

They were persons of interest? Of interest to whom? For what? Did you actually think about what you just wrote? Good god.

I have to say James that your last two posts are the lamest and most unprofessional excuses for shoddy journalism I have seen in a very long time.

Before today I was quite indifferent to your blog and book, however I now find myself disgusted by your approach and philosophy.

That is just my opinion for what it's worth.

Let me clarify: I mean the damage done to the reputation of people identified as "persons of interest".

James Renner wrote:

In the Boston bomber case I would argue that the damage done was an acceptable result of finding the real bombers before they could do more damage.

Acceptable to whom? To you?

Not being the person whose picture was blasted all over the Internet as a potential terrorist I wonder if your opinion would be different if it was your picture out there. I notice you did not seem to enjoy when that guy here posted pictures of your family on the Internet.

Just curious, how old is Mr. Renner?

Acceptable to the public at large who were in danger of the men who carried out the attack. People have forgotten what a "person of interest" means. It means just that a "person" of "interest". That moniker only holds guilt if you allow it to.

I very much welcome the inclusion of Reddit readers and even messageboards like this blog in ongoing stories and criminal cases.

James Renner wrote:

I do believe the Reddit community helped resolve the situation in Boston sooner than would have been possible without it. As to the wrong people identified, they were never ID'd as if they were definitely the bomber. They were ID'd as people of interest, which they were. Reddit found them and they were able to be ruled out sooner that would have been possible.

Obviously, you are speaking here with little to no knowledge of what actually transpired on Reddit that night. The people identified on Reddit were NOT persons of interest. They were not persons of interest to any LE agency. They were "created" by posters on Reddit. One poster initially posted "Is missing student Sunil Tripathi Marathon Bomber #2?" and off it went into crazy land. I know, I was there all night/morning while it happened. They got the second name from the Boston Police scanner which did not say in any way it was connected with the suspects, it was just a name. They had the whole world searching the Internet for those two names starting about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, and it didn't stop until an announcement that the suspects were Chechens came out on the AP around 6:40 a.m. Friday.

A warning was posted on Reddit shortly after the Tripathi name was revealed that all posts referring to him would be removed. That didn't stop people from posting - there were tons of threads that mentioned the names of these guys plastered on the page that stayed there for a long while before moderators removed them. Those posts contained lots of photo comparisons people created of Tripathi and Dzhokhar Tsarnaeva. I also watched as people spammed the Facebook page "Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi" with horrible messages that he was the bomber - truly awful things were said there about Sunil and the family, to the point that the page owners took down the page for a few days.

In fact, the ONLY way I saw that Reddit helped was by posting additional pictures of the Tsarnaev's and cleaning up some of the FBI pictures so they could be more clearly seen. They also broke down the FBI video into separate frames to also create more visible images.

Last but not least, you have again today changed your blog post about the red truck to now say "A local woman known as 'Robinson Ordway'" - let's straighten this out. It should say "a woman who posted online using the screen name 'Robinson Ordway'". Because of the irresponsible and harmful way you use people's real names in this case, I won't tell you her name, so I guess that makes me a "Gollum." You're the investigator, you figure it out. If many of us here have been able to do it, surely you can too.

Again, I don't really see anything wrong with the actions taken on Reddit that night. What is wrong is the perception of some of the readers. Reddit and forums can be used as a place to gather information. Those people, including Sunil, were persons of interest for a time. Reddit helped weed them out. Sorry. I don't feel bad for the few hours of anxiety it caused the innocent people if it led us to the real bombers quicker. Which I believe it did.

As to Ordway. I talked to her over a year ago. I'm trying to figure out how best to handle identity there. But thanks for the concern.

amy researches wrote:

James, I hope you will still interview RO. Her account seems credible to me, and she seemed certain that the plate of the truck she saw was from Mass. According to the news article I reposted a few pages back, LE wasn't able to investigate her tip at the time because she didn't get the plate number. Maybe she was wrong, but it would be nice to be able to put to rest whether the truck mentioned by Graves is the same truck RO saw, and whether or not the driver was investigated by LE.

It would also be a good thing to verify if WG´s red truck was the one reportedly seen on BHR.

Tonto Tarzan wrote:

<quoted text>
Tonto say: Her words true because computer say so.
Computer. Always. True.
Topix is only on computer.
Topix always true.

Good to see you back, Ben! You´re oh so right about this overly simplicistic line of thought oftentimes seen on topix. What a luck topix is always true.

hannah_b wrote:

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It would also be a good thing to verify if WG´s red truck was the one reportedly seen on BHR.

Hannah- Who actually verified seeing a red truck on BHR? Thanks, I can't remember where that originated from.

JWB wrote:

<quoted text>
Hannah- Who actually verified seeing a red truck on BHR? Thanks, I can't remember where that originated from.

I think - not 100% positive - it was Weeper back on the old forums who claimed a red truck was seen on BHR with driver outside. There was talk about a woman walking her dog, and the dog was spooked. Later there has been denial of this, there was supoosedly never a re truck there, no woman walking her dog, etc. Later still there has been more talk of the red truck on BHR.

JWB wrote:

<quoted text>
Hannah- Who actually verified seeing a red truck on BHR? Thanks, I can't remember where that originated from.

I was going to ask the same thing. I have seen Columbo mention it, but I was under the impression these were two different trucks. Maybe I misunderstood. I don't think I have ever seen a mention of who this witness was or when it was reported.

hannah_b wrote:

<quoted text>
I think - not 100% positive - it was Weeper back on the old forums who claimed a red truck was seen on BHR with driver outside. There was talk about a woman walking her dog, and the dog was spooked. Later there has been denial of this, there was supoosedly never a re truck there, no woman walking her dog, etc. Later still there has been more talk of the red truck on BHR.

Thank you

amy researches wrote:

<quoted text>
I was going to ask the same thing. I have seen Columbo mention it, but I was under the impression these were two different trucks. Maybe I misunderstood. I don't think I have ever seen a mention of who this witness was or when it was reported.

I just have never seen it in any news articles etc.. Only here on Topix and I wasn't sure where it originated from.I thought poss Mrs. Champy, but I re read the Socco article and she saw Mauras Car door open the night of the accident as LE was as the scene. I didn't read any mention there of the red truck , but she drove by at 7:50 or so.

Pointless Endeavor wrote:

<quoted text>
How well did that "hive mind" on Reddit help? Three innocent people were wrongly targeted and accused by the public. Mainstream media (The New York Post) picked it up and ran with it, plastering pictures of two of the three "BAG MEN" on their front page. One young man, a high school student and athlete, was fearful for his life by misguided vigilantes.

unconscionable and immoral practices