LISK VICTIM

Maureen Brainard-Barnes

Brainard-Barnes was born June 14, 1982, in New London, the daughter of Marie Ducharme of Groton and the late Robert Senecal.

Brainard-Barnes was last heard from on July 9, 2007 at 11:43 p.m . when she called a friend in Connecticut just minutes before midnight, telling her she was going to meet someone outside of the motel

When Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ remains were found, she was bound with a distinctive belt embossed with the initials “WH” or “HM,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said .

Maureen Brainard-Barnes

Maureen was last heard from on July 9, 2007 at 11:43 p.m. when she called a friend in Connecticut just minutes before midnight, telling her she was going to meet someone outside of the motel

Maureen Brainard-Barnes

Maureen Brainard-Barnes was born June 14, 1982, in New London, the daughter of Marie Ducharme of Groton and late William A. Vieu Sr. lived with mother and stepfather StepFather Robert Senecal. 

Maureen’s siblings, a sister, Melissa Vieu of New London; Brother, William A Vieua Jr. Who passed away due to a motorcycle accident and half-sister, Bryona Senecal.

Maureen often spoke about her dreams on her MySpace describing the moments in details and posting her poems.  

Maureen Married Jason Brainard-Barnes in 1999. Maureen became a mother at 17 and had two children before she disappeared, Nicolette Brainard-Barnes of Mystic and Dylan Haggett of Norwich

She was formerly employed at Foxwood’s Resort & Casino as a dealer.

Maureen was living in an apartment at 180 Prospect Street in Norwich, Connecticut.

The 25-year-old was petite, standing at only 4 feet 11 inches.

Before she became an escort, she originally went to New York City with hopes of becoming a model.

She stopped working as an escort for a couple of months before she went missing. However, she decided to start again shortly after receiving an eviction notice.


Timeline

Maureen was born June 14, 1982, in New London, to Marie Ducharme of Groton and late William A. Vieu Sr. Maureen lived with her mother and stepfather Stepfather Robert Senecal.

Maureen’s siblings include a sister, Melissa Vieu of New London; a Brother, William A. Vieu Jr. Who passed away due to a motorcycle accident; and a half-sister, Bryona Senecal.

  • Marie Ducharme (mother), worked in a nearby hotel
  • Bob worked in lumber, and occasionally as a mechanic.

2003, he died on Maureen’s twenty-first birthday. He was walking on a train trestle late at night,  tripped, and drowned in the shallow water where he had fallen.

Marie quit her hotel cleaning job and got a job at Mohegan Sun as a slot attendant. It helped her afford the down payment on a tan Ford Taurus, which allowed her to drive to a second job cleaning offices. From that point on, she was rarely home. Maureen and her younger sister and brother, Missy and Will, would take care of one another.

Maureen dropped out of high school when she was sixteen, As soon as she learned she was pregnant. She became a mother at 17 and married Jason Brainard-Barnes in 1999. They moved into Jason’s grandparents’ place in Pawtucket,  then went south for two years when Jason enlisted in the army.

2001 They came back to Mystic, but the marriage fell apart only lasting two years, but there were no fights and no lawyers.  Without drawing up papers, they decided that Caitlin would live most of the time at her father’s place in Mystic, where the schools were better. 

Maureen got a job at Foxwoo, went through Black Dealer School offered at Foxwoods and moved in with her sister, Missy, and her children in Branford Manor housing development in Groton. The three of them were reunited—Maureen, Missy, and Will grown up, each with their own children.

2004 Maureen moved out of Missi’s place and moved in with her new boyfriend, Steve, who ran a pawnshop in Norwich. Tall with a mustache and beard, Steve was white but dressed and talked ghetto. He never wanted to be around Maureen’s friends or family, not Missy and  Will. Their relationship seemed strained almost from the start.

She had been using MySpace to market her music and network with other rappers when she noticed ads for modeling there. Those ads led her to a site called ModelMayhem.com, inviting her to send in a portfolio bookers could reference. She’d found a friend to take some photos for free, as long as he got to keep the negatives.

After she enrolled on ModelMayhem.com, she started getting dozens of e-mails from places purporting to be modeling agencies that, after a few clicks, turned out to mean nude modeling and sometimes escorting. She wasn’t exactly surprised. What surprised her was the money. However Maureen did not want to share the money with the agency, so she started advertising on Craigslist.

Advertised under Juliana or M5c1f.webp?size=96)

Maureen posted her ads on the Eastern Connecticut/Adult Services page of Craigslist for a few years, but there was a problem: all the men she saw were either working or attending the Foxwoods casino where her Mom Mari was working.

2005 Maureen met a Chrissy—a boy dressed as a girl. Chrissy invited Maureen on her first trip to New York. But Maureen’s plans to NY halted when Maureen got pregnant. Steve was a good father. Maureen returned to work at the Casino, but it didn’t last long.

2006, the relationship fell apart, and Maureen left Steve. But Steve was paying all the bills, and Maureen had nothing. She picked a telemarketing job at Atlantic Security but didn’t pay enough, so Maureen started providing massage services. But it wasn’t enough, and Maureen was facing an eviction if she didn’t come up with $1200 by July 10, 2007. The court was scheduled for July 10, 2007

July 6, 2007, Maureen, her friend Sara Karnes, and Mat (Steve’s friend and Maureen’s bodyguard) traveled to Manhattan by train. As soon as they arrived at their hotel room, they learned their Craigslist ads were flagged as inappropriate.

July 9, 2007, 10 am – Maureen only made $700, which wasn’t enough to pay her back-due rent. So Maureen decided to stay, but her friends Sarah and Mat were not fond of that idea, but Maureen refused to leave.

July 9, 2007, at 11:43 p.m., Maureen called Sarah Marquis to tell her she was going to meet someone outside of the motel. (edited)

July 14, 2007, Sara reported Maureen to the Norwich Police Department. The NYPD assisted the Norwich Police Department in the missing person investigation, eventually taking it over.

Maureen Phone Records

Cellphone data indicates that LISK started calling Brainard-Barnes on July 6th, which was the Friday that she traveled to Manhattan. This means that he may have spotted her ad and initiated contact before it was suspended.

Considering they had 16 separate interactions over that weekend period, it seems plausible that they were haggling over the particulars of an outcall. It is also possible that this outcall was the sole reason that she decided to remain behind by herself when her friend returned home.

Cellphone activity

Brainard-Barnes was picked up outside the Super 8 motel shortly before midnight on July 9th, 2007. Her last cellphone activity occurred near the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (59th Street Bridge). Coordinates: 40.756861, -73.954445

Map of Cell Phone Activity:

December 13, 2010 Brainard-Barnes was found on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach GPS Coordinates: 40.757108, -73.981304

  • Her killer had restrained her using three leather belts, one of which had been tied around her legs.
  • One of the belt buckles contained a single strand of female hair that did not belong to the victim.
  • This hair was later proven to have the same mitochondrial DNA profile as Rex Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup.
  • According to the police, the belt buckle may have picked up Ellerup’s hair while it was inside the couple’s residence.

Computer and a Cop

When Norwich Police Detectives went through Maureen’s computer, they discovered the officer was one of the last people to contact Maureen through Craigslist. No name of the officer was released.

I went through old archives and found an article on two cops; one got arrested during a sting operation, and the other was stripped of the gun and was placed on modified duty.

Maureen Phone Records

Cellphone data indicates that LISK started calling Brainard-Barnes on July 6th, which was the Friday that she traveled to Manhattan. This means that he may have spotted her ad and initiated contact before it was demoted or suspended.

Considering they had 16 separate interactions over that weekend period, it seems plausible that they were haggling over the particulars of an out call. It is also possible that this out call was the sole reason that she decided to remain behind by herself when her friend returned home.

Cellphone activity

Brainard-Barnes was picked up outside the Super 8 motel shortly before midnight on July 9th, 2007. 

Her last cellphone activity occurred near the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (59th Street Bridge).

Coordinates: 40.756861, -73.954445  Map of Cell Phone Activity

Call from a stranger

Sara Karnes accompanied Brainard-Barnes to Manhattan on Friday, July 6th, 2007. However, after a quiet weekend, she decided to cut her losses and return to Connecticut on the 8th.

Two weeks later, she received a phone call from a private number.

When she answered it, a man asked her if she was from Connecticut and if she knew Maureen.

He also described a tattoo on her friend’s right arm.

Sara Karnes told the man that Maureen was her friend and that she had been missing for two weeks.

In response, he claimed that she was “fine” and that he had just seen her at a “wh*rehouse in Queens.”

Karnes knew that this didn’t sound right, as her friend was an independent escort. When she asked where it was, he said that he didn’t know the exact address.

At that point, the man promised to call her back and provide her with the location.

However, he never did.


2006 Poem by Maureen Brainard Barnes

There’s too many people walking around with plastic faces.

Too many children hanging in the wrong places.

Too many dirty cops controlling ghetto blocks.

Too many fist fights ending in shots.

Too many girls taking to wrong paths.

It’s not too late to do the math and figure out just where we went wrong.

It’s time to wake up, get up, pick your head up young one because too soon the future will come.

It’s YOU that decides what YOU will become.

Make a new Reality, pave a promising road for our sons.

Too many single mothers not getting any help.

Too many politicians telling us lies. Too many people not asking WHY?

It’s time to take a step back, take our youth back from a pop society. Where people buy popularity and focus on money, sex, and fast cars AND YOU WONDER WHY TERRORISTS HATE WHO WE ARE.

It’s time to wake up, pick up young one because too soon the future will come. It’s you that decides what you will become.

MAKE A NEW REALITY, pave a promising road for our sons.