A Scream on the Water: The Murder of Martha Brailsford

On July 12, 1991, thirty-seven-year-old Martha Brailsford left her home in Salem, Massachusetts, for an afternoon sail with her neighbor, Thomas “Tom” Maimoni. She never came home. Maimoni initially denied that Martha had ever been on his boat. When witnesses contradicted him, his story changed. He then claimed Martha had died accidentally after striking her head aboard the sailboat—and that, terrified his wife would discover he had been out sailing with another woman, he panicked and dumped Martha’s body into the ocean. Six days after Martha disappeared, a lobsterman discovered her body in the waters off Marblehead. She had been weighted down with an anchor and diving weights, and an autopsy determined that Martha had drowned—meaning she was still alive when she entered the water. As investigators dug deeper, other women came forward describing disturbing encounters with Maimoni during previous sailing trips. Prosecutors argued that Maimoni had tried to seduce Martha aboard his boat and killed her when things went wrong. He was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder. This is the murder of Martha Brailsford—a seemingly innocent afternoon sail that ended with a woman at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay, a neighbor telling story after story, and a killer who thought the ocean could hide the truth. Sources used for this podcast Support the show JOIN THE  HITCHED 2 HOMICIDE IN-LAWS AND OUTLAWS Send Kris and Rob a Message START KRIS CALVERT'S BOOKS TODAY FOR FREE H2H WEBSITE H2H on TWITTER H2H on INSTA Martha Brailsford, Tom Maimoni, Thomas Maimoni, Martha Brailsford murder, Salem Massachusetts murder, Massachusetts Bay murder, sailboat murder, murder at sea, Marblehead murder, Counterpoint sailboat, historical true crime, Massachusetts true crime, true crime podcast #MarthaBrailsford, #TomMaimoni, #ThomasMaimoni, #SailboatMurder, #MurderAtSea, #SalemMassachusetts, #MassachusettsTrueCrime, #Marblehead, #TrueCrime, #TrueCrimePodcast, #TrueCrimeCommunity, #HistoricalTrueCrime, #CrimeHistory, #MurderCase, #Hitched2Homicide   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.