There's always been one nagging thought in my mind about this case. How, unlike most situations, there seems to be no understandable logic to Maura's actions. Her behaviors seem to be erratic and nonsensical. It's the reason this case is so evocative. We, as rational human beings, need to make sense out of everything. And nothing about this case seems to make any sense. But what if...
She went to a party, got herself drunk and smashed up her dad's new car. My dad would have given me HELL about that, for sure!!! Fred was probably furious with her. I mean, that would be human nature. It would be strange if he didn't react negatively toward her irresponsible behavior and to the extensive damage that she did to his brand new car.
And just when he was going to buy her a new car? He might have decided, or at least said, that she didn't deserve a new car. Or that he couldn't afford to buy her one now that she had damaged his. I know in my family we were all really good at laying guilt trips on each other, and at engaging in passive-aggressive behavior. If Maura's dad retracted his offer to buy her a new car perhaps she decided she'd show HIM what danger he was putting her in by making her drive her old car.
Maybe that's why there was a rag in the tailpipe. She thought it would expose her to fumes and make her car seem more dangerous than it was. Or otherwise make the car appear to be emitting smoke. That wouldn't have to necessarily work out as she intended; she would just have to believe that it would.
Maybe she had the second accident on purpose to make it seem like she had passed out from the fumes. And maybe to make her look less culpable in the first accident. As in HER car's fumes were impairing her. She may have expected her car to be found and a search to ensue, and she would soon be found in a confused or dazed state. Maybe she thought no one would notice the rag in the tailpipe. Or maybe, she was shaken and surprised when the guy stopped and offered her a ride and she forgot to take the rag out. The alcohol could have been a cry for help. Like "See Dad, you scolded me so severely that I became overly stressed and had to drink to handle the pain." Or she was trying to make her drinking, and thus her damaging dad's car, look like impaired thinking as the result of breathing in noxious fumes, and consequently, not really her fault.
Maybe her plan was that her dad would believe her to be wandering around, dazed and in danger from the toxic fumes being emitted by her car. That they made her not act like herself. Perhaps she was hoping that he would express relief when she was found and that her prior screwups would be forgiven and considered to be not her fault. Believe me about this , I know just how crazy one can get in an effort to gain approval from their critical parent. i'm almost 50 and still desperately trying to gain my mother's approval.
Anyway, in this case, she wouldn't have been trying to kill herself. But her plan fell out of her control when some freaky guy grabbed her. If she was trying to create the appearance that she had been poisoned by driving around in her dangerous car (and thus needed a new one), there would be no clear logic to her actions. She might have even wanted people to believe that she had "gotten so confused" that she drove to NH in a state of delirium. If her plan had worked, the police or her dad would have found her, Dad would have apologized for his disapproval and forgiven her for damaging his car, and she would have gone back to school, maintaining the story of a death in the family to her superiors. In this situation, she would have never expected things to go so wrong that she would end up being murdered. She would never have expected her lies to be exposed. She would have given her dad a scare, maybe get him to lighten up on her a bit, and then return to school like nothing had happened. The kink in her plan would be the stranger who would end up killing her. You can never plan for what other people will do.
To me, the lack of logic in this whole crazy case makes some kind of sense in this scenario. But she'd have to have been somewhat immature and passive-aggressive in her problem solving. I am familiar with this personality because to some degree my entire family had it, and for sure , my brother still does.
