NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #10

[goldiegirl]

All great points about Fred's odd focus 10 yrs later. However, I can almost understand his frustration in that area. I reported my ex husband missing when we lived in a dangerous part of Houston, and I still to this day am irritated and offended that I was not taken seriously. The things is, YES, we had gotten in a fight, but he was also on foot in the middle of the night in a terrible area. But he was also an adult. And they gave me posters but told me no detective would be assigned to the case until Monday. They were incredibly rude to me during the whole process. Thank God he came home safely, but I will never get over how I was treated. And the fact that they, IMO, completely botched the investigation into him being beaten and robbed. It sure as heck won't solve anything for me to have this dealt with now, years later when I'm married to someone else and living in another state, but I'm still miffed.

ETA: I have to confess that I DID minimize our fight when they asked me about it, because I knew in my gut that something was wrong and that if they saw him as someone running away from a wife he was irritated with, they wouldn't even look into it.

 

[Lolacat]

It must be very very upsetting if you know something is very wrong about a relative going missing and its not taken seriously by the police. I cannot imagine how awful that would be. Especially if something nefarious has happened, the first 36 hours is probably the most likely window of opportunity for finding them alive.

What I am wondering though- did LE actually do anything wrong? (legally speaking, not morally).

I mean, on one hand, the car was locked and there was no sign of a struggle. BA spoke to her and she asked him not to contact police. Then she left (presumably of her own will). BUT, on the other hand, she was a female alone at night in a deserted area, who had potentially hurt herself in the car crash and she had been drinking. This makes her incredibly vulnerable. Legally speaking, did LE have a duty to look for her more thoroughly than they did? (in those first 36 hours)

 

[Nordicpete]

This is a very good question.

I do think Fred has some questions he wants answered (like why an off-duty cop went to the accident scene, yet there is no (public) record what the cop did or didn't do that night,

But, I don't know why Fred is so focused on those first 36 hours (some 10 years later).

I have thought, maybe he was planning some sort of law suit if he could ever get everything released to him or maybe he just wanted it on record to the public that the police botched up investigating his daughter's appearance.

I really don't know what It would solve, for Fred to learn about how police handled a pretty typical minor car accident in the first few days.

Having followed the MM blogs for many years, I seem to recall that the off-duty state trooper JKM assisted the school bus driver Mr Atwood in searching for Maura on the evening of Maura´s crash on Rte 112. According to unconfirmed reports over the years JKM and Mr Atwood went searching for Maura in separate vehicles, driving west on Rte 112 towards Swiftwater village. Supposedly Mr Atwood checked out the Mountain Lakes area while state trooper JKM apparently encountered red truck witness RO on Rte 112 near the general store in Swiftwater village.
I´ve never read about any searches for Maura going up Bradley Hill Road or east on Rte 112 during those first few hours.

 

[Nordicpete]

This is a very good question.

I do think Fred has some questions he wants answered (like why an off-duty cop went to the accident scene, yet there is no (public) record what the cop did or didn't do that night,

But, I don't know why Fred is so focused on those first 36 hours (some 10 years later).

I have thought, maybe he was planning some sort of law suit if he could ever get everything released to him or maybe he just wanted it on record to the public that the police botched up investigating his daughter's appearance.

I really don't know what It would solve, for Fred to learn about how police handled a pretty typical minor car accident in the first few days.

Having followed the MM blogs for many years, I seem to recall that the off-duty state trooper JKM assisted the school bus driver Mr Atwood in searching for Maura on the evening of Maura´s crash on Rte 112. According to unconfirmed reports over the years JKM and Mr Atwood went searching for Maura in separate vehicles, driving west on Rte 112 towards Swiftwater village. Supposedly Mr Atwood checked out the Mountain Lakes area while state trooper JKM apparently encountered red truck witness RO on Rte 112 near the general store in Swiftwater village.
I´ve never read about any searches for Maura going up Bradley Hill Road or east on Rte 112 during those first few hours.

 

[BillNH]

It must be very very upsetting if you know something is very wrong about a relative going missing and its not taken seriously by the police. I cannot imagine how awful that would be. Especially if something nefarious has happened, the first 36 hours is probably the most likely window of opportunity for finding them alive.

What I am wondering though- did LE actually do anything wrong? (legally speaking, not morally).

I mean, on one hand, the car was locked and there was no sign of a struggle. BA spoke to her and she asked him not to contact police. Then she left (presumably of her own will). BUT, on the other hand, she was a female alone at night in a deserted area, who had potentially hurt herself in the car crash and she had been drinking. This makes her incredibly vulnerable. Legally speaking, did LE have a duty to look for her more thoroughly than they did? (in those first 36 hours)

IMO LE did not do anything wrong legally or morally. Under the curcumstances what they did was follow standard procedure. It also seems that under the same circumstances LE all over the country follow the same procedure. I do believe that Fred's questioning the response is his way of trying to get the FBI involved. If the local or state police can be proved to have mishandled or otherwise were involved in some way the FBI would step in automatically. Fred is just performing to try and get his way.

 

[Fireweed]

I also do not think LE did anything wrong. We have the benefit of hindsight now, but at the time, they likely followed typical police procedure in this case, which is to drive around a little with the side light on and look, but it is certainly not to launch a full-scale search for the person. Look, LE has finite resources. The local cops up there cannot deploy their resources to finding a person who is not even missing at that point. All they knew was that a drunk driver bolted from the scene of a minor one car accident before the cops showed up. It just so happened to be the one in a million case that the driver disappeared off the face of the planet after that.

I would argue that the cops have a duty not to deploy a lot of resources looking for a person in cases like this in the first 36 hours. There are other people up there who need the police. Unless they knew that Maura was injured (unlikely based upon witness testimony and the fact that Maura fled on foot), or if they know that Maura is on the run from a murder rap, then it would not make sense to launch a huge search for her.

Finally, I would also argue that whatever led the disappearance of Maura happened in the first few hours, not the first 36. Maura's fate was sealed (either by her own hand or someone else') before sunrise. Were the local cops up there supposed to bust out a helicopter with heat sensor technology? Do they even own such a thing? No, the best they could do was have the cops on duty drive around and look for her, which is exactly what they did.

 

[BillNH]

I also find nothing sinister in an off duty trooper being at the scene. It is my understanding, and according to Helena (administrator of the FB page) that he did call in and that he helped with the search. Helena also said that the idea that he was there without reporting in was just a rumor that had no basis in fact.

 

[walkingdeadgirl]

Just some questions to ponder if one is to believe Maura was meeting up with someone:

1. Why did Maura only pack 1 outfit?

2. Why did Maura take the time to lock her car, but not grab the stuff she packed?

3. With no cell phone coverage, how would the person she was meeting with know precisely where to pick Maura up from (assuming her second wreck wasn't staged)?

4. Why did Maura take the time to pack up bottles of alcohol to bring from her wrecked car and nothing else (like toothbrush, clothes, sentimental items)?

(Sarcasm alert) Is alcohol the new form of identity to use to cross a border with?

5. Why did Maura have a book about adventures and death in the white mountains while she was entering the white mountains ... yet (if you believe the tandem theory) then she was going to Canada or somewhere else - So why have that book with her? Seems like an odd traveling book to take with you to start a new life. Kind of a Debbie Downer and really has nothing to do with Canada.

6. Why pack up your dorm room back at UMASS? You are supposedly starting a new life, why not leave things as they were. It seems like wasted time for someone who seemed very rushed and frantic those last few days before she went missing.

7. Why drink and drive (in a car on its last legs supposedly) if you are trying to make a clean break to a new life? IMO, you would want to be very alert during this time and make sure nothing went wrong, so you can make the bold move with very little problems.

8. Why leave late in the afternoon from campus? You are ditching your old life. Why not leave at the crack of dawn and have the whole day to get to your new destination?

1) AFAIK, she had clothing for roughly a week, including running gear.

2) confusion, panic, and reflex. Locking the car is a reflex habit almost everyone has.

3) maybe she jogged to the pre arranged location.

4) if she was already drinking, maybe she wanted to continue drinking. Perhaps the accident was the last straw and she threw out all previous plans and decided to pull out her father's suicide by drinking plan. Maybe she just wanted to remove evidence.

5) she took that book with her a lot...it was her favorite book. It could have nothing to do with anything outside of that fact.

6) type a personality. Maura was also described as very compassionate... She may have wanted to spare her friends and family the chore.

7) she was obviously distressed about something. People don't always make the best choices when they are under stress.

8) maybe she wasn't packed up in time. Maybe it would have seemed suspicious. I don't think it matters.

 

[Lolacat]

I also do not think LE did anything wrong. We have the benefit of hindsight now, but at the time, they likely followed typical police procedure in this case, which is to drive around a little with the side light on and look, but it is certainly not to launch a full-scale search for the person. Look, LE has finite resources. The local cops up there cannot deploy their resources to finding a person who is not even missing at that point. All they knew was that a drunk driver bolted from the scene of a minor one car accident before the cops showed up. It just so happened to be the one in a million case that the driver disappeared off the face of the planet after that.

I would argue that the cops have a duty not to deploy a lot of resources looking for a person in cases like this in the first 36 hours. There are other people up there who need the police. Unless they knew that Maura was injured (unlikely based upon witness testimony and the fact that Maura fled on foot), or if they know that Maura is on the run from a murder rap, then it would not make sense to launch a huge search for her.

Finally, I would also argue that whatever led the disappearance of Maura happened in the first few hours, not the first 36. Maura's fate was sealed (either by her own hand or someone else') before sunrise. Were the local cops up there supposed to bust out a helicopter with heat sensor technology? Do they even own such a thing? No, the best they could do was have the cops on duty drive around and look for her, which is exactly what they did.

Exactly! Thats why I dont understand why Fred is so critical of them in the first 36 hours. Here, if an adult goes missing you can't even register them as missing until 48 hours later (barring exceptional circumstances, like mental illness/learning disability/cognitive impairment etc). Maura DID NOT want help from LE. She specifically asked BA not to call them! They followed standard procedure. I think Bill is right- Fred was hoping to get the FBI involved and to make as much fuss as possible to keep the case alive etc..

 

[scoops]

Exactly! Thats why I dont understand why Fred is so critical of them in the first 36 hours. Here, if an adult goes missing you can't even register them as missing until 48 hours later (barring exceptional circumstances, like mental illness/learning disability/cognitive impairment etc). Maura DID NOT want help from LE. She specifically asked BA not to call them! They followed standard procedure. I think Bill is right- Fred was hoping to get the FBI involved and to make as much fuss as possible to keep the case alive etc..

I am also confused why Fred keeps going back to those first 36 hours.

I understand that those first 48 hours after someone goes missing are vital, in turning up leads and finding them, but this is 10 years later. Obviously, police did not live up to the standards that Fred would've liked. But the FACT is still that his daughter is missing to this day (not declared dead). So I would think my attention would be on finding my missing daughter, not what police were up to in the early days.

Since I read it, I have always found one of Fred's comments to be very telling.

He and his then son-in-law were searching for Maura and evidently, he pointed up towards the mountains and said that is where they would find Maura ... drunk and naked.

Now obviously, we don't have full context on that quote. I would venture to guess that he said that out of frustration to his son-in-law.

But what I believe that quote means is that Fred believes his daughter perished (due to hypothermia) up in the mountains.

Finding anyone that has gone missing in the mountains (as I understand it) is very hard to do.

Search teams would have to be highly trained (police aren't going to risk people's lives to try and find someone in a large search effort).

I would almost bet, a real clue would have had to surface that helped pinpoint a certain location in the mountains before any type of search would've ever been considered.

All IMO.

 

[JeannaT]

I'm surprised the Murray family doesn't declare Maura legally dead. As emotional as that process would be, things open up and information can flow more freely, including use of her SSN or access to the investigation.

 

[scoops]

1) AFAIK, she had clothing for roughly a week, including running gear.

2) confusion, panic, and reflex. Locking the car is a reflex habit almost everyone has.

3) maybe she jogged to the pre arranged location.

4) if she was already drinking, maybe she wanted to continue drinking. Perhaps the accident was the last straw and she threw out all previous plans and decided to pull out her father's suicide by drinking plan. Maybe she just wanted to remove evidence.

5) she took that book with her a lot...it was her favorite book. It could have nothing to do with anything outside of that fact.

6) type a personality. Maura was also described as very compassionate... She may have wanted to spare her friends and family the chore.

7) she was obviously distressed about something. People don't always make the best choices when they are under stress.

8) maybe she wasn't packed up in time. Maybe it would have seemed suspicious. I don't think it matters.

Just for debate purposes:

1. -- She only had a pair of sweatpants and a sweater and some sort of a throw(blanket) from what I have seen as well as some undergarments. --- A very similar (maybe even exact) outfit can be seen in a picture that was taken with her and her father (likely just a few months earlier) in which they are posing on a summit. Maura is wearing a black sweater/jacket and gray sweatpants in the photo. The photo I am referring to can be seen in that chronicle piece.

2. But why not grab her bag. That would've taken 5 seconds and it was a bag she specifically packed for her trip. If she was meeting up with someone down the road, she could've brought the bag with her.

3. that is a stretch. a pre-arranged location is one thing. But to have the pre-arranged location conviently near where she unexpectedly wrecked (in the middle of nowhere) doesn't add up in my book IMO.

4. I agree with your conclusion here. She likely continued drinking and there is a slim chance she just wanted to ditch the bottles of alcohol.

5. the book could be as you point out. But there has been several versions of why Maura had this book with her (introduced by family and family spokespeople over the years).
One version is that Fred loved the book so much that he handed the book over to each of his kids to read, and it just happened to be Maura's turn to have the book at the time she went missing.

Another version is that it was Maura's favorite book and she carried it with her everywhere she went.

People, she is nearing the entrance of the white mountains and she has a book about the white mountains. I find that too much of a coincidence and something (that if I didn't want to believe she was there to do personal harm to herself) I would try and come up with a story as to why she had the book to help explain it away.

6. that point works very well with someone who wants to end their life, (yet doesn't want to make things even more difficult for family members, so they pack up their things in their dorm knowing that family would have to tend to it at a later date.

7. I agree that she was stressed out (which can lead to poor decision making). But, in some regards, she was also focused enough to slip away and never be heard from again. She definitely comes across as someone that developed a plan and implemented that plan, not someone who was just all over the place operating by the seat of their pants.

8. I still find the time that she left her school campus odd. If she was in fact going to the white mountains, (She would've known) that she would have arrived into the forest in the pitch dark, which is an odd time to be entering that type of environment. I really believe she planned on staying at a hotel that Monday night, drinking some more, possibly writing up some sort of note for family and by dawn, she would've off to complete whatever it was she was out there doing.

 

[Tssiemer]

Maybe she had another bag with her that we don't know about.

You know.. assuming she ran and stuff.

 

[scoops]

I also find nothing sinister in an off duty trooper being at the scene. It is my understanding, and according to Helena (administrator of the FB page) that he did call in and that he helped with the search. Helena also said that the idea that he was there without reporting in was just a rumor that had no basis in fact.

Well someone might want to relay that to Fred then.

He has been adamant over the years that police let him know what the off-duty officer was up to that night.

 

[JeannaT]

I've always thought she is there in the woods, dead from hypothermia. I think we've all recently seen in the Leanne Bearden case how remains can be RIGHT THERE and go unnoticed. Maura could be miles away, in any direction.

 

[Tssiemer]

I've always thought she is there in the woods, dead from hypothermia. I think we've all recently seen in the Leanne Bearden case how remains can be RIGHT THERE and go unnoticed. Maura could be miles away, in any direction.

I agree. But every now and then I think she alive and well. I recently had to take a break from JRs blog because it was getting crazy over there with theories and rumors.

 

[Vinny]

Yea I do get the feeling she died of exposure.

She runs a short time down the road and steps off into the woods to remain unseen and accidentally gets lost. She wanders for a few miles before giving up. Because she was drinking, she would also be more susceptible to the cold and thus hypothermia.

Seems to be the simplest of answers, doesn't it? Runaway theories are enticing, but they seem like the least logical imo.

 

[goldiegirl]

I agree that LE didn't necessarily do anything wrong. But what I don't understand is what good it does for Fred to "keep the case alive" if he already knows she committed suicide? I'm confused. I know this is kind of a mix of different theories, but for those who believe that Fred knew from the beginning what his daughter's fate was (Scoops), why would he have any interest in keeping the case alive and getting the FBI involved?

 

[scoops]

I agree that LE didn't necessarily do anything wrong. But what I don't understand is what good it does for Fred to "keep the case alive" if he already knows she committed suicide? I'm confused. I know this is kind of a mix of different theories, but for those who believe that Fred knew from the beginning what his daughter's fate was (Scoops), why would he have any interest in keeping the case alive and getting the FBI involved?

Fred has stated publically that he believes his daughter is dead.

So, whether or not you are skeptical about a suicide theory, the same question you are posing would be the same question for Fred, even if he didn't believe his daughter took her own life.

Why bother looking, if you already believe she is dead?

But to answer your question,
IMO, it's because they haven't found her.

And they aren't going to find her the way things are looking.

Police are not actively looking for Maura.

Yes, they would take a tip if it was turned into them and they would follow any new lead that is brought in front of them, but the fact of the matter is, Maura's case has never amounted to anything more than someone (an Adult) that went missing with no signs of a crime taking place.

I think Fred wants the FBI involved to get a more pro-active search going for his daughter IMO. And by that, I am referring to remains.

 

[ontheclock]

I totally agree. I can feel Fred's frustration, not that I think LE hasn't done a good job. He needs his daughter home.