NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #11

[bragi]

Update: I had the school wrong. It doesn't change much and is addressed in another post.

Something I've learned that had been useful is: If you can't find something, look where it couldn't possibly be. This works for me when finding dropped or lost objects, and maybe it will work here.

I looked at where Vasi was hit, and it's 0.6 miles from Amherst College. Google predicts that will take 2 minutes. Is it unlikely that Maura could get there and back? Maybe, but then again we only have the word of one or more people that that's the case. And if she hit someone, would she have parked in a parking lot? I really doubt it! Maura's behavior was erratic at best at that time, and if she was out of her mind after hitting someone and driving away (which I could totally see her doing), she probably would have just parked wherever.

If the spot where Vasi was hit was so busy, why have I not been able to find one witness that gave a statement? I just read an article where they asked Vasi himself if he knew anything about the accident. If someone who just woke up from a coma is your hot lead, I doubt many people were around.

Regarding ditching her post: is that unlikely? Maybe, but Maura seems pretty practiced at dipping out, especially if she's feeling shame or in turmoil. The area surrounding where Vasi was hit included at least 3 pizza places. It's clear to me that Maura had a pretty serious eating disorder that she was hiding (something she learned from her family, I'm sure), so if she snuck out to secretly get some food to binge on, I don't find that so unbelievable. Maura was caught using that credit card, so perhaps since she can't use delivery to cover up her binging she had to sneak out on her own. If she returns and nobody notices (she could just say she was sick and in the bathroom for something -- after all, it's only 10-15 minutes, probably), that could help keep it a secret. Maybe she's even done this before. Has anyone asked the pizza places around there if they'd seen her come in?

At least one person from the Murray family has said they don't know what could have been said on the phone that would have made Maura upset. Maybe that was actually the truth; maybe Maura was freaking out and needed an excuse, so she grabbed at the closest thing in her mind: "my sister...." Perhaps someone saw her on the phone and knew she was talking to her sister, and Maura decided that'd be a good cover. Practiced liars, in my opinion/experience have a preternatural ability to construct lies that have ties to reality and can stand up to some amount of scrutiny.

"You're only as sick as your secrets." Maura had plenty. Maybe this one seemed too big to hide. Maybe she ran -- just as she had been all her life, and just as she ran from that accident, and just as she would days later.

 

[bragi]

If FM knew that Maura was fleeing from the law, he may indeed have told her to put a rag in her tailpipe, since if someone saw a "smoky" car leave the PV accident scene they may have been trying to desperately conceal the identity of the car as MM escaped Amherst.

 

[bragi]

Even if the Vasi angle were true, Maura seemingly had no problem letting Billy suffer a lifetime of guilt thinking that he was the "cause" of her disappearance. Seems cruel to me.

It sounds to me like he cheated on her at least twice. That's a pretty cruel thing to do to someone, so maybe she didn't give a **** if BR suffered. I know I wouldn't.

 

[bragi]

Update 2: New map. Given this information, the only restaurant that seems to magic logical sense (in a vacuum) is a place called "Primo Too." Then again, this happened ten years ago, so who knows what was there at this time. It's not clear to me why MM would drive so far down this road, unless for some reason she wanted to come up N/E Pleasant St from the south. Maybe the place she wanted to go was on the right side of the road; maybe, since the Triangle St & N/E Pleasant St intersection is weird, it's faster to go down Triangle instead. If MM was in a rush, I can see her getting frustrated with traffic or the lights and going down Triangle. That would mean she was probably speeding, and thinking more about getting back to school quickly rather than watching the road....

Update: I looked up the wrong school on the map. Will update.

FYI, here's a map that shows a route from Amherst College to where PV was found.

 

[bragi]

The location where PV was found was surrounded by nothing: a cemetery, woods, and a house on the left; a road you can't turn down, fields, and a business on the right; secluded road one direction and not much of anything in the other direction.

Could a person be laying unconscious for hours in this location? I would most definitely believe it. Contrary to what has been suggested in this thread, this cannot be a busy intersection that would have a lot of witnesses that could see something in the dark of winter.

Image captures of the area below.

 

[bragi]

FYI, there is a medical doctor named David Rakel that has written what looks like at least two medical textbooks: Amazon link. I mention this because one of the sightings reported a woman saying her name was "Ra[y]kel." Pretty weird name. Maybe it was pulled off a textbook. Wasn't there a report that MM had textbooks with her? Does anyone know what they were? Is there any record of MM's class schedule?

 

[Gene S.]

The location where PV was found was surrounded by nothing: a cemetery, woods, and a house on the left; a road you can't turn down, fields,

That road you can't turn down is the exit for Amherst High School--those athletic fields you see (and the track) are part of Amherst High School.

 

[bragi]

I've compiled a bunch of photos from Google Maps / Street View that show things MM would have seen on her trip, up until where she crashed.. The only thing that really jumps out at me is a pizza place that serves 24" pizzas, which I thought was odd but noteworthy.

Here's a ZIP of the images: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1991002/Maura Murray Trip Photos.zip

 

[Blessed2Bme]

FYI, there is a medical doctor named David Rakel that has written what looks like at least two medical textbooks: Amazon link. I mention this because one of the sightings reported a woman saying her name was "Ra[y]kel." Pretty weird name. Maybe it was pulled off a textbook. Wasn't there a report that MM had textbooks with her? Does anyone know what they were? Is there any record of MM's class schedule?

BBM

FWIW, Raquel is the usual spelling for this female name. It's a pretty

common name in my neck of the woods. But I agree, 10 years ago maybe

not so common at UMass. Huge possibility that she got it off the textbook.

Excellent observation Bragi!

 

[bragi]

I ran across this PDF of something called "Maura is Missing: A Special Report" on Facebook. I'd never seen it before and it actually had a few bits of new information, along with a look at the case that's useful to read. I'll host it on Dropbox as long as I can: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1991002/Maura-is-Missing-A-Special-Report.pdf

 

[bragi]

BBM

FWIW, Raquel is the usual spelling for this female name. It's a pretty

common name in my neck of the woods.

Oh, is that how the sighting had it pronounced? Whenever I read about the sighting, the name is spelled "Raykel," and in my mind I pronounce that "Ray-kell." Is that how Raquel pronounced in New England?

 

[Jerri Blank]

BBM

FWIW, Raquel is the usual spelling for this female name. It's a pretty

common name in my neck of the woods. But I agree, 10 years ago maybe

not so common at UMass. Huge possibility that she got it off the textbook.

Excellent observation Bragi!

in 2003-2004 when i was an RA at UMass, I had 2 residents named Raquel it is a pretty name and really not all that uncommon, even waaaaaaay back then (the fact that time of my life was 10 years ago makes me feel so old!)

bragi- i have known girls named raychelle and mykell, so "raykel" seems as likely as anything else!

 

[Jerri Blank]

The location where PV was found was surrounded by nothing: a cemetery, woods, and a house on the left; a road you can't turn down, fields, and a business on the right; secluded road one direction and not much of anything in the other direction.

Could a person be laying unconscious for hours in this location? I would most definitely believe it. Contrary to what has been suggested in this thread, this cannot be a busy intersection that would have a lot of witnesses that could see something in the dark of winter.

Image captures of the area below.

disclaimer, i am way too lazy to confirm this all right now, so i am relying on y'all to be the experts here. didnt vasi leave his departing location around like midnight? and he was reported found by 12:30?

 

[KenShabby]

I ran across this PDF of something called "Maura is Missing: A Special Report" on Facebook. I'd never seen it before and it actually had a few bits of new information, along with a look at the case that's useful to read. I'll host it on Dropbox as long as I can: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1991002/Maura-is-Missing-A-Special-Report.pdf

Keep in mind that this was published years ago. Personally, I'm under-impressed by Conway's reporting. Voluminous as it appears is, it presents the family-authorized / "Disappeared" version of the story.

 

[bragi]

KenShabby,

As I read that document, there were some places where I thought "Well they glossed over that," etc. Its certainly not authoritative. Usually whenever I find something new I get _something_ out of it, even if it's someone trying to spin some facet of the case.

On a different note, does anyone know what's up with James Renner asking for someone with "[GPS and geocaching]" experience on his MM blog recently? I did a little looking around on geocaching.com but nothing stood out. I was suspicious that maybe there was some cryptic post on there, but I didn't see anything in my limited search. Did MM like geocaching? She did like to hike apparently. Maybe JR just wanted someone who can locate something based on coordinates (which he could have gotten from Google Maps. Maybe he spotted something in the satellite view?).

 

[bragi]

FYI, you can load up historical satellite imagery in Google Earth. I loaded up the closest date to the accident (after it occurred), but it was in 2006. I didn't really know what to look for; I just moved around a bit. Here's a link to an image of what the site looked like in 2006.

 

[Tssiemer]

Some of you websleuthers freak me out because of what you find on people. I wonder what would come out if I went missing. Nothing interesting probably.


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[Lolacat]

Some of you websleuthers freak me out because of what you find on people. I wonder what would come out if I went missing. Nothing interesting probably.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Its much easier now too. I often think how ironic it is that people harp on about wanting privacy and then voluntarily post their every single movement on twitter/facebook/instagram LOL

 

[Fireweed]

KenShabby,

As I read that document, there were some places where I thought "Well they glossed over that," etc. Its certainly not authoritative. Usually whenever I find something new I get _something_ out of it, even if it's someone trying to spin some facet of the case.

On a different note, does anyone know what's up with James Renner asking for someone with "[GPS and geocaching]" experience on his MM blog recently? I did a little looking around on geocaching.com but nothing stood out. I was suspicious that maybe there was some cryptic post on there, but I didn't see anything in my limited search. Did MM like geocaching? She did like to hike apparently. Maybe JR just wanted someone who can locate something based on coordinates (which he could have gotten from Google Maps. Maybe he spotted something in the satellite view?).

I was thinking he is probably just looking for something out there.

I was rereading Renner's blog from when it first started a couple years ago. Man, it was so quality back then. Now it is just him trying to figure out who is trolling the blog.

 

[KenShabby]

I was rereading Renner's blog from when it first started a couple years ago. Man, it was so quality back then. Now it is just him trying to figure out who is trolling the blog.

Sad to say, but with JR's latest posts (the newest one about a group that is making a documentary film on MM and that has created a Twitter account), my reflex reaction now is that JR is trying to flush out trolls or, perhaps, MM in hiding. (He confessed to this very troll-baiting tactic in a recent post.)