NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #13

[DakotaMayi]

i see her as a pathological criminal going through the unmasking and blooming process. i think she's responsible for her own disappearance. she could've went into the woods and died (toxic fumes from her malfunctioning car with a rag stuffed in the tailpipe, plus being drunk) or, she survived and is alive and living on the run as a criminal.

her father instructed her to put a rag in the tailpipe of her car for the purpose of evading the police. that's criminal. it's also extremely dangerous.

this photo of her is a very drastic unmasked face. there's no beauty here. she appears frighteningly violent and pathological.

That photo is very unsettling.
Not that the Maura that we came to know through the 'Disappeared' story and so on.
When was this taken?

 

[Pettibon Junction]

The individuals on this board tarring Maura as a criminal and sociopath demonstrate a real ignorance of what the psychology behind addiction and bulimia looks like. A young woman caught making mistakes (and, I should note, engaging in risky behavior that really only ever resulted in harm to herself) is not a monster and we should not fall into the trap of allowing hindsight to make her one.

 

[mjk2015]

That photo is very unsettling.
Not that the Maura that we came to know through the 'Disappeared' story and so on.
When was this taken?

the picture was taken at her school when she was caught buying pizza with a stolen credit card (criminal activity) which happened a few months before she disappeared.

 

[mjk2015]

The individuals on this board tarring Maura as a criminal and sociopath demonstrate a real ignorance of what the psychology behind addiction and bulimia looks like. A young woman caught making mistakes (and, I should note, engaging in risky behavior that really only ever resulted in harm to herself) is not a monster and we should not fall into the trap of allowing hindsight to make her one.

i know it's a sensitive issue and those words are heavy and loaded so i won't get into it beyond the simple facts,

she is criminally convicted (she used a stolen credit card).
she is a known liar
her father is self-evident in his own criminality (evading police while endangering his daughter; he told her to put a rag in the tailpipe literally as a means to evade the police)

pathology (psychopathy and / or sociopathy) was my discernment of her nearly straightaway. the mugshot taken at her school sealed it for me.

edit: i just learned more about her criminal behavior; she stole makeup and pleaded guilty.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

i know it's a sensitive issue and those words are heavy and loaded so i won't get into it beyond the simple facts,

she is criminally convicted (she used a stolen credit card).
she is a known liar
her father is self-evident in his own criminality (evading police while endangering his daughter; he told her to put a rag in the tailpipe literally as a means to evade the police)

pathology (psychopathy and / or sociopathy) was my discernment of her nearly straightaway. the mugshot taken at her school sealed it for me.

edit: i just learned more about her criminal behavior; she stole makeup and pleaded guilty.

A couple of things.

1.) She wasn't convicted, she pled out. Semantics? Sure. But words matter.

2.) Her father told her to put the rag in her tailpipe to prevent it from smoking. He never said anything about evading police.

3.) Moreover, petty theft, especially the theft of food, is a hallmark sign of severe bulimia. That diagnosis, unlike your charges of ASPD, is actually supported by the testimony of people who knew Maura and shared quarters with her.

People who watched Disappeared and did a little more investigating perhaps feel betrayed by the "All American Girl" image they were sold. I get that. But the full-tilt opposite of what one sees on television is hardly where the truth lies either. Besides, when I read your posts, all I see is someone using the gaunt appearance of a troubled young woman in a grainy black and white photo taken at a rock bottom moment in her young life as a means to justify believing the worst about her. That's the worst kind of armchair sleuthing.

 

[Ibiz]

I agree. I'm not seeing the big hard criminal or sociopath here .

 

[JeannaT]

A couple of things.

1.) She wasn't convicted, she pled out. Semantics? Sure. But words matter.

2.) Her father told her to put the rag in her tailpipe to prevent it from smoking. He never said anything about evading police.

3.) Moreover, petty theft, especially the theft of food, is a hallmark sign of severe bulimia. That diagnosis, unlike your charges of ASPD, is actually supported by the testimony of people who knew Maura and shared quarters with her.

People who watched Disappeared and did a little more investigating perhaps feel betrayed by the "All American Girl" image they were sold. I get that. But the full-tilt opposite of what one sees on television hardly where the truth lies either. Besides, when I read your posts, all I see is someone using the gaunt appearance of a troubled young woman in a grainy black and white photo taken at a rock bottom moment in her young life as a means to justify believing the worst about her. That's the worst kind of armchair sleuthing.

That's the first time I've heard her father told her to do that. In the People article written several years ago, (I think that's where I read it) they mentioned the rag in the tailpipe, and postulated that it was placed there a short time ago while she was stopped for gas. The article also stated the car wouldn't be drivable long with that rag in there - it would soon be inoperable.

Do you have a source for her father telling her to do that? I've spent some time researching clogs in tailpipes, and it used to be done with a potato as a joke - suddenly, the car would stall and the person driving would have a bummer of a day. I didn't think ANYONE would think it was a positive thing to tell their daughter to do.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Do you have a source for her father telling her to do that? I've spent some time researching clogs in tailpipes, and it used to be done with a potato as a joke - suddenly, the car would stall and the person driving would have a bummer of a day. I didn't think ANYONE would think it was a positive thing to tell their daughter to do.

It's been out there for years. It's a bizarre thing to do and and even more bizarre thing to advise someone else to do, which is why it's been picked apart to the extent it has.

 

[JeannaT]

Okay. So I went and found it myself, where the quote generated from. Or at least one source it generated from.

It was the tow truck operator, Lavoie, in a conversation with Renner 7 years after the disappearance.

The tone of the article is, he doubts Fred Murray actually would have advised Maura to do that. And I agree. I know nothing about cars, but know not to block the exhaust, I would think ESPECIALLY if the car was smoking.

http://mauramurray.blogspot.com/2011/08/lavoie-says-fred-murray-explained.html

I don't know why Mr. Murray would state something like that to the tow truck driver, but I'm inclined to believe Lavoie is telling the truth. I just don't think Mr. Murray actually did advise her to do that. And I think that rag is key to what happened to her.

 

[DakotaMayi]

A couple of things.

1.) She wasn't convicted, she pled out. Semantics? Sure. But words matter.

2.) Her father told her to put the rag in her tailpipe to prevent it from smoking. He never said anything about evading police.

3.) Moreover, petty theft, especially the theft of food, is a hallmark sign of severe bulimia. That diagnosis, unlike your charges of ASPD, is actually supported by the testimony of people who knew Maura and shared quarters with her.

People who watched Disappeared and did a little more investigating perhaps feel betrayed by the "All American Girl" image they were sold. I get that. But the full-tilt opposite of what one sees on television is hardly where the truth lies either. Besides, when I read your posts, all I see is someone using the gaunt appearance of a troubled young woman in a grainy black and white photo taken at a rock bottom moment in her young life as a means to justify believing the worst about her. That's the worst kind of armchair sleuthing.

Um..sorry, what?...

Please don't use my post (without quoting me too) and pull me apart. I don't expect Maura to be anything. All I stated was that there seems to be two very different sides to Maura. I'm concerned about her and how she may be feeling at the time. Really no need to say that because I watched disappeared I'm disappointed she did some things. Damn, we all do stuff.

 

[JeannaT]

So I've spent a lot of time on James Renner's blog, which I am grateful for but feels like he purposely goes down rabbit trails that he knows can't be real. For example, suggesting that she got a refund of her spring semester tuition the day she left and had significantly more money than $280 she withdrew. He posits that she maybe withdrew from school a week prior, and when her check came in, cashed it and left. But then, why would she write her nursing professors with the lie that she'd be gone for a week for a death in the family? She wouldn't.

This has probably been posted several times, but for those who are not that familiar with the case, this is the best article I've seen about the case:

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/01/28/maura-murray/

It answers the question about the rag in the exhaust pipe, to my satisfaction. Fred Murray came to UMass to buy her a car, because her car badly needed to be replaced and smoke was poring out the exhaust pipe. He was a couple thousand short of cash, so he was going to return with the money the following weekend to purchase the car they'd picked out. Fred Murray knew what kinds of behaviors Maura was doing - driving drunk - and she had done 8K damage to his car the evening before, driving after partying. So Fred gives her the advice to put a rag in her exhaust pipe - so that for that next week she wouldn't be stopped by cops while she was potentially drunk. I do get that mentality, I think that's the answer to the question. We always attended to our son's cars IMMEDIATELY if they were missing a tail light, an inspection sticker. whathaveyou, so that cops would have no reason to pull them over. Because cops look for excuses to pull young people over at night. (With good cause). I'm satisfied with that answer about the rag in the tailpipe. Fred decided her driving around town for a week in that beater car, it was a good gamble to take to put the rag in her exhaust so she wouldn't get a DWI. He had no idea she was planning to take off on a road trip with it.

 

[Skigirl]

She was clearly in a lot of distress and its probable that her life was taken however, I always wonder if, was she in so much distress that she couldn't live the life she was living anymore, was the timing just so perfect and she got away from whatever she was running from.

Is there anyone who believes the sightings in Quebec that Renner looked into for the book might be plausible?

I know this question was posed some time ago but I didn't realize that the MM threads had been revived lately and wasn't following. No, I do not think that the sightings in Canada were anything other than peoples' wishful thinking. The thing that I thought was so weird about Renner's blog was that he seemed sure he was actually going to find her. Something not right with him.

 

[DakotaMayi]

I know this question was posed some time ago but I didn't realize that the MM threads had been revived lately and wasn't following. No, I do not think that the sightings in Canada were anything other than peoples' wishful thinking. The thing that I thought was so weird about Renner's blog was that he seemed sure he was actually going to find her. Something not right with him.

Glad to see it's being revived.

Yeah I don't know what to make of Renner. He got so into this case. I spoke with him once, we ended up talking about his thoughts on a different case and he said he didn't dare get too much information on it in case he fell too deep into that one too.

 

[Skigirl]

That photo is very unsettling.
Not that the Maura that we came to know through the 'Disappeared' story and so on.
When was this taken?

This was taken by UMass security (IIR) when she stole a credit card to order pizza. The pizza store called and security met her there when she received the pizza. The photo is, indeed, unsettling.

ETA: The stolen pizza is the most compelling evidence, in my opinion, that she had bulimia. Bulimics will go to all sorts of lengths to simultaneously feed and supply their addiction. I think she was also an alcoholic. They are very often comorbid.

 

[Hapworth]

Without digging through past threads, was all the alcohol she purchased on her roadtrip found in the vehicle? Or just the box of wine.

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[Skigirl]

Without digging through past threads, was all the alcohol she purchased on her roadtrip found in the vehicle? Or just the box of wine.

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I'm not sure that LE ever fully disclosed what was found in the car. I only remember that the wine was found in the car, but I could be wrong.

 

[LietKynes]

Wow. A lot more information about this case.
If she was abducted and harmed-- I'm feeling we'll never find out what happened.
Then of course there are other cases where someone thought to be long lost turned up.
Maybe she's hiding in plain sight somewhere with an alias ? It happens.
If that was the case... is there anything that could be used to track her down or lure her from hiding ?
Thinking out loud.

 

[Tssiemer]

I'm not sure that LE ever fully disclosed what was found in the car. I only remember that the wine was found in the car, but I could be wrong.

Yeah I thought the stuff for the White Russians were missing per the receipt.


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[Caffeine]

Without digging through past threads, was all the alcohol she purchased on her roadtrip found in the vehicle? Or just the box of wine.

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I'm pretty sure only the wine was left in the car...however the receipt from the MA liquor store showed she purchased Bailey's, Vodka etc.

So the liquor she bought earlier was gone along with her black backpack.

 

[Skigirl]

Wow. A lot more information about this case.
If she was abducted and harmed-- I'm feeling we'll never find out what happened.
Then of course there are other cases where someone thought to be long lost turned up.
Maybe she's hiding in plain sight somewhere with an alias ? It happens.
If that was the case... is there anything that could be used to track her down or lure her from hiding ?
Thinking out loud.

My opinion is that she left the scene in a panic because she did not want to get a DUI, but then came to harm after that, maybe after she realized there was no where safe to hide and decided to accept a ride from someone.