NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - #14

[harvgr81]

I am just so confused. Fred was convinced that two sets of cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar had found something. This presser heavily implied the exact opposite.

How is there such a disparity between the two views?

I wondering the same thing as well. AG said State Police brought their own dogs and found nothing. They did whole thing today just to "cross something off the list." ! WHAT?!

 

[Gardenista]

I can see having Fred at the location while they search, but why summon her sister there? So mean.

 

[sony12]

I really feel that if she had been murdered by anybody that lived in the surrounding area of the crash the case would have been solved long, long ago. She was a college aged kid who was going through a difficult period in her life and she had just gotten into a wreck where alcohol was likely involved. There is probably about a 95-99% chance that she fled the scene entirely,

 

[bradfordsleuth]

I wondering the same thing as well. AG said State Police brought their own dogs and found nothing. They did whole thing today just to "cross something off the list." ! WHAT?!

BBM
I had the same reaction and didn't like that choice of words.
Like they were just humoring the family.
I need to step away for a bit.

 

[rob525]

Could this be a product of people calling the police investigation into question? I mean FM has spoken out about lapses in the work the police have done. Could they be attempting to avoid anyone questioning there findings?

 

[Bit of hope]

I was really hoping there would be some kind of resolution...but actually going back to 2004...what happened and where is she?

 

[sony12]

I was really hoping there would be some kind of resolution...but actually going back to 2004...what happened and where is she?

Canada or one of the other states within the continental U.S.

 

[HeartOfGranite]

I am just so confused. Fred was convinced that two sets of cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar had found something. This presser heavily implied the exact opposite.

How is there such a disparity between the two views?

IMO, Fred was seeing what he wanted to see from the initial search. Who can blame him when it's his little girl missing? There may well have been a disturbance detected by the GPR that had nothing to do with a body. It's not an exact science, and it can only tell you if the ground looks disturbed at any point, not what disturbed it. If you were convinced your missing loved one were here and presented with GPR finding a disturbance, wouldn't you come to the conclusion it was them, even if logic won out eventually? I think that's what happened here, honestly--the family wanted so badly for it to be Maura that they may have stretched the facts of what happened in the search. The dogs they used were not police cadaver dogs, so we don't know if they were really properly trained or not. I don't think it's a stretch at all for the family to grasp at any straw they can find.

 

[sony12]

Those who are surprised that nothing came of this because the dogs supposedly found something remember an entirely different team came to virtually the same exact results when they brought their dog team to a different location earlier last year.

Dogs locating something could mean dozens of different things.

 

[SuziQ]

I'm not surprised that LE is once again jerking this family around.

 

[MassGuy]

I went to high school with a kid who was drunk driving, and crashed his car in a relatively isolated area.

He was so scared of being busted, that he spent a freezing night in the woods.

When he emerged the next morning, he claimed that he was disoriented from the crash, and didn’t know what he was doing.

Ever since Maura disappeared, that’s the scenario I’ve put the most stock in.

All the elements are there.

I think she’s (her body) in the woods, and probably not far from where the crash happened.

 

[sony12]

I'm not surprised that LE is once again jerking this family around.

Don't say that. We have absolutely no idea what the circumstances were. THe family may have wanted them to contact them. If this was the location Fred wanted them to dig and they were doing so because he requested it I could see why they would want the family to be there.

 

[sony12]

I went to high school with a kid who was drunk driving, and crashed his car in a relatively isolated area.

He was so scared of being busted, that he spent a freezing night in the woods.

When he emerged the next morning, he claimed that he was disoriented from the crash, and didn’t know what he was doing.

Ever since Maura disappeared, that’s the scenario that I have believed to have occurred.

All the elements are there.

I think she’s in the woods, and probably not far from where the crash happened.

A lot of people do think alcohol was the reason she left the car in the first place. Rather she hitched a ride with someone or ran off into the woods is entirely up for debate. But things strongly point to her running because she was afraid of getting busted.

 

[HeartOfGranite]

I wondering the same thing as well. AG said State Police brought their own dogs and found nothing. They did whole thing today just to "cross something off the list." ! WHAT?!

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find that odd. The choice of words was perhaps not a great one, but they had a lead and followed up on it (in a thorough and expensive manner), even though they suspected it would be a dead end based on their preliminary investigation. The other option was not to follow up on it at all. They're ticking off leads as they get them was what I took that to mean. This one didn't pan out, but they did investigate it and now have one more place they know Maura isn't. I know that's not much comfort to her loved ones who want closure, but I didn't find it overly callous. Overly callous would have been to dismiss it entirely without even trying, IMHO

 

[MassGuy]

A lot of people do think alcohol was the reason she left the car in the first place. Rather she hitched a ride with someone or ran off into the woods is entirely up for debate. But things strongly point to her running because she was afraid of getting busted.

Yeah, and simply playing the odds, I think it’s more likely that she wandered into the woods and succumbed to exposure, than was a victim of an opportunistic kidnapper/killer.

 

[SuziQ]

Don't say that. We have absolutely no idea what the circumstances were. THe family may have wanted them to contact them. If this was the location Fred wanted them to dig and they were doing so because he requested it I could see why they would want the family to be there.

Until I hear otherwise, I stand by my post.

 

[rob525]

Yeah, and simply playing the odds, I think it’s more likely that she wandered into the woods and succumbed to exposure, than was a victim of an opportunistic kidnapper/killer.

I agree but we saw in South Carolina this last week just how quickly a situation can go wrong and how random violence can be.

 

[happyday]

Because without one the speculation from the public would have been rampant, and IMO, that's more cruel to the family. I don't think it was mean--they met with the family before the presser to fill them in so they would not hear about it on TV first, or let them be strung along by rumor. Much better to speak with the family in person and then release it than have them subject to wild rumors.

If my family member were missing for 15 years and the police were excavating a basement for possible evidence, I would for sure want to be there in person to know what they found, even if it was nothing, especially if it was at my family's request that they search there in the first place. I did find it interesting that there were state police cadaver dogs there in February and they did not hit on anything. I'd only heard about the private citizens' search.

I can see that, but I feel it could have been accomplished with a phone call to the family and a statement to the media. It’s yet another dead end, so why with the theatrics? I feel like a point was being made or something.

 

[MassGuy]

I agree but we saw in South Carolina this last week just how quickly a situation can go wrong and how random violence can be.

True. But trolling for a vulnerable target in a populated area, is very different from coming across someone in an isolated location.

Maura appears to have been in the throes of a mental health crisis, and may have been intoxicated.

She’s the exact type of person that I could see wandering off, and trying to sober up.

She also had a lot to lose, and probably wasn’t thinking clearly.

Take away the mental stuff and intoxicants, I’d be far more inclined to believe that something nefarious happened.

I just don’t see it here.

 

[rob525]

True. But trolling for a vulnerable target in a populated area, is very different from coming across someone in an isolated location.

Maura appears to have been in the throes of a mental health crisis, and may have been intoxicated.

She’s the exact type of person that I could see wandering off, and trying to sober up.

She also had a lot to lose, and probably wasn’t thinking clearly.

Take away the mental stuff and intoxicants, I’d be far more inclined to believe that something nefarious happened.

I just don’t see it here.

You might be right but it seems there should have been some sign, or a body found. After 15 years and all the searching? To find nothing, no tracks, no scent, no clothing? To me that is as odd a circumstance as a predator out on a remote road late at night.