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

[Ibiz]

Sadly Ibiz I do not think she is alive either but this case has too many elements that do not add up. I cannot understand why there are no clear leads at this stage; I could if this would have happened in NYC or Chicago but this happened in the middle of nowhere in NH, what is the opinion in the USA Ibiz? could more have been done or do people -in general terms- think the investigation has been handled properly? I just feel plenty of precious time was wasted during the first few hours of her disappearance which tend to be critical to resolve a case like this.

So that's about Yuerna, as you can read everyone here has developed a theory or two. You just have to read through all the post and tell us what you think.

 

[Suglo]

I am new to this community and when the disappearance of Maura Murray happened I was still living back home -Tenerife- and Spanish TV did not pay much attention to this case ; only one documentary was shown on television.

This is one of the two cases that haunt me and I would love to see it resolved -for the sake of Maura's father; it breaks my heart everything this man has gone through the past few years- and I wonder if those of you who have followed this case closely could please answer a few questions about some circumstances that puzzle me about this case. I would really appreciate it.

- Was there ever a thorough investigation on Maura's communications via Internet in the months prior to her disappearance? People, countries these people were from and content of the emails.

- The documentary on Spanish TV showed she had inquired several times about holiday homes in another state of New England, did the police ever find more evidence on this and the reasons she might have done that?

- The documentary shown on Spanish TV said a woman came forward a few months later saying she had seen a woman with the same physical appearance as Maura's leaving a supermarket with a much older man and that she looked at this woman and "lip synced" the words "Help me" with a terrified look on her face. This female witness said on camera she ran to get the car's plate number -she said she saw this female and the man getting into a car- but did not have time to write it down or memorize it. Was this woman ever considered a reliable witness and this theory -abduction- pursued or was this person proved to be just telling lies?

Sincere apologies if these issues have been discussed previously. It is difficult sometimes to follow cases from the other side of the Atlantic; very little information and sketchy most of the time.

Welcome to websleuths! I love Tenerife. Was born in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria myself

 

[Cornelia]

LE considers foul play a legitimate possibility. It isn't my top theory, but it is more likely than suicide. The bus driver, Butch, called the police to report the accident. The state trooper arrived within minutes, but Maura had already disappeared. It is plausible, therefore, thst someone offeted her a ride. She had withdrawn $280 from the bank and had been looking for short-term rentals, so even though she wanted to get away, perhaps to unwind or clear her head, she probably wasn't suicidal, at least prior to the wreck. Normal temperatures for that area on February 9th would have been a high of 30° F and a low of 8°, far colder than what's needed for death by hypothermia. She may have been drinking, and alcohol consumption increases the risk of hypothermia.
https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/staying-safe-while-drinking/alcohol-and-cold-weather/
Moreover, she had apparently hit her head on the windshield, which was cracked, and may well have died from a subdural or epidural hematoma, neither of which would have been immediately obvious.
The most likely fate for Maura is that she wandered off the road, perhaps to avoid being seen by the cop that Butch had called, and died of hypothermia or a traumatic brain injury or both. However, murder at the hands of a rape-slayer is the second most likely possibility. Suicide ranks squarely in third place.

I am new to this community but have been lurking for weeks! Is it possible Maura could of had some traumatic head injury from the accident (unbenounced to her) and shortly after getting picked up from a passer by, succumbed to her injuries and the driver panicked and disposed of her somewhere?

 

[Sailor Haumea]

Until very recently I figured she just wandered into the woods and died of exposure.

But then someone on reddit put forward a theory...

Perhaps she hitched a ride with someone, and as the person dropped her off, she told them to deny giving her a ride? As in, a voluntary disappearance. This person, seeing the news reports, doesn't say anything as he/she is respecting Maura's wishes?

Basically, Maura is still alive and someone who gave her a ride is covering for her.

 

[Vivette]

Until very recently I figured she just wandered into the woods and died of exposure.

But then someone on reddit put forward a theory...

Perhaps she hitched a ride with someone, and as the person dropped her off, she told them to deny giving her a ride? As in, a voluntary disappearance. This person, seeing the news reports, doesn't say anything as he/she is respecting Maura's wishes?

Basically, Maura is still alive and someone who gave her a ride is covering for her.

Who would do that, after her family has been searching for years?? I sure as hell hope they would at least tell her family.

Doesn't seem plausible to me, and I hope it isn't.

 

[The Farm]

Until very recently I figured she just wandered into the woods and died of exposure.

But then someone on reddit put forward a theory...

Perhaps she hitched a ride with someone, and as the person dropped her off, she told them to deny giving her a ride? As in, a voluntary disappearance. This person, seeing the news reports, doesn't say anything as he/she is respecting Maura's wishes?

Basically, Maura is still alive and someone who gave her a ride is covering for her.

Do you mean someone she knew? Or a stranger?
The theory of someone she knew following in another car has been talked about.
Honestly either, or, how could anyone keep that secret when her family and friends have been searching for years? Her mother died on Maura's birthday without knowing what happened to her.
Nothing surprises me anymore but I do not think that is what happened here. I just don't. Someone would have come forward with any kind of a conscious and or she might possibly have been spotted somewhere.
The thing with this kind of case is anything is possible because no one knows what happened to her. She has just vanished into thin air.

 

[Ozoner]

I am new to this community but have been lurking for weeks! Is it possible Maura could of had some traumatic head injury from the accident (unbenounced to her) and shortly after getting picked up from a passer by, succumbed to her injuries and the driver panicked and disposed of her somewhere?

Yes, it is possible. Could you imagine picking up a hitchhiker who dozed off in your passenger seat, and then, maybe an hour later, maybe in a different state, trying to awaken that hitchhiker and finding out that she was dead?
I think it's an unlikely scenario, but it is possible.

 

[Ibiz]

It could be someone simply just gave her a ride to her next stop, and that someone simply just dosent watch the Ronald MacDonald news medias, and probably wouldn't remember if they saw her again anyway.

I think seeing someone's picture is a lot different then seeing them in person. It is for me anyway.

 

[LostInAustin]

I just into my first real car accident alone, ever, just now, and nothing I can accomplish at this current time can drown the pure cacophony in my head.

Everything is still buzzing. Never felt this way before.

I wonder if this is how she felt.




Sent from my LG-D415 using Tapatalk

 

[avamonroe]

There are a few nutty people here in the US that swear that she was picked up and dragged away by a murderer, but any normal person looking at the case knows that it's simply not true.

Respectfully, I disagree. NO ONE, currently, to our knowledge knows what happened to Maura - until we have more information, she could be in the woods, or she could have been picked up by an opportunistic killer. Hell, she could eve be in Canada.

For the record, some who suggest she was picked up, don't necessarily suggest it was a serial killer, or that she was "dragged away" - Maura was very vulnerable (cold, alone, in a place she did not know well, possibly drunk, in a state due to recent events in her life, and with no cell service) and if she was drunk, she would want to avoid the cops. It's really not outside the realm of possibility that she could have accepted a ride from the wrong person - it has been confirmed she had hitchhiked before. Additionally, this person might not have had ill intent at the start, so might not have been scouring the streets for a victim.

I just think to purport that Maura being picked up is not true is erroneous - no one knows what happened. Her files are sealed by the state of NH, and there has been a grand jury. Additionally, it's being treated as a criminal case - as evidenced here: https://www.doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case/victim-list/maura-murray.htm - the last line in the summary "Her disappearance is being treated as suspicious."

 

[Devry45]

New to websleuths, but I've been interested in this case for awhile. While you can never discount the possibitly that she was abducted, I believe the most likely scenario is that she fled the scene, hid, and got lost in woods and succumbed to the elements.

I read people saying that isn't possible because she would have left tracks or would have had to walk through feet of snow, but that isn't necessarily true. Looking through historic weather data, the night she went missing the temperature was in the low to mid 30's with a light breeze. It's a cold night, but it wouldn't feel terribly bad walking/running with alcohol in your system. Making it 3, 5, or even 10+ miles down the road, especially for a girl in her physical condition is absolutely possible.

Also, looking through historical weather records, there wasn't that much snow that winter and temperatures regularly were above freezing many days that winter. There would probably have been a few inches of dense, hard snow on the ground at the time. While she would leave tracks wherever she went into the woods, it would also be easy for her to navigate through and wouldn't slow her down much.

My guess is that she was in a hazy state from the alcohol and the shock/adrenaline from the crash and was afraid of getting into trouble by the police, so she bolted. She was a cross country girl and being full of alcohol and adrenaline, so she probably made a few miles down the road, possibly turning on a side road along the way. After the effects of it started wearing off and she started getting tired, she was probably feeling pretty warm from the distance she traveled and decided she would be fine to go into the woods to sleep it off. It's possible that she could have succumbed to the elements while she was asleep, but it's also possible that she woke up after getting too cold or sometime the next morning not knowing where she was and not knowing the right way to get back to the road and ended up traveling deeper into the woods before the cold finally got her.

Her being abducted will always be a possibility until proven otherwise, but in my mind at least, a scenario like I described above is the most likely one. I don't believe she was suicidal, I think she just made the wrong decisions that ultimately lead to her own death. A psychotic break can't be ruled out either. With all the stress she had been dealing with, that last accident could have pushed her past the breaking point. If she had a psychotic break, she could have started wondering through the woods at any point without having the sense of knowing when to turn back around.

 

[snowleopard]

Hi Devry, and welcome to the board. I also believed this was the most likely scenario for quite a while. I still think it's a good one. I do think it is about as likely she was pickuped by someone, either nefariously, or to be dropped off elsewhere. Sadly, If she didn't end up in the nearby woods, I doubt we'll ever know the truth. So here's to hoping you're right!

 

[Devry45]

It's definitely possible she was picked up. If that's the case, it was defitnetly an opportunistic abduction. Or possiblly something that started innocently, but turned violent after rejecting a guys pass at her. I think getting lost in a drunken state is still the more likely scenario, but you can never count out her being picked up by someone. But I personally haven't heard any other scenario that really makes sense to me. Either she got lost or she got abducted. But with how vast those woods are, there's a good chance she'll never be found, unfortunately.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

It's definitely possible she was picked up. If that's the case, it was defitnetly an opportunistic abduction. Or possiblly something that started innocently, but turned violent after rejecting a guys pass at her. I think getting lost in a drunken state is still the more likely scenario, but you can never count out her being picked up by someone. But I personally haven't heard any other scenario that really makes sense to me. Either she got lost or she got abducted. But with how vast those woods are, there's a good chance she'll never be found, unfortunately.

I've always thought that if she wound up anywhere in the wilderness, it was in the river. It comes quite close to the road at parts and it's not too difficult to imagine a quick slip and fall scenario, in which case there wouldn't necessarily be any footprints. But given that several teams of cadaver dogs turned up nothing in the woods, they're either looking too far west or someone picked Maura up and harmed her. I generally believe the latter is pretty well likely.

 

[skeptik]

I've always thought that if she wound up anywhere in the wilderness, it was in the river. It comes quite close to the road at parts and it's not too difficult to imagine a quick slip and fall scenario, in which case there wouldn't necessarily be any footprints. But given that several teams of cadaver dogs turned up nothing in the woods, they're either looking too far west or someone picked Maura up and harmed her. I generally believe the latter is pretty well likely.

Not to beat a dead horse but you have to understand that cadaver dogs are really not a reliable source to discount the presence of a dead body. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't.

Again, look at cases I provided a few pages back where multiple cadaver dogs were unable to locate bodies that were very close by. I can think of and reference many many cases where dogs have just not been able to either track or locate a target.

So when people suggest that because a dog didn't find a person therefore a person could not be there, they are just not accurate. Sorry but you tend to fall into this category, nothing personal.

I do agree with your theory that she perhaps went into the river, that is a possibility however I think it is less likely due to the fact that she has not been found. The river is fairly shallow and a body would not travel too far before being caught up on something. Consider the size of the river bank compared to the acreage South of 112 and it is much more likely that her body would have been found in the relatively small area the size of the river and it's banks compared to that area up in the mountains. Possible but less likely in my opinion.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Not to beat a dead horse but you have to understand that cadaver dogs are really not a reliable source to discount the presence of a dead body. Sometimes they work sometimes they don't.

Again, look at cases I provided a few pages back where multiple cadaver dogs were unable to locate bodies that were very close by. I can think of and reference many many cases where dogs have just not been able to either track or locate a target.

So when people suggest that because a dog didn't find a person therefore a person could not be there, they are just not accurate. Sorry but you tend to fall into this category, nothing personal.

Not to beat a dead horse, but they didn't find tracks at any of the search locations either and there was two feet of snow on the ground so if your scenario is correct, she's either farther east of the search radius or in the river somewhere.

 

[skeptik]

Not to beat a dead horse, but they didn't find tracks at any of the search locations either and there was two feet of snow on the ground so if your scenario is correct, she's either farther east of the search radius or in the river somewhere.

This is true and I completely agree that she very likely DID NOT GO into the woods in the area immediately around the crash site, the area that was searched. I tend to think that based on her behavior at the crash site and her apparent desire to get away from the crash site as quickly as possible that she fled the scene and put between 3-6 miles between her and the crash site and search area in the first 40 minutes.

So yes, I agree, she went East which is why there were no tracks going into the woods. I should also add that in theory it seems easy to determine footprints going into the snow however in reality it was very difficult. The snow was not fresh, it was kinda crusty and there were many many footprints in and around the area. It is not a up or down scenario, there was alot of gray involved. Every driveway lead to a house, so she could have walked up a driveway and behind a house and into the woods and there would have been no footprints leaving the roadway to see.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

This is true and I completely agree that she very likely DID NOT GO into the woods in the area immediately around the crash site, the area that was searched. I tend to think that based on her behavior at the crash site and her apparent desire to get away from the crash site as quickly as possible that she fled the scene and put between 3-6 miles between her and the crash site and search area in the first 40 minutes.

So yes, I agree, she went East which is why there were no tracks going into the woods. I should also add that in theory it seems easy to determine footprints going into the snow however in reality it was very difficult. The snow was not fresh, it was kinda crusty and there were many many footprints in and around the area. It is not a up or down scenario, there was alot of gray involved. Every driveway lead to a house, so she could have walked up a driveway and behind a house and into the woods and there would have been no footprints leaving the roadway to see.

I think the police believe this too, especially given how seriously they took Rick Forcier's sighting. They investigated him hard enough that they must have believed he was the last person to have seen her that night - a sighting that he reports as having occurred four to five miles east of the accident scene.

 

[skeptik]

I think the police believe this too, especially given how seriously they took Rick Forcier's sighting. They investigated him hard enough that they must have believed he was the last person to have seen her that night - a sighting that he reports as having occurred four to five miles east of the accident scene.

That's hard to pin down, I know some investigators who believe his story and some who question it, what made it really hard is the time between when Maura disappeared and when he came forward with his sighting, I believe it was over 2 months later. Also the type of person Rick is makes it hard to really place much weight on his story, so I would give it 50/50 at best as to whether his story is even true let alone it may have been Maura.

I base my theory on the very few facts that we know for certain, and some knowledge of how expansive that area is North, east and south of the crash site.

I should mention to you that I edited my post above after you had quoted it. Here is what I wrote.

I do agree with your theory that she perhaps went into the river, that is a possibility however I think it is less likely due to the fact that she has not been found. The river is fairly shallow and a body would not travel too far before being caught up on something. Consider the size of the river bank compared to the acreage South of 112 and it is much more likely that her body would have been found in the relatively small area the size of the river and it's banks compared to that area up in the mountains. Possible but less likely in my opinion.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

That's hard to pin down, I know some investigators who believe his story and some who question it, what made it really hard is the time between when Maura disappeared and when he came forward with his sighting, I believe it was over 2 months later. Also the type of person Rick is makes it hard to really place much weight on his story, so I would give it 50/50 at best as to whether his story is even true let alone it may have been Maura.

I base my theory on the very few facts that we know for certain, and some knowledge of how expansive that area is North, east and south of the crash site.

I should mention to you that I edited my post above after you had quoted it. Here is what I wrote.

I do agree with your theory that she perhaps went into the river, that is a possibility however I think it is less likely due to the fact that she has not been found. The river is fairly shallow and a body would not travel too far before being caught up on something. Consider the size of the river bank compared to the acreage South of 112 and it is much more likely that her body would have been found in the relatively small area the size of the river and it's banks compared to that area up in the mountains. Possible but less likely in my opinion.

It's hard to say, isn't it? Rick's an odd duck, but if he saw what he says he did (and police took him seriously enough that they wound up suspecting him), then we have every reason to believe that Maura was on foot for some time after the accident. This broadens the window for something to have happened to her and necessarily widens the search radius as well. I would personally err on the side of caution and take Rick seriously until an exhaustive search proves I've good reason not to.