czechmate7 said:
Peabody,
I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer since you probably know Maura's family and friends better than anyone else in this forum. What are their thoughts on this.....
I have read that it wasn't unusual for Maura to take a couple days off to unwind or clear her thoughts.
I am not aware of Maura ever taking a couple days off to unwind or to clear her thoughts.
I would be interested in knowing where you learned of this information.
czechmate said:
That being said, why would Maura lie to her professors about a death in the family on this particular time?
The speculation by her family and friends is that since she had packed only enough things for a few days, that the email with the "lie" about the death in the family was chosen so that she could get credit for her school work. Maura was on full academic scholarship and could not afford to let her GPA drop....(not sure of her accumulative, but she was on Dean's List the prior semester, and I believe the entire time that she was at UMass). Also, Maura had all of her school books, notebooks and assignments with her.
czechmate said:
Why couldn't she tell BF "Honey, I need a few days away. I'm really stressed out and need to clear my thoughts. I'll be back in a few days, I'll talk to you then..Love you"
The boyfriend has told the family that he believes that Maura's several calls to him the day that she went missing (made before she left UMass and one made after she emailed him) wherein she left messages saying she missed him, she loved him, she promised to call that night, were attempts to reach him to tell him about the trip, but that in order to not worry him, she did not leave a message saying as much.
Can you imagine, you get a message that says, "Hi, honey, I have decided to take a few days off and go up to the White Mountains to clear my thoughts. Don't worry about me though, I am going in my car." .............first, Maura's car had been parked for several weeks due to mechanical problems, secondly, she had never taken off of school/missed school, and he was not aware that anything was wrong..........and he was 2000 miles away and would have been unable to do anything to check up on her besides call her. That she did not leave him a message shows her concern for his mental/emotional well being. As to her not calling her father: Mr. Murray works in nuclear medicine and cannot take personal calls during working hours and because of the lead lined rooms, his cell phone does not work during working hours. Everyone agrees that Maura was independent and often did things without telling anyone in advance, but that her boyfriend and her father were the two that she "checked in with" when she did.......my understanding is that the "doing things" without telling were quick evening trips or even an occasional weekend trip to West Point to see the boyfriend while he was still a senior, or her running excursions each day, regardless of being in a strange city or community.
OR..
czechmate said:
"Dad, I have so many things on my mind with work, school, the wreck. I need to pick up those forms from the insurance company but I think after I'm going to go up to the mountains for a couple of days to get back focused. I'll call you when I get back....Love you."
I explained about Dad's working hours and phone calls above. From the facts, she would only have been able to leave him a message.
czechmate said:
Doesn't Maura have any good friends that she confided with? Family members? All these people who claim to know Maura so well.....
Maura has a huge network of family and friends. But, her personality did not lend itself to relying/depending on others. They all say she was mostly a very private person with but a few exceptions.
czechmate said:
My point is: Getting away for a week isn't that big of a deal; so why be so secretive about it???(Unless you know you aren't coming back
I agree, but their point is that she didn't get to where she was going so that she could keep her promises to call them that night; That she was only "secretive" because she was unable to reach the boyfriend as he was out in the "field" on army military maneurvers and did not want to leave either him or her father a message that she knew would be upsetting to them. They believe that she would never have considered that something might happen to her. They believe that she expected to reach her destination and then to tell them of her plans and that she was all "safe and sound".