NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 4

[Tristan]

No one answered my question about the phone call.
WHAT was said in that phone call a few days after th accident?

Also, how well was Atwood investigated? I'm not saying he took her, only that every possibilty should be looked into. People don't just "disappear."
They are always somewhere....we just don't know where.

 

[docwho3]

No one answered my question about the phone call.
WHAT was said in that phone call a few days after th accident?

Also, how well was Atwood investigated? I'm not saying he took her, only that every possibilty should be looked into. People don't just "disappear."
They are always somewhere....we just don't know where.

There was more than one accident and more than one phone call but in the call after the second accident when Maura disappeared no words were spoken (only some sounds were heard for a few seconds) and there is some doubt and dispute whether that call was even from Maura or not.
You can find the answers to those and other questions in news links. Starting at post # 121 in part 2 maura murray merged thread I posted some posts that happen to also contain links to news stories that should answer your questions.

Note:Although most of the links in the posts work, one or two do not because so much time has gone by since the posts were made and web content has been moved or deleted in some cases.
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26673&page=4&pp=40

Also interested readers might want to read the thread at
http://websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-19255

Also the mauramurray website has some news links at
http://mauramurray.com/news.html

 

[Tristan]

Thanks SO much for the links.

One last question (forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere),
Does anyone know eactly WHAT transpired in the phone call that Maura received from one of her sisters a few days before she left??

Apparently, she was very upset as a result of that call, and I have not seen this explained anywhere?

Anyone?

 

[docwho3]

Thanks SO much for the links.

One last question (forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere),
Does anyone know eactly WHAT transpired in the phone call that Maura received from one of her sisters a few days before she left??

Apparently, she was very upset as a result of that call, and I have not seen this explained anywhere?

Anyone?

Allegedly, according to news reports quoting her, they just spoke of Kathleen's boyfriend troubles and other sister stuff but nothing very upsetting. But there is also some dispute about that phone call. Cell phone records show a call from Maura to Kathleen at about 10 pm but witnesses allegedly reported that Maura's upsetting call took place at about 1 am. If that call was made from a land line, as opposed to a cell phone, it would not show up on the home phone records or on Maura's cell phone records and there was such a land phoneline at her workplace even if it was against the rules to use it for personal use.

Also I do not now if Kathleen was living alone at the time (although someone said he was not living with her mother- the parents were divorced) or if someone living with her, or even a visitor, might have been there to take a call at 1 am and Kathleen has never admitted to speaking with Maura at the 1 am time.

So it seems there is controversy and mystery about many such points in this case.

 

[hydemi]

Doc's links are good and very helpful. Again on the Maura site there is a CaseInfo section on the "forum" button with a timeline and notes from Sharon on such puzzlers as the call to Lt Rausch's cellphone on Wed am 2/11/04.

There is a lot of ground to cover if you want to be up on this story.

The actual prepaid calling card number(720-587-9978) was recently posted on the Maura site by the moderator. It is an ATT routing number through a switching station in Colorado and without the other card info & pin number a call is untraceable.

The sobbing & sniffling (no words) on the call were categorically identified by the Rausches as being Maura--see especially the 2/17/04 interview of Lt Rausch on CNN where he is "positive" the caller was Maura.

My "track star" theory of Maura's getting away from the crash site in NH is a minority view and controversial on the Maura site where most of the posters believe she was abducted and harmed, probably by someone local, and that she was grabbed right then and there after 7.30pm on 2/9/04.

The "snatch" theory ignores or denies the sighting by the construction worker and explains the phone call on Wed am as some kind of call for help.

I agree--why not make a 911 call? And anyone who has used a prepaid card knows that it takes focus and time to input all the numbers, hard to imagine doing easily if you are being held captive.

Maura presumably left the scene wearing a small black backpack. Her two pairs of running shoes were left in her bags in the car, but her lightweight footwear was probably quite adequate for walking or jogging quickly.

Michelle's questions have been asked quite often. The airbag had deployed in the 96 Saturn and many on the Maura site believe she was injured ( I don't).
She had the presence of mind to brush off Atwood the bus driver, to lock her car, to grab her small pack, to remove (it is probable) liquor bottles from the car, and to vanish within the few minutes between Atwood's talking to her and the local police arriving at 7.46pm.

There has been no report or evidence of any stalker.

As I said above most of the posters on the Maura site believe or argue that she was grabbed by a predator, while many if not all on this site are more willing to opine that she appears to have done everything quite deliberately on her own--even though her second car accident in two days had to disrupt whatever plans she may have had.

Lastly I agree with the family members who assert that the Maura they knew would never have disappeared without contacting loved ones--UNLESS in my view there was something terribly troubling and upsetting Maura which caused her to leave UMA in the first place, which she had not revealed to anyone, and which made her fear the arrival of police and decide to keep going away from the NH accident scene.

All we know is that she was hysterically upset Thursday night 2/5/04 being escorted back to her dorm by KMayotte her supervisor on campus security; she was again hysterical and upset talking to her boyfriend Lt Rausch on Sun am calling him at 4.49am (yes! see Case Info again on Maura site) after her accident with her Dad's car and giving him the strong impression that something else more serious was wrong; and calling him again (I believe) on Wed am 2/11 but only sobbing and sniffling evidently in distress but not leaving a message or confiding anything to her closest confidante.

 

[Tristan]

I have read all of the case information on the Maura Murray website, as well as MANY of the posts on WS about her case.

Thus far, I agree with what DocWho said "If Maura had not had the accident, her family would have NO idea where she was."
The fact that she e-mailed professors and her job(s) stating that there was a family emergency....an outright lie, one can only deduce that Maura had a definite plan to run away. Whether she planned to go for a few days, a week
or forever, is something we can only wonder about.

It seems SO unlikely that a person who may have offfered her a ride within that 10-15 minute time frame abducted and killed her.
Not saying it's impossible....just unlikely.

I also cannot wrap my brain around the idea of Maura starting a new life and not ONE person seeing her and reporting it. She had no resources at all, and it is VERY difficult to get a new identity. I have read books on it, and while it was incredibly easy to do 25 years ago, they have made it especially difficult these days.

It is theoretically possibly that she had an accomplice who helped her, but I think that person would have been found out. (Cell phone records, compuer records...SOMETHING.)

Every theory on this case has some holes. (Just like the Jonbenet case)

If Maura did, in fact, commit suicide, how could she have done it where her body would not have been found? Drowning? ??????

 

[michelle]

This case is very strange. I think she may have been abducted but the same time Its possible she wasnt!!

 

[Tristan]

Michelle....I agree. It is bizarre! While I like true crime, I am rarely fascinated by most cases. The Jonbenet Ramsey case is my main interest, but this case is absolutely disturbing. I wish her family could have closure.


Anyone have any thoughts on the question I posted above?
(about why her body wouldn't have been found if she did, in fact, commit suicide?)

 

[michelle]

Michelle....I agree. It is bizarre! While I like true crime, I am rarely fascinated by most cases. The Jonbenet Ramsey case is my main interest, but this case is absolutely disturbing. I wish her family could have closure.


Anyone have any thoughts on the question I posted above?
(about why her body wouldn't have been found if she did, in fact, commit suicide?)

I think anything is possible in this case. I really wish something would come out about this case. Where was the boyfriend when maura went missing?

 

[murraydwyer]

Hi...Maura's boyfriend was in the military in another state. Tristan...I wish someone could answer your question about why her body would not have been found if she committed suicide. Many people that I've talked to believe she would have been found by now if in fact she had committed suicide.

Whether she planned to go for a few days, a week
or forever, is something we can only wonder about.

The clothes found in her bag in the car indicated that she planned on being gone no more than a couple of days. She also had text books in the car.

 

[hydemi]

I have not argued for or believed that Maura was suicidal except in one fleeting way--wondering what she did next after the phone call to Lt Rausch on Wed am 2/11/04, assuming the call was from Maura as he believes.

If she was so distressed that she called him (not 911) hoping he would calm her down or assuage her in that state of distress, it has occurred to me that her not calling back was indicative of being suicidal and ........

This is incredibly ironic, if true. Here she is alive on Wed am, calling her boyfriend just about the time family members including her Dad have started to arrive in Northern NH to begin the search for her. Had she talked to Lt Rausch instead of his phone being on the belt going through airport security, had she reached him that morning, would he have been able to get her calmed down and to disclose her whereabouts so family members could have rushed to her aid?

It is only in this sad context that I have also recalled ironically the fates of the climbers and hikers in the Mt Washington valley area in Maura's favorite book "Not Without Peril" which she had in the car with her and according to Sharon's posts on the Maura site was a book that Maura took with her as normal baggage on trips.

If she were suicidal she could have found someplace over in the eastern part of the White Mountains where she could have hiked in and perished as in the stories of "Peril." And bodies have remained undiscovered in the White Mountains for many many years, depending on the locale and distances from roads and major highways.

 

[gatetrekker44]

originally posted by PonderingThings



http://worldnetdaily.com/news/artic...RTICLE_ID=49328

Serial killer behind 'disappearing' women?
Frustrated parents of 2 girls suspect cases connected, killer on the loose

In the above link, there is a reference to Butch Atwood-the bus driver who was, by his own admission, the first person on the scene after Maura's acident. The article states that Atwood identified himself to reporters as "former law enforcement"! I don't recall this piece of info EVER being referred to before! Does anyone know if this is true, and if so, was he with the Haverhill PD, the NHSP, or some other LE entity?

 

[Tristan]

How much was Atwood investigated? I don't want to be the "bad guy" here, but he IS the last person to have seen her, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he is involved.

Does anyone know if he took a polygraph? And, was he extensively questioned?

 

[docwho3]

How much was Atwood investigated? I don't want to be the "bad guy" here, but he IS the last person to have seen her, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he is involved.

Does anyone know if he took a polygraph? And, was he extensively questioned?

News reports say he was questioned several times. You would have to reread the news stories to find out about any poly. but I don't remember one so far.

 

[czechmate7]

How much was Atwood investigated? I don't want to be the "bad guy" here, but he IS the last person to have seen her, and it's not beyond the realm of possibility that he is involved.

Does anyone know if he took a polygraph? And, was he extensively questioned?

Maura was seen an hour or so after the accident by the construction worker...why not investigate him??

I think Atwood is getting a bad wrap for trying to help. Are you going to cast doubt over someone because the person stopped and offered help, called 911 and spent his time after LE arrived to search ?? Maura sent *very* clear signs that she was trying to escape something. She wasn't just driving down that road going to visit family or her boyfriend. She didn't want to be found (if only the SBD knew of Maura's willingness to get away...maybe he could have saved himself all the ridicule and accusations of being a POI in a missing persons case!!)

Remind me never to stop and help a person in need....no telling what kind of trouble it could get you into!

 

[Peabody]

An annoucement has been made by the Murray and Rausch Families regarding Maura being featured on ABC 20/20 this coming Friday, March 17th @ 10 PM EST.

Their email copied below with permission is the actual annoucement.

Please mark your calendars to watch the show: It is my understanding that Brooke Wilburger will also be featured.

I am sure that both familes will appreciate us following through on the request by Bill Rausch to forward the message to all of our contacts as well as writing a thank you to ABC 20/20

Email Annoucement:
From: "Bill Rausch" <mauramissing@hotmail.com>
Subject: Maura Murray to be Featured on ABC 20/20 March 17
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 03:59:44 +0000

The family and loved ones of Maura Murray want you to know that ABC 20/20 is featuring a special about her and other missing coeds this coming Friday, March 17 on ABC at 10 PM EST.


Link: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id+1710316&page=4
"Friday, March 17: Vanished Coeds --
20/20 investigates cases that have shocked college towns from coast to coast.

We would very much appreciate your forwarding this message to everyone in your address book.

We would also be very grateful if you would take the time to send a thank you to 20/20 to express your appreciation for their efforts in this matter. While we do not know what the program will entail, we know that they have worked very diligently on it since early Dec 2005.. Their email address is 20/20@abc.com

Maura's websites: www.MauraMurray.com
www.spbowers.com\mauramissing.html

Thank You!



​

I have been advised that the 20/20 email address published above is not active.

Please go to the following site to send your words of appreciation for the "Vanished" special featuring Brooke Wilberger and Maura Murray:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123566&page=1

 

[docwho3]

Maura was seen an hour or so after the accident by the construction worker...why not investigate him??

I think Atwood is getting a bad wrap for trying to help. Are you going to cast doubt over someone because the person stopped and offered help, called 911 and spent his time after LE arrived to search ?? Maura sent *very* clear signs that she was trying to escape something. She wasn't just driving down that road going to visit family or her boyfriend. She didn't want to be found (if only the SBD knew of Maura's willingness to get away...maybe he could have saved himself all the ridicule and accusations of being a POI in a missing persons case!!)

Remind me never to stop and help a person in need....no telling what kind of trouble it could get you into!

I also feel a bit sorry for the suspicion the bus driver must have gone through as the result of his brief contact with Maura.

People often investigate the last known person to have had contact with the victem. There is some room for doubt as to the construction worker having sighted her so I can understand people asking about the bus driver. However, given that there was another witness (a neighbor) that also saw the bus driver and who also called in to report the wreck to police, I agree that it seems unlikely that the bus driver or the neighbor witness did anything bad.

 

[docwho3]

I would like to take this opportunity to urge all new people to read all the available news reports on the Maura Murray case and as many posts as possible in all the maura murray part threads as it can help prevent asking questions that have been asked and which have answers posted in one of the previous threads.
I took the time to put together a few links in this post. I hope they help. You may well find more info by doing web searches on your own.

Starting at post # 121 in part 2 maura murray merged thread I posted some posts that happen to also contain links to news stories
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26673&page=4&pp=40

Also interested readers might want to read the thread at
http://websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-19255

Also the mauramurray website has several news reports on the case linked at
http://mauramurray.com/news.html

We are currently in part 4 thread but the other previous thread parts of the discussion about the case can be found at:
Part 1 discussion thread
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19255
Part 2 discussion thread
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26673
Part 3 discussion thread
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35400
Pictures and hair colors including a pic with a sort of blond look
http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401157S

 

[Tristan]

Czechmate7: First of all, I don't know why my post seemed to ignite such an incendiary response from you.

I am not saying that the bus driver hurt Maura, I am only looking at ALL of the possibilities in this bizarre case.

In fact, I lean toward Maura definitely having left on her own for an unknown time period and that she either is alive and well or was possibly abducted or hurt by someone other than Atwood.

However, it is my right, just as much as it is yours, to ask questions and debate this case. If I helped someone and they ended up dead, and I was the last known person to see them, I would want to help as much as I could.

Can anyone say with 100% certainty that the bus driver did NOT harm Maura?

If so, I will not mention the idea again.

However, I prefer to look at the FACTS of this case and I would like to see it solved however it may turn out.
You seem to be unwilling to look at anything but your own theory.

Try thinking outside the box...and lighten up while you're at it!

 

[gatetrekker44]

that is why I was surprised to say the least that as far as I can remember it had NEVER been mentioned that Butch Atwood had claimed to be a "former LE member"-I was trying to ascertain what part of LE-whether local or state or federal-especially since it has been previously speculated that someone ID'ing themselves as LE might have been able to lure Maura into a vehicle.

As far as the construction worker's ID- I personally have always considered it suspect since it was made approx 4-5 months after Maura disappeared. Also, this construction worker lived withn a couple of hundred yards of Atwood-THE SAME AREA THAT THE TRACKING DOG LOST MAURA'S SCENT!

I don't believe anyone is "finger-pointing"-but rather speculating based on the info that has been available thru various souces-and anytime some piece of info comes out that was not previously mentioned it is going to give rise to speculation and discussion-after all-that's why we participate, isn't it?

:twocents: