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

[docwho3]

If Maura did run away to start a whole new life, I just don't see someone as fiercely private and guarded as her enlisting the help of someone else.

Well, as I said before, even a loner needs a tool or a helper sometimes.

Few humans do absolutely everything for themselves. Maura was a wonderfully capable person but even she did not do everything from scratch for herself. In college she needed someone to teach her. She did not grow her own food but bought it in a grocery store or cafeteria or fast food place. She did not make all her own clothes but bought them in a store after someone else had made them. We all use some level of help. Even track takes a minimal amount of coaching. People like Maura may use the minimum amount of help they can get by with but they will use what help they have to. And Maura did not do everything alone. She drank with her friends. She may not have lots of close friends but she drank with some so she was not a total loner. She was described as being elusive by some of them but also she was described as being flirty when drinking. There was alcohol with her when she left. Maura may have had a helper.

Two Things that could point to a possible helper:
1.The way she was able to leave the scene of the accident within such a short few minutes after being seen by the neighbor. I believe she was picked up by the helper back down the road a ways.
2. She said she had already called AAA when we know that to have been a lie. If she had a helper following the same route it would not have been completely untrue because help was truly on the way.

Yes, I know that there might be other things that could account for those two facts but the facts do support a possible helper as one of the possible explanations.

 

[murraydwyer]

Does anyone know if any valuables that Maura owned were missing?

(This info about the jewelry being left behind did not come from a verifiable source and I am not sure any news report commented on it.)

Those forms, according to Rausch, were found in Murray's car along with school books, clothing and expensive jewelry. Caledonian Record 2/27/04

and again Maura had 2 jobs and was frugal and only $280 in the bank? That doesn't add up.....

Both part time jobs were connected to the University...Maura worked security and at an Art Gallery connected to the campus. I don't know what campus pay periods are, however, school had only been back in session (after Christmas break) since January 28th. I have also been told, but cannot verify that she was to have been paid the following Friday.

Murraydwyer...you were asked to look at Billy and Maura's bill?? Are you family?

I am a member of Maura's very extended family

Also, did LT Rausch try to get in touch with Maura on the evening of the accident or the next day?

Yes

 

[Rocky]

I'm curious, did her boyfriend ever take a lie detector's test?

 

[michelle]

I'm curious, did her boyfriend ever take a lie detector's test?

I was curious about that too.....:waitasec:

 

[docwho3]

Those forms, according to Rausch, were found in Murray's car along with school books, clothing and expensive jewelry. Caledonian Record 2/27/04 . . .

Thank you for providing the Brand & date of the news article. I said I was unsure if the news reports had mentioned the jewelry being left behind because I did not want to claim that they had mentioned it and be giving out potentially wrong info. The link to that news story is
http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/top_news/story/056e753b0

 

[gatetrekker44]

for the simple reason was that it was verified with the military authorities that he was on duty at Ft. Sill, OK when Maura vanished. He may have been asked to take one about other aspects-but I cannot verify that.

 

[czechmate7]

Both part time jobs were connected to the University...Maura worked security and at an Art Gallery connected to the campus. I don't know what campus pay periods are, however, school had only been back in session (after Christmas break) since January 28th. I have also been told, but cannot verify that she was to have been paid the following Friday.

Is that when the school semester started 1/28?? If so, Maura wouldn't have been back for more than a couple of weeks. And she already needed a break? I don't think her worries/stress stemmed from school..not so early into a semester. Where did Maura spend her Christmas....w/ Billy? Family? or both?

I am a member of Maura's very extended family

That's close enough....can you please give me a little insight on what the family feels about the factual evidence in the case? Not what they think Maura would do, but actually what they know Maura to have done...
The news special gave us a very heartbreaking look at Maura's father and his quest, but no one else in the family spoke....doesn't Maura have 4 siblings? No one had anything to say? Sharon Rausch just didn't sit right with me; I would have been more inclined to listen to someone who has known Maura all/most of her life...not just a few years. Was Maura's mother too ill to speak? Even Billy seemed to be over this situation not knowing whether to call Maura his former girlfriend or ex-girlfriend??

 

[nnglas]

Is that when the school semester started 1/28?? If so, Maura wouldn't have been back for more than a couple of weeks. And she already needed a break? I don't think her worries/stress stemmed from school..not so early into a semester. Where did Maura spend her Christmas....w/ Billy? Family? or both?



I have often wondered the same thing. I can't understand why she needed a break so soon either.I think she spent the break with BF and family, this is one of the reasons that was mentioned how she may not have been unpacked. Maybe Hydemi, or Peabody can help with the particulars of Maura's break.

 

[hydemi]

This is an attempt to answer partially queries by Nnglas and Czechmate above.

The presumption if Maura was the caller to Lt Rausch's cellphone on 2/11 is that either her cellphone's battery was dead 36 hours later (see Sharon Rausch's extensive post on trying to trace Maura via the cellphone including the question of a GPS chip in the Case Information section of the Maura site) or that she chose to use the prepaid card knowing it could not be easily traced if at all.

In any case her cell phone was never used again.

I see Murray D answered that Lt Rausch had attempted to contact Maura on Monday & Tuesday 2/8 and 2/9, something I had wondered but not known.

There are photos of Maura and Lt Rausch together during the term break--including in NYC as well as visits to family & friends in OH and in New England, as well as catching a basketball game together and somehow meeting coach Mike K of Duke (as I recall). So I believe she spent a great deal of time with Lt Rausch during this break, including a trip to the Berkshires and he said later they were even ring-shopping and that he & Maura were "engaged to be engaged." Several family members have commented that Maura was running on very little sleep both during the break and at school.

And she evidently kept up her daily runs according to Sharon again, even in the coldest weather often wearing no gloves or hat and only light clothing.

I cite this last I admit because it supports my view that she was not abducted at the Swiftwater accident scene, rather she took off on foot with the temperature being 30 degrees according to Shamshak on the 20/20 show, which should have presented no problem for her physically provided she was not injured or impaired from the airbag having deployed in her car during the crash (an issue discussed in great detail on the Maura site, and something that gives me pause--airbags do cause injuries in some accidents).

 

[docwho3]

. . . So I believe she spent a great deal of time with Lt Rausch during this break, including a trip to the Berkshires and he said later they were even ring-shopping and that he & Maura were "engaged to be engaged." . . .

That "ring shopping" in itself was a red flag to me. When you start really taking concrete actions to make a life change it can be very stressful and going shopping for a ring can suddenly bring home that you are about to really get married. She would not be the first young woman to get cold feet and then flee. I am not saying that was her only reason in her mind for leaving but it is one known cause for some young ladies to run and so it raised a flag to my mind when I read about the ring shopping.

 

[czechmate7]

That "ring shopping" in itself was a red flag to me. When you start really taking concrete actions to make a life change it can be very stressful and going shopping for a ring can suddenly bring home that you are about to really get married. She would not be the first young woman to get cold feet and then flee. I am not saying that was her only reason in her mind for leaving but it is one known cause for some young ladies to run and so it raised a flag to my mind when I read about the ring shopping.

I was thinking the exact thing!!

A couple of quotes from the article in the Caldonian Record (2/27/04) that I found interesting but haven't heard:

Atwood said Murray didn't appear to be intoxicated, despite police having said a witness indicated she had appeared to be impaired due to alcohol.

Who is this "witness"?

Rausch said family members were told by at least one person living near the accident site a man was seen in Maura's car after the accident

Has this been followed up and ruled out? Makes sense she might of had something with her (reason she wasn't worried about traveling in the untrustworthy car) that slipped out of the passenger door prior to SBD stopping?

They have hired an outside investigator to find out what happened to her

This article is from 2/27/04...PI's were hired then and still haven't found anything? But now, 2 years later they have enough evidence to think something *bad* could have happened?

 

[murraydwyer]

That's close enough....can you please give me a little insight on what the family feels about the factual evidence in the case? Not what they think Maura would do, but actually what they know Maura to have done...
The news special gave us a very heartbreaking look at Maura's father and his quest, but no one else in the family spoke....doesn't Maura have 4 siblings? No one had anything to say? Sharon Rausch just didn't sit right with me; I would have been more inclined to listen to someone who has known Maura all/most of her life...not just a few years. Was Maura's mother too ill to speak? Even Billy seemed to be over this situation not knowing whether to call Maura his former girlfriend or ex-girlfriend??

If you are asking what (other than what the police have told the media) Maura did on February 9, 2004 or why she did it...the family does not know what Maura did that day. Others were interviewed, but did not appear...as to why, that was 20/20's judgement call. Until the promos appeared the day of the show, we had no idea even what would be on the show...we knew what some of what they filmed and to a certain extent who they interviewed, but not how it would be put together...to my knowledge the only thing we knew was that it was about missing college students. Maura's mother is ill, as has been published she has throat cancer. I don't know Maura's mom, though I do get updates occassionally, and I know that she has had some very bad spells. Maura has two sisters and two brothers. Sharon Rausch has been a tremendous help to the family and truly cares about Maura. I doubt Billy will ever be over 'this situation', but he is a young man who has a very responsible position and has to get on with his life at some point. Whether, as many on this thread theorize, Maura chose to leave or whether she is no longer alive, Maura has not been physically in Billy's life for over two years, though I have no doubt she is frequently in his thoughts.

 

[Tristan]

I have two questions:

1. Did Maura have ANY close friends?
I, myself, have a few close friends, but not a large group....which many college students have. Is there ANYONE Maura could have confided in?
Are they speaking?

Also, another poster stated that the police have over 2000 pages on this investigation. Does anyone care to speculate on what exactly, they have, since a "voluntary missing person's case" would not warrant such an
extensive investigation.

Anyone?

 

[docwho3]

I have two questions:

1. Did Maura have ANY close friends?
I, myself, have a few close friends, but not a large group....which many college students have. Is there ANYONE Maura could have confided in?
Are they speaking?

Also, another poster stated that the police have over 2000 pages on this investigation. Does anyone care to speculate on what exactly, they have, since a "voluntary missing person's case" would not warrant such an
extensive investigation.

Anyone?

MYSTERIOUS MISS: Closest friends say missing UMass student kept deepest feelings to herself . . .

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2004/03/09/news/news02.txt

 

[Tristan]

"Now everybody is wondering about what they don't know about Maura Murray. If she can't figure it out after three years of friendship, Markopoulos said nobody might ever know."

This quote is chilling.

I feel that Maura had secrets, and even her close frineds weren't privy to them. (I always thought everyone had at least one confidant?)

That article said that Maura's dorm room was packed up.
This girl definitely wanted to get away from SOMETHING.

I think it is key that the police try and figure out what made her run.
From there, they will have a greater chance of figuring out what ensued
after the accident.

 

[czechmate7]

Family and friends of 21-year-old Maura Murray believe someone picked up the University of Massachusetts at Amherst nursing student after she was involved in a one-car accident in Haverhill, N.H., Feb. 9.

"With all the attention from the media, if a good person had picked her up, he would have come forward," said Sharon Rausch, mother of Bill Rausch, Murray's boyfriend. "It leads us to believe a bad guy picked her up.

They believe Murray would have fought anyone trying to abduct her.

Her are several quotes made by the family/friends in the Caledonian Record on 2/27/04 (the link is listed in a previous post)

Anyway, looks as thought the family/friends believe a "bad" guy must have picked Maura up BUT believe she would have fought anyone trying to abduct her. There wasn't a sign of a struggle and there was only a 7 - 10 minute time frame so I think an abduction can be ruled out. So does the family believe Maura was picked up by a "bad" guy posing as a "good" guy? That would mean she would have had to stop one of the 2 or 3 cars passing in that time frame and literally jump into it (Unless of course she was expecting someone driving behind her).

I'm just trying to throw some thoughts around ....

Also...thanks doc for the link to the missing girl story. I've never read that one before. I found something interesting in there. The friend said that when Maura drank she got flirtaous at times... I didn't take that to mean she was flirting with girls. Maybe being away at school on her own gave her a new found freedom and when she went on Christmas break she and Billy started talking about getting engaged and she freaked out.

 

[docwho3]

. . .Also...thanks doc for the link to the missing girl story. I've never read that one before. I found something interesting in there. The friend said that when Maura drank she got flirtaous at times... I didn't take that to mean she was flirting with girls. Maybe being away at school on her own gave her a new found freedom and when she went on Christmas break she and Billy started talking about getting engaged and she freaked out.

You are welcome. As far as I know that is the only story I recall having read in which Maura's friends were interviewed and quoted so extensively about Maura herself. This is the most "inside" look at Maura during that particular time of her life that I have seen in an actual news report. I liked it because the info for the article did not come from family sources but from sources not related to Maura, and more importantly from sources going to school with her which made the info pretty current. I do wish there had been more articles like it.

 

[czechmate7]

You are welcome. As far as I know that is the only story I recall having read in which Maura's friends were interviewed and quoted so extensively about Maura herself. This is the most "inside" look at Maura during that particular time of her life that I have seen in an actual news report. I liked it because the info for the article did not come from family sources but from sources not related to Maura, and more importantly from sources going to school with her which made the info pretty current. I do wish there had been more articles like it.

I totally agree..and the most interesting part is that when you compare the stories from this to family sounds like there talking about two different people

 

[docwho3]

I totally agree..and the most interesting part is that when you compare the stories from this to family sounds like there talking about two different people

We may be different around our family than we are around others, and as the article pointed out Maura began to change when she turned 21 and the change evidently was noticed to be happening at school by those school friends.

 

[Tristan]

DocWho.....How, exactly, did they say she changed?

That is such a general statement. Did she get more outgoing, more
introverted? Depressed? Wild? What?