NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 6

[fallon416]

One additional thing to add to my post above.

Where is the booze that she purchased with the wine? The bus driver didn't report seeing Kahlua, Vodka, or Baily's bottles in the car. There was also no report of cream in the car. A mudslide would be the alcohol mentioned above as well as light cream. That's a pretty heavy drink. I doubt very much that she would have been able to put many of those down.

If she was drinking Mudslides which are suppose to be her favorite drink then who was the wine for?

Neil

 

[*zoe*]

since this case is so close to home(i'm in ct) i've been following it a bit...
i don't remember watching the MM disappeared episode and hearing them report that earlier in the day (while still at school) MM received a call that upset her greatly. she was so upset apparently, that she had to be escorted back to her room. the first time i watched this episode was at my folks house, and i was talking about it while watching it with my mother. i got distracted when the part about MM receiving an upsetting call would've come up in the timeline, and I remember asking my mum if the show said anything about it. she told me the show never mentioned it.
sure enough, the 2nd and 3rd time i've watched that episode the call is never mentioned. however, i've read about this mysterious call on a few other places on the web. has anyone else read this?
also, after the accident MM was probably a bit drunk, and freaked out about police. When the man driving the bus offered her a ride, most likely she was wary. although he knew cell phones didn't work in the immediate area, i'm not sure she did at that point. after he leaves, she probably starts walking and trying her cell, to no avail... and then accepts a ride.
i'm really intrigued with this case... just wondering if anyone else has heard this. -z

 

[McSpy]

I think she put the bottles of booze in her backpack and left the car with them. When the police arrived at the accident scene, they discovered groceries in her car and a broken box of wine. The cream may have been in one of the grocery bags. I think she left the car in a big hurry, so she was probably not thorough in her actions. She may have just wanted to get the alcohol out of the car, because of the accident (drunk driving)----not to keep the booze to drink. Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

I'm still wondering if she took a flashlight, because it is very dark there at night and would not have been able to see any signs. The signs are reflective and need light on them to read. One could walk right by them without knowing it!

 

[McSpy]

When the man driving the bus offered her a ride, most likely she was wary. although he knew cell phones didn't work in the immediate area, i'm not sure she did at that point. after he leaves, she probably starts walking and trying her cell, to no avail... and then accepts a ride.
i'm really intrigued with this case... just wondering if anyone else has heard this. -z

I agree. I think she was trying to get a signal, but unfortunately, she left the AAA card in the car. She may have accidently left it there in her haste. Although, AAA could look up her member number, if she gave them her name and car registration number. Ultimately, she may taken a ride, because of frustration, desperation and the fact, she was cold.

 

[McSpy]

Within a 5 minute walk of where MM had her accident there is Vern's General Store. It's a log cabin store with gas pumps. Vern's is well lit. Anyone familiar with 112 know of this store. She could have walked west for 5 minutes and been in the store having a cup of hot coffee. Also, walking west she would have ended up at the Mountain Lakes community of mostly empty homes. There is a river that runs next to the road for the entire length of the road. If she wanted to loose tracking dogs she would only have to walk in the shallow river. It doesn't fill up until the snow melts.

I have read a lot about this over the years and have a few things to add.

My brother owns a couple of houses within a 2 minute drive of the accident site. I am very familiar with the spot and the area. The Mountain Lakes community is a summer vacation spot for a lot of people. They lock up their homes for the winter and move elsewhere for the winter. There are some year round residents but not to many.

Within a 5 minute walk of where MM had her accident there is Vern's General Store. It's a log cabin store with gas pumps. Vern's is well lit. Anyone familiar with 112 know of this store. She could have walked west for 5 minutes and been in the store having a cup of hot coffee. Also, walking west she would have ended up at the Mountain Lakes community of mostly empty homes. There is a river that runs next to the road for the entire length of the road. If she wanted to loose tracking dogs she would only have to walk in the shallow river. It doesn't fill up until the snow melts.

I thought she may have gone west on RT.112 too. A driver could have stopped in the west bound lane and asked her if she needed a lift and they headed west. Although, a driver heading west may have not seen the accident yet, especially if she was picked up 100 yards east of the accident (police dogs lost her scent at 100 yds east of accident).
A driver heading east would pass the accident scene first, then notice Maura walking east. In other words, the eastbound driver could CONNECT Maura to the crashed car and know that she was vulnerable and in need of help. This eastbound driver may have pretended to help by offering her a ride, but only used the situation to get her in the car.

In Investigative Discovery TV show "Disappeared," Maura's father mentions that Maura did not know that corner of NH at all. So, it is possible she headed east out of ignorance of the area.

 

[McSpy]

since this case is so close to home(i'm in ct) i've been following it a bit...
i don't remember watching the MM disappeared episode and hearing them report that earlier in the day (while still at school) MM received a call that upset her greatly. she was so upset apparently, that she had to be escorted back to her room. the first time i watched this episode was at my folks house, and i was talking about it while watching it with my mother. i got distracted when the part about MM receiving an upsetting call would've come up in the timeline, and I remember asking my mum if the show said anything about it. she told me the show never mentioned it.
-z

I heard this to in the beginning of the investigation, but I don't think anyone can clearly say it was a phone call that made her cry. They couldn't connect a phone call to her outburst. Supposedly, her sister called her hours earlier on that phone and they had an ordinary conversation. Maura's sister said that Maura was acting normal.

Since this case is a mystery, people may be reading into all of Maura's actions previously before her disappearence. She could have just faked that she wasn't well, so she could take the rest of the evening off. Again, I'm reading into it myself!

 

[hmg]

I think I posted this before but I see now another mention of it came up on this merged thread. UMass's winter break runs much later than most university's (or it did in 2004, they changed their program last year). I believe that year it ran into very early Feb or the last week of January at the earliest. It is possible that Murray never unpacked her belongings from coming back from winter break. I went to another one of the local colleges in the Five College system that UMass is part of and I regularly didn't fully unpack until the middle of February. Some media reports that Murray packed her belongings before leaving may be false.

Fallon416, I think you're being a little hard on UMass. Do a lot of people party? Yes, but no more so than someplace like BC or BU. UMass would be much more academically rigorous than Quincy and has a great training program with the local hospital. I think Murray picked UMass because it had a solid nursing program, a good tuition rate compared to a private school, and has a more laid back atmosphere than the military academy.

I can't say that she didn't hit the young man on Triangle St. but sadly hit and runs are a pretty regular occurrence in Amherst. It may or may not have been something to vanish over. As I said before in the thread, even if she did leave voluntarily initially, it could be at this point she has run into foul play.

 

[gnomony]

When the police arrived at the accident scene, they discovered groceries in her car and a broken box of wine.

I either missed or forgot that they found groceries.

Depending upon the amount and nature of the groceries, that would undermine the suicide hypothesis and might suggest her intended destination. For example, if there were a dozen eggs, she clearly would have expected cooking facilities at her destination and either would have been expecting to stay for a while or to share the food with someone else. If it was trailmix, etc., it might suggest health consciousness (despite the alcohol). But if it was a grocery bag of Doritos and donuts, it might suggest comfort food for immediate consumption without any plans for coming days.

Anyone recall any details in this regard?

 

[McSpy]

With the return of warm weather, hikers in the region may discover something. I hope there is some way to notify them as to the situation.

Maybe someone in the area could put up posters up in the stores, hotels and parking lots at the hiking areas. A hiker could run across the black backpack or Maura's wallet, keys, cellphone, shoes and clothes.

 

[McSpy]

I think I posted this before but I see now another mention of it came up on this merged thread. UMass's winter break runs much later than most university's (or it did in 2004, they changed their program last year). I believe that year it ran into very early Feb or the last week of January at the earliest. It is possible that Murray never unpacked her belongings from coming back from winter break. I went to another one of the local colleges in the Five College system that UMass is part of and I regularly didn't fully unpack until the middle of February. Some media reports that Murray packed her belongings before leaving may be false.

Maura's mother believes she did not get a chance to unpack. Maura had gone home, during the break, and pretty much brought everything home from the dorm room. I think she was back to school for only 2 weeks. Time flies if you're busy. The fact she didn't get a chance to unpack makes sense to me.

 

[McSpy]

Fallon416, I think you're being a little hard on UMass. Do a lot of people party? Yes, but no more so than someplace like BC or BU. UMass would be much more academically rigorous than Quincy and has a great training program with the local hospital. I think Murray picked UMass because it had a solid nursing program, a good tuition rate compared to a private school, and has a more laid back atmosphere than the military academy.

I agree here. I think Maura had 3 or 4 siblings. The family would have a hard time affording private college tuition. Also, Maura may have liked the track program and may have received a scholarship for her running abilities.

 

[McSpy]

6. I've read a lot about the way that Fred Murray has criticized the NH police. He's not going to get much done doing that. Even if you are upset just keep your mouth shut and let them do their jobs until all of the facts in the case are released. Then if you're not happy with the results lash out.

I think one reason the police like to withhold some info is to catch people in lies. If they know facts and they question a potential suspect and the suspect lies. The police will know that they have a good reason to look at this person further.

Being Maura's father, Fred Murray is understandably frustrated, but the police do have a good reason to keep their cards close to their chests. I've seen enough true crime shows and have read heaps of true crime books to see the wisdom in withholding critical info.

 

[McSpy]

4. Did she do something at one of the parties at UMass that someone had pictures of and was being black mailed with them?

I get the feeling she may have had an issue such as bulimia or a budding alcohol problem. We have to remember that she was only 21. At that age, drama rules sometimes. I think she reacted to cracking up her dad's new car more than her dad realized. She bought an awful large amount of alcohol, which leads me to believe that she was possibly planning a binge. I could be way off base, but many times lifelong problems often start at that age. I'm twice her age and have seen it before.

 

[fallon416]

If MM continued eastbound on 112 she would have passed the police station on the right hand side of the street. If she was a regular to the area and was trying to avoid the police she would have to go west or into the woods. Knowing the area as well as she did chances are slim that she went into the woods. As an avid hiker she would know the wildlife that are indigenous to the area. She would have avoided the woods. She probably had someone following her that she intended to spend some time with. That would be the only plausible explanation as to how fast she left the scene.

In the winter in that area cars are few and far between on that road. I have driven that road at night without seeing a single vehicle pass me on the road. This is especially true of week nights during the winter.

As far as affording a college tuition for the 3 or 4 kids I don't think the parents would have had a problem with that. I tried looking up Fred Murray to see what he did for work. I'm pretty sure that he owns a company that sells packaging machines. The wife was also a nurse.

UMass administrators came out on the news last year to say that they were going to try and cut down on the amount of partying at the school and to try to change the schools image. I have many friends that have gone to school at UMass Amherst over the years and each one would say that their entire time there was a party. I have friends and relatives that went to BC, BU, UMass Lowell, UMass Boston, and several of the other local colleges. They can't even compete with UMass Amherst in the partying department.

Neil

 

[fallon416]

For anyone not familiar with this area the Lincoln Police Station is 19.4 miles east of the accident site on the same road. It is a 34 minute ride from the police station to the spot of the accident at normal posted speed. The road is a winding road with steep inclines and declines. There is usually a patrol car sitting outside of the police station setup as a speed trap.

The Haverhill Police Station is 6.8 miles away in a south west direction. Driving at normal posted speeds it takes 13 minutes to get to the accident location from the police station.

It took the police 17 minutes to get there.

Neil

 

[believe09]

I appreciate Fallon's perspective on the area. Maybe Maura was headed to one of the homes that had been typically abandoned in the Winter. Did she have a connection to any of the homes in the area? And would the utilities still have been working in those homes? I would think that in order to prevent pipe damage, etc...at least the heat would be on.

 

[fallon416]

Most of the vacation homes have fireplaces with an ample supply of wood as well as propane heating systems. The water is typically turned off but the lakes are rain water. Usually the electric power is not turned off.

It would be interesting to know if someone came to their home after Memorial Day to prepare it for the season and found the home broken into. Something like the 3 bears.

From what I have read some where they did a search on a property on French Pond Road which is in the Mountain Lakes community.

It would also be interesting to know if there were any border crossings into Canada by a 21 year old female the evening of the accident or the day afterward. Canada is a 1 hour and 20 minute ride from the accident location. I don't remember what year they started making you show a passport to go into Canada. You use to be able to just show a drivers license.

Neil

 

[believe09]

So we come back to the kind of groceries that were in her car...anything else that could spoil or that would require a functioning oven rather than a wood stove??? Hmmm....

What if a group of Canadians heading home picked up a hitchiker and they all made the cross into Canada together?

 

[fallon416]

That's a very possible scenario.

I had a friend that lived in Lille Maine years ago. I went to visit for a weekend one time and we did some drinking on both sides of the border. I went through the check point up there several times without being stopped. At the time I thought it was an unmanned toll booth. After my fourth trip across some guy came running after the car. I explained to him what had happened. He wasn't to happy about it but told me the next time to stop and wait even if nobody was there. If they still man the border crossings the same way then anyone could go across.


Neil

 

[gnomony]

What if a group of Canadians heading home picked up a hitchiker and they all made the cross into Canada together?

Could be, but that road isn't a very likely route to Canada from anywhere.