NH NH - Maura Murray, 21, Haverhill, 9 Feb 2004 - # 7

[McSpy]

I like the latest account which I've been linking to:

http://issuu.com/soco/docs/april11?m...&pageNumber=76

I was surprised to see the new PI working the case is mentioning the rag stuffed into the tail pipe .... I never would have believed she would have let someone go into the trunk on their own, since that's she kept her BF's expensive jewelry.

Perhaps more important was that she did stop for gas not far from where her car ended up - what took place at that station??? Someone may have seen her, detected she was drinking/vulnerable and followed her...

Does that tie in with any local snow plow operators?

IIRC the school bus driver told to her to turn on her emergency flashers.

Why take time at the crash site and fiddle around with the rag when there's alcohol in your car, and you've been drinking... you know LE will soon be there...
No time to take the jewelry, but time to get the the rag and stuff the tailpipe?

I heard that she MAY have wanted to stop the smokey exhaust coming from the tailpipe, perhaps to draw less attention. I also have entertained the idea she didn't like breathing in the exhaust, while she was rummaging around in the trunk, so she stuck the rag in the tailpipe (remember, she was a competitive runner). I also thought that she used the rag as a flag, because her car was sticking out into the road. I doubt someone else put the rag in there. How did they get it out of her trunk? How did they know it was in the trunk in the first place? Why would she allow a stranger access to her trunk when she had expensive jewelry (with sentimental value) back there? IMO, I doubt it is connected to her disappearance. I think it just muddies the waters. One question I have always wondered about---did she have a flashlight in her emergency kit and did she take it along with her when she left the car? Not
that this really matters, because I think she either accepted a ride with a creep (unknowingly), got hit by a car, or succumbed to the elements. IMO, whatever happened to her happened after the accident.

 

[McSpy]

what i find really interesting about the accident scene is that the Westman's house is less than 10 steps from where maura's car would've ended up. And at 7 p.m. at night, with the Westman's looking out different windows at their house, I am pretty sure that Maura would've noticed that. Therefore, if she was scared of the SBD then she could've easily got the westman's attention or when the SBD left, she could've easily gone to their house as opposed to getting in some strangers car, if safety was Maura's big concern at the time. Once you go east from the wreck site, the houses get fewer and fewer and it also gets darker and darker.

I don't think Maura was thinking straight. Also, the Westmans may have turned their interior lights off or down to be able to see outside better, so maybe the house seemed dark. However, I think Maura was still rattled about the accident and she just reacted by running off. She was probably trying to process what had just occurred and what to do next. The accident probably surprised her more than anybody else. I imagine she was pretty upset, because she messed up again.
JMO

 

[McSpy]

IIRC - I've read all sort of accounts about what took place ... so much so I don't what to believe...
there was mention of the SBD not being sure it was MM in the car... then he was sure....
there was mention that he saw her peaking over the inflated air bag - (since the air bags automatically deflate in seconds after inflating) much was made of that ... but it could also have been she was pulling the deflated airbag up to hide behind it a bit...

I'll leave it to this one qoute:

"According to Atwood, who apparently spoke with Maura that evening, Maura had her hair down. Interestingly, Atwood later told a family member that Maura did not look like the pictures running in newspapers. Atwood clarified in our interview that the woman he spoke with did look like the pictures on the Missing Person signs, though it is worth noting that he and Maura remained 15 to 20 feet apart throughout their entire conversation and their encounter was past dusk. "
http://southshorexpress.com/maura-is-missing/83-maura-is-missing-the-epilogue.html

I think the bus driver saw her. In my experience, I've met people after seeing their picture first and have noticed that they sometimes look younger, older, better looking, taller or shorter in person, so I would have to say that I can see why he was not so sure. Also, he was probably not committing her face to memory when he spoke to her at the time. Who would under the circumstances? He had no idea her simple accident would turn into a missing persons case. JMO

 

[scoops]

Here is an interesting excerpt done years ago by seventeen magazine on the case. (Yeah, I know seventeen magazine) But I do find some of the info very credible and maybe helps to answer some of the things that have been discussed here recently.


(referring to Maura's party saturday night)

"About an hour later, Maura arrived at her friend Sara Alfieri's dorm room (Same dorm as Maura lived in) to hang out. For the next three hours, Maura, Sara and a couple of friends sat around talking and listening to music while drinking skyy Bllue malt mixed with a little bit of wine. A couple of times, when there were pauses in the conversation, Maura mentioned that she wanted to return the car back to her dad that night.
"It didn't make any sense," said Kate Markopolous, who was there that night. "Why would Maura, who'd had a few drinks and seemed tired, go to the trouble of driving all the way to her dad's motel in the middle of the night, when she didn't need too."

At 2:30 a.m., Maura left Sara's room, telling everyone she was going upstairs to her room, but instead she got in her dad's car and started driving back to his motel. On the highway, the car jumped a sandy embankment and hit a guardrail. The front of the car's radiator crumbled. So Maura called AAA to tow the car. The police arrived and wrote up a report - but did give Maura a ticket.

 

[scoops]

It should say the police DID NOT give Maura a ticket. Sorry about that.

Here is the second part of that seventeen article, concerning the encounter Maura had with Butch Atwood:

Maura's 96 Saturn careened off the road into the woods, barely missing a tree. She was fine. The car wasn't. The radiator was damaged and the wheels sank into a few feet of packed snow. About five minutes later, a school bus drove by. Butch Atwood, the driver, was off-duty and headed to his cabin just up the road.
"Are you OK? He shouted to Maura in her car.
"Should I call AAA?

Maura rolled down her window and shivered from the 12-degree chill. She mumbled that she'd already called AAA for a tow. Atwood thought she seemed like she had been drinking.

 

[McSpy]

7:43 p.m. - Hanover dispatcher calls haverhill dispatcher to advise that there is a 911 call for them (Haverhill) call is from Butch atwood residence (SBD and his girlfriend) who advises that at the wreck scene there is one female (no passengers) and that she is "Shook up."
The girlfriend advised dispatch that her boyfriend (listed as husband by dispatcher) saw the crash and came home to call but had no idea where the crash victim was.


7:54 p.m. - a bolo was issued by dispatch to all fire units to be on the lookout for a female about 5-foot-7 to be on foot and as being the victim of a crash.

I called out two items in your timeline to highlight.

I didn't know that the bus driver knew that Maura was already missing before the police arrived. I have read that LE approached him while he was on the bus, in his yard to ask him where the girl went, because she was missing from the accident scene, then the bus driver and the cop searched (separately) for her west of the accident. I was lead to believe the bus driver was surprised she was missing from the accident scene. I'm curious as to where you got your info.

I'm also curious as to how LE got her height correctly on that dispatch call.
She was actually 5'7". She must have talked to the bus driver while standing outside the car. He must have been standing next to her to get the sense of her height.

 

[scoops]

McSpy

I acutally downloaded the dispatch log from Maura Murray's missing website. Everyone has access to that.

I believe that when the SBD's girlfriend was talking to the dispatcher and explaining that a girl had been in a car accident, the dispatcher probably asked her "Where the girl was?" and the SBD's girlfriend probably had no clue how to answer that since she was just learning about the situation as she was on the phone.

As far as height, the dispatcher also might of asked the SBD's girlfriend for a basic description. she then yelled out to Butch "Hey goofball, what does the girls look like" and Butch might of described her as being around 5-7. A total guess on how it all went by my part. But the time log is very accurate.

 

[McSpy]

It should say the police DID NOT give Maura a ticket. Sorry about that.

Here is the second part of that seventeen article, concerning the encounter Maura had with Butch Atwood:

Maura's 96 Saturn careened off the road into the woods, barely missing a tree. She was fine. The car wasn't. The radiator was damaged and the wheels sank into a few feet of packed snow. About five minutes later, a school bus drove by. Butch Atwood, the driver, was off-duty and headed to his cabin just up the road.
"Are you OK? He shouted to Maura in her car.
"Should I call AAA?

Maura rolled down her window and shivered from the 12-degree chill. She
mumbled that she'd already called AAA for a tow. Atwood thought she seemed like she had been drinking.

I think this article has it wrong. In other news accounts, the bus driver claimed that he asked her if she would like him to call the police---not AAA. Maura answered that she called AAA and that all (in other words) was under control. I also read that she asked him not to call the police. He knew that she wouldn't have been able to get a call out in that area, because there was no way to get a cell phone signal, so he went home and called the police from his land line
phone.

 

[scoops]

McSpy,

I agree with you about the article. But do believe that parts of it are very accurate like the quote from mauras friend about the party and the fact that the party was at Maura's dorm, which really makes it odd that she drove on to the motel after having a few drinks, when she couldve just went home and took the car back the next day.

Also, I will have to dig up some of the other articles concerning Butch Atwood. I agree that he actually insisted to Maura that he was going to call the police. And i know he is quoted for certain as saying she "Attempted to open her drivers side door but it kept slamming into the snow bank."

 

[McSpy]

McSpy

I acutally downloaded the dispatch log from Maura Murray's missing website. Everyone has access to that.

I believe that when the SBD's girlfriend was talking to the dispatcher and explaining that a girl had been in a car accident, the dispatcher probably asked her "Where the girl was?" and the SBD's girlfriend probably had no clue how to answer that since she was just learning about the situation as she was on the phone.

As far as height, the dispatcher also might of asked the SBD's girlfriend for a basic description. she then yelled out to Butch "Hey goofball, what does the girls look like" and Butch might of described her as being around 5-7. A total
guess on how it all went by my part. But the time log is very accurate.

I can see that happening. When 911 asked where the girl was located, she probably answered "I don't know."

The 5'7" answer was a very good guess. It was right on. Maura had to have been standing for him to get that right.

 

[scoops]

found what i believe to be a very credible account on the maura and bus driver encounter.

"Atwood stopped by the scene of the accident and saw a young woman alone in the car whom he later identified as Maura Murray. Her dark hair was hanging down, not in its customary bun, though Atwood said he could clearly see her face. She was "shook-up," but not injured, he reported to police.

"I saw no blood...She was cold and she was shivering," Atwood told the Caledonian Record.

Maura struggled to get out of her Saturn because the car door was hitting against a snowbank, Atwood recalled when interviewed for this story from his new home in Florida. There was as much as two and a half feet of snow on the ground in the area.

Atwood stepped out of his bus and asked Maura if she wanted him to call the police. Maura told him not to bother, saying that she had already called AAA, Atwood said.

 

[scoops]

here is the second part of the account that kind of comes more from the police perspective from same article:

A N.H. State Police "synopsis" released by Lt. John Scarinza four months later, painted a different view of their encounter: "When the passerby stated that he was going to call local law enforcement to come assist, Maura pleaded with him not to call police."

Atwood said that Maura remained on the driver's side of her car, about 15 to 20 feet away and stayed there during their entire conversation. A heavy-set man about 60 years old, Atwood may have cast an intimidating figure to Maura. "I might be afraid if I saw Butch. He's 350 pounds and has this mustache," Barbara Atwood told the Patriot Ledger two weeks after the accident.

Atwood offered to let Maura wait at his house until help arrived, but Maura wanted to wait with her car. He advised Maura to turn her car's lights on to avoid getting hit by vehicles coming around the bend. Atwood then left the scene and drove the 100 yards to his home.

 

[McSpy]

McSpy,

I agree with you about the article. But do believe that parts of it are very accurate like the quote from mauras friend about the party and the fact that the party was at Maura's dorm, which really makes it odd that she drove on to the motel after having a few drinks, when she couldve just went home and took the car back the next day.

Also, I will have to dig up some of the other articles concerning Butch Atwood. I agree that he actually insisted to Maura that he was going to call the police. And i know he is quoted for certain as saying she "Attempted to open her drivers side door but it kept slamming into the snow bank."

Yes, that is correct. I remember reading about the door bumping into the snowbank. He also said she was shivering.

You could be right that Maura was troubled about something and may have wanted to discuss it with her dad. Maybe the couple of drinks made her brave enough to attempt that talk. Yet, couldn't she have approached her mom, sisters, or friends about her problems? At least, to bounce it off them first. It appears that she didn't confide with anyone. I would approach a close friend or sibling first before my dad. I guess it depends on their relationship though. Sometimes, I think Maura was just trying to please her dad. Maybe, she thought bringing the car back early was a good thing, which unfortunately backfired when she crashed it into a guardrail. Understandably, he ended up very upset with her, which wasn't what she set out to do. She set out to please, but it turned to crap, so she became very upset with herself over it.


Just some thoughts. I could be way off base.

 

[scoops]

No those are good thoughts McSpy.

I am no way an expert on this case, but I have done a ton of homework on it. the seventeen article was something i just came across for the first time tonight. I thought it had some interesting tidbits in it, that elaborated on points I had come across in other stories. Obviously, not every article written about this case is going to be 100 percent accurate. But if enough of the articles hit upon some of the same facts, then you can start going through them and using them to elaborate ideas and theories from.

 

[scoops]

I will say this concerning the father, however. I know my dad would be furious with me, if i had his brand new car and had been drinking and then I drove it 10 miles to the hotel he was staying at and woke him up at 2:45 a.m. to return his car.

I definitely believe her father let her keep the car for a reason that saturday night and more than likely Maura didnt have a key to her dads hotel room, so she would've had to wake him up to let her in his room to return the car keys. That is why I don't think she was suppose to go back and return her car that night. Something triggered her desire to want to do that though, and that is where the mystery comes in.

 

[scoops]

Just curious, what's everyone's take on the whole Petrit Vasi angle, the guy that was found unconscious on the road at 12:30 a.m., the same night Maura bursted into tears, also around 12:30 or 1 while she was at work.

Police initially thought Vasi was a victim of a hit-and-run, later when Vasi came around, which was weeks later, He noticed that his wallet was empty, and remembers very little about that night. The wallet being empty led to the police therorizing that instead of him being hit by a car, maybe he was jumped and beat up.

Bottom line, no one knows how long vasi had been laying on the road unconscious, so you really can't rule out the notion that Maura, who worked just a mile or two away from where Vasi was found, had something to do with that.

The conspiracy theory about the whole Vasi angle is that the Fred Murray came to see his daughter two days later to shop for a different car, so they could get rid of her car that would have damage and possible evidence related to striking Vasi on it.

I think personally, that the conspiracy theory is quite a stretch, but can't rule it or anything out. What does everyone else think?

 

[OldSteve]

Contrary to the what is mentioned at the start of the show Disappeared on ID, about what often happens in the hours and days before a person goes missing may hold clues....
As one who is of the opinion that this is a homicide, not a suicide, everything that happened in the days and time leading up to MM arriving in Haverhill has nothing to do with her homicide. All it does is set the stage for her wanting to go away, and take a break from school.

Whatever happened to her happened to her there in Haverhill... someone either followed her from the gas station, perhaps heard mention of her over a CB radio or scanner assuming someone who saw her at the station (don't know if they have radio/scanner), or simply after the crash she was grabbed or was offered a fateful ride...

 

[McSpy]

I will say this concerning the father, however. I know my dad would be furious with me, if i had his brand new car and had been drinking and then I drove it 10 miles to the hotel he was staying at and woke him up at 2:45 a.m. to return his car.

I definitely believe her father let her keep the car for a reason that saturday night and more than likely Maura didnt have a key to her dads hotel room, so she would've had to wake him up to let her in his room to return the car keys. That is why I don't think she was suppose to go back and return her car that night. Something triggered her desire to want to do that though, and that is where the mystery comes in.

I wonder if he (her dad) or her siblings know why. Maybe there was a family dynamic going on, which the siblings knew about, or at least, have some clue.

 

[McSpy]

Contrary to the what is mentioned at the start of the show Disappeared on ID, about what often happens in the hours and days before a person goes missing may hold clues....
As one who is of the opinion that this is a homicide, not a suicide, everything that happened in the days and time leading up to MM arriving in Haverhill has nothing to do with her homicide. All it does is set the stage for her wanting to go away, and take a break from school.

Whatever happened to her happened to her there in Haverhill... someone either followed her from the gas station, perhaps heard mention of her over a CB radio or scanner assuming someone who saw her at the station (don't know if they have radio/scanner), or simply after the crash she was grabbed or was offered a fateful ride...

OldSteve, I'm pretty much in your camp on this. To me, there is that small possibility she succumbed to the elements or had been hit by a car, but she was probably pretty alert when running down that road to have been hit by surprise (running from police). Also, she was young and fit, so chances are she should have made it to the next town. Her state of mind may have been against her that night, but I think LE now feels she was taken.

 

[McSpy]

Just curious, what's everyone's take on the whole Petrit Vasi angle, the guy that was found unconscious on the road at 12:30 a.m., the same night Maura bursted into tears, also around 12:30 or 1 while she was at work.

Police initially thought Vasi was a victim of a hit-and-run, later when Vasi came around, which was weeks later, He noticed that his wallet was empty, and remembers very little about that night. The wallet being empty led to the police therorizing that instead of him being hit by a car, maybe he was jumped and beat up.

Bottom line, no one knows how long vasi had been laying on the road unconscious, so you really can't rule out the notion that Maura, who worked just a mile or two away from where Vasi was found, had something to do with that.

The conspiracy theory about the whole Vasi angle is that the Fred Murray came to see his daughter two days later to shop for a different car, so they could get rid of her car that would have damage and possible evidence related to striking Vasi on it.

I think personally, that the conspiracy theory is quite a stretch, but can't rule it or anything out. What does everyone else think?

Her Saturn was running on only 3 cylinders, which was said to be the reason she needed a new vehicle. I do think it is a stretch that she was involved in that hit and run, but it does make one wonder. I'm guessing the cracking up of her dad's car was enough to put her in a tail spin. I have a feeling she was a perfectionist and it doesn't take much to make a perfectionist feel lousy and disgusted with themselves. JMO