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

[pittsburghgirl]

Not only that, but why not wait for the cops? If she truly intended to contact a friend or family member, why not wait for the authorities to come? Then she could have received a ride back to her place. After all, sliding off the road into a snowy bank probably happens quite a bit. It was just an accident. But no, she left because she had been drinking and she was fleeing from family and friends. Don't know why....and that's the rub.

I buy the "she left because she had been drinking" but there is no evidence that she was "fleeing" from "family and friends." If she had planned to "flee," why leave a trail? Just get in the car and go.

 

[shefner]

I buy the "she left because she had been drinking" but there is no evidence that she was "fleeing" from "family and friends." If she had planned to "flee," why leave a trail? Just get in the car and go.

Basically, that's what she did. She didn't tell anyone where she was headed. There was no note, that we know of, saying her plans. She did say she was going to miss some school because of a "death in the family," which we know was not true, according to her family. So this was made up. All of this, along with the drinking, lead me to make the assumption she was leaving family and friends. She could have easily returned to family and friends on the night of her second accident....but there would have been a price to pay, if she was indeed intoxicated.

 

[telemag]

telemag, you are making some big unwarranted assumptions. We do not know that some very traumatic event lead to ANY drinking. Maura's friends were also drinking the night of the first car accident; they were college students. She may also have had some level of drinking problem, related to nothing other than a more long-standing pattern. She may have bought what seems to me to be a lot of alcohol because she expected to be up there a week and didn't want to buy it up there or because she could get a better price.

There would be absolutely no need to go out of state for an abortion; why leave an urban area full of young people to go to a resort and do that? Most girls would tell a friend, at least, or a sister. And there would be NO need to take time away from school.

I've taught college kids for 25 years. They go into tailspins over all sorts of things--family problems, boyfriend/girlfriend problems, being in the wrong major, getting into credit card issues, money problems, etc. Things that adults handle pretty well can derail some college kids. Many are very affected by parental discord and/or divorce, the desire to break off a relationship without knowing how, grade problems, and sometimes just the existential stress of moving into adulthood without the full resources (including adult judgment and economic resources) that supports older people through the ups and downs of life.

I'll say it again: whatever was going on, it may well have had NOTHING to do with Maura's disappearance, other than serving as a reason for her to be where she was and adding stress that might have led to making poor decisions as a driver and afterward.

Not unwarrented assumptions at all, just my opinion like everyone else is giving based on what I have read so far. We do know that Maura was drinking enough that she wrecked two cars within days of each other. Was she known to drink this much in the past? We also know that she got in her dad's car while drunk to go to the hotel her Dad was staying in to talk to him about something when she def didn't need to so something was on her mind and it doesn't sound like it was something pleasant.

You say that "There would be absolutely no need to go out of state for an abortion" I strongly disagree. Remember that she was going someplace familiar to her that she had been to many times before. There is a certain time of recuperation involved with this type of procedure and I would think that Maura would not want to the hassle to try and explain to her friends and classmates why she is in bed resting. Also, she would obviously not be able to go to school so this would be another reason to leave town. I am not sure about what type of an excuse she would need to miss her exams, but one would think that she would need a Dr's excuse and I wouldn't think that she could fake an illness good enough to get one. Again, these are just my opinions, but I don't think that they are totally out of the realm of possibilties.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

We don't know that the second accident (or the first, for that matter ) was caused by drinking.

Maura had a private room; all she would need to do is stay in bed, if she needed to. Students get "the flu," "stomach virus," "migraine," "bad cramps," "pink eye," "mono," "strep throat," and any number of other maladies. If I had a dollar for every bogus excuse I've ever had, I'd be rich. So I don't see any reason to leave for an abortion; if she wanted to be away from the college area and peoples' questions, she could just try a different nearby town or neighborhood.

And if she loved her boyfriend, why would she need an abortion, anyway? They could get married. Lots of people take a semester off, have a baby and then return to finish. It's of course not impossible that she went up there for an abortion, but it is an odd choice when there are big cities where a woman
would be anonymous and where no one would know here at all. The last place i would choose for such a procedure would be a rural resort area where I had gone with my family.

Maura may well have had just normal college kid issues, that, if her time-out had ended with her return to college, would be very unremarkable. Or she might have experienced something we don't think about--some kind of harassment from a professor or other authority figure, maybe a near-sexual assault from someone on campus, maybe some hurtful words from her sister or another friend. Maybe a confrontation about her drinking from family or friends. Maybe she heard a rumor about her boyfriend cheating. Who knows? We surely can't, so long as she is missing. Or maybe she was like a student I taught years ago, who was engaged to a great guy but DATING someone else and getting a lot of flak from the person who knew she was cheating. She married the fiance, and by all accounts has a great marriage, and her secret is
still a secret. My point: Maura was a college kid, with what seems to me to be normal college kid problems, including drinking too much and crashing cars, and playing hooky.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Basically, that's what she did. She didn't tell anyone where she was headed. There was no note, that we know of, saying her plans. She did say she was going to miss some school because of a "death in the family," which we know was not true, according to her family. So this was made up. All of this, along with the drinking, lead me to make the assumption she was leaving family and friends. She could have easily returned to family and friends on the night of her second accident....but there would have been a price to pay, if she was indeed intoxicated.

That's not "fleeing." It's not "fleeing" if she took her school books. Kids cut classes all the time. There are students who NEVER go to class. they don't leave notes saying where they go for a few days or a weekend. And they don't tell the truth about what they are up to, either. Often they have no reason for tanking a whole semester.

In Maura's case, she told her boyfriend she would call him. She may have intended to call her parents once she got there --"asking forgiveness rather than permission," so to speak. But we will never know what she intended if she was abducted, murdered or died of exposure. She may well have known her father and friends would say not to drive her car up there, because it was unreliable and the weather unpreditable, so she just did what she wanted to do and figured she could explain later.

Now once she had the second wreck, "fleeing" might have seemed to be an option. But they were looking to replace that car, anyway. Worse case scenario, she calls the boyfriend and says, "Now I've really screwed up," and he talks her down or a friend does. There is absolutely no evidence that Maura was a socially isolated individual who didn't have friends who would/could help her figure this stuff out.

 

[telemag]

We don't know that the second accident (or the first, for that matter ) was caused by drinking.

Maura had a private room; all she would need to do is stay in bed, if she needed to. Students get "the flu," "stomach virus," "migraine," "bad cramps," "pink eye," "mono," "strep throat," and any number of other maladies. If I had a dollar for every bogus excuse I've ever had, I'd be rich. So I don't see any reason to leave for an abortion; if she wanted to be away from the college area and peoples's questions, she could just try a different nearby town or neighborhood.

And if she loved her boyfriend, why would she need an abortion, anyway? They could get married. Lots of people take a semester off, have a baby and then return to finish. It's of course not impossible that she went up there for an abortion, but it is an odd choice when there are big cities where a woman
would be anonymous and where no one would know here at all. The last place i would choose for such a procedure would be a rural resort area where I had gone with my family.

Maura may well have had just normal college kid issues, that, if her time-out had ended with her return to college, would be very unremarkable. Or she might have experienced something we don't think about--some kind of harassment from a professor or other authority figure, maybe a near-sexual assault from someone on campus, maybe some hurtful words from her sister or another friend. Maybe a confrontation about her drinking from family or friends. Maybe she heard a rumor about her boyfriend cheating. Who knows? We surely can't, so long as she is missing. Or maybe she was like a student I taught years ago, who was engaged to a great guy but DATING someone else and getting a lot of flak from the person who knew she was cheating. She married the fiance, and by all accounts has a great marriage, and her secret is
still a secret. My point: Maura was a college kid, with what seems to me to be normal college kid problems, including drinking too much and crashing cars, and playing hooky.

According to Maura's friends she had been drinking all night long the night she left to go to her Dad's hotel room. I think it a fair assumption she was legally drunk at the time of the accident. According to the police on the scence of her second accident, there was an alcoholic beverage poured out into the snow and a can that smelled like alcohol had been in it. This again is a more than a fair assumption that she was legally intoxicated at the time of the accident. To say that alcohol was not involved in these two accidents when we know for a fact she was drinking is not imo a fair assumption.

As far as your other remarks, yes lots of people do lots of things. Maura was Maura so none of us will probabley ever know what exactly she was thinking.

 

[shefner]

I don't know what kind of college allows you to miss endless classes. This was the case 25 years ago when I was in college but not today. My daughter is getting ready to start her second year of college and she was only allowed to miss 3 days in her classes...and those had to have notes, such as a court note or doctor's note, etc. Same with my son-in-law who attends college near the coast (about 4 hours away). He was not allowed to miss endless classes...it was an automatic "F" after you miss a certain amount.
That's neither here nor there because the truth is simply unknown to us. What is evident is that Maura had a drinking issue, either an issue unto itself or as the result of some real or imagined problem. I have 4 young adult kids so I know all about the drama they encounter.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I've taught in community college, a private college and a major university, none of which had rigid attendance issues. There may be other schools that do have policies. A close friend graduated from a huge, well-respected state U in the 70s and never went to class. And we know that Maura felt she could just tell the "death in the family" lie and get away with it because that is what happened . No one asked for an excuse from Maura, because she told her lie and then went on her trip. And even if she needed an "excuse," most doctors will write the "bad cramps" or "migraine" excuse. Been there, seen them all.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

According to Maura's friends she had been drinking all night long the night she left to go to her Dad's hotel room. I think it a fair assumption she was legally drunk at the time of the accident. According to the police on the scence of her second accident, there was an alcoholic beverage poured out into the snow and a can that smelled like alcohol had been in it. This again is a more than a fair assumption that she was legally intoxicated at the time of the accident. To say that alcohol was not involved in these two accidents when we know for a fact she was drinking is not imo a fair assumption.

As far as your other remarks, yes lots of people do lots of things. Maura was Maura so none of us will probabley ever know what exactly she was thinking.

Here is the text of an article from the Whitman-Hanson newspaper that has covered the case from the beginning that discusses details from the first accident report. I think this was dated 2007 and the information came out as a result of a "right to know" request by the publisher.

The information was released in response to a Right-to-Know request from Express Publisher Josh Cutler…
The information includes the police report of an Hadley Accident Report, Massachusetts, the day before she disappeared.
At 3:30 a.m., according to the Hadley police, Maura crashed her father's 2004 Toyota Corolla at the intersection of North Maple Street and North Hadley Road…
"Due to operator inattention she went through the 't' intersection and struck the snow bank and guard rail," reads [Officer Mark] Ruddock's report.
Maura was not cited by police in the accident…

The officer noted the cause as "operator inattention." She was not cited for drinking, although that does not mean she had NOT been drinking. It seems unlikely that she was, let's say, falling down drunk, or she would have likely been cited for DUI, given the accident. So the official record makes no mention of drinking. The article also goes on to say that she was given a ride to the motel, and so some one, at least, had to ride with her a while. It is also as likely that she was tired and inattentive or perhaps even thinking about what she wanted to say to her dad.

Any editing is to meet WS terms of service re: quotation.

http://southshorexpress.com//index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:new-hampshire-ag-releases-info-on-maura-murray&catid=912

 

[telemag]

Here is the text of an article from the Whitman-Hanson newspaper that has covered the case from the beginning that discusses details from the first accident report. I think this was dated 2007 and the information came out as a result of a "right to know" request by the publisher.



The officer noted the cause as "operator inattention." She was not cited for drinking, although that does not mean she had NOT been drinking. It seems unlikely that she was, let's say, falling down drunk, or she would have likely been cited for DUI, given the accident. So the official record makes no mention of drinking. The article also goes on to say that she was given a ride to the motel, and so some one, at least, had to ride with her a while. It is also as likely that she was tired and inattentive or perhaps even thinking about what she wanted to say to her dad.

Any editing is to meet WS terms of service re: quotation.

http://southshorexpress.com//index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=86:new-hampshire-ag-releases-info-on-maura-murray&catid=912

Thanks for the info. By her friends own admission she had been drinking and enough that if I remember correctly one or more of them tried to get her not to drive. What kind of police officer who is involved with a college girl at 3:30 in the morning that has had an accident does not ask if said person had been drinking? This really amazes me!! Sadly if Maura had been given a breathalyzer and been cited with DUI she may be alive today.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Now that's a good point. The officer may well have asked. It might have been that she passed field sobriety tests and it was a one-car accident. All we have is the official record, sadly.

 

[McSpy]

I'm not sure that anyone can assume that Maura had no money on her other than what she got at the ATM. If I remember correctly she had taken out $280 and spent about $40 on alcohol and then she bought gas too. Then her hotel stay which would have been very expensive if she would have found a resservation at the place that she wanted in the first place. She also had to eat and there was gas for the trip back too. Something tells me that she had more on her than the roughly $200 or so after gas and alcohol. I also feel that the events leading up to the car crash did ultimately lead to her disappearance. Her depression over some type of very traumatic event lead to her drinking right up to the time she wrecked and if she hadn't been drinking then she wouldn't have had to run off like she did. From what I understand she was only steps away from a house.

I'm not so sure she had big problems. She could have had something weighing on her, but maybe it wasn't something specific. Maybe, she just had a hard time coping. Perhaps, she made a big deal out of things that will pass. She could have been ultra sensitive and took life too seriously. It is really hard to know what was going on inside her head, because we don't know her.

As far as the money, she pretty much cleaned out her bank account for the trip. Where would the other money have come from? To me, she came across as naive when she tried to rent the condo. Remember, she went right from high school to West Point, then to UMass Amherst. She lived in school housing most of her years after high school. I don't believe she had a lot of experience renting rooms or apartments, etc. You need to reserve a condo with deposits way ahead of time. I don't think she knew that and I don't think she realized the cost.

 

[shefner]

Thanks for the info. By her friends own admission she had been drinking and enough that if I remember correctly one or more of them tried to get her not to drive. What kind of police officer who is involved with a college girl at 3:30 in the morning that has had an accident does not ask if said person had been drinking? This really amazes me!! Sadly if Maura had been given a breathalyzer and been cited with DUI she may be alive today.

My own son, while in college, was stopped by two different law enforcement agencies at the same time because he was driving with an open container and was underage....they let him go, after about 20 minutes on the side of the road, discussing what to do. My son was honest with them immediately and admitted he recently had been arrested on a drug charge (let me tell ya, this kid about killed us).
Handsome, smart, friendly....full scholarship, musically gifted...all of that and then some he was. But he had a problem.

So just because Maura did not receive a ticket does not mean she wasn't intoxicated. On this issue some of us may have to disagree. I think every indicator is present that Maura had a drinking problem....even so, what a beautiful and talented kid. I wish we knew what happened....

 

[telemag]

If this case wasn't so old I would search those woods myself. Sadly I feel that Maura got lost in the pitch dark cold night and also suffered a concussion which obviously did not help her condition any. It pains me to say, but I feel she is in the woods and maybe by some slim chance someone will find her remains and give her family some sort of closure.

 

[telemag]

My own son, while in college, was stopped by two different law enforcement agencies at the same time because he was driving with an open container and was underage....they let him go, after about 20 minutes on the side of the road, discussing what to do. My son was honest with them immediately and admitted he recently had been arrested on a drug charge (let me tell ya, this kid about killed us).
Handsome, smart, friendly....full scholarship, musically gifted...all of that and then some he was. But he had a problem.

So just because Maura did not receive a ticket does not mean she wasn't intoxicated. On this issue some of us may have to disagree. I think every indicator is present that Maura had a drinking problem....even so, what a beautiful and talented kid. I wish we knew what happened....

Maybe the officer thought he was doing her a favor. She has a lot to lose being in school and having a job right there.

 

[telemag]

I'm not so sure she had big problems. She could have had something weighing on her, but maybe it wasn't something specific. Maybe, she just had a hard time coping. Perhaps, she made a big deal out of things that will pass. She could have been ultra sensitive and took life too seriously. It is really hard to know what was going on inside her head, because we don't know her.

As far as the money, she pretty much cleaned out her bank account for the trip. Where would the other money have come from? To me, she came across as naive when she tried to rent the condo. Remember, she went right from high school to West Point, then to UMass Amherst. She lived in school housing most of her years after high school. I don't believe she had a lot of experience renting rooms or apartments, etc. You need to reserve a condo with deposits way ahead of time. I don't think she knew that and I don't think she realized the cost.

True, sometimes things seem really bad to you and to others the same thing would not seem so bad. I think that Maura was an over achiever. West Point, a very competitive runner and academically too. Probably way too much pressure for her or most for that matter.

I don't buy that part about not knowing the price of condos. According to her Dad they had been there many times and I am sure she knew the cost of those places. She specifically called for a condo when she could have easily got a hotel room if money was an issue. I am sure price was discussed on the phone. According to the lady that was interviewed she didn't get the condo due to it being unavailable, not because of price. Maybe she had a CC that she was going to use. In fact. I know most places will not reserve you a condo without a CC to hold that room with. Still makes me wonder why a condo? Does anyone know how long she planned to stay???

 

[McSpy]

We don't know that the second accident (or the first, for that matter ) was caused by drinking.

Maura had a private room; all she would need to do is stay in bed, if she needed to. Students get "the flu," "stomach virus," "migraine," "bad cramps," "pink eye," "mono," "strep throat," and any number of other maladies. If I had a dollar for every bogus excuse I've ever had, I'd be rich. So I don't see any reason to leave for an abortion; if she wanted to be away from the college area and peoples' questions, she could just try a different nearby town or neighborhood.

And if she loved her boyfriend, why would she need an abortion, anyway? They could get married. Lots of people take a semester off, have a baby and then return to finish. It's of course not impossible that she went up there for an abortion, but it is an odd choice when there are big cities where a woman
would be anonymous and where no one would know here at all. The last place i would choose for such a procedure would be a rural resort area where I had gone with my family.

Maura may well have had just normal college kid issues, that, if her time-out had ended with her return to college, would be very unremarkable. Or she might have experienced something we don't think about--some kind of harassment from a professor or other authority figure, maybe a near-sexual assault from someone on campus, maybe some hurtful words from her sister or another friend. Maybe a confrontation about her drinking from family or
friends. Maybe she heard a rumor about her boyfriend cheating. Who knows? We surely can't, so long as she is missing. Or maybe she was like a student I taught years ago, who was engaged to a great guy but DATING someone else and getting a lot of flak from the person who knew she was cheating. She married the fiance, and by all accounts has a great marriage, and her secret is
still a secret. My point: Maura was a college kid, with what seems to me to be normal college kid problems, including drinking too much and crashing cars, and playing hooky.

Very good points! She was only 21 years old. There is a reason why they call it the "trying twenties." It is important to keep her age in context with her behavior.

 

[shefner]

Maybe the officer thought he was doing her a favor. She has a lot to lose being in school and having a job right there.

I agree, telemag. The officers told my son they were giving him a break...that he needed to make the most of it and learn from his mistakes. They were pretty direct in letting him know there wouldn't be anymore breaks if he was caught again.
I think officers do this frequently....they know kids are young and scared. They want to give them an opportunity to do right and grow up. We know Maura was crying and upset when she saw her dad....so she was probably torn up at the scene of the first wreck. Since someone was driving her to her dad, the officer could have felt comfortable that Maura wouldn't be driving anymore that night and felt that giving her a break would help her out. Who knows?

Growing up is really hard now, as is rearing children these days. There is much more out there for them to experience...and thats not always good. I also think many young people feel overwhelming pressure from a very early age.....

 

[McSpy]

True, sometimes things seem really bad to you and to others the same thing would not seem so bad. I think that Maura was an over achiever. West Point, a very competitive runner and academically too. Probably way too much pressure for her or most for that matter.

I don't buy that part about not knowing the price of condos. According to her Dad they had been there many times and I am sure she knew the cost of those places. She specifically called for a condo when she could have easily got a hotel room if money was an issue. I am sure price was discussed on the phone. According to the lady that was interviewed she didn't get the condo due to it being unavailable, not because of price. Maybe she had a CC that she was going to use. In fact. I know most places will not reserve you a condo without a CC to hold that room with. Still makes me wonder why a condo? Does anyone know how long she planned to stay???

It is assumed that she was going to stay for a week, because what she had told the school about the death in the family excuse.

There has been no mention about Maura ever having a credit card in any news articles about her. There also hasn't been anything said about police monitoring any credit card activity, like we usually see in other missing person cases. If she had one, I would think it would have been mentioned in some form. She could have had a card, but it seems odd that it hasn't been talked about in any way since 2004. I hope police didn't mess up and miss it, if she had one. I'll check some links and see if there is something on it that I have missed.

 

[telemag]

It is assumed that she was going to stay for a week, because what she had told the school about the death in the family excuse.

There has been no mention about Maura ever having a credit card in any news articles about her. There also hasn't been anything said about police monitoring any credit card activity, like we usually see in other missing person cases. If she had one, I would think it would have been mentioned in some form. She could have had a card, but it seems odd that it hasn't been talked about in any way since 2004. I hope police didn't mess up and miss it, if she had one. I'll check some links and see if there is something on it that I have missed.

Great, hope you can find something. OK this gets even more weird as far as the trip is concerned. I also assumed that she was going to stay roughly a week. So whether she rented a condo or the cheapest hotel, no way was $200 going to cut it, not even close. She HAD to have had a CC on her and possibly more cash. I think that a lot of potential info was over looked in this case.